Thursday 4th March.... Linda - Charles Dickens once wrote "It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade". What better way to explain the weather we are enjoying at the moment. Superb for getting the washing dry, and a good job as we had a lot of washing this week. Dean found some disgarded pretty coloured pegs and so we were able to fill the two washing lines and all guard rails with our laundry. Just look...
Teak rails looks nice Dean
The new pump
The floor under the pump needed a bit of drying out so we left this job for the day. Meanwhile next day as part of the monthly checks he switched the engine on, and found that the batteries weren't charging. Turns out the alternator seemed to be at fault, but he couldn't pinpoint the exact problem. So, off came the alternator and was soon in bits on the kitchen worktop. This isn't the first time. Do you remember it was playing up when we were in Portugal and he had to order replacement parts then?
After a morning's fault finding he was no nearer to finding the answer. So Ant came round to have a look and they delved deeper. Still no luck and so this went on into the following day. They stripped it down further and found that the magnetic copper winding wire on the stator had a small break in it.
Two heads better than one
Close up of the magnetic wire
The sad alternator... still on my kitchen worktop
The boat has been upside down with all these goings on, and a big hole under the sink whilst the floor was drying out. I had to make sure that Saffy or myself didn't fall down it. The alternator issue is ongoing and maybe I will get Dean to explain it in more detail for the boys out there.
Today the new foot pump has been fitted so that's one job out of the way (even though it was new it had a small leak that Dean had to fix)!
Over to Dean for his explanation....
What a week! Eventually we found the issue with the alternator. The inner rotor shown here is wound with copper wire which generates an electric field when it's spun at high revs. One end of the wire had broken off, but of course it's snapped off real close to the inside so I can't reach it to reattach. Anyway I hope to either dismantle the rotor, unwind the broken wire one revolution and re-attach, or but a new rotor or buy a new alternator. Of course I would normally just go and buy a new one but it's special. I will keep looking but this is Sicily and things like this are very limited. I might find something in Europe but getting things from the UK is now impossible after Brexit as the locals delay everything and of course now charge import tax and VAT.
Three leg puller
New puller in action
Nothing has budged so far
We're rather frustrated with the boat problems, Brexit, and Covid. Life on the ocean wave is not everything we had hoped for, but at least we have the weather 🌞
Thursday 11th March 2021...Dean
We spent Monday searching around town for anybody with a hydraulic press that I could use, I did find one but Noah's dad was using it and his brain had the day off so I declined his offer to squash my fingers and the alternator rotor and decided to have a go re-winding with everything in place.
Setting up
Wire now off
Wire going back on
Bit of a mess
Finishing off
It went better after the second attempt but it still took three days. Not much swearing though! Just about getting the feeling back in my fingers now and my knee is recovering well...long story. I'll try it out tomorrow after the varnish has dried and see if it works.
I had a bit of spare time last weekend and managed to find a nice switch so I replaced the dodgy one which controls the side lamp in the saloon. Awkward to get at but not bad now it's finished.
New switch inside the cupboard for the lamp.
All thirsty work
We had another wine delivery of course, It's cheaper than diesel, well nearly. However in some cases it tastes similar.
Linda.... A few words from me.... As you all know, Dean is the most impatient person in the world. So watching him sit there patiently rewind his rotor wire for 3 days non-stop has been an eye opener. I really do hope it works when it's all back together, he so deserves it.
There's not been much time for other things apart from Saffy's walks and cooking dinner. We didn't even go to Tuesday's happy hour. The weather's still improving and this morning I even ate my cornflakes outside in the cockpit. So, not many photos to share this week I'm afraid.
Thursday 18th March... Linda - Happy Blog Day Thésée Followers. Well, Spring has unsprung and we are freezing again. We didn't come all this way to keep our coats on you know. Phil and Cris cheered us up with a gift of Flor de Cana dark rum for looking after their boat. Thanks guys. I like white rum but I'm sure I will be able to help Dean see this off.
I just have to tell you about the ongoing alternator job from last week. By Friday, Dean had finally got it all back together again and fixed it back in the engine.... We held our breath and switched the engine on and..... It worked!! We are so delighted, but we must keep our fingers crossed that there are no further issues with it. This alternator has been the most unreliable thing that we have on the boat. Dean has had to fix issues with it on numerous occasions. We can't just buy a new one because it's a special high powered alternator and not at all easy to get hold of. The dealer is in America and on top of the cost there is also VAT and import duty to pay, so we don't really want to be having any parts sent over.
So the alternator was sorted, and Dean also fixed the new leaky sea water foot pump. There was one more problem that cropped up during all of this. The fan that cools the engine was sticking, so off it came and was soon in pieces. Luckily it was a pretty quick fix. He tells me that the armature was dirty where the brushes connect. I have no idea what that means. Please no more engine issues.
Fan ready to be dismantled
In bits on my galley worktop
A smiling hubby on his relatively quick fix for a change
By the weekend we were getting wind of some info about the Covid restrictions tightening again. So we went to Blue Sky bar before they had to close down again. It must be so annoying for the bars and restaurants to keep opening and closing. We had a good time and as always a take-away pizza afterwards.
Saturday was sunny and Dean had a day off from fixing things, so we took a walk up to the castle to stretch our legs and get some fresh air. We did a reverse route this time, so up the main street to the castle, then down the country path and through the back streets of town.
Cobbled street up to the castle
Trees blossoming
Passing the cemetery
Dean still reckons people are dying to get in here
Up a bit higher now
There it is....up there on the top
More tree fruits....cones
Almost back at the marina we passed the Guardia Costeria and opposite we found an ice cream shop. It wasn't too difficult to take advantage of ice cream especially as we knew the non essential shops were going to be closed again. I had a Cherry flavour and Dean strawberry. It was absolutely delicious.
I can eat ice-cream with my eyes closed too
Well, you know what Dean is like. He can never stop working. He soon thought up something else to do, and that was to fit an extra sea cock into the sea/freshwater inlet pipe. During our recent issue with the sea water foot pump it occurred to him that if the original seacock faltered there was no back up to stop the water coming in. So now we have back up.
Seacocks under the galley floor
New extra seacock about to be fitted
Job done..... in a jiffy
We finally got time to get around to fitting the freezer insulation that Dean bought a few weeks ago. It was a full day job and after a slow start Dean got the technique going and went like a steam train. The main problem being that the gaps around the freezer were so small that he could hardly get his arms in. I must admit it was a tricky job, but good news is that after two days and numerous timings of the freezer fan switching on and off we've calculated that we will save 2 and a half hours of 'compressor on time' each day. So we are very very pleased with the result so far.
Freezer insulation in progress
This is the back of the freezer, almost next to the hull
We/Dean has to take the cooker out to get to this area
Now a view of the new black insulation
from the back of the sofa area
Thursday 25th March... Linda - and just like that it was almost the end of March. We've noticed the light nights a lot more this week. Either that, or dinner is getting earlier. A few more deliveries arrived. First was a litre of coppercoat for those touch up moments when Thesee is ashore. Also a toothbrush charger with a USB connector so that we can charge our electric toothbrush from the batteries when we are at anchor. And last but not least a spare repair kit for the engine water pump.
That stuff is real expensive!
On Friday we went with Ant & Cid on our bikes up to Lidl. It's a bit of a jaunt getting there as most of town is a one way system therefore a higgledy piggledy route in traffic, but coming back is a straight run and downhill too which is almost pleasurable. My bike gears are always very stiff (even though Dean has oiled them many times) and so Dean and I ended up changing bikes because I was stuck in sixth gear. He managed to get back in 3rd gear.
You know what Dean is like.....straight round the bike shop to buy a new gear cable, which he fitted it in no more than a jiffy, and here I am trying it out on the pontoon. It's perfect, and no more sore hands fighting to change gear.
Ready, Steady...
GO.... how brave I am to cycle along the pontoon
The weather has been pretty cold and rainy up until Tuesday. As there wasn't much to do we took a walk around the fishing port next door. A tall ship called Florette had arrived but it was rafted up against a fishing boat and we couldn't get much of a look.
You can only see the masts, lol
Apparantly, there are about four or five different boatyard concessions here and there were an awful lot of boats ashore. The travel lift was absolutely massive, capable of lifting 300 tons of boat. Thesee is 16 tons so would have looked like a shrimp in its slings.
Busy with boats on the hard
Travel Lift monster
One night we had burgers for dinner. Dean cooked them on our new griddle but it splashed all over the place. Still it made a change and they were cheeseburgers too. We also cooked a pork joint on the Cobb bbq, this time using charcoal (that someone had dumped by the bins), instead of a cobblestone. It cooked perfectly but took about 2 hours!
I thought the sailing life was supposed to be all about sunbathing and bacardi? So what's with all these never ending jobs I'm always talking about? Next up, Dean has ordered some spares for the boiler (he loves his spares). The boiler isn't broken and we always say 'if it's not broke don't fix it'. Trouble is Thesee is over 10 years old now (just a baby compared to Saffy dog) and while we can get the parts easily he thought he should take advantage. I bet he won't be able to resist, and as soon as they arrive I just know he will be fiddling. Here's a photo of the said boiler...
Photo should be sideways, so turn your head 😀
Saffy still tickles us with her antics, Her bed is in the front cabin but she can't resist dragging it as close as possible to the door adjoining the saloon as you can see here... Trouble is if you actually put her bed in the saloon she won't go in it...
Do you think she's just trying to steal the wine?
So we finally have had a couple of nice sunny days and the outlook is good. Dean has been itching to get started on the big pre-departure cleaning jobs but there was no point until the weather improved. Yesterday he had most of the canvas off and scrubbed it all on the pontoon. Sprayhood covers, snood, winch covers, wheel covers all hanging to dry, also the lazy bag and sprayhood got a clean as there was a lot of Sahara sand, and cement dust from the cement ship that comes and goes. Then he cleaned all the hatches with soapy water.
Mr C's washing day
The Sahara sand
Today he was on his hands and knees all day scrubbing the deck with oxalic acid as the deck was very very grimy and discoloured. He said this stuff is amazing.
We are hoping that we can maybe move on somewhere once Easter has passed. There's a regulations update on April 6th and we are keeping our fingers crossed. We're looking at all destinations but Croatia is still top of the list at the moment. We really don't know which countries will be open for business as things are constantly changing.
Last photos of the week now. Here we have removed our bed mattress in order to store the spare leftover freezer insulation. There was just about enough room with a squeeze as there's already a drogue down there along with lots of spare lines along with the bow thruster, water tank, and a large drawer.
Underneath our bed
The two bowthruster batteries
Here's the bowthruster, it's quite a beast
... and lastly the insulation ready to go on top of the water tank
Friday 2nd April..... HAPPY 11th BIRTHDAY to CHARLIE
Linda - Aha, so I was right last week, sailing IS all about sunshine and Bacardi. I had in fact run out of Bacardi and was being forced to drink Dean's dark rum. But this week we were shopping in Conad and saw that Bacardi was on offer. Instead of 14 euros it was 10.99. So we bought two bottles. Well to be honest we went back again a few days later and bought another two. So now I have four bottles 😀. That will keep me busy for quite a while I would expect.
Me and my best friends
We've had an amazing full moon this week. Most nights are clear and we've had great night-time views. It's a shame the photos never work out at when it's dark. These definately do not do it justice. I even changed the camera setting to suit but it didn't make much difference. So you'll have to take my word for it.
Moon over the masts
Here's another circular object. This one is made of fake grass and you have to guess who it is for?
Dean's jobs of the week....
1. Spent a morning helping a fellow yachtie to splice a line on his boat
2. More bicycle servicing and repairs to the sticking gear cable
3. Checked and poked around with the water outlet pipes in the bilges
4. Gave the deck a thoroughly good clean and polish
5. Polished all the stainless steel on deck
6. Helped Ant to put Eternite's main sail back on, including going up the mast
7. Monthly maintenance in which he also tested the chartplotter. Everything seems to be working 😀
8. Coloured my hair
Dean you are a man of many talents...
Eternite's main sail
Waiting for my hair to change colour
The big cement ship 'Sider Bergen' left and I just caught it on camera leaving the harbour. It's on its way to Croatia this time... maybe we could have asked for a free tow if we'd known.
Sider Bergen on it's way
Two of the liveaboard boats departed for Tunisia on Tuesday . It's an overnight crossing of about 30 hours across busy shipping lanes. We're waiting to hear about their experiences of checking into another country and how they get on with Covid tests and quarantine.
'Dusk' leaving for Tunisia
It feels good to see more movements on the water. There seems to be boats coming and going and also being moved for a haul out and return, so it's nice to have something to look at for a change. Next morning after 'Dusk' had left another boat took it's place, after being moved from the other side of the marina.
Well, I started this week's blog on the topic of alcohol so I may as well finish it that way. From the wine shop we ordered a 5 litre box of Cabernet instead of the bottles. Turns out it's more expensive as you have to pay for the box too. Think we'll stick to the bottles in future.
'Cin Cin' Everyone xx
The next post will be called 'Dreaming of our sailing days ahead'
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