All in all it was a good week.
It would have been nice to get in more sailing but we made good use of the time spent weatherbound and we've now got a fully fitted out bridge deck, the batterys moved, shelves in the cupboard above the nav table and the starboard quarter berth reinforced so it doesn't sag when you sit on it any more!
We've also got a working float switch on the bilge pump, the bilges have been cleaned out thoroughly and much space created in the cockpit lockers (no doubt that will fill up PDQ though).
Flogging the tide and chop out of the Crouch up the Whitaker on Thursday morning wasn't a barrel of laughs but once across the Spitway we had a good sail up to Stone Point. Not perfect but not bad. Given that we nearly bailed out and turned back at the Wallet Spitway buoy given how long it had taken to get there it was satisfying to drop the hook at our originally planned destination just as the light faded into darkness. A close run thing though as I wouldn't have fancied getting in there for the first time in darkness.
Having to promptly come back the next day was a nuisance but, after another fairly unpleasant thrash under power to get out to Medusa, we had a stonking sail back down the Wallet, into the Crouch and up to Fambridge. Without a doubt, the best sailing so far and furthermore the first time my passage plan has worked to near perfection. The only flaw was a pilotage error in holding on all the way down to the Wallet Spitway buoy which meant we were being carried onto the Buxey by the combined effects of tide, leeway and wave action. I'll know better next time and cut across much sooner.
On the down side, the engine simply has to go. It drank an entire 23 litres of petroil in not much over 6 hours of running, that's not far short of 4 litres an hour. What's more, I'm not convinced it's delivering as much power as it was earlier in the year and it still has a habit of cutting out when its hot and its throttled back.
To make matters worse, whilst I can tolerate the noise and smell, Rik finds it all but unbearable. All three owners are in agreement - it's time for a new engine as soon as we can raise the cash and find a suitable unit. My strong inclination is to go the whole nine yards and fit a brand new single cylinder 6hp unit. I estimate we;ll recover around half the cost in fuel savings over 3 to 4 years which coincidentally is how long I anticipate we'll keep Brigantia. At the end of that time, the engine will be worth at least half of what it cost new so we should break even on costs (although there will be servicing costs with a new engine if we want to keep the warranty valid of course).
Ah well, it's only money!
No comments:
Post a Comment