West country trip Day 3

April 12 th.

 Renovations continue.

Sillette pivot shaft cap mod fitted. 

Refrigerator refitted , rewired 

Aft cabins trims refitted.

Fuel problem investigated. Port tank full and in restorable condition. Starboard tank almost empty and has lots of water un it.

Seized grub screw in steering wheel drilled out and replaced.

April 5th

 Well the leg is in the garage and has been refurbished corrosion taken off and repainted.  all the grease nipples have been checked for function and replaced where necessary. 

 Hopefully get this back on next time down at ridge.  

April 1st

 The extractor worked a treat. The pin is out but there is still some work to do on the leg so I've bought it home to work on in the garage.  I need to order a new spring for the release mechanism.

Removed and replaced both steering cables, Set up the gearbox and put back the Steering wheel.  

31st March.

 As the car was at the garage for repairs, I had bought home the Steering wheel for refurbishment of the auto pilot mechanism which on occasions last year had stalled.

After the cover was ofhit was immediately obvious what had coursed the problem. The toothed drive belt was disintegrating and bits of belt where getting caught in the gears.

A new belt and a good clean and it's almost like new.

Next I needed to make an Extractor for the vertical pin in the leg.  The longest bit was finding the length of 3/8 whitworth threaded bar.  

30th March. 2021

 The Sillette drive leg has seized up through non use and despite WD40 is in need of a strip down and clean up. plus repacking with fresh grease.  I think that should be the next job alongside to renewing the steering cables. 

I must also get a new seat made it Bee is still in business or maybe a trip to Kemp sails.

Unfortunately, at the moment the job list isn't getting any shorter, The more I mend the more I find needs doing !

Today I attacked the leg.It took some doing but I got it off and the two horizontal pivots are out. It would be ideal if I could bush the yoke holes as there is some play here, but not sure thats going to happen.  Bad News is that this leg is no longer manufactured so I have to look after as best I can.  The vertical pivot pin is stuck fast,  so started on removing the steering cables.  

March 29th 2021

 Its nearly Easter and we can at last get to the boatyard to do some work on Watanga. First impressions are that she has survived the winter 

Engine mounts have been fitted and I've had a quick run out of it but the fuel looks contaminated with lot of milky substance ending up in the water separator. I did make the error of leaving one tank empty last winter so that no doubt has led to a lot of condensation.  I'll leave that one for the moment as I have a plan to double up on the water filters. and also will need equipment to drain the tanks. 

Next on the list was a new controller for the eberspacer. This has now been replaced with a simpler unit with the added bonus  as it can now function blowing cold air or hot air. I had to take the fridge out to get to the wiring, which was a bit of a mess. So tidied that up at the same time.