Back on board.

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Tue 14 Jul 2009 06:22
Monday 13th July
Flew back to Istanbul yesterday after a very hectic 5 days back in the UK,
including the main purpose which was to attend Ewan's graduation in
Manchester which all went very well. (Photo at www.rhbell.com)

We also took the opportunity to sort out a few of the electrical problems
that had arisen lately and so firstly we would like to thank IMP ltd who are
agents for Lopo Lights (LED navigation lights) for swiftly sending us two
new units to replace the two that failed following the storm a few weeks
ago. Clearly there were installation issues, but Lopo have a 5 year
guarantee and could not have been more helpful and prompt in their response.
Fitting the replacement units was far from straight forward as the modified
version has the cable already attached so there is a lot of mousing to be
done. Secondly we have had a long running issue with our Echopilot Forward
Looking Sonar, which is a brilliant bit of kit, but about two months ago the
picture disappeared off the chartplotter screen, never to return! We emailed
Echopilot who were convinced that it was an issue with the Raymarine
chartplotter and if not, we would need to return the Echopilot unit to them
for checking out. So we contacted Raymarine who were very prompt in
contacting their Turkish agent, who arranged for us to be seen when we got
to Istanbul. This visit took place a week ago and the outcome following a
number of tests was that there was nothing wrong with the chartplotter! So
we took the Echopilot unit back to the UK with us and sent it to the factory
and they checked it out and declared it fine, but sent us a new one anyway.
Today, I fitted the new sonar and hey presto.....nothing. A couple of phone
calls later I checked out the continuity of the cable and found that there
was an issue here. So this required me to dismantle a fair amount of the
boat to access the cable run and finally I found the culprit, which was a
poor junction between the Echopilot video cable and the Raymarine cable that
connects it to the chartplotter. Problem solved, but full marks to Raymarine
who charged nothing for their agent to come out and Echopilot, who sent us a
new unit anyway without a quibble and were extremely helpful over the phone
throughout. Just wish someone had thought about checking the continuity
earlier. Lesson learnt perhaps?

The new offices for the marina here were opened over the weekend and the
development is moving very fast. Sadly the showers and toilets were going to
open today but, of course they didn't. Tomorrow morning perhaps....no one
here is holding their breath.

Warm today but not particularly sunny, and we were surprised by several
heavy showers of rain - thought we had left all that behind in the UK
yesterday.

Plan is to move off tomorrow heading for the Aegean Sea by way of the
Dardanelles with a few stops along the way in the Sea of Marmara.