Position: 35 44.61 S 174 21.00 E
At anchor Hatea River, Whangarei
Wind: NNE F4 moderate breeze
Sea state: wavelets  Swell: nil
Weather: partly cloudy, mild
Day’s run: 6 nm

On Friday we returned to the water, remaining alongside Dockland 5’s marina for two nights which allowed me to clean up and do various chores such as changing out the engine coolant and topping up the water tanks. Today the plan was to take a local friend, Natasha, for a short sail. With that in mind we got underway at midday when it was approaching high water and motored towards the Onerahi jetty where we were to pick Natasha up from at 1300. However, we had only been motoring for about ten minutes when the BRM’s high temperature alarm went off. I put the engine into neutral, shut it down, allowed Sylph to drift to the edge of the channel and let go the anchor.

I first checked the water pump impeller, but this was in good order. One problem I had encountered when changing the engine coolant was that I managed to lose the small T-bolt from the drain cock while draining the coolant. I presumed it must have fallen into the bilge and had searched high and low for it, including under the water tank with an endoscope device, but to no avail. In the end I resorted to using another bolt that fitted the thread of the drain cock. I wrapped a bit of Teflon tape around its thread and closed the drain cock with that. I could only assume that my substitute bolt was the wrong shape and had leaked coolant once the engine was up to operating temperature. Fortunately, when investigating this possibility I managed to find the original T-bolt sitting in plain sight, just under the engine. Presumably the T-bolt had managed to lodge itself in a nook somewhere near the drain cock which I could not see and subsequently, with the engine running, it had vibrated loose from its hiding place. Once the engine had cooled a little, I removed the jury bolt and replaced it with the proper bolt. I topped up the coolant and started the engine.

The engine has since behaved itself but by the time I had this all sorted, Natasha and I had decided that it was getting too late and we cancelled our afternoon sail. Sylph is now back at anchor in the Hatea River, pretty much in the same position as we were before we went up on the hard at Dockland 5.

Tonight I will go ashore to have dinner with Natasha in lieu of our afternoon sail and tomorrow I plan to start heading south towards Auckland.

All is well.