Laying up - Bilge paint and engine service.

My last visit to the boat before Sancerre gets lifted out on Oct 22nd and two busy days.

After cleaning the bilge in late August  It was still rather smelly, partly down to not using the engine very much during my trip to Padstow and back so that there was very little water in the bilge and partly due to some oil and grease on the metal parts that, knowing they had to be cleaned immediately before painting, I skimped on last time. This time cleaning did not take long and to be on the safe side after rubbing down I painted all of it including the keel nuts and spreader bar.

The forward bilge, painted last year, and the bilge under the engine still need cleaning and the latter possibly painting but hopefully it will now stop smelling. To reduce the labour required in the future and hopefully any smell, I have added a trap to reduce / stop spills from the engine and water & grease from the stern gland reaching the bilge. This largely worked in the first few years that I had Sancerre but for some reason I stopped doing it when my supply of pads was finished.

Oil Absorbent (Hydrophobic) pads in the aft part of the bilge in the saloon and under the forward part of the engine catch hydrocarbons but lets water go forward into the bilge, when dirty they are hoyed out and replaced hopefully reducing or eliminating bilge smells and keeping the bilge reasonably clean.

The other significant job was the first part of the engine service. Now that the boat is coming out for an extended period after the season, I do the oil and fuel part as early as possible to get rid of the grotty oil but delay the water side until she is back on the berth after lift out, I can then leave the engine drained down during the winter months and put the new impeller in just before the first cruise.

This year I will also be replacing the water thermostat, looking though the workshop manual I found that this has a 2,000 hour life, but that is not reflected in the service schedule! Not a big deal as it is not far over, but I could have had problems if I had relied on the operations manual rather than buying the workshop manual.

Other jobs completed include getting the genoa off and back home and this year for the first time in a while also the mainsail and stack pack, the latter needing some work to patch a couple of small holes due to chafe.