Travels and boat care
Picking up Molia – I am touching up the antifoul.
You can see the mast on its trestles on the right.
Stepping the mast.
Back on our mooring.
Many thanks to the Portishead Boatfolk crew and rigger Andy Freemantle from Boatfolk Penarth.
We have had problems getting the anchor lamp to work for a couple of seasons. So with the mast down we were able to inspect the fitting in detail.
It turned out that the plastic base was cracked (probably letting moisture in) and the plastic clips that secure the bulb holder were broken (almost certainly preventing any reliable connection to the bulb.
A lucky find on eBay – the exact part: a HELLA all-round white 10W (old stock) masthead light. Condition as new, and supplied complete with a LED bulb.
Many thanks to Marine Miscellany for the supply.
Fitting completed. We tested the new lamp with the mast down using a small 12V battery applied at the mast foot end of the anchor lamp cable.
Molia’s mast always had the top sheave and lower opening for a topping lift, but one was not threaded. Also, with the spinnaker control lines led aft, there is no jamming cleat for one (starboard side).
With the mast down, we have taken the opportunity to thread a new 8mm rope to make a topping lift. Its the gold fleck pictured here.
For now we will run the topping lift aft in place of the spinnaker halyard. In the future we will expand the deck organiser on the starboard side to 4 sheaves, and add an extra cleat.
The current spinnaker halyard jamming cleat is labelled SPIN.
We will leave the POLE UP line in place as we sometimes use the spinnaker pole as a whisker pole.
We are planning some maintenance and upgrades for the 2025 season. Some of these will be done before Molia goes back into the water; and others after.
E24 Reconfigure the Backstay Tensioner
E25 Boom Maintenance
We are taking the mast down this year to replace the standing rigging. As far as we know this has not been done since Molia was built in 2006.
Our ventilator cowls are dull, scratched and dirty. After several tries at cleaning them, with various products, I decided to replace them. It seems not that much more expensive than buying an array of cleaning products! Anyway the starboard-side ventilator drips when it rains really hard, so I think the sealant may need attention.
Removed the old cowl to reveal a lot of green!
Removed the ventilator cover. Everything in here is a bit mouldy!
Giving it all a good clean with boat cleaner and water.
Removing the old sealant with our trusty can of Multisolve.
Refitted the ventilator mechanism with a good layer of new sealant. You can just see it around the edges.
Sealant applied to the cowl’s screw holes as well.
New cowls fitted. Looking good!
New covers for the ventilators on our boat are the ‘Plastimo Streamline Dorade Cover Only for P51637 P51654 51654’ supplied by Chas Newens Marine.
We drifted up to the bridge and back with Catherine, on one of the hottest days so far this year.
We had a great morning out – reaching the bridge at about 1300.
We will use the tide to make the passage from Swansea to Portishead in one go.
The wind was light and the sea smooth for our last leg this year.
With many thanks to our crew guests this year:
And to the engineers who kept us going:
Nick Smith, independent marine engineer, Falmouth
Jerry at Falmouth Yacht Brokers
Mitch at Advance Marine, Portishead
Our ‘no anchoring at Padstow’ policy meant that we had to leave Padstow harbour at 0300! We made our way down the river Camel slowly and then loitered in the bay until there was enough light to see lobster pots.
With little wind, we motored against the tide towards Hartland Point and Lundy. We picked up the tide on approach to Hartland, and then made good progress across the channel. We arrived at Swansea in good time.
There was some good dolphin entertainment in Swansea bay.
