Relaunch and Recommisioning
Thursday November 13th, 2014 Tobago Cays St Vincent and the Grenadines 12 42.3N 61 19.2W Today's Blog by David (Time zone: UTC -4.0) Returned to Grenada on November 3rd to commence the process of recommissioning Serendipity , she having been ashore in Grenada for the hurricane season. To put this in context, the last time I left her for any length of tie was in New Zealand in the care of one Chris Smith (“Boatsmith” – a marvellous service he provided) who looked after her as his own so that when I arrived she was floating, fuel tanks full and ready to go. He simply handed me the keys so I could drive off. …… This time was rather different. The launch scheduled for 4th was delayed until 5th. I don’t really understand why most yards want the owner or his representative present for this process because you are pretty powerless as you watch a seemingly psychotic driver careering around the boat yard with your pride and joy in the slings of his travel hoist:
But safely launched she was. Upon launch the engine didn’t start and had a fault with the engine preheater. When we got to the dockside I began the process of checking over the systems. Here is my recollection of what needed to be dealt with. 1 First up, the boat was taking in water and the automatic bilge pump was set off. One of two raw water strainers was spouting water through the seal – it had been serviced but the seal had not been properly made when it was reassembled. 2 Engine battery required replacement – having lain idle – and seemingly uncharged - for six months (?) 3 Various bits of kit remained distributed around the boat yard rather than attached to the boat. Absentee equipment had first to be noticed (in otherwords if I didn’t realise it was missing it wasn’t being chased) and then recovered. So the spinnaker Pole, halyards, dinghy, outboard, oars, flagstaff, sails, canvas work had to be tracked down and returned. 4 The sails were eventually fitted the day after launch – the sheets were incorrectly fastened so the head sails needed to come down. 5 The bilge pump was triggered again when the fresh water tank started emptying into the bilge through the pressure relief valve in the calorifier. This it transpired resulted because the pressure sender on one of the two fresh water pumps had failed and the pump just kept pumping whatever the pressure – eventually tripping the PRV. (Diagnosis courtesy of my experiences in the aftermath of the Day of Noah). 6 Water maker low pressure system was dry (it had been disconnected for service) and an airlock had formed that the pump could not clear . (I am promised that there is a one way valve on the high pressure system so that the filter tubes could not have dried out…….hmmmm) 7 Just as we were leaving to motor round to La Phare Bleu marina, I hoisted the burgee to discover that the cleats had been removed from the mast where it was being resprayed and had not been replaced. Similarly the flagstaff cleat had not been replaced. Arriving on Monday, it was not until late Thursday that I was able to leave. As we left, Stephen (from Amelie giving a helping hand) pointed out a huge pall of black smoke emanating from the exhaust – thick and black reminiscent of a fire in a plastics factory leaving swathes of carbon from unburned fuel layered over the water’s surface. The engine management system limited the revs to protect the engine while we limped back to the dockside while the mechanic cleaned out the turbocharger. While he did so the boat yard accounts people came to tell me that my debit card had failed so the yard bill remained unpaid – the UK by then was closed an my dinner was in an oven at a different marina……….. The mechanic fixed the engine as best he could - the engine ran better but he management system still limited the revs. The mechanic suggested we tried running the engine gently for an hour or two before using full power but pronounced himself otherwise out of ideas. To La Phare Bleu at 1500 revs we motored……. |
