...for instance. When we'll get to those warm and nice places, ventilation below deck is going to be SO important. Found a hatch, new in the box on an internet site that was perfect in size to fit between our life raft and the sliding hatch. Right on top of the dinner table in the saloon.

So, first tape a cover below where I will attack the deck with the jigsaw. Then I took the old seized vent out gently with a cow bar ;-) OK, so basically we'll just need to enlarge that hole and install the hatch, easy no?

Well, not at all complicated but it takes a while nevertheless. The jigsawin part took very little time. Say 10 minutes after connecting the power tool to the power cord. Then I sanded all the old paint and gelcoat off around the hole. Since the deck has a slight curvature, We'll need to make a levelled bed for the hatch to rest on- We do this with epoxi and fibreglass. But first- since the deck is cored, we grind the core out approx. half an inch around the hole. After the bed has hardened to the touch I mix a batch of epoxi putty and spread it in the gap between the inner ond outer laminate. Then tomorrow ot's gonna be time to fit tha hatch, embed it in Sikaflex and fasten it with eight screws. Voilá job completed.

Yesterday the Engine story continued. The local mechanic came over to inspect the whole installation and make it properly. First of all he installed a vacuum valve on the exhaust system. This little item protects the engine from being filled with seawater through teh exhaust by syphoning. This horrifying phenomena can appear since the engine is installed under teh waterline.

It's SO discouraging that despite the fact that I strongly argumented for this valve, the so called 'professionals' in Estonia just shrugged and never installed it.

Back to present time again. We know by now that we've had water entering teh cylinders this way and I have made 4 (!) oil changes in a day to 'rinse' all the water out of the interior of the engine.

The mechanic dissamsembled the coupling (that connects the propeller shaft and the gearbox at the rear end of the engine. Upon his inspection it turned out that the coupling had 2 recesses whilst it's counterpart on the engine only had one. This means they couldn't fit!

And worst of all! The guys in Estonia just had to be aware of this fact, and still they tightened the bolts halfway and wished us a merry trip home!!!!!


Aaarrrrrggghh! The captain of Röde Orm was very close to take to his ancestors customs here and start a raid to the East to maraude those villains homes and towns. A few minutes later, I calmed down, and was at least content to se a solution coming closer.

The viking revenge - if any- will have to be through court in that case I guess.

Anyway, the diesel mechanic took the coupling with him to machine it in his shop to the right dimensions. Meanwhile, after gave me a tip, I dissasembled the muffler to take a closer look at it. The stainless steel cylinder had a couple of pinholes developing and they burst when I tested them with the corner of a screw driver. Honestly the rubber part seemed due for change as well, so the project continues on Monday when this experienced mechanic will return