Alongside RSAYS Marina, Outer Harbor
Wind: S, Force 3 - gentle breeze
Sea: calm Swell: nil
Weather: sunny, hot

We have been alongside the RSAYS marina for a bit over a week now. In that time I have caught up again with friends and family as well as settling back into general maintenance mode. In the last week I have refreshed the non-skid paint on the port side deck, which has just a couple of small touch ups to finish it off. This week I will aim to do the fore deck and starboard side deck.

A more serious maintenance job that needs doing is hauling Sylph out to apply some fresh anti-fouling paint. There is also some rust that needs to be cut out on the port topside of the hull which unfortunately I overlooked during our big refit in Whangarei in 2020. Once these repairs have been completed I hope to apply a fresh coat of paint to the topsides which are starting to look a bit patchy.

My friend Rob on Inukshuk, whose berth we have been using since we arrived in Adelaide, will be returning tomorrow. So this morning we moved from Inukshuk's berth to the maintenance berth.

And another problem revealed itself in the process of moving berths. When I went to start the engine it refused to fire. I spent an hour bleeding fuel lines and generally fiddling about trying to work out the problem. Eventually the engine started but I have little idea what the problem is. I suspected that air was getting in the fuel line but after bleeding the system up to the injectors this seems unlikely. My next thought was maybe a lack of compression, though speaking with a fellow club member who is a retired ship's engineer and given some of the fault finding I have done, he thinks this is unlikely and has suggested I check to see that the glow plugs are working. Certainly this would be a far simpler thing to fix than if the engine has a compression problem. And seeing as I completely overhauled the engine only two years ago and it has only done 500 hours since then, it does seem unlikely that the engine should be suffering from a loss of compression. Anyway, another job to add to the 'to do' list.

All is well.