I had a great time with Ruth onboard, the small fire leaving Sivota wasn't on the plan at all. I have to wonder how long it would have been before I spotted the smoke. The usual practice for me is to put the autopilot on asap, and get in all fenders and ropes. It doesn't take long, but when you have wiring burning and shorting out, I guess that every second counts!
I was lucky, and as Ruth said, we had a very small stern wind and I managed to nurse Nanjo back to the jetty. It was a one shot deal, and it went perfectly. When Ruth mentioned that we had no engine to the guy taking our bow lines, his reply was that "he had screwed up badly coming in under engine, and maybe he should turn it off next time". The wiring had shorted out along it's entire length, from the control panel and back to the alternator. The culprit was the twat who decided that it would be a good idea to hide the wiring behind an overhead panel, held on with nine screws. But to pass the wiring behind the panel, he had cut off the Yanmar connectors, pushed the wiring through, and then used a bunch of chocolate box connectors to join it all back together again. It could have been done a long time ago, but eventually the thick positive cable connector had chaffed through it's nearest neighbor and caused the short and small fire. The pictures show the problem. It took me a few hours to splice in a spare piece of wire I had in my "wire bag" and connect it all up. The engine ran, but I had no tacho or engine warning lights working.

Because of Ruths flight in a couple of days from Sami, we headed of straight away for Vathi on Ithaca, to help break up the trip back. We had a very choppy trip over from Lefkas to Vathi, but once in the lee of Ithaca things calmed down a bit. We were soon tied up, bow on in Vathi, and having a beer. I had been checking on the wiring every 30mins and it was all cool and no sign of any problems. We had a lovely meal in town, and I went to bed thinking I had sorted the problem!

We had planned to leave early, so we could make maximum use of the hire car I had booked. Pushing the engine start, produced absolutely nothing at all. A quick check of the main 30amp fuse and it had blown (I should have realised something wasn't right then). Replacing the fuse and pushing the button in again, well, the start button broke!! At this time I'm beginnining to think "What next". I hot wired the starter, by using the old screwdriver trick, it got the Yanmar running and we left Vathi only an hour later than planned. We motored all the way to Sami and made really good time, on the way, I kept noticing my battery monitor would sometimes not show a charge, meaning the alternator wasn't working correctly! We tied up in Sami easily enough with plenty of space available. The rest of that day was spent touring around Kefalonia with Ruth, it's a gorgeous island and we visited some lovely places. After dropping her off at the airport, I managed to get lost twice on my way back to Sami in the dark. The next day i spent washing clothes and filling Nanjos water tanks. Trying to buy some wire and connectors was a fruitless task, it's a ferry port and I couldn't find a thing. My only option was to sail straight back to Vlicho, where I could get everything I needed to repair Nanjo.

I left in the morning at 06:45 after hot starting the engine again, I was rewarded with a gorgeous sunrise. The pictures just don't do it justice, it was one of those magic moments, when leaving a harbour early and seeing the sunrise, just makes you feel alive at the birth of a new day. I dropped anchor in Vlicho at 14:00 and only managed to motorsail for a little while. The engine ran faultlessly and the wiring seemed okay. It was time to sort Nanjo out, I ordered a new center harness, start button and the oil pressure sender. I went to collect them from CYS in Lefkada on the Monday, and dropped off my alternator to the repair guy in Nidri on the way back to Vlicho. The wiring was a straight connect job, but I didn't want it running under any screwed down panels, so it's now in plastic split tube and visible. It doesn't look so smart, but I never want to go through the panic of feeling a fibreglass panel red hot with smoke coming from behind it again! I went back the next day to collect the alternator, and as expected, it was toast. The coils and regulator had burnt out and it was uneconomical to repair. The cost of a replacement genuine Yanmar part, nearly made me collapse. Luckily, the repair guy suggested an alternative, it's what everybody opts for he said. The alternator from a Nissan Sunny 60 or 720 is a direct replacement, and even made by Hitachi who make the Yanmar part. It's not marine quality, spark proof or painted grey. But it was less than a third of the price of the Yanmar part, so I ordered one. Back onboard Nanjo, I'm tidying up the wiring and checking things over, I had no power at all at the start button, no alarm or lights. I assumed that it was because the alternator plugs weren't connected. A phone call later in the afternoon from the alternator guy, and he's got one, and for an extra 10 euros will deliver it to me at anchor. I couldn't say Yes Please quick enough. It saved me a walk in the morning, and meant I could complete the job. He arrived shortly after in a rib, with a box containing my shiny alternator. It was a two minute job to fit it and connect it up. I can't tell you just how pleased I was when I went to push that start button. And nothing happened, no beeps, no lights and no starting engine. I was absolutely gutted and confused, a quick check of the wiring diagram, and it was all in order, out with the multi-meter and it showed no power getting passed the main fuse. It looked in perfect condition, no sign of it having blown. Popping in a new fuse, and I'm greeted with a warning buzzer, lights on my panel and a push of the starter button and the Yanmar bursting into life. The sense of relief was immeadiate, I could have hugged Nanjo, but settled for patting her on the side of the cockpit, where she always gets a pat, after a great sail or trip. The next few hours were spent trying the instrument panel off and on, my neighboring yachts must have wondered why they kept hearing the engine buzzer and her starting up. Anybody who has had engine trouble, will know that it's a great sound when it fires up. I made a big dinner and went to bed early, to be honest, I had the best sleep I've had since the trouble started in Sivota. The relief was amazing.
Lessons learned: I guess, i will always be thinking of an "out" plan now when entering or leaving harbours, if it ever happens again. I'm fitting a fire extinguisher in the cockpit locker, my others are in my back cabin,saloon and bow cabin. If it had been a bad fire I probably couldn't get to them. Regarding the duff fuse, always check the obvious first.

It's now Friday 11th September, I've been running the engine and checking the electrics each day, and am happy with the repair job I've done. I'm leaving Vlicho on Sunday to sail back to Sami. To pick up three friends for a weeks sailing, it's going to be a week of laughs and booze I'm sure. I would be more than happy to write the next blog and just say it all went to plan, but Nanjos a 30 year old yacht and the sea can have it's own ideas of how my week will go. As they say in the press "Watch this space".