Progess, of sorts, and the training begins

Dianne has just started a 9-day ship's medical course in the Hamble so that we can embark on our voyage with confidence and a full medical kit. As I write she's just completed day 2 (burn and breakages); at the end of day 4 the students get an assessment on the first aid element before they go on to the second, 5-day element of 'second aid'.

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!

Signed up for the ARC 2012 - and a minor (?) problem

Well, we've finally bitten the bullet and announced that we're off on a big sailing adventure this Autumn. We're leaving work at the end of June and aim to sail off at the end of August. We've signed up to join the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers which leave the Canaries for St Lucia on the 24th November. All very exciting and slightly scary!

So the to-do list has reached epic and compelling proportions. Di is about to go off on a 9 day medical course and we're both doing an Ocean Safety course in April. Graham will go on a SSB radio course in July and we're looking at options for satellite phones, email access and so on.



Meanwhile, the boat work continues with routine maintenance to follow the repaint. Unfortunately, a check of the steering system has unearthed a problem with seized bolts and a binding bearing so the next trip down to Totnes will involve much swearing as I access the bottom of the wheel pedestal from the cockpit locker. The ideal boat engineer is 4' tall with 6' long arms; this is not me so I sense a struggle ahead!

Missing the sailing!

We're really finding it hard not having Maunie in the water at the moment; normally we get some great winter sailing. Having said that, we were pleased to have her safely tucked up in the sheltered boatyard during the gales of the past couple of weeks.

We're looking forward to getting back aboard around Easter time and, in the meantime, this video keeps us going. If you haven't seen it, it was filmed coming back from Ireland in 2010, with spinnaker set, autoplilot in charge, bright sunshine and 'Perfect day' on the stereo.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itBxYD9-eS0

Sorry the hyperlink may not work, so you'll need to copy it into your web browser!

Making our own entertainment!

A few months ago we bought a Sailright sewing machine - a wonderfully solid bit of kit designed to sew sails and canvas. So far we've made a couple of covers, done some running repairs to the bimini (cockpit sunshade) and have plans to make other bits and pieces for the boat.

However, we decided that we'd have a shot at making some Christmas presents so set about the old staysail from our last boat, Gentoo of Ardwall, with the scissors. After some trial and error we've build 4 bags from the sail, complete with(largely decorative) top flap which uses one of the bronze sail hanks as its clip.








Very pleased with the results (as are the recipients we're glad to report) and we've enjoyed the project.

Out into the cold and damp

After a few weeks in the shed, all the work is now completed so Maunie's back outside for the winter. Luckily, the previous owner had a wonderful three-part tailored waterproof cover made for her so, after a bit of sewing to repair zips and a couple of minor holes, we spent Saturday fitting it (slightly easier said than done!).



The boat's no longer anonymous, with her new lettering applied to the transom.



We'll spend weekends over the winter sorting odd maintenance jobs but she's already well prepared for the coming season.

More post-repaint work - re-fitting the Windpilot

Whilst Maunie is still inside the Baltic Wharf Repairs shed we thought it'd be a good idea to refit the boarding ladder and the Windpilot self-steering gear onto the transom. Unfortunately we had discovered, through email correspondence with the Windpilot people in Germany, that the original installation was 'very bad' - the designer, Peter, asked for more photos to be sent and advised that the upper and lower mounting brackets were too close together and the angle of dangle was entirely wrong.

So, what we thought would be a case of 'just' re-bolting the 60kg aluminium kit using existing bolt holes turned into about 6 hours of fiddling with the geometry of the beast to get a better angle. Of course, we'd get one bit right, then have to adjust one of the lower legs only to find that it had put the original measurements out. After much fiddling, we eventually got to the best compromise, took a brave pill and drilled four new holes for the lower brackets. Just hope it's OK!







I should, perhaps, explain what the Windpilot does (though the name sort of explains it). On a long offshore passage we can attach a wind vane to the top, lock the main steering wheel and then the Windpilot steers the boat using its own rudder to keep the boat at the same angle to the wind. Unlike 'Constance', our electronic autopilot, 'Winnie' does this completely silently and uses no electricity. However, if the direction of the wind shifts, the boat will just follow it so Winnie isn't great for use on coastal passages.

We finally finished the job at about 4.30pm and now just have to find a neat way of hiding the original bolt holes!

The Vancouver Yachts Association dinner

We drove down to Chichester last weekend for an owners' open day at the Northshore yard where Maunie was built. Sadly, the Vancouver marque is being gently dropped by the company as they concentrate on producing Southerly lift-keel boats but there were quite a few Vancouver owners there.

An evocative sight greeted us as we walked around the yard - the original moulds, from which Maunie appeared back in 1997. It seems unlikely that they be ever used again, which is a great shame.








On a more positive note, we then went to the Vancouver Yachts Association annual dinner and met some really interesting folk - most of them have thousands of miles under their belts. We were particularly interested to talk to Kevin, an ex-Northshore director who had played an important part in the design of the pilothouse 34 and 38 and had sailed on Maunie several times with her first owner!