Meanwhile, I went down to Totnes on Saturday to try to resolve the stiffness in the steering system that began to be noticeable at the end of last season. Getting access to the bottom of the wheel pedestal and the gearbox below it involved climbing into the cockpit locker and taking apart the box that covers the central heating system. I'm really too tall for this kind of thing!
The downside of bigger boats is the amount of extra kit that gets fitted - lovely when it all works but another maintenance chore. In previous boats the cockpit locker was just that - a space to put ropes, fenders, and if you were lucky, a deflated dinghy. Maunie's locker has all sorts of plumbing for bilge pumps, toilets, sewage holding-tank and deck shower as well as the diesel blown-air heating system (which looks and sounds like a small jet engine!)and a vent fan which extracts stale air from the bilges:
I finally got to the root of the problem - removed the electronic autopilot motor and gearbox from the main steering gearbox and suddenly the wheel moved smoothly without a hint of friction. So the faulty autopilot has now been left with the local expert for repair. Whilst it was a tricky job to get the thing out, I'm pleased to have found the fault and am now planning a modification to the locker to allow better access in future.
The top of the rudder post after removing the autopilot motor. The grey round unit above is the steering gearbox.
Back home on Sunday the wonderful Sailrite sewing machine has been well used again - repairing the 'stackpack' cover for the mainsail and fitting a new zip to it. Over the years sunlight had rotted the stitching, though the materieal was still perfectly sound, so I had to replace quite a lot of seams but it should be good for another few years now. Another job ticked off the list, but lots still to do!
