Sods Law

Well its sods law isnt it? 

On the weekend where we have lots of stuff to do to the boat the weather looks set to be perfect cruising weather. So we are planning the jobs around it.

Tonight we plan to head to Lincoln Boat Club. It isnt far but it will make a nice start to the weekend. First though we have to take a slight detour on the way to the boat to pick up some more Berkshire pork and some rare breed eggs. Then we can head to Naughty-Cal, get showered and head on the epic two mile run into Lincoln city centre.

Saturday is when the work starts. The quick run back to the marina should get the oil slightly warm so that it will be easier to suck out of the engine block. Liam has the lovely job of servicing the engine, giving her some fresh oil and a fresh oil filter, new crankcase filter, and two new fuel filters, one on the fuel tank and the finer one on the engine. There is also the hydraulic fluid to change in the stern drive trim ram reservoir. Although we have changed the seals in the ram and it is no longer leaking there is still water contamination in the system which will take a bit of flushing out. The plan is to change the hydraulic fluid each time we change the engine oil until the contamination has completely gone.

Whilst Liam is busy in the engine bay I am going to set about cleaning out all of the cupboards in the cabin and decluttering everything. If we dont need it or use it, then it isnt staying on the boat. We need to shed as much weight as possible before our summer trip so this will be a ruthless task with no cupboard left unturned.

With the engine serviced and the cabin cleaned and decluttered it will then be time to remove the canopies and give them a good scrub. They are still fairing up really very well with no mould to speak of and just a few willow seeds stuck to the inside of the top section. With the hoods scrubbed and back on the boat we will head out to meet up with friends in Torksey. If we get to work and dont dilly dally we should be on the move by early afternoon so not too late.

If all goes to plan we will have left ourselves an easy day on Sunday with just an hour or so to spend applying a coat or two of Fabsil to the canopies to keep them waterproof. It might sound like a lot of effort to go too but it does show in how well the hoods are standing up to the weather and use. They still look brand new despite being two years old now and having had a lot of use. A bit of hard graft once a year really does pay off.