We’ve now been back in Greece for the last two months,
i.e. since 6 March. During that time
we’ve sailed ten miles through the water.
Not exactly Blue Water Cruising – but then we are in Greece!
Blog 1 covered the first month
when we lived on the boat in the boatyard where we worked, as planned, on
servicing, repairing and improving Island Drifter. The conditions were ideal to work in – like
a good English spring or autumn.
We launched as planned after five
weeks, before setting off on a sea trial.
It quickly became apparent that we had a problem since there was a
significant screeching noise coming from the area of the prop shaft.
On reflection, we concluded that
maybe we should not have launched on Friday 13th!
After returning to the launch
quay, we agreed with the boatyard’s senior engineer that it would be
impractical to investigate further or resolve any problem while in the
water. We therefore arranged for the
boatyard to re-lift ID on the following Monday and spent the weekend
relaxing.
Lunching
with friends in the local taverna over the weekend
ID on outside
of boatyard’s launch quay
with local fishing boats
ID was lifted
out on Monday16 April and put back into the same position we had only recently
vacated!
ID back on 'stilts'
It soon became clear that the prop
shaft had become misaligned and in consequence was rubbing, when in gear, on
the cutlass bearing housing.
Prop shaft
disconnected from the gear box
in preparation for realignment
On further investigation we
identified that two of the four engine mounts had started to collapse – hence
the misalignment of the prop shaft.
 |
| Corroded engine mount |
Annoying really, since we had queried
whether the mounts needed replacing when in Sopromar boatyard in Portugal,
where we were advised it was not necessary, albeit they painted over them ‘to
avoid further corrosion’. Wrong advice
and decision!
Fortunately, the necessary
replacement parts were available in Athens (not always the case in current-day
Greece!). Indeed, they arrived in only
three days – just before we returned to the U.K.
 |
| Engine mounts – old and new |
As it happened, we had already
planned a 10-day trip to the UK from 25 April to encompass Helen’s brother and
sister-in-law’s Golden Wedding Anniversary and to enable Mike to sort out the
beach chalet in advance of summer usage.
Mick and Lis’s 4-day party was
both enjoyable and memorable. It took place in a splendid Cotswold manor house
with cottages in the grounds.
Melksham Court where we celebrated
Mick & Lis’s Golden
Wedding Anniversary
Thirty of us – which included all
twenty of Mick & Lis’s children and grandchildren! – were treated to
wonderful company, food and drink in luxurious surroundings.
Mick & Lis with their 10
grandchildren
Most of the rest of Helen’s time
in the UK was spent with Will, Lesley and Emmy in London. Emmy’s ballet lessons were the high point!
Emmy’s
second ballet lesson – move over, Dame Darcy!
Mike ended up getting stuck in
Calshot while sorting out the chalet as a consequence of our old Mondeo’s big
ends ‘blowing’. Since repair or
replacement would have cost more than we purchased the car for, we decided to
scrap it and purchase a replacement vehicle when we come back to the U.K. in
July.
We flew back to Leros via Athens
with Aegean Airways. Since we had seven
hours between flights, we took the Metro from the airport into Athens to see
the Acropolis and view the city.
Acropolis
On the Saturday morning after our
return to ID in the boatyard, we were joined by Iannis, the yard’s
diesel engineer, who spent the morning replacing the engine mounts, realigning
the prop shaft and finally running the engine to test their operation (as best
one can out of the water).
Iannis completing work on the engine
To celebrate the fact that there
was now a serious possibility that we could commence our summer cruise, we went
out for Sunday lunch with Frank, who had kept an eye on ID while we were
away in the U.K.
Lunch at Artemis Taverna,
Blefouti
On the following Monday we were
lifted and re-launched. Iannis joined
us on an initial sea trial, after which we motor-sailed ten miles south to
Lakki marina where we’d originally planned to check and sort out the boat’s
rigging.
Helen up the mast cleaning the rigging
Max and Sue Walker are due to join us tomorrow for a
two-week cruise from Leros to Skiathos.
We’re looking forward to their company.
All very interesting goings on
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