To Southerly or not to Southerly

[luckybeanz]

Good to know you got it all sorted out, not the best time of year to launch but no queues for lift in. I might run into you next year if we head back to Ionian and out of Greece.

What type of shaft seal is fitted to your boat? The original ones were packed seals and would have been worth repacking before launch. Not a big job if you have good access. There's always a slight drip from these seals, even when adjusted properly. It should be minor when motoring and stop when stationary. It would be worth keeping an eye of the seal and changing to a dripless seal at some point if it annoys you. It is a common source of water in the bilges on older versions. I can't remember if it was mentioned in earlier posts but thought it worth mentioning just in case. Don't worry about it if you do find a drip as it can be tightened or have a little extra packing added to manage it until next lift out.

Thanks. I redid the gland before going in the second time. It turned out to be a two day job... The previous owner had stuffed a new piece of stuffing in but left all the rest in which had turned to fluff, resulting in us picking it out with teasers, long nosed pliers and the screw method. I'll have to look into dripless seals for next time we haul out, but I'm hoping that won't be for some months still

We're wintering in Lefkada, as the deck issues manifested themselves as a crack in the coach roof so I've had to take the mast off and replace the deckstep. Fortunately it was only the ply and not the balsa that had rot (due to the heavy construction of the boat), annoyingly it would never have been an issue had the previous owner just stopped the leak properly when he discovered it instead of filling all the fittings with grey goop. Though I am finding many things like this, the lesson is buy a boat from a liveaboard not someone who only uses it a few weeks a year...

Maybe see you in the Ionian, I doubt we will do another winter here, just too wet for us. Thanks again for all the advice and help, there is a dinner waiting for you when you get here if we manage to link up.

 

[luckybeanz]

Since so many of you have come along for the journey with the helpful tips and advice on this thread, I thought you might enjoy the backstory. So here is a little blog post I did on it http://bit.ly/2sDMxTs