24 October 2018

Pat's Progressed

Whilst we await the green light for Patricia (we're currently on double yellow [a railway term]) our time was spent addressing areas needing attention.

Firstly, the rudder control had not been fully debugged.  We spent a while bleeding the system which involved cracking open the valves at the rudder end whilst pumping fluid through the system at the same time as keeping it topped up.  There was trapped air plus some old oil which required removal.

For the rudder system to work correctly, it is about 3.5 turns of the wheel from end to end.

Secondly, all the grease nipple points were visited.  These are to be found on the spud legs, the clam shell bucket and the JCB jib.  Loads of 'em.   It took quite some time to ensure all had been visited.
During this time we had the engine running, which provided us with hot radiators and water to wash with at the end of the visit.  We also checked the 'fan' [alternator] belt as we suspect that the battery charging is not all it should be from the engine.  The alternator will probably be removed for an external check away from the boat.