We’ve now completed all of the out-of-water jobs we can do ourselves and are waiting for the leaking diesel tank and Yanmar prop shaft to be repaired.
Work started on the tank today – removing all of the plumbing attached to the exterior of the tank, then the stainless steel mesh, then a plywood facing which had to be destroyed to remove it, so a new plywood facing will be needed. Now the tank is much more exposed, and it’s been filled with water so that tomorrow they’ll use a miniature camera again to confirm the area of the leak. The final repair plan depends on just where the leak is.
The Yanmar prop shaft has been modified and is ready to be installed. We definitely needed to do this job because for example, if we have any future problems with the Yanmar gearbox we’d have to pull Envoy out of the water and remove the gearbox and prop shaft as one piece – and that makes no sense at all.
Our best guess for launching Envoy is now mid next week. Then there’s only a few jobs left to be done – most importantly starting the water maker.
Greece obviously has many economic problems impacting on the populace, particularly high unemployment (especially under age 30) and reducing benefits. A 61 year old shopkeeper told us he formerly received a pension of Euro 2,800 per month (about NZ$4,300) and has so far suffered five cuts, so that it is now Euro 1,200 (about NZ$1,846) per month. He also mentioned that at one point the government had no money, so the pension was not paid for three months. As a matter of interest, in NZ you don’t qualify for the pension until age 65 and for a couple the pension is about $2,548 per month (before tax). Medical care used to be almost free, but now, although accident treatment is free patients have to pay 25% of the cost of any medications.
I’m always surprised by the cost of dry-cell batteries, particularly “D” type at Euro 3.44 (about NZ$5.30) each. Some of our flashlights require four or six of these, whereas you can buy LED torches with “AA” batteries included for about Euro 5 (NZ$7.70). When replacing the “AA” batteries they are Euro 0.40 (NZ$0.63) each, and nowadays the small high quality LED torches are as bright as a large conventional flashlights. Sure you can buy Chinese D batteries for half the price, but they last next to no time, and when you need a flashlight on a boat you need it to work. We’ll be gradually moving over to LED flashlights.
Work started on the tank today – removing all of the plumbing attached to the exterior of the tank, then the stainless steel mesh, then a plywood facing which had to be destroyed to remove it, so a new plywood facing will be needed. Now the tank is much more exposed, and it’s been filled with water so that tomorrow they’ll use a miniature camera again to confirm the area of the leak. The final repair plan depends on just where the leak is.
The Yanmar prop shaft has been modified and is ready to be installed. We definitely needed to do this job because for example, if we have any future problems with the Yanmar gearbox we’d have to pull Envoy out of the water and remove the gearbox and prop shaft as one piece – and that makes no sense at all.
Our best guess for launching Envoy is now mid next week. Then there’s only a few jobs left to be done – most importantly starting the water maker.
Greece obviously has many economic problems impacting on the populace, particularly high unemployment (especially under age 30) and reducing benefits. A 61 year old shopkeeper told us he formerly received a pension of Euro 2,800 per month (about NZ$4,300) and has so far suffered five cuts, so that it is now Euro 1,200 (about NZ$1,846) per month. He also mentioned that at one point the government had no money, so the pension was not paid for three months. As a matter of interest, in NZ you don’t qualify for the pension until age 65 and for a couple the pension is about $2,548 per month (before tax). Medical care used to be almost free, but now, although accident treatment is free patients have to pay 25% of the cost of any medications.
I’m always surprised by the cost of dry-cell batteries, particularly “D” type at Euro 3.44 (about NZ$5.30) each. Some of our flashlights require four or six of these, whereas you can buy LED torches with “AA” batteries included for about Euro 5 (NZ$7.70). When replacing the “AA” batteries they are Euro 0.40 (NZ$0.63) each, and nowadays the small high quality LED torches are as bright as a large conventional flashlights. Sure you can buy Chinese D batteries for half the price, but they last next to no time, and when you need a flashlight on a boat you need it to work. We’ll be gradually moving over to LED flashlights.
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