Nearly Empty

Nearly every boat is gone. Only a few weeks until dredging work begins.

posted from Bloggeroid

In which we do our best Jacob Marley

Along with several other boat owners, we chose today to rescue our mooring lines from the forthcoming dredging work. The sight of men draped in chains walking through the mud was memorable.

More memorable still was eldest daughter getting firmly stuck in the mud for a good 15 minutes. Once self-rescue was ruled out, I had to go in after her. Got her out without losing a Welly. Good job, or my name would have been...mud!

I took my chains home but TBH I think they were hardly worth saving. Anyone fancy joining in on a bulk purchase for the spring?

posted from Bloggeroid

Summer Trip 2012 Stage 1

Well this year's summer trip looks like it will be in stages.

Here is stage one, Belcroute to Gorey:

Wind was ENE F3, and we sailed the whole way apart from through the Brett passage. Only one tack, just past Canger Rock buoy. Sun shone, boat and crew happy, 100% success on passage plan!

We caught 9 mackerel just north of the Brett beacon.

Stage 2 is very exciting...

"Nice Piece in the Paper"

If I had a pound for everyone that had said that to me in the last two weeks, I'd have enough money for a bacon butty and a cup of tea.

 

Thanks to Gill Kay at the Jersey Evening Post for the article and if any other Jersey boat owners out there would like a similar write up, please contact her at the JEP.

Mercury 2.5hp 2 Stroke Impeller Replacement - Or Is it?

Well, this was meant to be about replacing the faulty impeller on my Mercury 2.5hp two stroke.

I found where it was located via the excellent boats.net website:

Before Removal

Getting some help

There certainly wasn't any water coming out of what I thought was the drain pipe. I duly purchased a new impeller from Gallichan Marine in St Aubin for around £15. However, when I finally got round to having a look at the engine, guess what...impeller was in perfect condition:

So, it must be a blockage in the tube somewhere. I wasn't sure exactly where the water was meant to come out until I found this video which clearly shows the drain pipe draining, unlike mine:



 I tried squirting water up from the bottom with a syringe and from the top down the drain pipe and it was VERY blocked. However, a few minutes poking around with the end of a safety pin seemed to do the trick:

Then it was time to try the engine out..

No..Properly!

I wish that were the end of the story, however on leaving above beautiful secret beach I managed to bump the prop on the bottom and bust the shear pin. "Not a problem", I thought, "there's spares under the cowling." Mercury ain't Honda. So it was a very long, slow row back, against wind and tide. 

I've since ordered 5 shear pins and 2 splits for £12 from ebay (genuine Mercury), which WILL live under the cowling!

Mystery Seawych

I found this lying on Bonne Nuit Beach...

A 'wych with no name.

Is a new Jersey Seawych or just moved from somewhere else?

Carburettor Issues #2 - This time its Terminal

Or how to save nearly £100 on a £200 part.

The reason there haven't been many posts for a while is that the boat has been laid up due to engine failure, or more specifically, carburettor failure. After years of poor low rev performance and cutting out, I decided to take the carb in to Fox Marine for an ultrasonic clean.

On collection, I received a bag containing my carb in bits, as the housing for the main jet had split as they tried to remove it. It is important to note that this was NOT their fault, as I had been a bit ham-fisted on previous occasions of removing it. I needed a new carb :-(

After a fruitless search on Ebay for either a secondhand engine or carb, I decided to bite the bullet and get a new carb. I asked Fox Marine for a quote...5 times. By phone, voicemail and email. How hard can it be? The lack or response WAS their fault and inexplicable, given that they knew I needed one and these parts cost nearly £200. All I can say is that business must be booming for them.

An internet search to my favourite online UK Honda supplier, Lings showed that the part was going to cost around £170 including shipping.

Then I discovered http://www.boats.net/ who could supply and ship from the US for $123. That's less than £100! Can anbody explain this. Lings couldn't. Honda UK couldn't.

 Reader, I bought it.