A week ago, when we were supposed to have left for Egypt but couldn’t because of the weather, we were ready to leave. A week later we have a clear window, it’s the night before our departure and I’m running around like a loon, cursing that I need more time. Why the hell didn’t I do an engine check a week before, rather than at the 11th hour when the shops are closing and my electrician is halfway to Istanbul and therefore unable to replace my broken alternator smart charger?

Tags: friends, maintenance, weather
Category: boat maintenance, meeting new people
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My troubles started when I attempted to turn the engine off. I pressed the ‘off’ button and nothing happened, the engine continued to trundle away. “Relay switch”, I thought. I picked up instructions manuals, reference books, and anything else that might offer a solution. In the end I bottled it and called John on the VHF.

Tags: anchor, engine
Category: boat maintenance
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Anyway…this “Day in the Life” is based upon our time on the hard in the sweltering 30°+ heat of June at Marti Marina. For you non-yotties being on the hard means propping ones boat up on big sticks and climbing up and down a 10ft ladder in order to get on and off the boat.

Tags: beer, hard, lazarette, maintenance, sticks
Category: a day in the life, boat maintenance
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For posterity and insurance purposes, and also to help over Tinker Traveller owners, we publish here a load of images of our new cover, made of Sunbrella.

Tags: cover, hypalon, sunbrella, tinker
Category: boat maintenance
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This article explains briefly how our Sunbrella sun awning works for our ketch rigged boat. Whilst it may not provide a complete solution for other boats we are publishing this article in the hope that it assists other boat owners in designing their own awning.

Tags: awning, design, sunbrella, velcro
Category: boat maintenance
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In the next few articles we’ll be featuring some photographs, video clips, maps and personal experiences of our current home Fethiye, offering something for all our friends and family to enjoy. This article, however, is very definitely for the serious liveaboard: visit any online sailing forum and there is one subject that will rouse more furious debate than any other subject known to man, beast or Poseidon: anchors. The simple anchor is the one thing on our boat we need to trust more than anything else (except perhaps our vessel’s ability to keep water out) so it is little wonder grown men pull each others’ hair out when arguing which anchor is best.

We had a bit of cash to spend on an anchor last year and, after pulling some hair, we opted for a new generation Rocna. We promised its designer, Peter Smith, to return an unambiguous account of our experience with his design. He said explicitly “be honest”. You know us, Peter, a spade’s a spade…

Tags: anchor, anchorage, chain, cqr, rocna
Category: boat maintenance, heavy weather sailing, testing, testing...
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When I was thirteen, I held my breath for two minutes and fifty five seconds, sitting, very still, in my bedroom. Flapping around under a boat in cold water, stabbing a chisel at 4 months worth of crustaceans tends to tire you out a little and I think the best I managed was about 40 seconds.

Tags: mountain, propeller, walk
Category: boat maintenance
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Panic because I really didn’t know what I was doing in the engine room. The engine won’t start. Right, where do I begin? Haven’t a clue. Get a book out on diesel engines. Can’t find any of the problems identified in the troubleshooting section. Must be the carburettor. No wait, it doesn’t have a carburetor.

Tags: chagazee, impulse, lessons, odin, skopia limani, turkey
Category: boat maintenance
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Now I wouldn’t want you to think that we’ve been up to nothing but do-gooding these past weeks… Those of you that know us will be relieved to hear that there has been the usual amount of getting-up-to-mischief and having fun too! Now, where to start?

Tags: fancy dress, hallowe'en, marina, marmaris, party, turkey
Category: boat maintenance, observation, video clips
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As he turned the tubing on the lathe to cut the thread of the mounting base I sat and watched and was reminded of my old metal work classes at school. The difference was this guy knew what he was doing. After three hours he’d completed the job, charged me fifty yentils (£15) and we rounded off the afternoon with a çay and a three-worded conversation about boats.

Tags: içmeler, maintenance, navtex, turkey
Category: boat maintenance
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The first job we had to attend to was the leaking deck fittings. This meant ripping down the headboards, unbolting the deck fittings and caking ourselves in Sikaflex (this is a marine rubber sealant that takes three weeks to remove from your fingernails). John’s tips and encouragement meant we could tick that job off the list in no time.

Tags: içmeler, maintenance, turkey, yat lift
Category: boat maintenance
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We had more fun and games sourcing a solution for our entertainment system than any other issue with the boat! Whilst there are expert marine electricians, carpenters, rigging experts and so on there appears to be a lack of information on marine stereo solutions.

Tags: Add new tag, maintenance, speakers, stereo system, turkey, yat lift
Category: boat maintenance, log
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There were two major plumbing jobs that we left to Yat Lift: the replacement of the holding tank and converting the electric toilet pump back to a manual one.

Tags: bodrum, holding tank, içmeler, maintenance, plumbing, toilets, turkey, yat lift
Category: boat maintenance, log
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With the addition of stereo, new VHF and various switches and monitors the left and lower dashs in the nav table area had to be redesigned. We decided to take out some of the old electronic equipment, either because they weren’t working or because they were dated and would one day be replaced with new kit.

Tags: bodrum, electrics, electronics, içmeler, maintenance, turkey, yat lift
Category: boat maintenance, log
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After reading the yacht-owner’s bible (Nigel Calder’s ‘Boatowner’s Mechanical and Electrical Manual’, published by Adlard Coles Nautical) we had a serious rethink about our power sources. Eventually we will be looking to install solar panels but in the short term we had to make an educated guess at what our daily power consumption would be and put that within the context of buying new batteries and battery charger.

Tags: battery, bodrum, içmeler, power, turkey, yat lift
Category: boat maintenance, log
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A common problem on Oyster 435s (apparently) is leaking chain plates. We left Yat Lift to look at this and upon our return they had recaulked the fittings.

Tags: bodrum, içmeler, maintenance, rigging, turkey
Category: boat maintenance, log
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The initial survey report had indicated that a few of the deck planks required replacing and recaulking, whilst we were aware that some of the stanchion bases had come loose. Indeed two of the stanchion bases were leaking slightly, so we got eleven of the twelve bases replaced, and replaced two of the planks.

Tags: bodrum, deck, içmeler, maintenance, turkey, yat lift
Category: boat maintenance, log
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One of the biggest jobs we left Yat Lift to complete was applying a new gelcoat. These additional few layers of epoxy (300 microns, to be precise) help strengthen the integrity of the hull. If you can afford it, it’s money well spent.

Tags: bodrum, içmeler, maintenance, turkey, yat lift
Category: boat maintenance, log
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Heart atack at Heathrow Airport! I loaded my cases onto the check-in scales and it turned out I was carrying over eighty kilos, fifty over the allotted amount! Credit card in hand I took the excess baggage hit, which came to over two hundred quid, and that was with 20kg taken off because the check-in girl fancied me or something.

Tags: airports, içmeler, launch, turkey, yat lift
Category: boat maintenance, log
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Our first 24 hours of running a dead ship took us into our third week at sea. Only one person had been to the toilet over the back of the boat, the rest of us suddenly becoming constipated. Washing up in salt water became a real pain in the arse and the boat was damp due to a very wet night watch that included some Scooby Doo style lightning storms.

Tags: night watch, spinnaker, sunrise
Category: boat maintenance
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I’m convinced I saw land today. We passed Cabo Verde and the plotter claimed that the nearest island was approx 60 miles away. If that island had 5000m worth of mountain on it then I definitely saw land. If not, as everyone else recons, then I’m just hallucinating.

Tags: hayard, jury rig, verde
Category: boat maintenance, log
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7am and we’re woken up by a very loud Blackadder-like “Wake up ladies there’s work to be done”, followed by stomping on the roof. Immediately my mind was cast back to the early morning starts aboard Ramprasad and for a split second I thought that perhaps I’d made a mistake joining Voyager.

Tags: beer, maintenance, mast, ramprasad, rigging, rope, sails
Category: boat maintenance
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