Spellbinder's Web Diary - Fethiye Refit Week 1 23 Feb

Fethiye Refit Week 1 23 Feb - 1 March 2010

Spellbinder

Mon 1 Mar 2010 17:16

Spellbinder cast off from the ECE Marina, Fethiye on a still and sunny Tuesday afternoon heading for Levent's boatyard at the end of the bay. Onboard were Henry and George Rock-Evans who had very kindly offered to help with the "refit". Nosing into the boat lift it was noticed that stern power was lacking but it was not until the hull was exposed that the horrendous extent of the fouling became apparent. The folding propellor was a lump of barnacles and quite unable to operate. This was only after 3.5 months afloat in the marina over winter and it was obvious that our maintenance work was going to be arduous! A check of play in the stern bearing confirmed suspicions that this needed to be changed, a task given to Levent's men. What seemed to be a straightforward task turned into a difficult one as, without one suspects the correct tools, removing the shaft and stern cutlass bearing entailed dismantling the lower rudder bearing! Are well, we will know better next time.
A large amount of effort was spent in scraping the residue of barnacles off the Cuprotect coated hull that had been equally unable to repel the super-active crustaceans in Fethiye bay. The folding propellor was completely stripped down and refitted by George and in all its final bronze glory was admired by all.
A large number of jobs were completed during the week including door catches that had broken in the first 4 years of Spellbinder's busy life and the fitting of a carbon filter in the freshwater foot-pumped system at the galley sink.
After a hard day's work it was nice to subside into the care of Hussein at the Otel Daffodil nearby. His chef is excellent and we were treated to some delicious Turkish dishes and warm hospitality. We were also treated to some spectacular thunderstorms that not once, but twice, flooded through the restaurant and caused power outages.
Lunches were enjoyed in the little boatyard eatery run by charming Turkish staff working with rather primitive equipment. In spite of this the food was delicious and became part of our daily routine.
Learning of Turkish words proceeds very slowly from Merhaba (hello) encouraged by Hussein who sets a test each evening.
We gave ourselves a day off on Sunday, so on a beautiful sunny spring day accompanied by Val and Sarah from Idaho we wandered around Fethiye looking at rock tombs, chatting to a most interesting and friendly Turkish teacher of English and visiting the museum garden although it was officially shut. We were to learn that Cahit Arf, alongside Einstein, Pasteur, Newton, Curie on a school entry board, was the name of a famous Turkish mathematician who discovered something very clever about quadratic equations.
So as this is written on Monday 1 March the boat is close to being refloated but not before the toilet pipework has been removed and cleaned out. In 2009, 3.5 years of heavy use had built up calcium deposits that had blocked the discharge pipe. Fortunately, Levent's men have agreed to take this task on!
Photos to follow.