Poor Maintainance

Over the last few weekends since Moonshine's outdrives were taken to Kent for overhaul, work has been slowly progressing. 

The monotonous task of wet and dry sanding of the antifoul has been undertaken which has taken a good few days, but the results are good and her hull is now lovely and smooth and ready for antifouling nearer the lift in.

The boot topping has been rubbed down and two coats of paint reapplied so it can harden over the coming weeks.

Another two days work involved buffing up the stainless steel rubbing strake, which looks nice.  Prior to re-launch we will fit a new rubber insert (to be obtained from Trend Marine).

While the outdrives were off, we have taken the opportunity to replace the steering bushes and seals.  This should have been a straight forward task, however the grub screws locking the steering arms to the shaft were seized solid, one of them rounded off and the hexagon bit snapped off in the other.  We have managed to drill the rounded screw out and remove the steering folk, but could not do the same with the other, this has resulted after a lot of 'head scratching and a call to I.V.S.S Marine) in cutting the arm off with a grinder. This was not easy in the tight confines of the engine room and will result in a new steering arm at around £135. This would all have been avoided if these had been properly maintained and reassembled with grease last time they were apart....indeed we do have a receipt on board claiming these had been changed by a marine engineer shortly prior to us purchasing Moonshine, but we don't think these have been looked at in years!

Tense Times Ahead....

Last Saturday the toilet was removed to enable us to dig out the old silicone in the toilet recess and replace with new. 
Whilst the toilet was off the boat the opportunity was taken to strip, clean and service it ready for next season. The inlet pipe was replaced so that all the pipework on the waste system has now been replaced for new.

On Friday Peter took both outdrives down to I.V.S.S Marine in Sandwich, Kent for overhaul.  The owner showed Peter around his workshops, and he was very impressed with the workmanship of some completed refurbished drives and overhauled engines.  Our outdrives will be going for shot blasting later this coming week after they have had an initial inspection to make sure the gears etc are ok...it is uncommon, but it was the owners duty to advise us that if the gears were chipped then this would add a considerable amount onto the repair bill.  Hopefully the gears will be ok, but we are now prepared for the worst should the situation arise.  The timescale quoted would be 4 to 5 weeks.
He did state that they had been repaired before, but reassembled very badly with items such as spacers on the steering swivels missing. However he did also suggest that this was most probably where our recent overheating issues lay, as air can be drawn into the swivel when the boat is planing as it is no longer submerged. Tense times lay ahead until he rings us this week with the verdict....

Legless

On Friday Moonshine was pulled out of the water for her annual winter maintenance programme.

 

We have also removed both outdrives, which are to be overhauled, leaving Moonshine 'legless'.  We have been putting this off for the last two years due to the cost, but Peter hopes to take these down to I.V.S.S Marine in Kent next Friday.  This will be an expensive job but one that is well overdue and will be very worthwhile and cost effective in the long term, and will be as good as new once fully refurbished. 

 

A few weeks ago on our final cruise of the year we discovered the Raymarine C80 MFD chart plotter screen had decided to start playing up. After checking the dash connections the unit was taken home and dismantled and after a quick check of the ribbon tape connections to the screen (which has been known to play up on this type of plotter) were made secure, and  since the unit is well out of warranty it was a risk worth taking. Luckily after refitting the chart plotter it is still working, but if it decides to play up again it may be on a return ticket to Raymarine to be fixed.

Winding Down

Over the last few weeks we have been winding down our boating activities, and taking home any unnecessary items in anticipation for Moonshine's winter lift out i.e. dingy, outboard, generator, bbq and large ball fenders, along with a good clear out of the food and wine cupboard which was also undertaken. The new lifejackets and tv remotes are also going home to a nice warm dry environment...every little helps as they say, and we hope Moonshine will be a tad lighter for her winter hard standing period.  We have also replaced during the week the engine lubricating oil and filters so that the engines are stood with fresh new oil over the winter.
On Saturday lunch we ventured up to the moorings at Sykehouse Lift Bridge to give Moonshine her last run prior to lifting out in the next few weeks, and after a very cold and frosty start we enjoyed a pleasant run with the sun coming out gracing us with her presence.
The Raymarine C80 MFD chart plotter screen decided to start playing up whilst underway, after a quick check of the connections there was still no joy but miraculously the screen decided to function fully on our return back to our mooring. However airing on the side of caution we have removed the unit from the dash and will delve inside to make sure there isn't a loose connection such as the tape ribbon connection to the screen which has been known to play up on this type of plotter, and since the unit is well out of warranty we can investigate further when we have time. Annoying as this is it could have been in the middle of the boating season when we needed it most. 

 

After our main holidays the old stainless steel holding tank was cut away and removed as this had become porous and had started weeping.  We decided a much smaller tank would be better suited, so after a lot of measuring and further investigation we decide on a 110 litre Vetus nylon tank. This particular tank can be used for a variety of purposes i.e. drinking water, diesel and in our case waste water. 

  

 

We took the opportunity to create a storage rack, which can hold 4x 25 litre diesel containers. This sits above the new tank, which is straddled by a wooden frame which supports the rack and holds the tank securely in place.
 

The Wema level sender unit from the old tank had failed, so we sourced a new (old stock) Osculati level indicator panel and sender for considerably less than a Wema sender unit alone. The only problem we encountered was the loom was about 4 meters too short so a new loom was made.
 

Finally, on checking the log, we have worked out Moonshine has logged  a very respectable 1401.8 nautical miles this year....only 23 NM less than last year.

The Call

Rather frustratingly last week we had been awaiting a call confirming Moonshine's month long incarceration was at an end and that repairs had been completed.  Unfortunately, this wasn't received until the latter end of the week, which in turn had spoilt our plans to have the half term week away after being promised she would be ready for our holiday at the start of the week. We arrived on Thursday afternoon and discovered Kildale Marine had not yet completed the additional wiring required for the new anchor winch, so we left them to it and was finally free to board Moonshine at 4pm. We had been itching all week to get away on her, however we would rather the job be done properly, and it did allow us to complete a few involved jobs on the house namely replacing two upstairs windows, but once these were completed we had been sat twiddling our thumbs some what unable to make any firm plans.

 

On the Friday pm tide we departed Hull Marina for a few hours downstream for sea trials to test the new anchor winch, and anchor and roller set up.  The new winch has a combination gypsy which can deal with chain and rope, which handles the job very well and is very powerful. The new winch is also incredibly quiet in operation, unlike the old one.  We anchored off Brickyard Chimney upstream of North Kilingholme. 

 

 

 

After a successful winch trial we had a speedy return back to Hull Marina, and penned in with another sports cruiser. 

 

The outdoor amphitheater in the old Ruscador dry dock also known as Central dry dock next to the River Hull has recently been completed ready for Hull City of Culture 2017.

 

 

 

We departed Hull on the late pm tide on Saturday to return to our home port of Goole.  We had a very calm fast run back until Blacktoft, where we reported in to Goole Docks and were told there would be a bit of a wait whilst they despatched two outward ships. At this point we slowed down to displacement speed and trickled up to Goole, where at this stage we had just a short wait whilst 'Vastanvik' had enough water to set sail.  Once through Ocean Lock and South Dock Bridge Moonshine's mast was raised to get benefit from the remote spotlight to assist entry into our mooring at Goole Boathouse. 

Forget Me...Not!!!!

We had started to forget we owned a boat, but since we have only been parted company for the last 2 weeks which in practice feels like an eternity, we decided to have a run to Hull in the car to check on Moonshine's progress.

She is coming along nicely, with most of the fibre glass work completed.  The winch has been partially fitted, however the fitters are unsure at the moment as to whether the existing cabling is up to the job as the new winch has 200w more power.  A new bow roller has been fabricated ready for fitting (the fitters had ordered a replacement Lewmar bow roller but considered it far too flimsy, hence the new fabrication which looks fantastic!), and the new Lewmar anchor is ready and waiting on the workshop floor to be fitted.   Moonshine's names on her bow are being removed to accommodate her new names port and starboard to replace her damaged ones.

We are hoping she is ready to be relaunched by the end of this week for a week away during the half term holidays, however this may be scuppered if the repairs over run or we need to approach our insurance company due to any additional costs....fingers crossed....

Dropping Off

On Sunday morning we awoke to a bright and chilly start, which was in stark contrast to the previous mornings fog. We enjoyed a good uneventful run to Hull Marina in a NW3, as Moonshine is booked in to undergo repairs to the damage a Dutch yacht caused to her anchor and winch whilst moored in Brighton Marina back in August.

Moonshine is provisionally booked in for repairs for the next three weeks, hopefully she will be ready for our week away at the end of the month.