Friday 20 May 2011

A Busy Weekend in Store

Well it is the last weekend before our next big adventure so it will be a mega busy one for us with plenty to do before Cal is ready for the off next Friday evening. We must leave her ready to leave as soon as we arrive next week if we are to meet our target locations.

The first job of the weekend is to service the engine, to ensure that she is ready for the off and in tip top running order. The fuel filters have already been changed so all we have to do is an engine oil and filter change and a supercharger oil change as well as several standard engine checks we carry out before any long journey.

Next up is fitting the outboard bracket to the boat, then mounting the outboard and dinghy onto Naughty-Cal and going for a little spin to check she is happy with the set up. It will be a lot of extra weight hung from the transom of the boat so we must be entirely happy with the set up and the security of the items. We don’t want the dinghy or outboard being lost at sea.

We need to buy some spare shear pins for the outboard. These shear should the engine hit an obstruction to protect the engine, however this then renders the engine immobile. So carrying spares is an absolute must.

We have a Plan B for if the weather or sea state is too bad to make it to Wells, Plan B is a short hop across the Wash and up the Great Ouse towards Ely. This means that I have the arduous task of putting the extra way points into the chart plotter and making a second route up from them. This takes quite a while to input and isn’t the most interesting of tasks.

Naughty-Cal is getting ready for a good clean up. The exterior won’t take too long, the cockpit a little longer. The interior had a quick once over last weekend so shouldn’t take too long to tart up again. Then it is a case of filling up the water, adding 60 litres of diesel and we are ready to rock.

All of these jobs must be completed this weekend so it will be an extra busy one. Somewhere along the line we need to get out and see how easy day to day running is with the dinghy on the back!!

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