Shoreside Week Four

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Mon 25 Jul 2022 07:17
Position: Alongside RSAYS, Outer Harbour, Adelaide
Weather: occasional showers, cool

The engine rebuild kit arrived last Thursday and on Friday I picked the block up from the engine rebuilders to finish stripping it down. I had not removed the governor and cam shaft from the block hoping they could do the honing with these in place but we decided that it was best to remove them so that the block could be properly cleaned up after the cylinders had been honed to size. So this morning I have returned the block to the machine ship and they have all the new pistons so hopefully we will get the block back either later this week or early next week and then we can start putting the BRM back together again.
Meanwhile the injectors and fuel injection pump have been repaired and serviced and are ready to be picked up, though I was a little shocked at how much this cost. As usual with such boat projects the all up cost is probably going to be about double what I was hoping, or maybe more.
Last Friday my brother John helped me bring the dinghy and V-berth mattress back on board as I return Sylph from solo world circumnavigation mode back to live-aboard cruising mode. John had been looking after the dinghy and mattress plus numerous other bits and pieces which I did not need for my circumnavigation. He stayed the night on Sylph and we were able to enjoy the hospitality of the Yacht Squadron that evening including a party on board the famous maxi racing yacht Brindabella. I think it is safe to say that a good night was had by all.
Last week I also received some 12 mm Dyneema rope in the mail which I am going to use to replace the starboard forward lower shroud. You might recall that I had the backstay replaced with Dyneema rope before my circumnavigation as a trial to see how the product performed. Thus far I have been very happy with it. The problem with the starboard shroud is that three strands have broken at the upper swage and I am confident that the Dyneema will likely hold up better than 1x19 stainless steel wire rope. At this stage I will just replace the one shroud and see how it goes. If I am happy with it I will then replace the port forward lower shroud and then in the fullness of time when the rig is due for replacement I will likely replace the other shrouds if with Dyneema if the product continues to perform satisfactorily. In many ways the new high tech rope is a return to more traditional ways of doing things with rope standing rigging which will allow me to do more of my own rigging work.
Finally, I can report that the ship's cat is happy and therefore ...
All is well