35:43.658S 174:20.003E

25^th March 2015

Our plans to get the final jobs done prior to doing some sailing have been put on hold again.  When motoring from Norsand Boatyard to the Town Basin back in January, we noticed a high pitched screech coming from the prop area, which started halfway up the river.  As work then started on the engine (we needed to be in the water for this to start), it was then a few weeks before we were able to start the engine again, put her in gear and check for the noise.  Unfortunately, when we did, it was still there, and after checking as much as possible of the prop workings as is possible from inside the boat, the conclusion from the mechanic was that we needed to haul her out again to check below.

And of course, by that time, the schedules for haulouts were pretty full and we had a two-week wait for a slot.  This time we went to Riverside Drive to haul out, as they have a travel lift there and it would be much easier to lift out and hang in the slings for a few hours rather than haul out in a cradle the Norsand way.

So this morning we slipped the lines at the Town Basin and headed down the river a mile or so to Riverside Drive.  Neither of us noticed until we arrived there, that we had not heard a single screech coming from below!  We decided it was still best to go ahead with the lift anyway, and sure enough, just as we went into reverse to manoeuvre into the slip, the screeching began.

So we were hauled out and, still in the slings, settled down onto wooden blocks to allow the investigation to begin.

S-F back on dry land. Bottom a bit muddy, a few barnacles.                        Steve gives the prop some attention.

Whilst she was hanging there, we took the opportunity to scrape off the hundreds of barnacles that had grown on the underside of the keel, and painted it with antifoul.  The system of hauling and relaunching at Norsand does not give the opportunity to do this, as the boat doesn’t leave the cradle until it is in the water.  So we were glad of this lift for that reason alone.  Also, the prop anode had wasted by 50% in the two months we had been back in the water, and needed replacing already.  This suggested a stray current in the water around our berth in the Town Basin and we would need to speak to them about it on our return.

Several hours of investigation and flushing of various parts of the prop, shaft, cutlass bearing, stuffing box etc yielded no explanation of the source of the noise, but neither could any fault be found, and so the conclusion was reached that we would just have to put up with the noise!  And so, a few hours after she had been lifted out, she was back in the water once more.