Wednesday 16th October - Back In Dartmouth

Living in the UK at anchor with a dog and a toddler - what can possibly go wrong?!
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Jeff
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Wednesday 16th October - Back In Dartmouth

Post by Jeff »

Feeling good. We made it back in one piece. Feels like ages ago that we set off for Plymouth!

We went as follows:

Dartmouth -> Salcombe
Salcombe -> River Yealm
River Yealm -> Sutton Harbour, Plymouth
Sutton Harbour -> Barn Pool Anchorage (Mount Edgcumbe)
Barn Pool -> Salcombe
Salcombe -> Dartmouth

All parts of the trip, including the parking and un-parking, were executed with professional efficiency - and all single-handed as Nina had to be monitored closely of course.

Fab trip. Mixed weather but some of it absolutely excellent. And the final leg of the voyage saw 20 knot wind on the beam for a time which gave us 7.4 knots under reefed jib, full main and mizzen - and no engine. Awesome!

During the trip I solved our air in fuel problem as mentioned in the previous post 'after chat'. Turns out that our injector pump lets diesel into the mini oil sump in the Simms CAV Minimec in-line diesel injector pump it has. Because the engine is canted back to be in-line with the prop shaft, a common modification has been made which is to block off the overflow from the pump - but what's also meant to be done is to drill a small breather hole in the filler cap. This had not been done. Couple this with the fact that I'd not changed the oil in the pump for 111 hours instead of the recommended 50 (depending who you ask - my manual says 200 hours!) and the level had risen so much that the air pressure above the oil sump was such that air was bubbling back into the injector pump bleed screw area while the engine was sat unused. I changed the oil and we are now monitoring it - but it looks like perhaps too much diesel is making its way into the sump over time. Solution is to either change the oil in there more often than every 50 hours (which is an option as it costs perhaps £2 to £3 a go) or pay to have the whole pump refurbished. This will likely end up costing the best part of £1k.

I will ponder this while monitoring the level rise over time.

Here's some videos and pictures...

Motoring West Around Start Point
http://youtu.be/aowO32aAO2g

Towser anchored in Salcombe - view from Salcombe Yacht Club
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Danny the Dartmouth Dolphin - followed us to Salcombe to do more dragging us around the anchorage
http://youtu.be/VK-vhAzv2Us

This is about 10ml of fluid (oil + fuel, not whisky!) surplus in the injector pump sump after 3 hours engine run. Too much?
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Nina enjoying Plymouth Aquarium - fab place with free re-visits
We went back once to 'find nemo' again. We'd watched finding nemo on DVD while chugging from Salcombe to the Yealm.
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Anchored in Barn Pool
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Departing from Barn Pool under sail alone in light winds.
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Departing from Barn Pool under sail alone in light winds.
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Departing from Barn Pool under sail alone in light winds.
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Moored alongside Salcombe town pontoon
You're allowed to overnight here now it's 'winter' season. Nice to be able to walk ashore for once (we usually have to row).
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Sailing Fast to Dartmouth after rounding Start Point
http://youtu.be/0Jnqwhs2-Sk

Anchored back in Dartmouth - home is where the "car" is!
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Terry T
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Posts: 194
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2010 10:11 am

Post by Terry T »

Good post Jeff . Thanksq.
livefats
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Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2013 5:58 pm
Location: Preston, Lancashire

Post by livefats »

Looks like a great cruise, Jeff. Thanks for the photographs!
Jeff
Site Admin
Posts: 751
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2009 3:54 pm
Location: North Yorkshire
Contact:

Post by Jeff »

Cheers chaps!
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