Gibraltar

Wanderingdragon
Stephen & Anne
Thu 3 Apr 2008 21:33

36:08.940N 5:21.304W

 

We had a quiet morning, with the highlight being a full cooked breakfast. We then filled the fresh water tanks. As water in Gibraltar is metered, it gave us a chance to double check our capacity.

 

After lunch Anne headed off to Morrisons to pick up some food items. This is in preparation for having David & Lisa over for dinner tomorrow evening.

 

Stephen changed the toilet pump in the forward heads. The next step is to replace all the pipe work and fit the new macerator pump.

 

On Anne’s return we had a close look at the alternator. We have had a problem of the belts wearing quickly, which may be due to the alternator pulley being the wrong size (“bottoming out” is the term the mechanics have been using). We have been unable to source a new pulley, but have had the offer of getting one made. We decided to recheck what was happening to be certain of the premature wear. We took a few photos to email back to an engineer in the uk so he could give us some advice

                                                                                                                                     

We also wanted to double check the pulley size was correct. We did this by measuring the circumference of the engine pulley and the alternator pulley, working out the ratio and then ensuring that when idling or full revs the alternator is within its limits (by checking the charging curve diagrams). All was well – there is even plenty of leeway hence if the new pulley is slightly larger or smaller we will be ok. We wanted to check this as we were not sure how accurate the new pulley needed to be. We’ll make a decision tomorrow on what to do.

 

This evening Stephen is happily in the galley starting on some preparation for tomorrow’s dinner. The cats are settling into stern too mooring now, Yoyo watches the world go by all day. Koshka sleeps all day but explores at night – oh and sleeps at night as well.