Leros, Monday 18 July 2016

We were wakened by rapping on the hull at 8:30 this morning.  It was the electrician coming to look at our windless.  He started by trying the buttons and would you believe it they both worked!  But when I showed him how the unit moved back and forth when it had the winch handle on it he was very concerned.  In the end the verdict was not at all good.  The unit is moving because one of the bolts has come out.  It cannot be repaired because the whole engine is terribly corroded.  The fault on the buttons is intermittent because the engine is not working properly.  The advice is that it could last another year or two, but on the other hand it could pack up at any time.  So basically it is not safe.

End of story we have ordered a whole new windlass.  We are going to upgrade the system by adding to it a wireless controller which contains a chain counter so we always know how much chain has been put down.  It is going to cost a fortune.  The items are in stock with Lofrans, but they are in Athens, so they must be shipped here.  They may arrive tomorrow afternoon, but it could be Wednesday.  As the weather forecast is dire, the delay really doesn’t matter.  The winds are supposed to go up to 38knots over the next two days, with the waves going up to nearly 2 meters.  The wind will go down by Thursday, but even then the sea state looks bad.

While we are spending lots of money with the chandlery we have finally ordered two new mooring lines as the ones we have been using are a disgrace and possible not safe.

We have spent the day on the boat.  Much of the late morning was taken up with clearing out the forward cabin so that the workman can get to all the bits of the windlass that are inside.  All the rubbish has been put in the saloon, meaning we have very little space to sit inside. 

The electrician comes back as we are eating a late lunch and starts to dismantle the existing windlass so he can install the new one as soon as it comes.  It takes him and an assistant over two hours to get it out.  When he does, it is worse that we thought.  The gear box is so corroded that two of the holes holding the bolts that keep it on the boat have worn through.  The entire thing is flaking like it is plastic, not metal.  We really did need to change the whole thing urgently.

As the afternoon goes on the wind starts to build as predicted.  Since about 3pm it has been blowing a Force 6 here in the marina.  Heaven knows what it is like out at sea.

Clearly we are here for a few more days.  We have yet to decide what to do with our time.  We have dinner on the boat.  As the saloon is full of all the junk from the forward cabin we sit outside.  The wind is so strong it makes me cold and I have to put a sweater on!