The weather was fantastic last week so we took the opportunity to give the anchor and chain some love. The 100m of chain was laid out along the finger pontoon next to Emerald and given a good scrub and rinse with fresh water. As it will be sat in the chain locker for 4 months we wanted to get as much salt water off as possible and so limit corrosion.

Next was repainting the marker points, white every 10m along with a different coloured chain marker (pink, yellow, green, blue then double markers every 10m from 50m upwards) and red paint halfway between each white mark. The paint does wear off after a while but usually enough remains to see the painted links. The shackle between the anchor and chain was also replaced.

Colin has been working on the creaky floorboards in the saloon which had to be cut to get the old leaky water tanks out. Unfortunately they now creak when we're underway and the creaking is right next to our heads when we sleep in the pilot berth. My ears latch onto the creaks and then I can't get to sleep!

We also got a bit more of the deck painted that Colin started in 2012, starting with the anti-slip areas which we're doing in pale cream. Over the years the deck has gained lots of scratches and chips so we intend to repaint the whole deck, not just to keep things looking good but to prevent water getting in through the chips and damaging the fibreglass.

Colin had a trip up the mast to check out the problem of our main halyard chafing on the top of the main track. The plan is to use a rope lead to keep the halyard held off the track. He also widened the holes in the teak border around the front of the cockpit through which the furling lines and main sail control lines run back into the cockpit. We suffer from a lot of friction on these lines and end up having to leave the cockpit to furl the foresail and staysail which defeats the object of running the lines back to the cockpit! Widening these holes will hopefully make the lines run smoother.