Well the first white stuff (in this case hail) has fallen from the sky. The high temp for yesterday was about 4 C. I’ve pretty much given up on doing any more work on the boat this year. Pulled the epoxy in from the shed about a week ago.I got done pre…
Back on the water
Hello all, we’re back aboard Idyll Time. After patiently waiting on us for the past four months in her shed at Atlantic Yacht Basin, IT is ready to move south. A little dirty, but other than that she looks great. Jeff came up a few weeks ago for a haul out and bottom paint. He […]
Party, Party!
Last Sunday was the dispersing of the fleet following the annual Krogen rendezvous at Calvert Marina in Solomons, Maryland. It’s a highlight of our fall cruising and one the crew has only missed once in the past 6 years, the year we did the American Gr…
MORE ABOUT ABOARD ENVOY IN LEFKAS MARINA
CORRECTION of last posting; Greeks can withdraw 60 Euros from the bank per day not 6 as mentioned.
I mentioned last posting there were no great technical surprises coming back aboard Envoy, but there’s a few things to mention:
– Normally when we return to Envoy the interior is exactly how we left her, but this time she was a bit dustier than usual as we’d had some fibre-glassing work done to repair a crack in the floor of the main shower, and a bit of grinding dust had spread through the boat – not bad though.
– We’d had a short circuit in our bow thruster 24V battery bank caused by cable connections working loose. This has resulted in one of the two Deka AGM batteries not holding charge and although these batteries are only a bit over three years old we’re needing to replace both of them as it’s not recommended to replace just one battery in a bank. Fortunately we can get these from the Deka dealer in Italy.
– For all of the time we’ve owned Envoy the aft stainless steel fresh water tank has leaked a little (less than 1 L/day) when filled above about half capacity. I removed an inspection hatch in the top of the tank and found its general condition to appear OK. Being empty, I gave the exposed surfaces of the tank a clean.
– Our domestic hot water tank has signs of corrosion on its outer galvanized steel protective cover (as opposed to the aluminium alloy water tank). This seems to have been caused by tiny leaks of fresh water from the input tap running onto the cover over a period of several years. The difficult to access exterior of the tap itself is coated with a thick layer of calcification resulting from the leak. The tank is working fine but Sailand are going to remove it for refurbishment.
I mentioned last posting there were no great technical surprises coming back aboard Envoy, but there’s a few things to mention:
– Normally when we return to Envoy the interior is exactly how we left her, but this time she was a bit dustier than usual as we’d had some fibre-glassing work done to repair a crack in the floor of the main shower, and a bit of grinding dust had spread through the boat – not bad though.
– We’d had a short circuit in our bow thruster 24V battery bank caused by cable connections working loose. This has resulted in one of the two Deka AGM batteries not holding charge and although these batteries are only a bit over three years old we’re needing to replace both of them as it’s not recommended to replace just one battery in a bank. Fortunately we can get these from the Deka dealer in Italy.
– For all of the time we’ve owned Envoy the aft stainless steel fresh water tank has leaked a little (less than 1 L/day) when filled above about half capacity. I removed an inspection hatch in the top of the tank and found its general condition to appear OK. Being empty, I gave the exposed surfaces of the tank a clean.
– Our domestic hot water tank has signs of corrosion on its outer galvanized steel protective cover (as opposed to the aluminium alloy water tank). This seems to have been caused by tiny leaks of fresh water from the input tap running onto the cover over a period of several years. The difficult to access exterior of the tap itself is coated with a thick layer of calcification resulting from the leak. The tank is working fine but Sailand are going to remove it for refurbishment.
Corrosion and calcification build-up on the cover of our water heater
Close up of corroded area – this has since been removed and reconditioned
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– Last year we took our Toshiba laptop used for navigation back to New Zealand for repair as it kept shutting down. We got it repaired in Auckland and there it seemed to be OK, but now it’s doing the same again – it gets hot real quick and its two cooling fans aren’t working. So it’s back to NZ for repair once again!
– When leaving your boat for the winter the fuel tanks should ideally be over 80% full to reduce the chance of water ingress through condensation. Our four tanks are 25%, 46%, 70% and 90% full – so not ideal, especially considering our longer than expected absence. Envoy has a fuel “polishing” (ie filtration) system based on a 12V, 7L/min pump passing fuel through a magnetic DeBug device and a Racor filter. If any water or “bug” is present this should show up in the Racor’s clear bowl. I’ve polished a portion of the fuel from each tank, over 1,000L in total, being careful to avoid cross contamination and all seems to be OK.
While we were away from Envoy the local service company, Sailand did some work for us and I’ll detail that in another post, but next post we’ll skip the technicalities and talk about our road trip to the Greek mountains.
FOR FOODIES: Greek Salad – a salad sans greens.
Every single taverna and restaurant we’ve been to here offer a delicious Greek salad and they all seem to follow much the same formula. Normally the salad seems to be eaten before the main course.
A Greek salad is based on lots of coarsely chopped tomatoes. Greek and Italian tomatoes are big, sweet and juicy. Next in volume is medium thicknesses of sliced cucumber. Then add slices of red onions and green pepper. Fetta cheese is generally added as one large thick slice on top of the salad rather than as cubes mixed in. Lastly add some ground oregano, a generous quantity of olive oil and a little balsamic – there you have it.
A mouth-watering Greek salad
StarrBlog – We are here!
WE ARE HERE! Starr Arrived at Waikiki Yacht Club dock yesterday, October 12, at 1430 Hawaiian time after 18 days of dodging Oho and other tropical depressions. We traveled 3109 nm We used 2400 gallons of fuel and have 1200 gallons remaining. Starr’s Arrival at Waikiki Yacht Club It is sunny and beautiful and HOT here in Waikiki. WYC and CCA friends with bags full of fresh Hawaiian fruit met us at the dock. What a Welcome! The 2 Douglases departed to catch the 2130 Alaska flight t…
StarrBlog – We are here!
WE ARE HERE!
Starr Arrived at Waikiki Yacht Club dock yesterday, October 12, at 1430 Hawaiian time after 18 days of dodging Oho and other tropical depressions.
We traveled 3109 nm
We used 2400 gallons of fuel and have 1200 gallons remaining.
Starr’s Arrival at Waikiki Yacht Club
It is sunny and beautiful and HOT here in Waikiki. WYC and CCA friends with bags full of fresh Hawaiian fruit met us at the dock. What a Welcome!
The 2 Douglases departed to catch the 2130 Alaska flight to Seattle.
I have spent my time today doing laundry, picking up and putting stuff away.
Don has been working on the new Technicold AC Chiller units, which we really need.
We are very happy to be tied up to a dock, and to be at our Hawaiian “Home” at Waikiki Yacht Club
Don and Sharry
PS – Thank you Ken for posting our Blogs!
Life is Really Good!
Diesel price at Top Rack Marina today. Yes, that’s per gallon including taxes. No, we didn’t use PhotoShop.Haven’t seen a price like that in more than ten years!
Life is Good
A beautiful evening at anchor off the Chesapeake Bay.We had a rainbow that ran from the starboard side…to the port side.And then a brilliant blue off the cockpit. Life is pretty good.
StarrBlog – Life on Starr
Day 16 10/1900Z/0900Hawaii Time 21degrees 37N/149degrees 15W DTG (Distance to Go) – 476nm TTG (Time to Go) – 2.2days We will arrive in Honolulu sometime Monday early afternoon; we should begin to show on Vessel Marine Traffic on Sunday. LIFE ON STARR 24 hour-days become long, and if we are fortunate tedious. Don and I have always said that “a boring passage is a good passage”. We each do a three-hour watch during the day, and a three-hour watch at night. My watch is from 0900-1200 a…
StarrBlog – Life on Starr
Day 16
10/1900Z/0900Hawaii Time
21degrees 37N/149degrees 15W
DTG (Distance to Go) – 476nm
TTG (Time to Go) – 2.2days
We will arrive in Honolulu sometime Monday early afternoon; we should begin to show on Vessel Marine Traffic on Sunday.
LIFE ON STARR
24 hour-days become long, and if we are fortunate tedious. Don and I have always said that “a boring passage is a good passage”.
We each do a three-hour watch during the day, and a three-hour watch at night. My watch is from 0900-1200 and 2100-2400.
I LOVE my night watch; I love the silence with just the sound of the wind and waves and the boat moving through the water,
AND, if we are lucky, watching the gazillions of stars in the night sky.
Sharry
The four of us each stand 3 hour watches/ 3 on and 9 off. You might think we would be bored out of our skulls but you know what? We aren’t! We do fill in for whoever is on watch from time to time so that person can do engine room checks, cook a meal or whatever.
Don
Here are a few pictures that help tell our story:
Don talking on the Iridium phone
Don checking weather
Don fixing things
Sharry baking bread
Doug Cole cooking dinner
Doug MacQuarrie baked a pie
Don doing his morning exercises
DougCole doing engine check
Another fine dinner
End of Day
