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Envoy is in Lefkas Marina for the northern hemisphere winter while we’re home in New Zealand enjoying summer.

Back to late October and it’s always much more fun getting any boat ready to cruise for the summer than to store for the winter, but we get stuck into Envoy’s winter storage process. We have this well documented and it’s simply a case of spending a few days doing all the jobs and ticking them off.

On the way back to Lefkas we spotted a Diesel Duck trawler. These are a rugged no-nonsense go anywhere passagemaker that we’ve often admired.

Diesel Duck

At this time of the year there are frequent squally fronts passing over like the one depicted below that chased Envoy down the coast.

Squally front

Envoy in Lefkas marina with winter cover fitted

After a couple of days a cat befriends us and becomes a regular visitor, boarding Envoy in the mornings for a feed. We’re very happy to see plenty of cats around any marina as it keeps the rodent population down.

TECHNICAL
Our end of season jobs include running the generator, wing engine and all sea water pumps for about 15 minutes with a mixture of fresh water and Saltoff, then introducing glycol to replace the water in order to reduce corrosion during the period of non-use. This is time consuming as we need to remove the top from each equipment item’s water strainer and feed it using a fresh water hose.
We fit Envoy’s storage cover, now nine years old, which has been reconditioned during the summer with patches sewn over areas of thinning fabric, plus new velcro and zips. It goes on easily and will keep Envoy dry and clean during winter.

Apart from other routine season-end procedures we:
-Get a RHIB specialist, Nikos, to visit and replace two air valves on our large Nautica RHIB. A special tool and some practice is needed to do this. These valves have been marginal for a while and Nikos says they were close to failure.
Nikos also takes away our smaller Valiant RHIB and during the winter will repair a pontoon’s slow air leak and a transom sea water leak.
-Sailand’s Velisaris visits to review several jobs to be done during winter.
The dual trumpet air horn has failed due to water ingress and needs repair or replacement.
One of two domestic fresh water supply filters has a leaking filter housing which needs replacement. Our “Water Fixer” U/V water purifying lamp needs a check to see if it’s working.
Our Lugger’s alternator and Maxwell windlass electric motor need removal and checking.
Our main Raritan Atlantes head needs investigation to determine why it won’t discharge through its seacock, but only via the holding tank, which has a different outlet overboard.

-Sailand will also do several other jobs for us during winter:
Our stabiliser paravanes or “birds” as we call them (the metal plates that go under water) need maintenance as the galvanising is starting to corrode. Sailand advise the quality of galvanising in Greece is not good so recommend an epoxy primer and top coat instead which will enable easier future maintenance.
Two Plexiglas deck hatches in the guest cabin need re-sealing into their frames.
Our Lugger main engine, Yanmar wing engine and Northern Lights generator will have all cooling hoses checked and replaced where necessary, coolant drained and replaced, air filters cleaned and a complete visual check.
The generator will also have its mountings checked, fresh water circulating pump checked and sea water pump serviced.
The Yanmar will also have its sea water pump checked and impeller replaced.
Before we return to Lefkas Sailand will lift Envoy from the water to prepare the hull for anti-fouling, clean and check the running gear and remove and clean the keel cooler.

With all complete it’s goodbye Envoy until we return in April … but the Blog continues.

Envoy is in Lefkas Marina for the northern hemisphere winter while we’re home in New Zealand to enjoy the summer.

Now back to mid-October. As we leave Gouvia Marina we load another 400 litres of diesel to top up our fuel tanks as it’s best to leave them full to reduce condensation during long absences from any boat. This brings our total diesel purchase this year to a very reasonable 4,025 litres, which has been sufficient for six months cruising most days.
One of the hugely compelling qualities of a full-displacement boat like Envoy is her economy at about six to seven litres of diesel per hour. A similar sized planing vessel would use something like 150 litres per hour and even though it’d be covering around 20 miles in an hour we only need about 22 litres to cover the same distance – one seventh as much.

We cruise slowly south towards Lefkas visiting places we’ve mentioned previously in the Blog so won’t repeat.
Anchored off the town of Preveza we have a choppy night in 20 knot onshore winds and are woken early in the morning by fishermen who want to retrieve their net. It’s not uncommon for them to lay their nets and lines throughout recognised anchoring areas.
It’s late season and now there are few boats around except for a few hardy souls taking advantage of the off-peak yacht charter rates and cruisers on the way to winter berths. Ashore the beach umbrellas and deck chairs are stacked away, many tavernas and shops have closed their shutters until next year and the still open ones are largely deserted. During this time we have some fine weather but also more rain and thunderstorms leading us to decide that next year we’ll have a shorter season and return home around mid-October.
After anchoring for the last time we let out most of our chain and during retrieval wash the salt off with fresh water to reduce corrosion during winter storage. Pulling into the marina for winter on Sunday 23rd October gives us nine days before leaving for Athens – ample time to complete wintering procedures and a few remaining jobs. I say this every year – it’s great and very satisfying to return after living aboard for seven months and cruising over 2,000 miles with no accidents, injuries or more than minor technical issues.
We berth alongside Coco, a 52ft sailing yacht owned by a Scots couple, George and Anne, and hardly finish connecting water and shore power before they invite us aboard for a drink. They’re sprightly mid-70s who’ve visited NZ and we Scotland, so we find plenty in common resulting in several great evenings together during our short time in the marina.
That night I break a tooth munching on an olive. Although it’s not sore I decide to get it seen to in case of any problems occurring on the long journey home. The marina office recommends a dentist who sees me just an hour after my call. She’s highly qualified being a Doctor of Dentistry (dentists generally have a Bachelor degree) with a spotless surgery who charges just 50 Euros (about NZ$77) for a filling that takes about half an hour. At home the charge would be more like $300 – we’ve been well pleased by the high standard and low cost of medical treatment in Greece.
The marina costs 2,764 Euros (about NZ$4,252) being about $22 per day. Many cruisers go on the hard stand at nearby and cheaper Preveza, but we prefer the whole infrastructure, convenience and atmosphere of Lefkas.

Next post will discuss year-end maintenance issues.