Launch day

The first job this week was to fill the engine cooling system and make certain that it would start ready for the big splash on starting the engine a couple of hose connections which I had removed to drain the cooling water back in the winter and not replaced came to light once these had been re connected the engine was all ready to go. I had received the replacement threaded forks for the rigging screws, see previous post, these were then attached to the shrouds.

The crane had been booked for Wednesday to lift the mast into place so first thing the fore stay was replaced, the standing and running rigging sorted into some semblance of order and the masthead fitting for the wind instruments replaced the mast was then lifted into place and the standing rigging tightened up.

Mast up

To finish up the day I gave the deck a bit of a scrub now looks a bit more respectable but it still needs some more work and the non slip areas need painting.

The crane was booked for the big lift at HW on Friday afternoon the morning was spent completing the VHF aerial connection by drilling the hole through the deck fitting the cable gland and then fitting the plug on the end of the cable the VHF radio was switched on and all seemed to be working it would be fully tested on approaching the Kingsferry Bridge calling up the operator for a bridge lift. Before the big lift I had time to bend on the genoa and furl it away. The boat was then lifted into the waters of Queenborough Creek.

Lift in (photo credited to Jo)

After a good check round and there being no leaks the slings were released and the engine started we headed for the all tide landing for the night with the intention of sailing round the Swale to Conyer Creek the next day, Saturday.

Tied up on Queenborough all tide landing

There was a bit of an electrical problem when the negative terminal on the battery overheated and melting causing a loss of power and that pungent smell of burning electrical installation we headed for the all tide landing before investigating the cause I did not want to stop the engine in case it could not be restarted. The cause was the engine key switch jamming in the pre heat position possibly causing a short circuit which damaged the negative terminal leading to damage to the alternator diodes but the alternator was charging the battery quite happily the next day and the engine started with no problems further investigation is required.

On Saturday morning we left the all tide landing and passed through the Kingsferry Bridge heading for Conyer Creek and once through the bridge with a following breeze the Genoa was unfurled and the engine turned off and we sailed round to South Deep to pick up a buoy and wait for the tide to allow us to proceed up the creek to Swale Marina.

Under way

Arrived Conyer

There is still some work to do on the internal fit out and some external cosmetic work as well as the items listed in the recent survey but I have moved a big step forward this week.