24 May 2023

The 24th of May, the day were were originally scheduled for launch. Well, in a way it's a good thing that we were able to move the launch up by 24 hours as it allowed us to discover the fresh water fault and give us a reasonable chance to get it fixed. Just goes to show you, in the cruising lifestyle it is unwise to try too hard to remain on a timetable. You will likely find it impossible to keep to it anyway. Everythiing else seems to be Tickety-boo so, as I type this early in the AM, I have my fingers crossed that the service departmnt here will be able to fix the burst pipe easily. We have had a small hidden leak somewhere in our fresh water system for years that had been enough for the pump to cone on every 20 minutes or so. Maybe this was it and it simply has had a catostrophic failure.

I had an idea about fixing the broken handle on the outboard that I ran by Clint, the service manager, which involved gluing the pieces back together and then fibreglassing over the whole lot. It would be an easy and inexpensive fix and he has agreed to do jut that or at least something like that.

At eight-thirty, Steve,, the same fellow who supervised the launch yesterday, came over the check out what wass going to be required for the fix in the pressure water system. In the clear light of day and in a much grreater state of calmness, the break in the line was very clear. The hot water lead comes to a verticle copper standpipe, about 3/4" in diameter which broadens to about 1 1/4" to go into the expansion tank. Where the pipe broadens is where there is a crack. And, as it turns out, there were multiple pin-hole openings in the pipe. After all, it was in there likely from the time of her first launch back in 1980. Steve put in a replacement and wheen we tested it, Hurray, no leaks. We kept the old one as a souvenir. We might now have a pressure water system that we can turn on and leave on as long as we are aboard. Won't that be great?! Later in the day I discovered that therre is a small leak in the hot warter lead to the head sink aft. I thinkk that it will just require another hose clamp but I am going to noodle about it a little more and do it later this evening or early tomorrow AM.

The other little piece of joyousness it that now that we are in the water we can use the onboard heads. No more porta-potty and regular trips lugging the tank to pour it out in a waste dispoosal area. It is now disassembled and stowed in a remote spot behind the U-Shapped settee. Whew! They are useful, but given any other option......

The after lunch job was deck cleaning and having a moment's silence for the four baby greckles that we found in our stacked mainsail that had been abandoned by their parents once we moved the boat for the launch. A lot of scrubbing to rid the deck of birdy do-do and neesting materials and Nelleke is starting to look more shipshape. She will always be a forty year old and counting lady but we can do the necessary to keep up appearances.

Before we settled down for the day we made a last trip to the marina office to find out the status of our wee outboard. Clint tells us that it is done, it will just take overnight for the repairs to cure, so it seems that everything is beginning to fall into place. Right now all we have to look at is the weather for the weekend. Will it be so rainy that the yacht club will call off the shakedown cruise, only do half of it....? Regardless, our hosts have said that they would be happy to just hang out at their property.