Thésée gets a new solar arch and panels
Thursday 25th August...
Linda - As promised, this week's big news is about Thesee's new solar arch and panels. We had to take the boat across the marina to the boatyard, where we spent two days and one night alongside the quay so that the workmen could have easy access. I'm handing over to Dean for the technical write up....
Before we left our berth for the boatyard.
Bimini cover removed.
Approaching the boatyard now
We were alongside the quay next to the big travel lift
Dean - I designed a supporting arch for the new panels using 30mm tube. I wanted to keep welding to a minimum and opted to clamp the arch to the existing bimini frame which we beefed up a little a couple of weeks ago.
Test fitting
Stainless steel workshop
More test fitting
Nearly there
Now the panels
and the other one
Securing the panels
Double checking
Adjustments
Re-fitting the bimini
Checking the output
Fitting the bimini side shades
Checking the performance again
Almost complete
Here we can see the performance over the last 30 days or so, then two days switched off and then the new panels. Yippee, more than twice the previous panels output. All went quite well during the build process except they cut the forward arch a little short so this had to be fitted in front of the back stay instead of behind it and because of this I needed two extra brackets for support. I designed these and had the workshop weld them up for me. I had to modify theses a little as by this time everything was in place they were difficult to fit.
Difficult to fit with everything in place
Small modifications
Overall I'm quite pleased with how it has all turned out. I'm sure the lads in the workshop are glad to see the back of me now it's finished. They work so slowly! 9.30am to 6pm numerous tea breaks and two hour lunch.
Anyway next job.... Dyneema soft shackles to secure the safety lines (jack stays) at the bow.
Handmade Dyneema soft shackles
Linda - Whilst we were berthed at the boatyard we also saw two turtles, a dolphin, and one fisherman overboard. I was glad to get back to our normal berth on Saturday because the afternoon winds had been pushing us against the quay. During the solar works I thought I would have two days to myself when I could catch up with one of my hobbies.... Family History research. It didn't go quite to plan as being further away from the marina meant the internet was virtually non existent and we didn't have any data on our MiFi. So I had to resort to going food shopping instead.
It was Sunday when we re-attached the side shades to the bimini. They needed a little bit of tweaking and readjusting which didn't take too long really. Then we went off to the Sunday BBQ, this week my cocktail sticks design was marshmallow, brownie, and peach. I must try and take a photo next time, they looked quite pretty on the serving plate.
Now the solar arch and panels are up and running we've been trying to get away sailing for a few days. Problem is we keep delaying because there's been some strong afternoon winds down in Kekova where we want to go to. Currently we are planning to go on Saturday, fingers crossed.
To keep occupied we've been on two bike rides this week, first one was on Tuesday. We found that some of the coastal park had been boarded off which meant we had to cycle down the main street for a short distance before we could get onto the beach promenade. There are a number of beach cafe's to choose from, so we tried a new one. Our coffees were served on a little wooden tray with a vase of flowers.... how cute. And they had some really big chairs in the shape of a stiletto shoe.
Beautiful presentation
There was a lovely breeze keeping us cool at the beach cafe
Just had to get a photo on the stiletto chair
There was quite a lot of cumulus nimbus over the land yesterday. Those big white fluffy clouds are so pretty but the down side it signals rain is coming. Not had any yet though in the marina. The temperature has gone down a few degrees this week. I don't know if that's normal or whether it's because of the winds. In the morning when we get up our thermometer inside the boat is usually around 28 degrees and around 34 degrees outside. But this week it has been about 3 degrees less. Top temperature this week I've seen is 38 degrees.
Today's bike ride was a new one for us. We cycled along the riverbank (that's different to the canal). Again it was quite pretty with parkland greenery and easy cycling. I think we were virtually out of town by the time the pathway came to an end. The river splits into two and we sat for a while resting and watching some ducks when a turtle popped his head up.... He was a biggie.
Riverside cycling
Parkland for picnics
Mosque on the outskirts of town
End of the trail
Turtle Island
Thursday 1st September...
Linda - Just enough time left for a short Thésée trip up to Kekova. In fact, we are still here 5 days later. It was a chance to test the new solar panels at anchor, and the weather forecast was favourable so off we went. Just a three hour journey and surprisingly quite pleasant.
Approaching Kekova
Reaching one of our favourite anchorages... Gokkaya Limani
AKA Smuggler's Cove
It was a fab afternoon, you can tell by the calm waters in the next photo. Dean is looking pleased with himself. He took the opportunity to replace the (old chaffed and frayed) snubbered shorelines with some better lines which he made appear from the depths of Thesee's bilges. I have to admit they are looking much more healthy now. Apparantly the old lines were some that he kept from his previous boat many many moons ago.
That's better
A close up of the snubber with new line
Next morning was idyllic, the water like glass. It's a favourite spot here for many yachties and daytripper boats. Saturday had been busy but not as much as we expected and Sunday was very quiet. I even went in the water... and enjoyed it!
Next day and another reason for coming here was for Dean to give Thesee's bottom a quick scrub. There wasn't much growth on it in comparison to previous times. It does seem to have fared better in Turkish waters, but maybe that's because Thesee was ashore last winter and received lots of TLC. Anyway, it was also a chance to clean and check the prop.
The most exciting news of the day was that after one night at anchor the batteries were back up to 100% by 1pm thanks to the new solar panels. This is fantastic news, we are so happy, they are working brilliantly.
On Monday we were enjoying the location so much it was hard to drag ourselves away, so we didn't. Instead we went ashore for a short ramble around to the Smuggler's Inn. It's tucked away in a small inlet here, just a small bar but with loads of character.
Having a mooch on the way ashore
Landing quay....sort of
Here's some photos taken on the walk.....
We're on the Lycian Way...
A painted waymarker on the rocks
Arrival at Smuggler's Inn
Really??
Both Ukraine and Russian flags on the wall...
and a photo of the 'Village People' 😅
Rock stars
...and posters
By Tuesday morning we had been at anchor for 3 nights and every day the batteries had come up to 100% by 1pm. How great is that. Thank you solar panels. We love you 💙
We thought we had better move on or we would have spent all week there. So off we went to another anchorage about 5 miles away, still in Kekova roads though. A spot we came to last time we visited. We call this one Chip anchorage (officially called Sicak Koyu, or Aperlai), because apparantly they do the best chips in Turkey. We ate there later on, and yes the chips were amazing, but the meatballs and lamb was very poor indeed.
When we arrived at 10.30am we saw that our friends on Kailani were here too, along with a couple of other yachts. A Turkish boat came in later with all flags flying. It seems that it was 'Victory Day' in Turkey, celebrating the victory at the Battle of Dumlupinar in 1922.
En-route to Tuesday's anchorage
Passing Kalekoy
Spaceship?
Chip anchorage, looking out towards the East
Wednesday morning sunrise
The lovely sunrise was before the afternoon winds set in, which weren't bad but it kept us onboard monitoring the situation.
Finally today we've gone into the inner lagoon to get a bit of shopping and offload the rubbish. It's a lovely little village here and tonight we are planning to go ashore and eat at Hassan's which should be much better we hope.
All week Dean has been sanding some patches on the hull, trying to remove some scratches that we received back in the Peloponnese on a dodgy quay. It's a tireless job trying to keep Thesee sparkling in the sunlight, especially when you are standing in a dinghy bobbing around with various degrees of sandpaper in your hand.
Today's anchorage in the inner lagoon
Scenic rocks
Daytripper boats
A lot of watery photos this week. Tomorrow we shall head back to Finike. Next week I'll be doing the blog on Tuesday. Ta Ta for now.
Tuesday 6th September...
Linda - We finished off our Kekova visit last Thursday with an evening meal at Hassan's kitchen. He has a big sign up written in German, and we translated it to 'Best Chef in the Mediterranean'. That's quite a bold statement we thought. However, the food we were served was lovely and a great end to our week away.
Enjoying ourselves at Hassan's place
On Friday before we headed back to Finike we stopped off for a quick swim back in Smuggler's Cove. This time there was space to go further in to about 4 metres depth. It was a good spot, but I quite prefer our 7 metre spot somehow. Dean had a swim, but a few silly old fish appeared and so I chickened out at the last minute.
It was 1pm by the time we set off proper. The winds were light and we were able to do an hour or so of slow sailing. Also, it was chance to take some photos of our sails. Dean wants to buy a new mainsail and genoa. He's been getting various quotes recently. It seems ridiculous but we didn't know (after owning Thesee for 8 years) if our mainsail was cross-cut or tri-radial. Answer.... it's tri-radial.
The mainsail
Main and Genoa
Made by Elvstrom
Typically it was blowing 20 knots when we arrived at Finike marina. We were hoping to get the same berth as before but someone was in it, and so we had to go into another space. It's annoying.... you would think that having an annual berthing contract you would be allocated a permanent space. Doesn't seem to work like that for us. The new berth is OK anyway, just disappointing when you expect your place back. Anyway the good news was that we arrived in time for Friday Happy Hour at the Red Lion.
Next day we got stuck into some jobs that needed doing as we go home for a few weeks on Wednesday. Jobs included..... cover dinghy, secure the boom and wrap rope around lazy bag and snood, take the log out of the water, visit laundry lady, flush the outboard engine and wash down, clean the anchor and chain. During the monthly maintenance checks Dean found a small amount of water by one of the keel coolers. We ascertained that it was fresh water, as he also made me taste it....nice! He thinks it's from the freezer and after fixing the problem he's monitored it all week and all seems ok now.
Here's a photo of Dean about to take the log out of the water. I took the photo a bit too quickly and missed the gush of water as he swapped it for the sealed cap.
Dean about to take the log out of the water
Quickly replacing it with a cap
In our new berth Thesee's stern was a little too close to the wall, and the passarelle not positioning properly, so we decided to pull the boat forward about a foot. There is one lazy line at the bow which holds us off the quay. Dean pulled it in about a foot, and then as we were adjusting the stern lines to suit his thumb got stuck and he yelped like I've never heard him yelp before. It was my fault, having gone into reverse and then back to neutral the line pulled bar tight with his thumb caught. It was an automatic reaction to immediately put the boat back into reverse and he was set free. His thumb is OK but it could have been so much worse. I think the pain was so bad at the time he was beyond swearing, he just yelped!
Sunday was the weekly BBQ, this week we bought a cake and it went down very well with the yachties. I'm not really sure what it was, we thought it looked like Tiramisu, but it was in fact a milky kind of moist sponge with caramel type topping. Quite nice in small amounts.
Monday, Dean went to check if he owed the yard any money for the last two brackets for the new solar arch. While he was there he found a water filter for sale and bought it. You remember back in the summertime our water filter cover cracked and we ended up with a bilge full of water. He's been trying to buy a new cover for weeks without luck. This new filter was slightly different but he has now fitted it and it's working just great.
New water filter (strainer)
We're almost ready to depart for home, just as we notice that a new establishment is almost ready to open it seems.... Pub & Bar... Something to look forward to when we get back.
A walk around the marina to waste a little time after having lunch in town. It's still hot hot hot here, not sure when it will start to cool down. A few photos to finish off with.
Venturing along the breakwater
Looking towards the town
...and to the marina
Head to wind on the end of the breakwater
Stern to wind 😀
See you in a few weeks Finike.
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