Molia

We are optimistic and looking at a programme of sailing for the summer 2021 on Molia.

Reference: RYA return to boating activity in England

From the 12 April we will be able to host 2 households or the rule of 6 sailing on Molia (but not staying). However, the Portishead lock is currently closed for maintenance, so that will have to be sitting on the boat on her mooring until the lock reopens on 19 April. After that – anyone for a local sail?

From the 17 May, all domestic overnight accommodation is open (including hotels and B&Bs) for 2 households or the rule of 6. We are assuming this also means we can stay overnight on Molia, and we are investigating what this might mean for sailing to other marinas.

Of course 21 June is Boris’s full freedom date – watch this space. With luck this will mean all options open.

We are now planning. There should be scope for short overnight trips to Cardiff and Swansea later in May. Our ideas for longer trips are:

• Round Wales to Conwy, including the Menai straights. 300NM with stops. Approx 5 days.
• Portland and also the Solent this time. We took 8 days to get back from Portland last year – with comfortable distances (except Padstow to Penarth).

2021 Sailing Planning

Tides are Avonmouth ( = Portishead) BST unless otherwise noted. HT = high water.

Week	Dates	Plan
16	19 – 24 April 2021	Local Sailing. HT 1200 Mon, 1818 Sat, 1907 Sun
17	25 April – 2 May 2021	Local Sailing. HT 1953 Mon, 1102 Sat, 1146 Sun
18	3 – 9 May 2021	Local Sailing. HT 1236 Mon, 1817 Sat, 0638 and 1900 Sun – both these days are good for a down-tide trip (all day).
19	10 – 16 May 2021	Local Sailing.HT 0720 and 1939 Mon, 1003 Sat, 1032 Sun.
20	17 – 23 May 2021	Investigating what trips might be possible. HT 1106 Mon, 1636 Sat, 1741 Sun.

UK schools summer half term holiday 29 May – 6 June 2021

UK schools summer holiday starts 23 July 2021

Molia was lifted back into the water today. Many thanks to the Portishead Marina crew and Steve for your help today.

As Molia was built in France, her shore power sockets are all continental round-pin. We have decided to replace at least some of these with UK square-pin sockets to reduce the number of adapters that we need to carry onboard.

As a trial I ordered one set: socket, cover and wall box made by Berker, from Furneaux Riddal .

Molia has 4 shore power sockets in total.

I think we might replace some of the others as well!

Next step – some electrics. Work in progress…

We are planning a new chartplotter on Molia to be positioned at the helm station.

Work in progress…

We are replacing the entire holding tank discharge seacock assembly with new DZR fittings.

Jan 29, 2021

I ground off the old skin fitting from the outside using a cordless angle grinder – there was no way any of the old seacock was going to come apart!

Once the old brass was all ground away, the old seacock lifted out easily. I cleaned all the old sealant from around the hole with multi solve.

Next – and this is important, I dry assembled the new brassware. It was at this point that I discovered I had missed an elbow joint when I made my original order! The assembly has to wiggle past Molia’s fuel tank. ASAP Supplies to the rescue again! – I had a second elbow in 24 hours – top job.

Feb 2, 2021

Attached the new skin fitting today – leaving it to dry before doing anything else.

Feb 6, 2021

Lastly, a shout out to Chris of the ‘Sailing Britaly’ blog on YouTube for his excellent recommendations and guidance on this task. This video teaches you everything I have mentioned above, and includes lots more good advice as well.

We have a Lewmar folding wheel – this is a special edition manufactured for Dufour of the Lewmar 40inch folding wheel. This is great invention for a smaller yacht like Molia – it means we can get around the helm easily when moored.

Removing the wheel is not that easy when it has been in place for several years. However, the procedure described in this YouTube video works well.

• Remove the centre cover and remove the nut and washer from the spindle.
• Remove the autopilot clamps from the wheel spokes.
• Put the nut back on the spindle (without the washer) so it is sticking out just past the threads.
• Exert some even pressure behind the wheel with your arms and leg.
• Hit the nut a few sharp taps with a hammer, and the wheel should pop out against the nut.
• Now remove the nut again and take the wheel off.

This worked on Molia!

We have a Raymarine ST4000+ (aka Mark 2) autopilot on Molia. This was not working reliably last season.

To get to the autopilot, I first had to remove the wheel. Once the wheel is off, the autopilot wheel drive unit unplugs.

The instructions say to replace the drive belt if is damaged.

These are looking old and dirty, and one of the covers has perished and no longer attaches. We were unable to clean the plastic surrounds, so a complete replacement is necessary.

We have found replacements for these covers, and they are on order.

Work in progress…

Our survey highlighted the rusty and damaged state of the sanitary hoses on Molia. We will replace these all as part of our winter maintenance.

Also, it has not been possible to move the seacock for the waste holding tank discharge this season, it is probable that this will have to be replaced.

The toilet discharge sanitary hose and seacock are on the right in the photos above. Having removed the old hose I was able to ease the seacock considerably, and lubricate it. The replacement hose is 38mm sanitary hose (this length 2090mm). The jubilee clips are new 30-50mm diameter A4 stainless.

I cut the old hoses (with a saw) and removed the holding tank to get to the connections. These were completely seized on; so I had to cut through the hose carefully with a wire cutter (the hoses have a spiral wire reinforcement) and lever them off slowly with a large screwdriver. This was hard work, and quite slow, but I managed to get all the old hose detached eventually.

The seacock for the waste holding tank discharge proved to be completely stuck. We are now replacing this as well – see Holding tank discharge seacock replacement.