The famous Neptune’s Staircase is the longest staircase lock in Britain—a series of eight locks carry boats up or down 64 feet over a distance of 180 feet. The typical time to pass through Neptune’s Staircase is about 90 minutes, but the Scottish Canal staff rushed us through in barely 70 minutes so we could…
Tag Archives | Nordhavn
Alarms at 1:15am Follow up
Six months ago I bolted awake at 1:15am to a shrieking high bilge water alarm while we were 50 miles south of the Grand Banks, in large seas, on passage from Newport, RI to Kinsale, Ireland. The quick summary is we got the problem resolved, but it took 11 hours, and we learned about a…
Caledonian Canal Days 5 & 6: Laggan to Banavie
On our fifth day along the Caledonian Canal, we travelled 15 miles from Laggan through Loch Lochy, passing through two bridges and only one lock. We stopped for two nights at Banavie Top Basin above the famous Neptune’s Staircase and within two miles of the southern terminus of the canal. Banavie Basin is only four…
Caledonian Canal Day 4: Fort Augustus to Laggan
One of the most beautiful sections of the Caledonian Canal is near Laggan, where the trees grow right up to the water’s edge and extend over the water. The fall colours made the scene even more impressive. We liked this section of the canal so much that we later walked from Laggan all the way…
ENVOY IN GREECE’S LEFKAS MARINA
Envoy is now in Lefkas Marina for the winter and we’re home in Auckland for the southern hemisphere summer.
Technical
Apart from the ongoing water maker saga I’m pleased to say we haven’t had any technical issues for some time now except for routine checks and maintenance.
I checked all our internal water strainers. These trainers filter out debris from water before it passes through a pump, catching it in a stainless steel basket that can be easily cleaned out, rather than clogging the vanes of a pump that can’t be so easily cleaned. Some filter sea water, such as for the generator or Yanmar wing engine while others filter fresh water, such as for showers.
I’d left this shower pump water strainer for too long, but once cleaned was fine again
I’ve heard that our damaged Freedom combination inverter/charger is beyond repair.
This was damaged early in the season when I wrongly attempted to start the main engine while the generator was running and powering the battery charger while the start battery bank’s voltage was too low. It’s not a major issue for us as we’ve already replaced the inverter with a spare equally powerful Xantrex unit we had aboard. The Xantrex is only an inverter not a combination charger so charging when running the generator is now done using our Charles 60 amp charger. The Freedom charger was more powerful at 150 amps and for the future we have the option of the status quo, installing an additional new charger or installing a new inverter/charger, leaving the Xantrex as a spare once again. I’ll consider this during winter.
View of marina from Envoy’s top deck – we have a great position
This was damaged early in the season when I wrongly attempted to start the main engine while the generator was running and powering the battery charger while the start battery bank’s voltage was too low. It’s not a major issue for us as we’ve already replaced the inverter with a spare equally powerful Xantrex unit we had aboard. The Xantrex is only an inverter not a combination charger so charging when running the generator is now done using our Charles 60 amp charger. The Freedom charger was more powerful at 150 amps and for the future we have the option of the status quo, installing an additional new charger or installing a new inverter/charger, leaving the Xantrex as a spare once again. I’ll consider this during winter.
View of marina from Envoy’s top deck – we have a great position
Envoy has a dry exhaust system – that is a vertical exhaust from the engine room with a muffler installed above the upper deck level. Although the section of exhaust located in the engine room was checked in 2012 when some new parts were installed and the heat insulation was replaced, the muffler hasn’t been properly checked at all during the time we’ve owned Envoy. All I’ve done during this time is occasionally measure the temperature of the muffler using an infra red pyrometer to see if there are any particularly hot spots – which would indicate some thinning of the muffler’s metal.
So that’s at least eleven years and we thought it was time for a check. When the Sailand engineers arrived they suggested we check the whole exhaust system downstream from the exhaust manifold, since this is supposed to be checked every five years.
So that’s at least eleven years and we thought it was time for a check. When the Sailand engineers arrived they suggested we check the whole exhaust system downstream from the exhaust manifold, since this is supposed to be checked every five years.
I felt a bit sorry for the technician designated to remove the old insulation as it’s quite a messy job and fibres from the insulation cause some itching. To remove the complete system was a job that took three mechanics about four hours and I really was wondering whether this was all necessary (apart from checking the muffler). However they did find an area at the bottom of the vertical exhaust pipe where exhaust gases appear to have been escaping – evidenced by black soot stains on the heat insulation’s exterior. The current situation is that the various components – the adapter from the exhaust elbow to the expansion joint, the expansion joint itself, the horizontal engine room exhaust, the vertical exhaust, the muffler and the final exhaust pipe have all been taken away for cleaning and inspection.
Here the muffler covered with heat insulation sits in its housing on the top deck
Mechanics pull out the vertical section of the exhaust
The main exhaust atop mechanic’s van
Close-up shows the white insulation discoloured by leaking soot
This year we have only a short list of jobs getting done during winter:
-Resealing two Lewmar hatches into their aluminium frames. These were repaired at the end of last year but the sealant has failed again.
-Servicing the sea water pumps on the generator and Yanmar and replacing their vee-belts.
-Replacing a leaking galley faucet
Blog’s next positing will deal with the subject of mooring stern-to-shore
Caledonian Canal Day 3: Dochgarroch to Fort Augustus via Loch Ness
Loch Ness is one of the top three tourist destinations in Scotland, along with Edinburgh and the Isle of Skye. Second to Nessie, a major draw of Loch Ness is 13th-century Urquhart Castle. One of the largest castles in Scotland, Urquhart attracted some 400,000 visitors in 2016. On our third day in the Caledonian Canal,…
Caledonian Canal Day 2: Muirtown Basin to Dochgarroch
We passed through the four-lock Muirtown flight at the start of our second day in the Caledonian Canal, then cruised the scenic waterway alongside, but above, the River Ness en route to Dochgarroch. Our total travel distance was five miles in three hours for an average speed of just over 1.5kts. The locks take up…
Caledonian Canal Day 1: Clachnaharry Sea Lock to Muirtown Basin
The Caledonian Canal extends 50 nautical miles southwest from Beauly Firth near Inverness to Loch Linnhe by Fort William. Only 19 miles of the canal are man-made and the rest extends through four natural freshwater lochs, including the famous Loch Ness. Along the way are 10 swing bridges and 29 locks, achieving a maximum elevation…
Inverness
Inverness was a great stop before our trip down the Caledonian Canal. In our last few days there we toured the beautiful Ness Islands and more of the canal by bike, stocked up on provisions, and got some local knowledge on cruising the canal from Paisley residents Pamela and Neil White. Below are trip highlights…
Kyle of Lochalsh
Picturesque Eilean Donan Castle, linked to the mainland with an elegant stone bridge, is one of Scotland’s most photographed castles. The castle was built in the 13th century and restored in the 19th after it was destroyed during the 18th-century Jacobite rebellions. We took the scenic train ride from Inverness to the Kyle of Lochalsh,…
