We managed to sail for half this leg. We had planned sufficient time to go slowly across Mounts Bay, and were rewarded with enough wind to make a little over 4kts across the ground.
The sea state showed no sign of the forecast swell and Molia slipped easily through the water.
Once around Lizard Point we added the engine for an hour before the Falmouth breeze filled in with 15kts on the beam. This gave us 40 minutes of Molia’s best sailing speed under full sail, with a boat speed touching 7kts at times and an average well over 6.5kts.
As there was a Falmouth Packet race in the entrance to Carrick Roads, we took down our sails a bit earlier than usual for this location, and manoeuvred to avoid the fleet on our way up to Mylor.
We always enjoy the reservation notice that Mylor has for us!
We left Padstow as soon as it was light at 0440. The sea state was smooth and there was a light SW wind mostly against us at the start, so we had to motor – the engine was on all day!
A dull morning turned to sunshine around St Ives. Jo got her fifth ‘Longships Lighthouse’ photo, and we rounded Lands End at 1330.
We left Swansea in the first lock available and felt our way out of the harbour as it was only an hour after low water. The depth showed 1.9m briefly!
A light westerly wind did not help the boat speed very much, and we motored all day.
Arrived Padstow Bay at 2105 and waited until 2200 and darkness before heading up the river. This strategy paid off as Alan opened the gate as soon as we arrived, and we tied up for the night on the wall.
24 May 2026
Sunday. We moved Molia from the wall to the central pontoon, which made our stay especially comfortable.
25 May 2026
Monday.
26 May 2026
Tuesday. Another very hot day! We went round the Santa Maria, which was well presented, and gave us a great view of the harbour.
The Waverley visited Padstow at high water, so we went to the outer wall to watch her leave. And the cormorant was back – this time doing his characteristic wing drying pose.
28 May 2026
Thursday. The Santa Maria left Padstow early this morning – it only just fits through the harbour entrance!
The weather was cooler today, so we walked to Wadebridge for lunch (and got the bus back). The sun was out later in the afternoon
We started from Penarth at 0830 and were in the 0900 lock out of the Cardiff Bay Barrage. In a very smooth sea state, we kept the engine on to start with as the east wind was light. At around 1250 the wind became a moderate westerly and we sailed for a while until 1420.
We got nearly another hour of sailing in Swansea Bay (1600-1655) before arriving at the start of the marked channel into the harbour. As low water Swansea was at 1725, we waited at the outer mark until 1800 before feeling our way in. After getting tied up in Swansea Marina by 1900, we went to Gallini’s for some well deserved Italian dinner.
Jo and I took Molia for a quick trip up the river to check the equipment and rig the reefing lines. It was a sunny and calm day – perfect for this exercise!
Our fuel gauge stopped working at the end of last (2025) season. The needle just pointed to a place far beyond full – which obviously was not a good idea to believe!
So at the start of this season, I embarked on a plan to identify what had gone wrong.
Step 1 – Check the gauge is getting a 12V supply.
On Molia (Dufour 325 GL) the fuel gauge is powered from the domestic supply, and it also has its own switch on the instrument panel.
So with the power on, and the panel detached – locate the connections to the gauge (top-left in this photo).
Using a multi-meter check the voltage across the power supply terminals. These are marked + and – on the back of the gauge, but this is not really visible with all the wires in the way – this sketch will help.
In the photo above, the red wire is the positive (+) supply, and the double black wire is the negative (-).
I found that the power supply was OK.
Step 2 – Check the gauge works
You can do this in place. Remove the sensor wire (it has a blue cover in the photo above). This should cause the gauge to show full. Then using a jump wire, connect the sensor (S) terminal to the negative (-). This should cause the gauge to show empty.
I found that our gauge worked OK. So it was either the wires connecting the sender, or the sender itself that had gone wrong.
Step 3 – Test the wires to the sender.
On Molia the sender lives below a little cover in the floor of the aft locker. Locate and detach the connections to the two wires. Repeat the gauge test using the ends: with the ends apart, the gauge will read full, and when they are touched together it will show empty.
This test passed – so it was the sender itself that was malfunctioning.
Therefore at his point I removed the floorboard, and then the sender. I also removed the gauge itself so I could properly identify it.
Back at the workshop it was now possible to positively identify the parts.
Our VDO fuel gauge has printed on the side: 3 – 180 OHM 12V and the model number 301 030 001.
A quick internet search for ‘VDO fuel sender 3-180 ohm’ produced some results which looked like our old one.
Prices vary a lot! As it turns out this sender also fits several VW camper vans and some older VW car models – so we could use a motor parts website, which is cheaper than a specialist marine supplier.
This is quite pleasing – my first car was a classic Beetle, so it could have had the same sender in it! Our chosen supplier was a company called ‘demon tweeks’ https://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk located in Wrexham. The delivery was efficient and well packaged.
Just for interest at this stage, I connected the gauge and sender up to my test battery on the workbench, and tried it out.
Then with the new sender attached to the multimeter on the resistance range, you can see the difference between empty (low resistance – left) and full (high resistance – right).
The sender is designed to cover a wide range of tank sizes – so it is manufactured a lot longer than we need in a Dufour 325.
This means that the scary part was cutting the (expensive) parts to size. Luckily we had the original, so with careful marking and cutting I was able to reproduce what I had taken out.
I recommend a full size hacksaw (not the junior version) and a vice for this job.
Back at the boat – the fitting went smoothly, and we now have a functioning fuel gauge once again.
Molia