Diary for Sailng on Windwanderer.


St Helena 17th January 2016

2016-01-17

St Helena Sunday 17th January 2016

Well today we went over early for a coffee with Louis and Betty as they are leaving today.

We enjoyed a quick visit than came back to our boat only to be called back by them, they had trouble undoing a mooring rope, so we jump back in the dinghy and go back and help them.

We waved them off and came back kinda sad, we will miss them, we are now the last locals standing, its always the way, we so want to get moving again as well, but our boat problems always keep us in one place.

Talking about boat problems, today was the day to tackle a few of them.

The Captain had put the hose pipe back on the water maker pump and it finally has moved off the nav station, Ralf and Henry were looking very sad to see their friend disappear.

He connects it all back together and Yeap there is still a leak so to the joys of Ralf and Henry their friend is now back on the nav station again.

Then onto the heat exchanger for the generator on closer inspection it is still not right we can still see small cracks, so that needs to be fixed before The Captain waste half a day putting it back together.

Then the leak in the transmission, this is the biggie, The Captain had the floor boards up , and trying with a little mirror on a stick to see if he could see where the leaks are coming from and also after talking to Chris in Simonstown, he said to make sure all the bolts are in place because that can cause a leak.

So I hear a lot of pirate language going down and than I get called to assist, with a bit of mumbling under by breath I get down on my belly and try to see what is going on.

Now you need to understand this is not my department, I know nothing about engines and I had no idea what I was looking at.

We had a torch shining down there as well and it was hopeless, so I get up again and grab a bit bigger mirror, we cable tie it to the small mirror on a stick and it kinda works for a minute than comes loose and just swings, I'm looking at stuff I really do not want to see.

For some reason I have a bit of a phobia about the bilge its smelly, dirty always has water and oil floating down there and I have seen it filled with way too much water over the years and it's just a no go zone for my liking.

But we really need to see where this leak is coming from, so next plan I bring out the big guns, to The Captains horror and protest I take one of our large mirrors off the wall and we secure it with a rope and drop it down in all this mess.

But at least we can see what's what now.

So laying on my belly again we have another look and I can see a drop of fluid, under the transmission, The Captain than puts more fluid in and I watch to see where the leak is coming from and Yeap no leaks, far out.

We than decide to start the engine and nope no leaks we leave it for awhile then have another look and this time it's dripping out, with the engine roaring in one ear, laying down face first in this scary smelly place the boat rocking and rolling I was turning green real fast, and do you think we can work out where it's coming from? Nope no way , all I can see is its dripping, we gave up in the end as it was getting dark and to my horror The Captain said we will have a go at it again tomorrow, oh joy.

Well tomorrow is another day.