Little and Large

A few weeks ago we discovered the old battery charger  was not working, and therefore so as not to spoil our half term holiday in Wells we relied on a small portable charger from home for the week. This worked well, however since it had to work to its limit at times we had to cool it with a portable mains fan. 

Upon our return to Goole, the old Guest battery charger was removed for testing at home. We initially thought our luck was in, as we found two blown fuses inside the unit. We obtained some 10amp time delay fuses from Maplin, replaced these and plugged the unit into the mains and attempted to charge a battery to prove itself. Unfortunately this blew the mains fuse in the house which didn't bode well with our younger daughter who was on her gaming console at the time (slapped hands!), so we knew that there was something seriously wrong with it even though there were no visible signs. 

We then had to resign ourselves to the expense of a new unit. We decided on a Merlin Kisae Abso 40amp four stage battery charger from Cactus Navigation who were cheaper than other suppliers. This particular unit was chosen as you can prioritise your domestic battery bank over the engine start batteries. It also has a lot higher output than the old one and is considerably smaller in physical size. This was fitted last week and everything seems much more lively, so the old unit must have been on its last legs for a while now. 

It has now come to our attention that the starboard alternator was charging over voltage, and it looks as if the voltage regulator has gone faulty. This has been removed for repair, and we hope to have this sorted by next weekend.

 

This past week we have been busy with cleaning and new waterproofing of the newer and old canopies at home. Moonshines canopy was removed and replaced for the old blue one for the week.  This has been quite time consuming as the first stage of the sandy coloured newer canopy was to treat it with Patio Magic. It was then hung on the washing line at home for several days to let the biocide work, and allow any green or mould to be killed...this is an excellent product which is safe to use around animals and for use on fabric. The canopy then underwent a thorough wash, and finally once dried treated with Fabsil to waterproof it. A 5litre Fabsil container was obtained from EBay for £21.38 which was considerably cheaper than our local shops. The canopy is now back on Moonshine, and we decided to give the old blue canopy a quick treatment of the latter along with the dogs rain coats which were loosing their water resistance thick and fast.

We now have six weeks before our main holidays, with the next two weekends being disrupted due to work commitments. Hopefully...everything will be in tip top condition for our trip south.

Wells-next-the-Sea at long last!

We departed Goole on the early morning tide on Sunday bound for Grimsby. A day behind schedule due to the wind which had whipped up on the Saturday, and coupled with a very strong spring  tide we thought we would leave it an extra day so as not to get a battering. Having said that even on the Sunday with a strong westerly 4-5 it wasn't very pleasant in places, but we arrived in one piece covering 39.7 nautical miles, with the only thing playing up being the battery charger. We made a quick trip home on the Saturday to fetch our car battery charger to get us out of the mire, but it's looking like a new charger upon our return....yet more expense!

 

With the wind forecast due to significantly subside on the Sunday evening tide, and looking relatively settled for the forthcoming week, we decided to head to Wells-next-the-Sea for the week and forget about Newark. The past couple of years at Spring Bank the weather has not been suitable for us to make the long passage down the coast without worrying about the journey back as soon as we arrive. We once had to abandon Moonshine for a week in Wells and we did not want to run the risk of doing that again. However, the weather was settled and the decision made!

 

After a very smooth run at sea with another 53.5 nautical miles under our belt, we arrived at Wells where we planned on spending several nights.  We haven't visited Wells for a few years, and the extended pontoon and visitor facilities are a fantastic improvement. They plan on extending the pontoon further and purchasing a new boat hoist and making improvements to the slipway amongst other things as soon as revenue permits.

 

After spending a lazy 4 days thoroughly ensconced in Wells we decided Friday was the day to leave bound for Hull Marina. It was such a shame as the weather was lovely, however with a gentle southerly breeze behind us and with the breeze turning north westerly f 1/2 the further up the coast we travelled, we enjoyed a nice calm run back logging 72.7 nautical miles.

 

We departed Hull Marina on Saturday homeward bound. The river was quite rough off Hull, so we travelled at displacement speed in a fresh westerly f4 until we got to the south side of the river which was significantly calmer and were then able to plane up to Goole covering another 22.2 nautical miles. 

We have logged a total of 188.1 nautical miles this past week, and Moonshine and her recently refurbished outdrives have certainly proved themselves. A fantastic if not lazy week away with excellent weather conditions...it goes to show that it has been calmer at sea than in the river both ways. We just need to inspect the battery charger now to see if this is repairable, if not it will be a new unit.