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Haul out, Fresh Antifoul Paint

Haul out, Fresh Antifoul Paint

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We hadn’t necessarily planned on hauling out after our Atlantic crossing before doing whatever came next. But Hannah had a small fight with a mooring buoy in early 2023 which had taken many layers of anti-foul paint off in 1 location of the keel, and we wanted to get it re-applied and overall we could tell it was wearing in places.

So out she came in Guadeloupe Marina, at the time one of the cheapest places to get hauled out and to stay on land. Thanks, Danae for doing the research on that one. But also note that they put the prices up severely days after we were hauled out (luckily we kept the cheaper price after a lot of negotiation).

We already power-washed Hannah’s hull below the waterline immediately after getting hauled out and collected many of the paints that we needed for the painting from previous chandlery shops. We primarily need a couple of colors with a focus on grey hard anti-fouling for beneath the waterline, as well as some white for the waterline stripe itself.

First, we rented an electric random orbital sander with dust collection from the same tool place that we had rented the power washer and got to sanding, which we spent a full day on.

Sanding is important to ensure that the new anti-foul adheres properly. It helps to remove any loose old antifouling paint, contaminants, and debris that may have accumulated on the hull. Sanding also creates a rough surface on the hull, which allows the new antifouling paint to adhere better.

We didn’t sand off all of the old antifoul but made sure to rough it all up, and where there were imperfections in the antifoul we sanded slightly more to come to a smoother surface.

As we were using a slightly different base antifoul we applied a primer first, Hempels underwater Primer (light grey). This first involved masking off the top coat to avoid any accidents before covering the whole hull in primer.

Primers are important before painting new antifoul on a boat because they act as a bonding agent, prevent blistering and corrosion, smooth out imperfections, and provide added protection against the elements. They improve the overall performance and longevity of the antifoul coating.

We managed to paint the first coat in 2-3 hours, but don’t worry there are many more coats to come!

Overcoating times are important because they ensure that the previous coat of antifoul paint has cured properly before applying a new coat. Applying a new coat too soon can cause the antifoul paint to lift, crack, or not adhere properly, resulting in poor performance and premature failure of the coating. Following the manufacturer’s recommended overcoating times ensures optimal adhesion and performance of the antifoul paint, and helps to extend the life of the coating.

Painting in the Caribbean heat certainly means you can paint more coats a day than in cooler Europe, but you also end up sweating a bunch more!

We wanted to vary all of our under-the-waterline paint colors so that we would know how much has been worn through or scrubbed off when we clean the hull so next up is a blue antifoul coat.

Next, we mixed some of the last coat of blue with a future coat of grey to create a darker blue.

And on top of that, we painted with just the grey tin giving us a grey coat all over.

Last but not least we finished with a coat of the same antifoul that we had on before so the hull would remain the same darker grey.

Next, we had to mask the bottom edge of the white stripe for painting with hard antifoul.

We had measured the thickness of the line in various places (you can see the bits of tape with measurements written on stuck on the top coat) however even with the new coats of anti foul we could still just see the ridge of the previous line which we had tried to avoid sanding away, so taping was easy.

The painting began, and as you can see, lots of coats are needed for white on darker colors.

After 4 coats, we had a perfectly repainted boat with crisp edges.

Peeling off the masking tape at the end brings the same satisfaction as peeling off a brand new screen protector.

You may notice that the boat is obviously still held in place by stands. It’s expensive and time-consuming to keep moving these while painting the main coats, so we would only be applying a couple of quick coats of antifoul on the day we get hauled back into the water while the boat is in the crane slings.

We made sure to cushion the strops for the crane when being lifted in to avoid it rubbing or scratching any paint off, particularly our lovely white stripe.

You can see the ugly unpainted patch, now that the stand has been moved that needs a few coats of paint.

After a little sanding, cleaning, and a couple of coats of paint, it’s almost impossible to tell.

Getting back in the water we can leave for a future post!

Haul out, Rudder stock stuffing replacement

Haul out, Rudder stock stuffing replacement

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Rudder stock stuffing, also known as the rudder gland or stuffing box, is a component found on most boats that helps prevent water from entering the hull through the rudder shaft. The rudder stock stuffing is essentially a waxed packing material that is wrapped around the rudder post and compressed using a gland nut to create a watertight seal. Without this component, water would leak into the hull, causing damage and making the boat unsafe to operate. Proper maintenance of the rudder stock stuffing is crucial to ensure it remains effective in preventing water ingress and protecting the integrity of the vessel.

For a while now aboard Hannah, we have had a slow drip from the rudder stock. Now that we are hauled out of the water we can go about replacing the rudder stock stuffing without worrying about water coming into the boat.

On a Camper and Nicholson 38, the rudder stock is accessible in a little cupboard in the aft cabin.

Inside you’ll see the stock with the stuffing box at the bottom.

The top part is the stuffing box body itself, which holds the packing material and can be turned to compress down onto the thread within.

Once the packing material is inserted into the upper half, the lower nut is done up to prevent the upper stuffing box from working loose.

It took quite a bit of time with WD-40, some big wrenches, the occasional hammer tap and lots of wiggling, some light sandpaper, and patience to get the stuffing box all the way off the thread and up the rudder stock to make the packing material accessible.

Once accessible we tried a variety of tools to try and get the packing material out, but we settled on a fishing hook, which could easily grab the material and enable you to pull it out.

Once out you can easily see how old the material was and why it might be letting water through. It was very dry and quite thin and we imagine water could pass right through it now.

In total there were two complete sections of packing material that went into the stuffing box, with an offset overlap between them.

To replace the packing material you need to buy the right size.

We had no specifications to work on and failed to find the information online so made some guesses and after wrongly guessing at 6mm we found that 5mm was the right size for this Camper and Nicholson 38 stuffing box. (6mm was way too big, not a chance of getting that in there)

We are happy to announce that since replacing the stuffing box packing material, not a single drip has been seen 🙂🙂

Water filtration for cruising

Water filtration for cruising

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Water filters are important on a boat that cruises the world because they help to ensure that the water onboard is safe to drink and use. When sailing to different countries, it’s often necessary to obtain water from various sources, each with different qualities. Water sources may contain harmful contaminants like bacteria, viruses, chemicals, and heavy metals that can pose a risk to human health.

Water filters can help remove these contaminants and improve the quality of the water, making it safe to consume and use. Additionally, having a reliable water filtration system onboard can help prevent illnesses and keep the crew hydrated, which is essential for their health and well-being during long voyages.

Moreover, a water filter can also help prolong the lifespan of the boat’s plumbing system, appliances, and water tanks by reducing the buildup of sediment, rust, and other minerals that can cause corrosion and clogging. Therefore, water filters are an essential component of a safe and sustainable boating experience, especially when traveling to different countries with varying water qualities.

When researching we found people only using their freshwater tanks for showers and washing up etc, and choosing to drink bottled water instead. Before setting off on Hannah Penn, we wanted to make sure we had a flexible water solution that included being able to drink from our tanks no matter the water source. Not only for ease but also to avoid needing to buy hundreds of plastic bottles.

Our water filtration system is made up of a 3-stage 10-inch water filter system by Aqua Filter starting with a 5-micron going into a 1-micron, and finally a 0.5-micron carbon filter, then the water passes through a 12v UV sterilization lamp, all of which is plumbed in after the water pump and pressure accumulator for the system in the galley cupboard under the sink.

The UV lamp linked to above is the one we purchased, however, to make it 12v it needed an alternative ballast which we again managed to get off Amazon.

The reason for its location after the tanks in the system, apart from being the easiest place to install, is that the water is filtered immediately before it’s consumed, meaning it’s as fresh as can be. The other way it could be done is by filtering it upon entry into the boat.

Here you can see the filter housing installed and plumbed in with some new unused filters fitted.

The first filter is the 5-micron, and is designed to remove larger particles such as sand, silt, and sediment. This filter helps to protect the second filter by removing the larger particles that may clog or damage it. It also helps to improve the taste and clarity of the water.

The second filter is the 1-micron, and is designed to remove smaller particles such as rust, dirt, and other impurities. This filter also helps to remove any remaining sediment and particulates that may have made it through the first filter. It further improves the taste and quality of the water.

The third filter is the 0.5-micron, and is designed to remove the tiniest particles and impurities such as chlorine, chemicals, heavy metals, bacteria, and viruses. This filter is the most critical in ensuring that the water is safe to drink and use as well as making the water taste the best it can.

The carbon filters work by adsorption, which is the process of attracting and binding impurities to the surface of the filter. As the water passes through the carbon, the impurities become trapped on the surface, leaving clean and safe water for consumption.

After a period of use, the filters end up looking dirty, from the various particles that they have collected. The first filter in the chain always becomes the dirtiest and therefore we end up changing this one slightly more regularly.

The UV filter is an excellent way to purify water by destroying harmful microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, and protozoa which are too small to be captured by the mechanical filters. These can cause waterborne illnesses such as diarrhea, cholera, and typhoid. UV (Ultraviolet light) water purification works by exposing water to UV light, which penetrates the cell walls of microorganisms and disrupts their DNA, making them unable to reproduce or cause harm.

Our UV filter is powered by our 12 V system and is made up of a tube with a central UV bulb that the water flows around.

Having used the system now for a few years we are yet to change the bulb, though it should be changed after a year of continuous usage.

We have had to replace the 12v ballast a few times as it has stopped working, but finally discovered the issue was apparently fluctuating voltage (due to the water pump) causing a component of the ballast to fry, so we fitted a 12v voltage regulator just before the system and have had no issues since.

12v regulator to the left

Throughout our time cruising, most of the water going into our tanks as looked acceptable. Despite this, the filters always end up rather disgusting after some period of use showing that you can’t really tell what is in your water by looking at or smelling it.

We have also heard and seen other boats doing various other things.

Firstly, if you have a water maker/ desalination unit, and only use that as a source of water for your tanks, then you are probably good to go, as long as you keep your tanks clean. However, you never know what’s going to happen, maybe your water maker will break? Maybe you won’t have enough power to run it etc.

Another boat we saw once in a marina had a 2 stage water filter system plumbed into a hose pipe with attachments. So whenever they filled up from a tap they could filter their water.

Some boats just use chlorine tablets, when they fill up, but this will leave a bad taste in your water and also won’t remove sediments.

If you have space for it, this 4 filter setup is cheap (ish), easy to use, fit and maintain, and the water tastes great!

Overall the setup would cost you around £200 + the cost of fitting (pipe connections etc)

12v Regulator£14
UV System£49
12v Ballast£38
Triple filter housing£43
0.5 micron carbon filter x1£15
1 micron filter x3£9
5 micron filter x6£15
Haul out time in Guadeloupe

Haul out time in Guadeloupe

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Our short time in Dominica came to an end. We had scheduled to meet Teulu Tribe before reaching mainland Guadeloupe, and needed to get going ASAP!

The small islands to the south of Guadeloupe, known as Les Saintes would be where we meet Teulu. They are a breathtakingly beautiful and unspoiled archipelago. Comprising two main islands, Terre-de-Haut and Terre-de-Bas, and several smaller islets, these tiny islands are renowned for their stunning beaches, turquoise waters, and colorful Creole-style homes.

We managed to anchor right next to Teulu in the bay, although the anchoring situation was rather confusing. You are anchoring in around 17m of depth, and the winds and tides swirl around the islands so boats can often end up pointing in all different directions. We were right on the edge of the island and were often 90 degrees to Teulu. Getting the anchor back up from a depth of nearly 20m was very hard work!

Having chatted with them over the past few months via Instagram but only just managing to cross paths, and only for one evening, we crammed lots of boat and adventure chat in.

The next morning we set off before dawn to Point-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, despite knowing we were on some sort of “waiting list” for getting hauled out, no one had told us what to expect, so we wanted to get there in plenty of time.

Arriving at the marina we first tried to contact them via VHF, but struggled to communicate with whoever was on the other end and ended up mooring at the fuel dock. At the fuel dock, we used the phone to call the marina office to ask what we needed to do and where we needed to go. There was lots of confusion about who we were and if we could get hauled out for some time.

Eventually, they told us to go and speak to the manager of the boatyard, so we hopped in the dinghy and headed over. He let us know that we needed to get some paperwork from the marina (including checking in) before he could haul us out, but that he might be able to haul us out in the afternoon! 👌

We chased the paperwork around for a little while, returning with the needed forms before lunch, and he let us moor up near the boat yard alongside some other boats to wait for our haul out.

Hannah Penn looking rather small next to a very big cat

After lunch they were ready and we managed to get hauled out around 3 pm.

It was slightly nerve-wracking doing this in a foreign country with French as the first language, as neither of us really speaks French, and you always worry about communication going wrong.

We really should have done all of the lines ourselves for getting into the bay to get hauled out as one of the guys on land really made a meal of our plan.

Once in the haul-out area, the straps went in the wrong places a few times despite trying to guide the crane operator to the right place, but eventually, we were lifted!

Next was the worryingly rocky journey to the other edge of the yard where we would be for the coming week or so.

And touchdown! After getting them to alter one of the keel wood supports (which to start with we were hanging off the side of) all was good.

We hired a petrol pressure washer from a tool shop in the boat yard and got to work blasting off all growth. As we knew we were hauling out we had let this build up a little more than in previous months.

Tada, clean boat!

And you can really see where we have been wearing through the anti-foul on the bow. In total this section probably had 6-8 coats of anti-foul in June 2022.

We checked into an Airbnb, and the rest of our land activities will be in a future post!

Daisy comes for a Birthday treat (Saint Lucia)

Daisy comes for a Birthday treat (Saint Lucia)

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On the 22nd of January, Daisy was flying into Saint Lucia in the south of the island.

We picked up anchor from our final anchorage in St Vincent and headed slightly upwind to Saint Lucia on the 21st to be ready.

As the evening drew closer, we hadn’t managed to make it as far upwind as we would have liked, so headed to a more downwind anchorage, between the Pitons.

The Pitons are two iconic volcanic peaks located on the southwestern coast of Saint Lucia. The Gros Piton stands at 2,619 feet (798 meters) tall, while the Petit Piton is slightly shorter at 2,438 feet (743 meters). These stunning landmarks offer a breathtaking backdrop.

Photo courtesy of Anna

On the following day, we sailed to the anchorage near Hewanorra airport, paid an extortionate amount of money for checking into the country (as it was a Sunday (oops)), and collected Daisy from the airport! At least the customs officer gave us a ride to the airport…

We sailed from the south, past the Pitons, up to Marigot bay (a well-known hurricane hole on the island).

The anchorage wasn’t amazing, and we had to anchor on a rocky bottom. Adam dived in to make sure that the anchor was adequately secured for our overnight stay, and Daisy also jumped into the Caribbean water for the first time at anchor.

Our boat friends Atlas & Danae were also in Marigot bay, so we had a little catch-up with them. In the evening we headed for some food and drinks on land with Atlas who also had guests on board, so between the two boats we were 8 people.

The ribs here were amazing…

We set sail the following morning to head further north on the island.

On the way the wind was strong and we were tacking into it repeatedly. Kathryn noticed that the headsail winch looked a little wonky and upon closer inspection of the winch base noticed a small crack. So we quickly put the headsail away and motored on to Bois d’orange Bay.

The bay was quiet, and best of all, we were the only boat anchored.

Here Kathryn was left aboard to take the winch and winch base apart while everyone else (Anna, Daisy, Adam), headed to the beach. From the beach, we found a trail that headed up toward some civilization.

We started walking up through woodlands, then down toward a quarry, finally poking our heads out near some houses. Of course, we were initially aiming for a Bar, however, on the route, we found a lovely little Roti shop that was still open at the side of the road and also had drinks.

So we ordered enough Roti for the 4 of us, sat down with a drink while we waited, and then headed back to the boat before dark.

Another thing of note here would be our first sighting of a giant land hermit crab.

Arriving back, Kathryn has successfully deconstructed the winch and base (but we will come onto this more later).

We ate the Rotis on deck, admired the sky, enjoyed the tranquility, and then headed to bed.

The following day we had a very short sail north into the larger Rodney Bay (Bois d’orange Bay was on the south side of Rodney Bay). We anchored in the north of the bay near Pigeon Island and set out on a snorkel.

This was Daisy’s first Caribbean snorkeling experience (where we were expecting to see some fish etc). We snorkeled around for about an hour and saw all sorts of cool things.

There was an underwater desk with a fake computer on it (some kind of art or monument), fire worms and reef squids.

You can see more pictures of the squid on Instagram.

We had booked into the Rodney Bay marina for a couple of nights to celebrate Daisy’s birthday, so after returning for snorkeling we headed straight to the marina which was also within Rodney Bay.

Because we all wanted some relaxation and celebration, Kathryn headed to the local chandelier with the winch base to see if they would be able to fiberglass in some reinforcing around the cracked area. They obliged and at the end of our stay, we managed to put the winch and winch base back together.

To celebrate Daisy’s birthday we headed to Sea Salt restaurant (an excellent choice). The meal really was amazing and we all had lots of fun. Cocktails, and some of the best restaurant-cooked food we have had in a while. Fancy and expensive.

From here we headed on to Martinique, but that’s for the next post!

And don’t worry, we will be coming back to Saint Lucia too, to drop Daisy at the same Airport.


Pre-Atlantic boat jobs, Cape Verde

Pre-Atlantic boat jobs, Cape Verde

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On the whole, we were already fairly prepared for the Atlantic crossing and could have set off right away. But we had been saving up boat jobs as ever and made a few impulse purchases to make the crossing a little nicer, so there was work to be done!

Generally, our starting list looked something like this:

  • Standing & running rigging check
  • Re-caulk more of the deck
  • Try to fix wind instruments
  • Fit new driver for UV lamp & 12v regulator
  • Change water filters
  • Clean & patch the mainsail
  • Make our preventer better
  • Clean & service the engine
  • Fit a new filter for the engine seawater inlet
  • Fit bilge alarms on the 2 bilge pumps
  • Fit the “auto” mode of 1 bilge pump
  • Investigate wind turbine charging issues
  • Re provision, water, gas & fuel

Lots of these boat jobs are boring, and there are not pictures, but some of the more interesting jobs are detailed below 🙂

A new solar panel

This wasn’t on our todo list, but during the crossing from the Canaries to Cape verde we realized that we couldn’t sail for extended periods of time while on certain points of sail due to not generating enough power from the sun and wind.

Currently, we have 1 Marlec wind turbine up the mizen mast, 1x ~100W flexible solar panel on the cockpit roof, and 1x ~120W flexible solar panel that we generally attach to the rear side rails.

When running downwind the wind turbine doesn’t do much, and the solar panel on the roof ends up in shadow quite a lot of the time, meaning the only thing charging us would be a single ~120W panel.

This would not be enough for the Atlantic crossing, and would likely lead to us needing to run the engine for 1 hour a day during sunny days, and likely more during cloudy days, which is something we wanted to avoid. We did some very rough maths on fuel consumption and costs, considered how much nicer it would be to just have more power all of the time and decided to buy another solar panel.

We didn’t have much time and didn’t want to spend much money, so ended up buying some pipe to lash together on the aft port side to mount the solar panel on.

As well as somewhere to mount the solar panel, we also had to get cables from the mount to the battery area, and fit a new charge controller.

Before fitting the new panel we had 2 charge controllers, and now we have 3! All different, doing different things in different ways, and probably fighting with each other over when to charge the battery and when not to…

The new charge controller fitted nicely next to our oldest charge controller, the solar panel was mounted after multiple trips to the DIY shop, and we are happy to report charging is easier now!

This gives us an extra ~200W charging capacity, and it’s also easily tiltable currently using some lines attached to the mizen mast. We saw lots of nicer clamp solutions while walking around the marina, but will have to save a fancy solution like this for the future.

Deck caulking

We last did some deck caulking back in Figueira da Foz, but had stocks of caulking to do much more, we had just been putting it off until such a time that we were in one place for multiple days, and that opportunity appeared in Mindelo.

Rather than trying to do a complete line of caulking in one go all the way around the boat, we instead picked a couple of strips that had lots of breaks in them due to other things being fitted to the deck that we were not going to take out.

We dug out the old caulking mainly using screw drivers, sanded down the insides, masked off the teak, and filled them with caulking. Sounds easy in a single sentence but this process took us multiple days.

We now have 2 strips down the starboard side that are freshly caulked. Alongside this, we caulked a large area of the aft deck 🙂

Wind instruments

Ever since Hannah was purchased, there has been an issue with the wind instruments.

Speed works just fine, but half of the direction doesn’t.

We had previously investigated various things that could be wrong, cables in the mast, issues with the screen etc, but hadn’t come to a concrete conclusion on what the issue was.

The guys at BoatCV came aboard and tested some things that we had already tested, we also continued to test other things and think of ideas that could be wrong. At one stage the BoatCV guys took the head unit to the workshop with the idea that there might be something wrong with the magnet inside that detects direction (we had already changed everything else, mast cable, screen, and circuit board). This didn’t make any sense to me, and before they took it off to the workshop I came to the conclusion that the issue must be in the cables in the head unit!

The next day, they came back to confirm that was indeed the issue, so we had to replace only 1 small section of cables in the head unit itself.

We managed to buy a secondhand and newer screen for the wind instruments back in the UK, so we started fitting this which required a bunch of adapters to convert between the old SeaTalk ad SeaTalk NG for the new screen.

Conveniently this was all fairly easy as the wiring is easy to access under the box that holds the various displays, and all connected with easy connectors.

Once all fitted connected and working the new screen worked flawlessly, and also correctly indicated wind direction all the way around.

This would mean while crossing the Atlantic we could finally use wind vane steering, and also use the instrument display to see where the wind was coming from instead of lookup up at the mast!

Provisioning

We had plenty of tinned food to last us all the way across the Atlantic and then some. But we needed to stock up on fresh produce and little treats. During our weeks in Mindelo we scouted out most supermarkets to see what was available where, and in the final 2 days before departing we re visited them all to stock up on the best bits.

Our pre-departure provisioning also included filling up on water, fuel, and gas.

We were over the moon to find out they could fill up both our Camping Gaz bottles and our UK Calor gas bottles at the nearby gas company buildings. So we were to set off on our crossing with 5 full bottles of gas, which should last 4-6 months.

Freeing up our seized Blakes seacock

Freeing up our seized Blakes seacock

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Everyone that owns a boat, should regularly check and service their seacocks by turning the regularly and regreasing them when out of the water. We try to make a habit of turning all of our seacocks a few times each month and noticed one of our Blakes seacocks was getting progressively harder to turn.

Somewhere around Cadiz we could no longer turn this seacock. We had no plan of getting out of the water any time soon, but would really rather be able to close it if needed.

We seacock in question is photographed below after servicing it. It’s in the engine bay under the waterline. This seacock is attached to some drainage holes in the cockpit floor. Nice and easy to access and work around!

The seacock after being serviced

After some online research of others with Blakes seacocks saying anything from “careful heating of the outer body” to “hitting as hard as I dared” we came up with a plan to tackle servicing this seacock from inside the boat while in a marina.

Getting it moving again

First, we took the cover plate off the seacock which can easily be removed but loosening and then removing the two bolts on either side of the handle.

The seacock with cover plate removed

We put a spanner around the square part of the seacock at the base of the handle to apply some turning pressure while gently and repeatedly knocking the end of the handle with a hammer.

It would have been nice to put a bar over the end of the handle to be able to apply some more turning force, but we didn’t have anything readily available that fit. A spanner seemed to do the job.

After quite a while of trying to turn and knocking gently in all directions, we thought it wasn’t going to budge, but finally, it started moving.

It was moving, but still very stiff, we wanted to take the whole thing out, give it a clean and regrease before putting it back together again.

Covering plate, spanner, bungs, rags, hammer etc.

Getting it out

With some plastic sheeting covering the engine, and wooden bungs at the ready, we attempted the old switcharoo, replacing the seacock with a hand, and then a bung.

The water sprayed quite high, so we were thankful for the plastic sheet. But we managed to get it out and replace it with a wooden bung with only a Litre or so of water making its way into the engine bay.

The parts & service

All of the parts needed a good cleaning.

We cleaned all of the parts with Swarfaga and wire wool, removing all of the old grease and any built-up gunge acquired from the sea.

All of the parts were then thoroughly greased with K99 Morris water-resistant grease. Primarily the outside surface of the centre of the seacock and bolts.

Getting it back in

Putting it back together was just the reverse of the getting-it-out process, so just as splashy, if not more!

Once the main body is in we bolted the covering plate back on top (not too tight).

After everything was done and dried up it moved with ease without letting any water in at all.

They say you should be able to move your Blakes seacock with your little finger, and here is proof that can easily be achieved, even with the oldest of seacocks.

Links & Reading

We did some other reading, and you might find these links useful.

Day 51 & 52: Goodbye Warren

Day 51 & 52: Goodbye Warren

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We headed back to our favorite, and the cheapest marina in Vigo (Liceo Marítimo de Bouzas) the day before Warren needed to catch his flight.

Land chores were the theme of the day with showers for everyone, multiple loads of washing at the launderette nearby, and a big boat clean.

For Warren’s last night, we headed for a fishy meal out, and boy were we in for a treat.

The next morning Warren headed off. We will miss him, his cake baking, and also his wonderful readings of The Hobbit.

Chapter 5 of The Hobbit, read by Warren.

We ended up servicing the engine, all filters, belts and an oil change. A job well done! 🧑‍🔧

Engine oil being pumped out into a bottle

We also went to every chandlery we could find in Vigo, only to find that the only money we spent was in the very first one. We managed to pick up a few small items, but not the large haul of deck caulking that we really wanted.

Leaving the marina we spotted Blue Note and passed the bag they left aboard Hannah over with a boat hook as we passed by.

Conveniently the fuel barge on the way out of the marina, outside Marina Davila Sport was still just about open (it closes at 10pm) so we topped up the tanks.

We sailed for about 5 minutes but had to motor most of the way across the river to another of our known anchorages, the same anchorage as Day 46 for some shuteye before trying to get down to Porto in a week. At least it was flat and pretty.

Galley tour

Galley tour

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Get ready, this is an exciting one, Galley tour time!

Welcome to Hannah Penn’s tiny kitchen. In this little corner of the main saloon we prepare all of our meals (jokes, there is a table in the saloon that we use too, or when it’s a bed we put a board on top!).

Galley, with cover boards on

You’ll notice various kitchen items missing in the picture above, that’s because they are all covered over with boards to keep things tidy, and make the space more useful during the day. Also the fridge is just out of shot to the right.

The boards get stowed alongside the galley, and the kitchen area then looks something like this.

Galley, with cover boards off, revealing kitchen things

The main features of the galley are:

  • 2 burner stove
  • Oven
  • Grill
  • Instant hot water heater
  • Fresh water sink
  • Fridge
  • Stowage

This is mostly powered by butane gas which we occasional buy from shore in 4.5kg bottles. (Currently we use Calor, but as we have left the UK we will need to change that soon)

The fridge box is old, but the compressor is brand new and fitted during the 2022 haul out. It’s hidden behind this door to the right of the main galley area. Keep and eye out for the fridge upgrade post in the future..

This is not an original Camper and Nicholsons galley, it was renovated by the previous owner of Hannah Penn about 12 years ago. However the Vaillant water heater is original, still going strong 50 years later.

Vaillant water heater

The sink drains straight into the sea, so we need to be careful about what we put down the sink. For this reason we use diluted eco friendly cleaning products, such as Ecover for washing up liquid, and Oceansaver and bicarbonate of soda for general cleaning.

The sink had 2 taps, both for fresh water. One was hand operated, the other electric pump operated, but we have removed the hand operated tap for now, in preparation for installation of a new salt water tap which should allow us to conserve some fresh water while doing the dishes.

Galley sink uncovered, and surrounding area.

Behind the sink we also have 2 sets of bilge pump controls for our 2 bilge pumps, and a gas alarm.

The galley is full of compartments for stowing things in, most of these contain kitchen related items or food:

  • Big cupboard beneath sink for large pots and pans
  • Draws for cutlery and utensils
  • Cupboards above stove for spices and staples
  • Dedicated plate, bowl and mug holders
  • Large compartment accessible in the worktop to the right of the sink for easy access food
  • Fridge for the cold stuff
  • Under the oven… Various toolboxes…

The galley also has one of the windows from the saloon, so while your cooking you can gaze out to sea… Still wish it opened though, maybe that’ll change in the future.

Dinghy engine oil change

Dinghy engine oil change

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Arriving in the Isles of Scilly we found ourselves with some extra time, and also the desire to explore some nearby islands.

We had a long list of jobs still to do back on 2022 splash day, one of which was the dinghy engine oil change.

So before exploring anywhere, it was time to tick off another job. Dinghy engine oil change.

Speifically, Hannah’s dinghy is a Zodiac with a 3.3 HP 2-stroke Mariner outboard engine.

How to replace the gear oil

I imagine outboards are normally serviced on land. But we had no easy option to do that.

All of the guides that we found also said that you are meant to use a special gear oil pump of sorts, but we didn’t have one of those to hand.

You can get an overview of what this process is meant to look like in this video.

Mounting the engine

We didn’t really want to replace the oil in the engines normal positions, hanging over the side of the boat, or ashore, in case of spills.

So we rigged the engine in the cockpit with numerous ropes to suspend it in mid air with the floor covered in plastic beneath.

We used one rope heading out from each side of the engine at least to keep it stable.

Conveniently we were in a very flat anchorage.

Replacing the oil

As was mentioned in the video, there are 2 screws that you need to locate.

Here are the screws on our Mariner 3.3 HP.

Undoing the bottom screw allows a little oil to start trickeling out into a container we had prepared. The top one released the flood gates and we waited a few minuites for the flow to slow.

We found a random site online that said that the gear oil capacity for an engine like this was around 140ml, so this is what we were aiming for.

To get the new oil into the outboard we used a syringe whoose nozzle happened to just fit inside the hole opened up by the screw. Pouring oil from our new container into a small bowl, then sucking it up with the syringe and shooting it into the hole, covering the hole with our fingers between synringes (as we needed multiple to reach 140ml).

You can see the syringe we used and difference in our oil colour below. Grey / blue being the oil coming out, and yellow being the oil going in.

We won’t talk about the time we accidently fired oil across the cockpit using the syringe, thats better left in the past.

Doing the screws up, and cleaning the engine off, we were all set for our next dinghy trip!