Wednesday 11th September 2013 - Back Afloat
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2013 1:30 pm
At anchor in the middle of the Dart as I type this, back afloat.
Rose isn't 100% but she's much much better than she was before and seems to be coping well with the maritime life.
Such a shame we missed all the warm weather - it's quite chilly in the mornings now. Might have to light the fire soon!
The mood aboard is OK but everything seems like quite a struggle at the moment, and for not a lot of obvious gain. Perhaps the novelty of life on a boat is wearing off. Nina seems buoyant though (scuse pun) - loving all the boats and wildlife - but we've all had a lovely time with our parents in the warm summer months in Whitby and are missing that now. Unsure what we'd have done when Rose was ill, had it not been for the assistance of our folks. Thank you!!
Hopefully the not obvious joy that suffering brings will return before long
Re-launch went without a hitch.
I'd bled a small amount of air out of the final fuel bleed screw the night before launch, and the engine fired up without hesitation. When I'd bled it I also noticed that one of the two bleed screws on the fuel injector pump was missing its copper washer. Don't recall if it has always been that way or not, but it should have one. It's the deformation of the copper that creates a good seal between two imperfect surfaces. Not having a washer to hand, I put some Loctite gunk on it (specifically intended for fuel systems) and nipped it up. Since then I've been making sure we start the engine every 12 hours so we don't find ourselves in an emergency having to bleed the fuel system... and since then the engine has started flawlessly. Have I perhaps finally solved our air in fuel issue!?!? I'm pessimistic to be honest; having thought I'd fixed it a number of times now. But my fingers are crossed and I'm touching wood etc.
We set off to motor to Dittisham for our obligatory post launch meal and first night afloat... as we approached a port hand mark in the channel Rose and I realised simultaneously that something wasn't quite right, and the depth started to plummet... and then I remembered that port hand marks are meant to be left to starboard on the way down a river - and swung violently to avoid imminent death (or more realistically: imminent getting stuck in the mud for a few minutes). Oops. Embarrassed. That's _definitely_ the last time I'll do that (I've said that before).
Picked up buoy with much style - on first attempt.
Next morning departed, motored to Dartmouth and anchored, where I am now. First night here was stressful with wind much higher than forecast. I put a drogue out from the bowsprit to keep the bow out into the tide, this stabilised us nicely despite the wind over tide conditions that have previously seen us doing what I call 'the anchor dance' where we hoof back and forth across the anchorage at speed. All seems to have settled down now though so things are a little more relaxing.
No plans to _do_ anything yet. Just going to see how things pan out. The forecast for the weekend looks pretty poor. Might be spending the weekend on a pontoon (due to high wind making anchoring annoying/stressful) at this rate.
Rose isn't 100% but she's much much better than she was before and seems to be coping well with the maritime life.
Such a shame we missed all the warm weather - it's quite chilly in the mornings now. Might have to light the fire soon!
The mood aboard is OK but everything seems like quite a struggle at the moment, and for not a lot of obvious gain. Perhaps the novelty of life on a boat is wearing off. Nina seems buoyant though (scuse pun) - loving all the boats and wildlife - but we've all had a lovely time with our parents in the warm summer months in Whitby and are missing that now. Unsure what we'd have done when Rose was ill, had it not been for the assistance of our folks. Thank you!!
Hopefully the not obvious joy that suffering brings will return before long
Re-launch went without a hitch.
I'd bled a small amount of air out of the final fuel bleed screw the night before launch, and the engine fired up without hesitation. When I'd bled it I also noticed that one of the two bleed screws on the fuel injector pump was missing its copper washer. Don't recall if it has always been that way or not, but it should have one. It's the deformation of the copper that creates a good seal between two imperfect surfaces. Not having a washer to hand, I put some Loctite gunk on it (specifically intended for fuel systems) and nipped it up. Since then I've been making sure we start the engine every 12 hours so we don't find ourselves in an emergency having to bleed the fuel system... and since then the engine has started flawlessly. Have I perhaps finally solved our air in fuel issue!?!? I'm pessimistic to be honest; having thought I'd fixed it a number of times now. But my fingers are crossed and I'm touching wood etc.
We set off to motor to Dittisham for our obligatory post launch meal and first night afloat... as we approached a port hand mark in the channel Rose and I realised simultaneously that something wasn't quite right, and the depth started to plummet... and then I remembered that port hand marks are meant to be left to starboard on the way down a river - and swung violently to avoid imminent death (or more realistically: imminent getting stuck in the mud for a few minutes). Oops. Embarrassed. That's _definitely_ the last time I'll do that (I've said that before).
Picked up buoy with much style - on first attempt.
Next morning departed, motored to Dartmouth and anchored, where I am now. First night here was stressful with wind much higher than forecast. I put a drogue out from the bowsprit to keep the bow out into the tide, this stabilised us nicely despite the wind over tide conditions that have previously seen us doing what I call 'the anchor dance' where we hoof back and forth across the anchorage at speed. All seems to have settled down now though so things are a little more relaxing.
No plans to _do_ anything yet. Just going to see how things pan out. The forecast for the weekend looks pretty poor. Might be spending the weekend on a pontoon (due to high wind making anchoring annoying/stressful) at this rate.