Firstly, the white cover over the aft deck (to protect the teak deck) was burnt brown and had "melted". It was only fit for the skip!
Secondly, all the "mouse lines" which temporarily replace the halyards had also "melted" and turned to ash when touched! This was a bigger problem as all the halyards had to be taken to the top of the mast and fed down to the outlets at the bottom. Fortunately I had left (the boom) topping lift on, and by replacing that with a heavier rope I was able to be winched up to the top of the mast - in temperatures still over 40 degrees C. The job turned out easier than anticipated and so we could get on to the next problems.
A lot of plastic tubes kept inside the boat (hand creams etc) had all gone the same way and simply disintegrated when touched. It makes you wonder how hot the temperatures got inside the boat. We were glad that we had taken precautions and stored important items below the floors against the hull - keeping them more at water temperature. That proved successful at least!
We could only work an our or two each day, very early in the morning due to the unusually high temperatures for this time of year, but eventually Stratagem was ready and we set sail westwards for a 10 weeks cruise.
The next "horror" immediately became apparent. The Volvo shaft seal was leaking water. Not too much but a worry non-the-less. An injection of grease slowed things down and a regular inspection was necessary, and of course some mopping up of water coming in. The "crew" was rather nervous as I was initially but it all settled down after a while. The important thing is replacement when the boat is lifted and a check to make sure nothing more is damaged.
As a cruise it proved uneventful - the usual motoring in light (or no) wind and flat seas. We reached as far as Keci Buku where we enjoyed an area we love, including Bozburun. We met friends of old and a few from Kemer. The weather remained very hot! The actual sailing remained elusive with sails firmly furled!
At our first anchorage we found problem number (whatever number it is!) in that our trusty outboard wouldn't start. "Just the carburettor gummed up" says I, and proceeded, several times, to clean it - but all to no avail. It remained doggedly "dead" resulting in some rowing practice for this cruise.
It became time to head back eastwards towards Kemer for the winter and Gocek was the target for our first port of call. This place gets busier and busier each time we come here and with marina expansion encroaching on the anchorage, the anchoring room is getting smaller and smaller for an increased number of boats. Still, we found space and settled down for a few days ashore. We were not to know how extended that stay was to become.
The generator failed - again!!
What appeared at first to be an electrical failure in the alternator side turned out to be a total collapse of the rotor shaft bearing and as it turned out from further examination a needed rebuild of the diesel engine which drives it.
Blues Yachting in Gocek turned out to be the saviour in rebuilding this generator, and whilst the end result has some reduced electrical power output, they did well in doing the job in a short timescale necessitated by our need to get back to Kemer to get home. In all the work done included :-
-repair to the rotor windings
-replace the shaft bearing
-replace the diodes
-re cut the valve seats in the cylinder head
-replace valves
-replace piston rings
-service the fuel injector
-replace some water pipes
-replace (part of) the exhaust pipe
-clean out internal water passages which were heavily corroded
-clean corrosion from the engine casing and completely repaint
-replace engine mountings
It is difficult to believe that this generator has only done 960 hours - and this is the second time it has been taken out for repair! So are the joys of yacht ownership!
Or, and by the way - Blues Yachting also got my "dead" outboard working again. It looks and performs like new!
And so it turned out that our leisurely sail back to kemer became a quick hop so that we had time to again de-commission her ready for lifting out for the winter. At least the lift out went well and I had time together with my good friend Alan off "Ticketeeboo" to replace the leaky Volvo shaft seal. His help in getting the shaft coupling off proved invaluable and his engineering expertise and ingenuity ensured success. Quite frankly, I am not sure I would have succeeded on my own. Thanks Alan.
There are new people in Kemer, together with some of us who have now been there for a few years, although it would seem -like us- many are going home for at least part of the winter. The party atmosphere is still there and in the couple of weeks we spent before leaving for home we had two very good parties; a BBQ birthday bash for Stuart - a young 80 year old, and a Halloween party.
Stratagem is up on the hard needing some tlc next spring and on 2nd November we returned home again to the UK.
What will 2011 bring? Who knows, except to say that we will be spending more time at home than in the past and may well re-locate Stratagem to somewhere else. We shall see.
