Nanjo visit in October 2013.

I was getting excited as the date to fly out to Nanjo was getting nearer slowly day by day. Having not seen her since May, I was suffering from withdrawal. I had planned to travel out with a friend to help me do the work I wanted to do on board, namely remove the main windows and re-seal them all. At the last minute he was unfortunately unable to come. Luckily a great friend of mine agreed to step in at short notice. I had promised Bonita a weeks holiday in the sun, in exchange for her working on Nanjo during the day and helping me get through my list of jobs. It was also to help me carry out another ton of stuff I had picked up on e-bay again. I had been busy buying and had picked up a very nice cruising chute and snuffer, some plastic coated gas pipe, 40 mtrs of static line climbing rope (for my mast climber) and a whole load of smaller bits and pieces.
The flight out with Bon went really well, as this time I had splashed out on easy jets extra leg room seats and speedy boarding. I've never bothered before, but at 6ft 2in and 16 stone, sitting in the usual cramped seats was always uncomfortable, even for the short flight to Athens. For the small extra price on the ticket, I will always take the extra legroom seats now. I had booked the car with the same company, and was well pleased with the car and price. It was Bon's first time in Greece, and after all my bragging of how well I know the route to Messolonghi now. I quickly got us lost and of the motorway heading into Athens town, luckily it was dark and she couldn't see the embarrassed look on my face? After driving non-stop we arrived at Messolonghi just after midnight and headed straight to the bar for a well earned cold mythos. I had warned Bon about how small Nanjo was, and that she will be in a bit of a mess after all the work Marco had done for me. I'm really glad to say, she wasn't at all, even the slight smell of fiberglass was not enough to cause concern. Marco had done a great job of the repairs and trying to keep the dust down to a very low level. We quickly sorted out the cabins and Bon had the large double in the main cabin, as I climbed back into my snug skippers cabin. It was great to be back onboard again, oh, how I miss sleeping on Nanjo.

We were up early the next morning, as the sun was beaming down. It was shorts weather for sure. Marco had done a fantastic job with the repairs, it must have been a nightmare of a job, especially in the confined spaces. I had trouble bending my body down to check out his work in the back cabin, he came to see me later that day. And we agreed a very good price, I should think Marco's repairs will outlast the rest of Nanjo easily. Dave paid me a visit and mentioned the afternoon bbq, I had contacted them earlier to say I would be out, and they had picked up some meat for me and Bon. To be honest, he did seem very surprised when he first saw Bon, as I had only said I would be coming with a friend? By the time we had given Nanjo a wash down and clean up inside it was time for the barbie, it was great to sit in the sun with old friends and plenty of new ones as well. It's a great melting pot, sitting under a large cat with different nationalities in the sun. Bon, was a big hit with everyone, and I could see her thinking she could easily enjoy this lifestyle?
It was lovely to see my dogs again, and they were just as excited to see me as well. Mutley had lost a fair bit of weight though, must have been on a summer diet? I met up with Peter and Trix again, and we agreed to go out for a meal. They had been through a hectic summer season, and none of it as they had planned when I last saw them in May. Bon was finding her way around the marina and Nanjo quickly enough, and was enjoying herself. She is never happier than when she as some kind of tool in her hand and doing diy. My main job of the week was to be the leaking windows, we made a start on the worst one of them. I had researched on line how to remove the frames and which mastic to buy to re-bed everything. Typically, in the real world, nothing went as planned. With Bon inside holding the screws and me on the outside, the double ended screws all came out a hell of a lot easier than expected. I was expecting a few to break, but none. With Bon attacking the inside frame and me on the outside, trying to get them pried of the hull was not going to plan. Small scrapers, stanley knife blades and anything else we could think of using to get between the alloy and fiberglass worked in the end. The windows had been fitted with what seemed to be a black tar like mastic, it was horrendous to remove, white spirit, acetone scouring pad hardly touched it. It was a long job of gently scraping it of the frame and fiberglass in the end. Separating the frame to remove the perspex was even harder, as this black stuff had been piled into the gaps. We had worked all the second day, and only removed one window, and partially cleaned the frame up. A plastic bag was taped in place for the night as we both packed it in for the day. A gorgeous hot shower and a promise of good food with Peter and Trix in town later, made us both feel better. I could tell then, that doing six windows in the time we had might be pushing things. I had also wanted to climb the mast and run an extra line for my new cruising chute, get Bon to make new anchor locker lids and a whole list of smaller jobs. We had a fantastic dinner and hearing of Peter and Trix's year made me realize that with all the planning and maintenance we do on our yachts, it doesn't take much for it all to go wrong. They had nearly lost there yacht, and had spent the entire summer ashore in Vlicho having essential repairs carried out. They had only managed to sail for a week after I last saw them in May, they both admitted they had a lucky escape.
We were up early to attack the window frame again, finally getting it all cleaned and ready to re-assemble. A dry fit, Bon's idea showed up some serious problems straight away. The alloy frame fitted nowhere in the cut out, in fact three of the window frame screws were just biting into the mastic. There was a 3/4in gap in one corner, no wonder the window leaked? The perspex was undersized and really just held in with the large amount of black mastic that had been applied. It was immediately apparent the frame was either wrong or over Nanjo's lifetime she had been bodged time and time again, the fiberglass had been cut back. After a quick chat with several liveaboads, they suggested options on what to do. These ranged from, just bodge it back again with new mastic?, rebuild the fiberglass to match the alloy frames, buy new windows to match the cutouts or go for frame less windows with the perspex bolted direct to the cabin top? A quick look around the marina looking at the no frame option showed some well fitted windows. I've put some pictures of what I was looking at, the ones fitted to the Feeling yacht appeal. I like the painted silver frame idea, and luckily Nanjos cabin sides are pretty straight. Since coming home, I've found a UK company who will cut me new tinted perspex, drilled and polished and supply gasket and new hardware to mount them at a reasonable price. It's an unexpected expense, but will be well worth it in the long run I hope. Once I had made up my mind on what to do, Bon and me applied mastic to every part of the old frame in large amounts. Bolted it back in place, and covered it back up in a plastic bag and silver foil tape. It's a bodge for now until they are all replaced. We had spent 2 days on just the one window, inspection of the others revealed the same bodging technique with the black tar. I guess that's one of the joys of buying a yacht cheaply and one that had been in charter all it's life with various companies, gradually getting less and less maintenance?
The rest of the week was spent enjoying the sunshine and showing Bon around town. I had promised her a day of work, so we took the car to Sivota on Lefkas one day. We stopped on the way several times, I had not been to Vonitsa for ages and was amazed to see just how much the town is being tarted up. Vlicho was still busy with yachts and even Nidri sea front was still up and running. It was hard to imagine that I was here in October last year myself. Sivota was busy and the Neilson fleet was in, all heading back to Vlicho to be lifted out. We had a sandwich lunch, then drove round to the other side of the harbour for a swim and snorkel. The water was cold for the first few minutes, but we both soon didn't want to get out. Stopping at Lefkada for dinner on the way back to Messolonghi was perfect, oh how I wish Nanjo was afloat now.
I never managed to climb up the mast, but Bon did make a start on the anchor locker lids. She was very happy to play with my battery powered circular and jig saws, until they ran flat. The week was soon over, and it was time to say goodbye to friends and head back to Athens. We had probably done 20% 0f the jobs on my list, but had a great time. I nearly convinced Bon to stay onboard and carry on doing the jobs, she was seriously tempted.
On the way back, we got the ferry across to Patra rather than take the bridge, I nice way to travel and a lot cheaper if you have the time. I took Bon to the Korinth canal as well. It's one of those sights you just have to see, and always looks impressive. Hopefully I will travel through it myself one day? The flight back home was uneventful, apart from one major disaster. Bon had been taking plenty of photos all week as it was her first time, her camera must have fallen out of her bag in the overhead locker, and we never noticed it. It was only when back at my flat she checked her bag and it was missing. It was notified straight away to Easy jet, but as of now, it's still not been handed in? Luckily I had taken a few pictures myself for her to have.