Getting down to work

Both of us got very busy throughout the morning. Helen continued to organize and clean the interior of the boat, sometimes recleaning (happily, not) when I dripped salt water on the floor. I tackled my task list.

The two big jobs were the second/final top up of the drive batteries and replacing the genset impeller. The first job went without a hitch. It was merely tedious.

The impeller replacement was a mixed affair. I’m replacing it as it’s come close to the 150 hour limit I place on them. For the first time ever this one came out without any broken blades. This could be down to the fact I spent some time cleaning and sanding smooth the interior of the impeller housing last time. On putting everything back together I made two mistakes. The first was forgetting to refill the raw water circuit and screen on the filter cap. The generator diagnostics picked this up fairly quickly and shut down the motor. Running the new impeller dry was not a smart move. When I filled the strainer and restarted the motor I discovered I’d forgotten to put the new gasket under the end cap. Salt water sprayed all over.

After that things got a lot better and I was able to run quickly through my remaining tasks. These comprised swapping out a broken hatch support, inspecting the bilges and pumps, retightening a screw at the base of the mast, cleaning the watermaker strainer, replacing the watermaker carbon filter, checking for water in the fuel filters (there was none), checking the manual windlass works (it needed cleaning) and testing the EPIRB.

The afternoon was little more relaxing although Helen defrosted the freezer and fridge in this time.

In the evening we met up with the Screams for dinner ashore and a drink or five. We ended up on the boat playing a few games of Fluxx.

I woke too early this morning we a wee headache. I’ve used the time to nail another Euler Problem perhaps just to spite myself. I’m slowly picking my way to 200 successes.

Today is car hire day, a mixture of pleasure and a few chores.