CRUISING IN THE IONIAN SEA

By on August 31, 2017 in Envoy
Envoy is now cruising around Zakynthos Island with our daughter Amy aboard.
Before Frank and Marie left us we saw this stunning Maltese cruise ship

When we started our water maker for the first time this season it ran fine but the second time it had some problems. The salinity was high, the fresh water produced seemed warmer than usual and the pump rpm varied by about plus or minus 5 bar. I don’t know what it is about water makers but lots of cruisers seem to have issues with them. While in Mandraki Marina technician Angelos made a few checks and cleaned the intake water seacock but it made little difference. We met him a few days later and he installed a new high pressure membrane. This also made no improvement so he removed the main pump to check in his workshop. We’re awaiting the result of this and meanwhile having no problems finding plenty of free fresh water from the shore.


Angelos installing a new high pressure membrane


The water maker’s main pump


After Frank and Marie departed at Mandraki we cruised down to Igoumenitsa Creek for a couple of nights and met up with our friends Bruce and Lesley aboard their catamaran, Midi. Also aboard were their friends Nick and Robyn who know other friends of ours from home – Christine Eden and Karl Koller. A small world as they say.

Igoumenitsa Creek is a great protected anchorage


Washing day aboard Midi


Bruce and Lesley had wintered Midi at Turkey’s Albatross Marina near normally busy Marmaris and they confirmed what we’d heard – that it’s all very quiet there now as cruisers and charter operators have left in droves. This is due to a combination of recent terrorist activities, a perception of political change and instability and negative changes to cruising regulations. We’ve had wonderful times cruising in Turkey and it’s very sad to hear that conditions are now less favourable.

Spending a night anchored off Mourtos was not so enjoyable usual because of large numbers of local tripper boats traveling at high speed close-by and putting up large wakes. Home in NZ you’re not allowed to exceed 5 knots within 200 metres of the shore or within 50 metres of a swimmer or another vessel, but no such regulations seem to exist here and we saw tripper boats at high speed within a few metres of people in kayaks and small dinghys.
Lots of people do bow riding here – a practice which is illegal in New Zealand due to horrific injuries and deaths when people fall in and the propeller hits them

Highly dangerous bow riding


Amy joined us on 1 August in Corfu for a six week stay. She has now finished living in London and will move back to Auckland later this year.
We normally swim at least three times daily in the beautiful 26 to 28dC water but our “swim” normally consists of a leisurely paddle around the boat. Amy had an excellent idea that she and I start some long distance swimming and this has been great with us now achieving swims of several hundred metres.
We headed south with Amy calling at favorite places like Petriti, Mourtos, Gaios, Loggos and Parga and spending the days strolling ashore, swimming and cruising the short distances. 

Beautiful garden bar at Petriti

They sell a selection of hand painted olive oil jars for just five Euros each


Below the bar is this awesome swimming cove


Most everywhere has been light winds and seas so calm that we didn’t use our stabilisers for days. But that changed when we cruised 32 miles in five hours from Parga to Preveza. We had winds over 25 knots and breaking, closely spaced two to three metre seas on our starboard beam. The stabilisers had trouble coping with these waves and several times we had to “tack” to take the seas at more of an angle to the beam. At times the autopilot also had trouble coping with the vicious movements and I had to steer by hand for a few short periods. Normally Envoy is so stable that it would be rare to spill a coffee – but on this trip the cups sure were sliding!

Close-by to Preveza we found a bay called Panayaia that we’d never visited previously. It’s well sheltered with a nice uncrowded beach and a rustic beach bar playing a good selection of music from blues to jazz to reggae. It’s owned by friendly 30 year old Manioti born in Melbourne to Greek parents who came back to live in Greece and we enjoyed meeting him for a chat over a few cold beers.

Manioti’s beach bar


Envoy at anchor viewed from bar


Manioti with Amy and Laurie


Laurie and Amy enjoy a cold beer


From there we headed through the canal that makes Lefkas an island and into the marina to get a temporary Plexiglas window fitted as so far we’ve not been able to locate a supplier for a new Triplex glass one. While maneuvering into the marina we jammed the tail end of our RHIB’s painter in the bow thruster’s propeller and couldn’t use it, making for an interesting time berthing in the confined marina spaces. Next day a diver tried unsuccessfully to free the painter so we had to lift Envoy out of the water and were then able to free it quite quickly. Unfortunately the bow thruster’s sudden stop caused some damage to the 24V motor so it’s been removed and is currently ashore getting repaired while we carried on. We’ve since heard that it’s successfully fixed.

Rope jammed behind bow thruster propeller

Broughtons Part Three

By on August 30, 2017 in Idyll Time

Pierre’s to Turnbull Cove: Saying goodby to Pierre’s, we continue our exploration deeper into the Broughton Islands. It is a grey cold day on the water. Puff continues to preform flawlessly and we stay nice and toasty in the pilot house. This was a great addition to Idyll Time. While traveling west around Broughton Island, […]

Trent-Severn Waterway – eastbound!

By on August 29, 2017 in M/V Maerin

    Coming down! Our first day heading back through the Trent-Severn pretty much duplicated the trip west, our stopover point, Swift Rapids Lock 43. The highlight of that leg of course, is the Big Chute marine railway. We were the last boat loaded, and just fit with our stern hanging over the end of […]

Texas Pearl Survived

By on August 29, 2017 in The Pearl

Just a quick update until I have more time to do a complete post…we survived Hurricane Harvey with only minor damage. 

This and That

By on August 28, 2017 in She:Kon

With only a couple weeks left before we head out on our Big RV Adventure I’ve been doing just a little of This & That around the boat.

A few days spent fairing the frakkin’ rudder! *sigh*

Multiple coats of Quickfair

A couple more coats of Quick…

This and That

By on August 28, 2017 in She:Kon

With only a couple weeks left before we head out on our Big RV Adventure I’ve been doing just a little of This & That around the boat.A few days spent fairing the frakkin’ rudder! *sigh*Multiple coats of QuickfairA couple more coats of Quickfair an…

Broughtons Part Two

By on August 28, 2017 in Idyll Time

Kwatsi Bay to Cullen Harbor: From Kwatsi Bay we continued our exploration of the Broughton Islands spending two nights in Cullen Harbor. We are the only boat in this beautiful anchorage. At the east end of Cullen Bay is a narrow passage leading to Booker Lagoon. A dinghy ride through the rapids to the inner […]

Return to Penetang

By on August 27, 2017 in M/V Maerin

    Famous Henry’s Restaurant – CLOSED! Our tour of Georgian Bay and North Channel complete, we returned to Beacon Bay Marina at Penetanguishene. Our route took us on the small craft channel. The route is very scenic, with cottages at every point of the compass. One landmark we heard many locals mention was “Henry’s”, […]

More prep for new hydraulics and bow thruster install

By on August 27, 2017 in Koloa
Here are some pics of another weekend of work getting ready
for the installation of the new bow thruster and hydraulic system upgrade. In
order to get access to weld in the 12” pipe that will become the bow thruster
tube, I had to remove some interior interferences in the forepeak. This mostly
involved cutting back the decking in a way that would allow access for the
work, but could be temporarily re-assembled so we don’t have to live with a big
hole in the deck for the next few weeks.

In the engine room, I installed all the hydraulic
distribution blocks and other components, including adjustable pressure and flow
controls coming off the main pressure output of the pump for the anchor winch.
This is so that the high 3000 psi pressure and 20+ gpm flow from the pump (as it
is set up for the bow thruster) doesn’t overwhelm the winch motor or any other
less demanding loads we attach to the system.

The system of distribution and return blocks make for a neat
arrangement with minimum extra fittings, and lots of extra ports for future
expansion. In order to fit everything on the bulkhead (including the big cabinet housing the electronics for the hydraulic system), I had to move the fixed fire suppression bottle
over a few inches. All the mounted components and distribution blocks are attached to
the bulkhead with bolts that are threaded into the aluminum mounting plate from
the front, so they are easy to remove if needed.

A few additional hose runs from the engine room to the bow
are needed for pressure, return, and case drain lines. New holes are now
drilled through the bulkheads and once painted, I will be installing JIC
hydraulic bulkhead fittings at these transitions.

 With all the primary pieces installed, I will be measuring
(at least twice) and making up the hoses that connect everything
together. Cleanliness is critical with hydraulic stuff, so I am doing my best to
keep everything clean and capped during the install.
The only hose that does not use a crimped fitting is the
supply line from the tank to the pump inlet. This is a monster 2.5” id hose. If
they even make crimping dies in this size, we definitely do not have one in our
shop. Instead, it will be secured will dual T-clamps at each end. Since this is
a low pressure line, that should be more than enough to stay leak free. I was a
little worried about fitting up this hose because in this size, the necessary
wire reinforced construction to keep from collapsing under suction makes it
very inflexible. Fortunately, with a straight flange adapter coming off the bottom
of the pump it made a nice easy single curve down and straight back up to meet
the tank fitting. Both the supply and case drain fittings at the bottom of the
tank have ball valves that will be handy for servicing the system without draining
the tank. I like to remove the handles on any valves that are normally open and
would cause damage to equipment if accidentally closed when running, so I’m doing
that here as well.

More prep for new hydraulics and bow thruster install

By on August 27, 2017 in Koloa
Here are some pics of another weekend of work getting ready for the installation of the new bow thruster and hydraulic system upgrade. In order to get access to weld in the 12” pipe that will become the bow thruster tube, I had to remove some interior interferences in the forepeak. This mostly involved cutting back the decking in a way that would allow access for the work, but could be temporarily re-assembled so we don’t have to live with a big hole in the deck for the next few weeks.

In the engine room, I installed all the hydraulic distribution blocks and other components, including adjustable pressure and flow controls coming off the main pressure output of the pump for the anchor winch. This is so that the high 3000 psi pressure and 20+ gpm flow from the pump (as it is set up for the bow thruster) doesn’t overwhelm the winch motor or any other less demanding loads we attach to the system.

The system of distribution and return blocks make for a neat arrangement with minimum extra fittings, and lots of extra ports for future expansion. In order to fit everything on the bulkhead (including the big cabinet housing the electronics for the hydraulic system), I had to move the fixed fire suppression bottle over a few inches. All the mounted components and distribution blocks are attached to the bulkhead with bolts that are threaded into the aluminum mounting plate from the front, so they are easy to remove if needed.

A few additional hose runs from the engine room to the bow are needed for pressure, return, and case drain lines. New holes are now drilled through the bulkheads and once painted, I will be installing JIC hydraulic bulkhead fittings at these transitions.

 With all the primary pieces installed, I will be measuring (at least twice) and making up the hoses that connect everything together. Cleanliness is critical with hydraulic stuff, so I am doing my best to keep everything clean and capped during the install.
The only hose that does not use a crimped fitting is the supply line from the tank to the pump inlet. This is a monster 2.5” id hose. If they even make crimping dies in this size, we definitely do not have one in our shop. Instead, it will be secured will dual T-clamps at each end. Since this is a low pressure line, that should be more than enough to stay leak free. I was a little worried about fitting up this hose because in this size, the necessary wire reinforced construction to keep from collapsing under suction makes it very inflexible. Fortunately, with a straight flange adapter coming off the bottom of the pump it made a nice easy single curve down and straight back up to meet the tank fitting. Both the supply and case drain fittings at the bottom of the tank have ball valves that will be handy for servicing the system without draining the tank. I like to remove the handles on any valves that are normally open and would cause damage to equipment if accidentally closed when running, so I’m doing that here as well.