Saturday maintenance and Sunday sailing to Cawsand

On Sat 22 Jun I spent the afternoon re-fitting the galley tap which had removed for an overhaul (the pump mechanism and seal inside the body had separated); a new bobstay was fitted between the outer end of the bowsprit and the bow at the water line; and the forepeak solar vent was replaced with a new Smart Vent 300 (identical to the old one) that I had managed to buy on-line (I think the Smart Vent 300 is now discontinued, so not readily available from chandlers).

Sunday morning dawned overcast, with mizzle, however, by mid-morning it had cleared and we decided to sail for the rest of the day. Winds were very light and from the South and misty conditions remained all afternoon; with both headsails set we made slow progress to Cawsand despite a sloppy swell and occasional wash from passing vessels. Once at Cawsand we jibed and made slow progress back past the breakwater and down the Eastern side of Drake’s Island before furling the headsails and heading back to King Point Marina.

Replacing the Smart Vent 300

Weekend sail – Plymouth Sound and Yealm Estuary

We intended to sail to Fowey on Sat 8 Jun, but the wind seemed to have more Westerly in it than forecast and this would have made it challenging to cover the 20 or so miles to Fowey Harbour. Instead, we sailed out to the Eddystone Lighthouse which was an enjoyable sail and afforded Chione a ‘shakedown’ sail to check that all was ok after her time ashore.

We spent the evening moored off Drake’s Island, watching the sunset and activity on the water. During Sunday, we sailed to the Yealm Estuary and up to Newton Ferrers where we turned and headed back to sea. The entrance to the estuary is amazing with the buoyed entrance channel being close-in to the land and the estuary itself looks like an interesting place to explore, but maybe out of season when it is not quite so busy!

Surprisingly, apart from the galley lever action tap (Fynspray WS62), everything worked as it should! As for the tap, once dismantled, it became apparent that the plunger tube had become disconnected from the valve body that draws and pumps the water. This should be an easy fix and I’ll put a small amount of thread lock on the plunger tube to prevent this from happening again.