Envoy is currently on the hardstand at Lefkas Marina, Ionian Sea, Greece.
During the three weeks we’ve so far been here the weather has improved dramatically and most days are now sunny with temperatures in the low 20s. Activity around the marina has significantly increased, with many more owners arriving and preparing their boats for cruising; the silence now broken by grinders, hammers, motor scooters and the travelift moving boats on the hardstand.
In Lefkas town, shutters are coming off shops and tavernas closed during winter, and colourful umbrellas are now appearing on the waterfront (although it’s still too chilly to eat outside at night).
I am not an engineer or mechanic, just someone trying to learn and do as much as I can myself for reasons of safe cruising, independence, cost saving and having the full live-aboard cruising experience. Inconsistent and conflicting advice from “experts” is always a problem; here is an example. The main seawater filter for our water maker costs Euro 124 (about NZ$191). The previous owner said they don’t need to be changed annually, just removed and washed either annually or when the pressure on the gauge on the filter housing rises above an indicated level. But last year in Turkey the water maker technician told us this was incorrect and the filters must be changed annually regardless. Being out of these filters we bought two from a water maker mechanic we met in Piraeus in 2007, and he re-affirmed they can be washed (even though he’s in the business of selling filters). This kind of situation happens a lot and you need to be very careful whose advice you follow or you can waste money or make mistakes.
Our Yanmar propeller shaft modification is now complete, and all the parts re-installed. This was the critical job for launching Envoy and we’re going into the water tomorrow.
The leaking diesel tank issue has been complicated. After exposing as much of the tank as possible so that we could best see the source of the leak, we progressively filled it with fresh water, but nothing leaked out. The theory is that very light surface rust gathered and filled the small pinhole where diesel was leaking. We considered applying a small amount (e.g. under 1 psi) of air pressure internally, but this was considered to be too risky. This outcome is not what we expected; several hours of wasted labour costs, and now time has run out to investigate this further so we’ll spend another cruising season with the tank in ballast (to maintain Envoy’s trim). Coastal cruising in the Med we don’t need the lost fuel capacity, as the other three tanks can contain up to about 2,900 litres of diesel, which is about 480 hours of cruising (typically about 3 months). I now think the best solution to this may be to make the tank’s access port larger, remove the internal steel baffles, and install a heavy duty off-the-shelf flexible tank inside.
We’ve also delayed some other non-critical jobs in order to get cruising as our friend Chris arrives from New Zealand on 24 April and we want to get moving shortly after that.
I doubt there’s ever been a ship “set sail” with no outstanding jobs on their list!
Here’s hoping that all goes well with launching - that there are no leaking seacocks, that our three engines all fire up, and that the water maker and other equipment not yet tested all works. Read about it in a few days.
During the three weeks we’ve so far been here the weather has improved dramatically and most days are now sunny with temperatures in the low 20s. Activity around the marina has significantly increased, with many more owners arriving and preparing their boats for cruising; the silence now broken by grinders, hammers, motor scooters and the travelift moving boats on the hardstand.
In Lefkas town, shutters are coming off shops and tavernas closed during winter, and colourful umbrellas are now appearing on the waterfront (although it’s still too chilly to eat outside at night).
I am not an engineer or mechanic, just someone trying to learn and do as much as I can myself for reasons of safe cruising, independence, cost saving and having the full live-aboard cruising experience. Inconsistent and conflicting advice from “experts” is always a problem; here is an example. The main seawater filter for our water maker costs Euro 124 (about NZ$191). The previous owner said they don’t need to be changed annually, just removed and washed either annually or when the pressure on the gauge on the filter housing rises above an indicated level. But last year in Turkey the water maker technician told us this was incorrect and the filters must be changed annually regardless. Being out of these filters we bought two from a water maker mechanic we met in Piraeus in 2007, and he re-affirmed they can be washed (even though he’s in the business of selling filters). This kind of situation happens a lot and you need to be very careful whose advice you follow or you can waste money or make mistakes.
Our Yanmar propeller shaft modification is now complete, and all the parts re-installed. This was the critical job for launching Envoy and we’re going into the water tomorrow.
The leaking diesel tank issue has been complicated. After exposing as much of the tank as possible so that we could best see the source of the leak, we progressively filled it with fresh water, but nothing leaked out. The theory is that very light surface rust gathered and filled the small pinhole where diesel was leaking. We considered applying a small amount (e.g. under 1 psi) of air pressure internally, but this was considered to be too risky. This outcome is not what we expected; several hours of wasted labour costs, and now time has run out to investigate this further so we’ll spend another cruising season with the tank in ballast (to maintain Envoy’s trim). Coastal cruising in the Med we don’t need the lost fuel capacity, as the other three tanks can contain up to about 2,900 litres of diesel, which is about 480 hours of cruising (typically about 3 months). I now think the best solution to this may be to make the tank’s access port larger, remove the internal steel baffles, and install a heavy duty off-the-shelf flexible tank inside.
We’ve also delayed some other non-critical jobs in order to get cruising as our friend Chris arrives from New Zealand on 24 April and we want to get moving shortly after that.
I doubt there’s ever been a ship “set sail” with no outstanding jobs on their list!
Here’s hoping that all goes well with launching - that there are no leaking seacocks, that our three engines all fire up, and that the water maker and other equipment not yet tested all works. Read about it in a few days.
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