Tuesday 22 July – Days of Laundr y and Maintenance

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:36
Alongside Dutch Harbor
Weather: mostly sunny, mild

The weather has been excellent over the last few days which has allowed me to attend to some much needed maintenance and the Laundry. Unfortunately there is no coin laundry in town so it has to be done with the old fashioned bucket and cold water. So far three buckets done with another three to go.

The major maintenance job I have been working on is fixing an alignment problem in the steering system. The cogs were not quite right and every now and then the chain would jam as it tried to ride off one of them, something that could cause a major problem if it happened at the wrong moment. I think that is now fixed. While I was at it I have attempted to fix the cockpit leak once again. I am reasonable hopeful that this time I might have it licked- fingers crossed.

Resolving the communications problems however has not been so rewarding. I have had a couple of goes at resurrecting the SSB radio but with no success, and the satphone remains as temperamental as ever, sometimes it works, but mostly it does not. However one highlight for the day was that the genset started. I took it out into the cockpit yesterday to see if it might start but it did not so much as cough. This afternoon the sun was shining brightly and I have a theory that when the genset is warm and dry it is much more likely to start, so I tried again and this time when I pulled the start cord and the machine roared into life. So whatever is wrong with the genset at least the problem does not appear to be terminal.

All is well.