So due to our gear box issue we had to stay a few days longer in Dover than we had at first anticipated. I managed to get the old gear box out and off to French Marine in Essex to see what the cause of the issue was. What i had hoped would be a simple 'fix the clutch' job, rapidly turned into a dozen new clutch plates and a ten day wait for parts!!! The cost of the plates & labour to fix the old gear box was going to be around the two thousand pound mark. Not quite as cheap as a new car clutch, i found out to my horror! The other alternative and the one we went down was that suggested by Mike French and find a more powerful reconditioned gear box from a Yanmar dealer in Cornwall, so this was the option we chose. So four days later Nicky & I installed the new box into Maya and reconnected the all the important parts, such as the prop shaft. Had somebody told me a year ago that i would be proficient in taking out a marine gear box, and reinstalling a new one i would have probably have given them a long hard look. But as needs must, we cracked on and learnt a little more about how Maya ticks along the way.
In the mean time we had some exploring to do. We visited Dover castle which Audrey enjoyed especially, greeting the fair maid & a whole school party to boot. And we learnt a little history of Henry II and his squabbling sons, as well going down into the tunnels which lead into the heart of the white cliffs of Dover from which operation Dynamo and the rescue of the Dunkirk beaches was spear headed.; And Churchill famously spied across to France, and declared war on Germany. We also took some leisurely walks on the west harbour wall, and Audrey hollered her usual 'BYE BYE BYE' as the cruise liners departing, as well as Dover beach, in-between the all to frequent down pours. We stopped in at Dover Yacht club, and managed to convince the kindly general manager Richard to part with a slightly dilapidated burgee, and some good advise on leaving Dover harbour. And we met our first cruising friends (excuse the phrase) Wilue & David from Holland, who cruised the Caribbean several year ago with their young children and were on their way to Brighton, and the Solent. A definite taste of things to come.
Sadly to say Dover is not the most salubrious of places to hole up for the week, so we are all glad to have moved onto Cowes.....
We departed Dover on Monday both full of nerves & excitement to be moving on.... We force 2/3 breeze forecast from the south west, we felt that if our new gearbox didn't let us down we'd be fine to reach the entrance to Solent the following morning. After some test runs on the engine inside the safety of the harbour walls, and all being well we decided to go for it. Unfortunately two hours out i discovered the light winds were more of the 30-35kts variety and very much on our nose & to add to our woes one of the hoses we had had to take off to get the gear box out and blown off the engine, and proved to be a beast to reconnect in a rolling sea. Lucky i did manage to get the hose reconnected using an industrial sized cable tie (thanks Adrien!). We decided to sail as far as Dungeness before night fell, and continued under engine through the night & pounding seas. Unfortunately both Audrey & Bertie suffered from Mal de Mer but slept soundly once in their bunks for the night. Maya proved she is the boat i had hoped she would be, and can handle a heavy sea with general ease and little banging & a good motion through the water. Due to the time lost fixing the engine hose our passage plan went out the window and it was a hard slog banging some hefty spring tides round Hastings & Beachy head before finally we turned due west and onto the Solent. A small relief came the following day with sunshine & a decrease in the wind speeds down to the late 20s early 30s, which only left us with the Solent to deal with that afternoon. Coming from the west we just had the small matter of Outer Owers & Boulder bank to deal with which under any other wind conditions other than a south westerly would be fine. However, as any sea fairing person will tell you, lee shores run high on the list of fears, and strong winds from the wrong direction will take your boat and park you on the hard before you know it, so we needed to have our wits about us before heading up and having a beautiful sail up the Solent and into the spiritual home of sailing Cowes. Exhausted we dragged our selves to a restaurant for supper & and a well deserved ice cold beer.
Today has been spent in Southampton sourcing more car seats for the cockpit. We are now a four car seat family, as well as stretching our legs & ordering spare parts. I think with good weather on the cards we'll spend the next few days pottering around the small anchorages of the Solent before heading onto Weymouth...
In the mean time we had some exploring to do. We visited Dover castle which Audrey enjoyed especially, greeting the fair maid & a whole school party to boot. And we learnt a little history of Henry II and his squabbling sons, as well going down into the tunnels which lead into the heart of the white cliffs of Dover from which operation Dynamo and the rescue of the Dunkirk beaches was spear headed.; And Churchill famously spied across to France, and declared war on Germany. We also took some leisurely walks on the west harbour wall, and Audrey hollered her usual 'BYE BYE BYE' as the cruise liners departing, as well as Dover beach, in-between the all to frequent down pours. We stopped in at Dover Yacht club, and managed to convince the kindly general manager Richard to part with a slightly dilapidated burgee, and some good advise on leaving Dover harbour. And we met our first cruising friends (excuse the phrase) Wilue & David from Holland, who cruised the Caribbean several year ago with their young children and were on their way to Brighton, and the Solent. A definite taste of things to come.
Sadly to say Dover is not the most salubrious of places to hole up for the week, so we are all glad to have moved onto Cowes.....
We departed Dover on Monday both full of nerves & excitement to be moving on.... We force 2/3 breeze forecast from the south west, we felt that if our new gearbox didn't let us down we'd be fine to reach the entrance to Solent the following morning. After some test runs on the engine inside the safety of the harbour walls, and all being well we decided to go for it. Unfortunately two hours out i discovered the light winds were more of the 30-35kts variety and very much on our nose & to add to our woes one of the hoses we had had to take off to get the gear box out and blown off the engine, and proved to be a beast to reconnect in a rolling sea. Lucky i did manage to get the hose reconnected using an industrial sized cable tie (thanks Adrien!). We decided to sail as far as Dungeness before night fell, and continued under engine through the night & pounding seas. Unfortunately both Audrey & Bertie suffered from Mal de Mer but slept soundly once in their bunks for the night. Maya proved she is the boat i had hoped she would be, and can handle a heavy sea with general ease and little banging & a good motion through the water. Due to the time lost fixing the engine hose our passage plan went out the window and it was a hard slog banging some hefty spring tides round Hastings & Beachy head before finally we turned due west and onto the Solent. A small relief came the following day with sunshine & a decrease in the wind speeds down to the late 20s early 30s, which only left us with the Solent to deal with that afternoon. Coming from the west we just had the small matter of Outer Owers & Boulder bank to deal with which under any other wind conditions other than a south westerly would be fine. However, as any sea fairing person will tell you, lee shores run high on the list of fears, and strong winds from the wrong direction will take your boat and park you on the hard before you know it, so we needed to have our wits about us before heading up and having a beautiful sail up the Solent and into the spiritual home of sailing Cowes. Exhausted we dragged our selves to a restaurant for supper & and a well deserved ice cold beer.
Today has been spent in Southampton sourcing more car seats for the cockpit. We are now a four car seat family, as well as stretching our legs & ordering spare parts. I think with good weather on the cards we'll spend the next few days pottering around the small anchorages of the Solent before heading onto Weymouth...
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