Friday 15^th Sept.

A brief resume of progress since returning to the boat

Sat 9^th Sept.  Very calm flight from Stansted. Jet2 attendants pretty cheerful along with most of the passengers. They probably don’t look forward to the return trip when everyone is grumpy to be going home and back to work.  

Arrived back on board at around midnight. Pleased to see her still afloat and looking dry and dusty. Load music from the restaurant still pumping out. A neighbour mentioned that he had been checking her occasionally. I think he must have added a mooring line to hold her off the pontoon. Not before the fenders had made a nice mess on the topsides. Excavated the port saloon bunk from cushions for sleep. Music stopped around 1am.

Sun 10^th. Early swim in front of the beach houses in luke warm water. No longer crunchy granola from the muesli container.  No electrics so chased around to connect shore power- turned out that the fuses were off on the panel. Put the little Indonesian battery charger on the house batteries but at 9V clearly deceased. The engine battery also dead but the spare I bought in Suez as a back up just on 12V and taking charge.  Cleaned deck of thick layer of dust. Neighbour noted that I was turning the wr brown. Bikes out-mine with seized rusty chain. Dianas O.K. (must have oiled it better before layup). Tin of chicken curry with rice for supper.

Mon 11^th. Early swim off beach on other side of the marina.  Visited marina office and paid up for extra 2 months. Marina boss invited me in for a chat and offered a discount rate. Probably keen for me to tell my numerous buddies with yachts to come here. Asked in chandlery for batteries but the girl was already looking bored and had no clue where I might find them. I suspect the chandlery is not doing great business.  Google came good with battery shop in Larnaca and batteries duly arrived in the afternoon. Batteries hooked up, solar panel cleaned of dust and 12V system looking good, panel charging well. Cycled in to AN for shop options- not much but a few dusty veg in one of the so called supermarkets pandering to the tourists (not much self-catering I guess).

Tues 12^th. Early swim off a little unofficial beach just next to the marina -spotted some swimmers yesterday afternoon so decided that would be my beach of preference.  

Engine top of the job list. It was using more oil, losing fresh water  and not charging again. I brought out with me a gasket set and new alternator. Plan to change the head gasket and re-wire. Most of the day taken up removing the heat exchange unit as the bolts are impossible to reach unless you are a double jointed small monkey.  

Wed 13^th.  6am swim and exercises with sunrise. Removed the head and cleaned out the oily sump. Met Fiona working on the next door motor boat.  I couldn’t place her accent to begin with but as she spoke it became strong southern Irish. She hails from Waterford and talks non-stop. She has loads of advice and appears to be freelance working around the marina. She was pleased to see a proper boat among the gin palaces and offered help at no charge, making me feel guilty by wondering if she was after sponsorship for her charity.  The charity helps adults to re-gain confidence after trauma by taking them sailing. She is restoring a little wooden classic yacht currently out  on the hard with a view to using her for the charity.  She looked at the engine with the head off and pistons swimming in water and had me panicking that water had been leaking in all sorts of places it shouldn’t and there were  dodgy old repairs and any local mechanic would condemn the whole thing. A brief internet search later put my mind somewhat at rest as the water was simply released from where it should be when the head came off. Long storey about her mother who is being neglected by her sister in Ireland which did sound grim. Fiona looks like she would be lifted away by the slightest breeze as there is not an ounce of meat on her bones. Despite long well manicured painted nails she got stuck right in to the pile of bits and pulled away at the pipes and clips in an effort to discover the problems.  I ordered a new elbow on the basis of her tutting. (it does look very crap).

Took the alternator bracket to the workshop for modification to suit the new alternator. George kindly said he would take it to a workshop in Paralimni with my rough drawing.

Thursday 14^th

Regular swim-another sunny day. Head back on with new gasket after cleaning. Fiona offered loan of her Torque wrench. Fortunately I have the workshop manual that specifies torque and sequence of tightening. Also offered set of feeler gauges for setting the valve clearances. More cleaning and clearing out of useless junk in the spares locker under port side saloon seats. Treated self to lunch at the marina café -surprisingly good value spinach and cheese pie with very chocolaty cake after.

Friday 15^th

Fisherman usually in position on the rocks before I get there not turned up. Bracket back from the workshop -doesn’t fit! My drawing correct but obviously not clear. Arranged a car hire for the weekend (cheaper than for the day)   and took a ride in to Paralimni about 8 miles away. Found the workshop and the bracket adjustment was made while I had a shop in Lidl on the other side of the road. Nice fruit and veg but hoping in vain for a cheap torque wrench in the bargain bins to add to my tool kit. Bracket and alternator mounted and solid. Heat exchanger back on after more cursing and skinned knuckles. Elbow not yet arrived so can’t finish the engine reassembly just yet. Nice veg curry with halumi. Party evening at the restaurant. Music stopped at midnight.