We sorted the engine by the simple change of one of the three in-line fuel filters, but I felt very unsure about using the engine knowing that clearly we had mucky fuel. So we put in 200 litres of new fuel on top of the old with the idea of diluting the muck a bit (on advice from engineers). 100 litres in each of our two tanks.
Then I fretted some more that the muck was still in the fuel and so we had Darthaven suck out the entire content of our tanks and "polish" it all down to 2 microns - a minascule particle size. It turned out that there was a total of 250 litres in the tanks. 200 of which I had put in. Which meant we were running on the very dregs of the tanks which was a surprise because the fuel guages and the previous owner informed us that we had about 300 litres in there already, when in fact we had 50!
So we'd have been better off simply dumping the tank's content, and refueling. Ah well. At least we know now. Also changed all three filters this time, learned how to "bleed the fuel lines", and got a double-sized filter element put on the primary filter. So we have much cleaner fuel, and a filter system that will take twice as long to clog - so touch wood, we'll be OK for a while.
While all this was going on, both of our toilets failed. Much grunting and disinfecting my hands later, and a trip to Plymouth, we are now the proud owners of two brand new loos, properly installed with anti-syphon loops etc, which it turned out the old ones weren't, which is quite bad!
And at the same time as all of this we discovered more leaks of rain through the deck.
And it was cold and raining and windy.
And then we got really really miserable and booked into a hotel that allows dogs, at a crazy price for a Saturday night, of £59 total. We showered, shaved (well I did), and watched the olypics on the tele all night. And it was the night of all the gold medals for the UK so it really cheered us up. Not that we're particularly patriotic or anything but it was just so nice to see such happy people. It rubbed off on us a bit - as the grime of two weeks toilet work rubbed away.
Then Nina got a temperature of 39.2 and we had a horrid night of her crying and looking very sorry for herself while we phone the hospital and administered Calpol. Rose felt that the added time to get to shore before we could then drive to hospital was a worrying thing for this and potential future emergencies. We all got pretty miserable again quite quickly, back aboard.
Then when we went to the launderette an old woman with a bag of washing literally ran past me as I approached the door in order to beat me to the machine, and informed us it would be at least 2 hours before she was done, which meant we couldn't do our washing (which is growing in magnitude rapidly).
Some good things then began to happen...
Nina was diagnosed with tonsillitis and given antibiotics which seemed to have an immediate effect - perhaps partly because they taste of strawberries.
So Rose felt happier.
So I felt happier.
Then engine didn't fail when we moved back to the anchorage.
I found the best place yet to drop the anchor so we're not swinging into things any more (for now).
I fixed the final through-deck leak! Which is such a relief because I did it without having to take the boat apart as I thought I'd have to!
I realised that the solar panels I installed are actually keeping us topped up with charge even with the fridge on all the time (which we're now having to do in order to keep Nina's meds cool).
And we found a launderette in Dartmouth which will take your washing in, do it for you, and then you just collect it, for not a lot of dosh.
And the sun came out!
So I had a barbecue or two.
Unfortunately the forecast for later shows some stronger winds coming our way so I may decide to move which is a pain. I've decided that if the forecast shows winds of over 20 knots, we'll move to the visitors pontoon. This is annoying as it costs us £10 a night there for the mooring (anchoring is pretty much free) and it's quite a distance from town so we also end up using the water taxi a lot more rather than rowing like usual, which again is free.
Anchoring though has its disadvantages. We have to be aboard every 6 hours for the tide turn, and there's the constant worry of swinging or dragging into something. We're super keen not to put the harbour master out in any way so are being very diligent.
On my list of things to do this winter though is definitely to upgrade to 10mm chain (we're on 8mm now which is somewhat lacking for a boat this size) and also going to buy a whopping great modern anchor. We're on a 20kg Delta at the moment which is oversized for our boat and has not dragged a mm so far, touch wood, and it does well in anchor comparison tests, but not as well as some of the modern alternatives.
Peace of mind in the anchorage is so underrated, especially at 3 in the morning in the rain when the wind's up and you have work the next day and it's cold and the anchor drag alarm keeps going off (because it's stupid, not because we've dragged).
The neighbours...

Nina's Cell

Nina in her LJ
