Raging fever for Belisama

Belisama was discharged from the Alubat rehabilitation service on Monday. She was thrilled to go back to water. However, there was still a long way to go before she could set sail. Especially since she got a raging fever, with temperatures above 40°C. 

She was not the only one. A real epidemic in the cat-ways...

Belisama out of the recovery room after surgery

 After arriving in Sables d'Olonne in May 2021 on our way to the Mediterranean we had to make a stop-over for Belisama to undergo a surgery involving both hip replacements following a hit on a rock a few years ago in northern Sweden that resulted in some deformation in the aluminium hull that we did not noticed. Indeed, we had hit a rock in Sweden, but did not realise how much it deformed the hull as the behaviour of Belisama was not affected. Below is the picture of Belisama being lifted off water last summer. The angle between the two rudders was not resulting from having bent one of the shaft but rather from having hit the shape of the aluminium hull around the portside rudder. 

As a result we had to terminate our conveying between Stockholm to the Mediterranean in Sables d'Olonne for surgery...

Belisama in the operation room... 16 November

On 4th June 2021, as Belisama was lifted in Sables d'Olonne for the yearly check-up, I had asked Thierry Leprince from Alubat to have a look at the rudder as we had struck a rock two years before, without any noticeable steering consequences (see the post). But in fact the hull had been slightly pushed-up and this required to change the rudder posts on both sides, kind of a hip surgery...

Belisama had been in Alubat shipyard since early June. By mid-July, the insurance experts had reviewed the problem and agreed to cover the damage. Too late though for having it done before the annual summer Alubat break in August. As Belisama is now wintering in Sables d'Olonne, the time pressure for completing the repair became lower and the work just started recently.

The first step of the surgery was to open the body and remove both hips (rudder pods)...

Unexpected need for surgery, 4 June 2021

Belisama was put off water today for unplanned surgery on her left hip. This may take a couple of weeks, and for now, we are all land-borne! Two years ago, Belisama struck a rocky shoal without apparent damage as she was behaving as always, without an apparent hitch on the rudder. Since then, we cruised for more than 2500 nautical miles without problems.

Belisama back to Alubat shipyard, 5 June 2021

But once the Alubat expert looked at it, it became apparent that the hit resulted in more that just a litlle bending on the rudder post...

How to kill a battery bank, 25 May 2021

 I noted at the end of the last season that my service batteries were not really holding their charge. At night particularly, since the solar panels were not producing any electricity. From Cherbourg, we mainly sailed at night, and every time, after a few hours at night, I was getting an alarm indicating that the voltage of the batteries was getting too low. 

If I ignored the alarm, after another half-an-hour, the whole system would collapse, to the extent that I had even difficulties to start the engine! Not to mention that when starting the engine, I had another alarm for a too high voltage. So what was going on?

The hidden missing black cable, 25 May 2021

I started recently having a new electrical problem when starting the engine. An alarm would be triggered for the engine alternator producing more than 15 volts of power. A red scary beeping alarm triggered the minute you start the engines. And by the way, I had to start the engine in the middle of the night while sailing through the Raz-de-Sein because of a general battery failure...

The Mastervolt alarm message is a bit cryptic. The only understandable part is "hypertension". A as common problem for boats as for humans?

No trust in our bow thruster, 25 May 2021

At the start of the 2021 season in Cherbourg, as we were ready to depart in one of our narrow weather windows for a night ride to Aber-Wrac'h, I had the nasty surprise as we were leaving the cat-way under serious wind that the bow-thruster did not respond to my attempts to use it. 

Trying it before freeing the mooring lines will be on our departure checklist now on! But what happened to it?

Replacing the stern gland, Gävle, 10 June

On the post about the start of the 2019 season, I was showing Belisama being lifted, antifouled, and put back to waters. At the time, I did not do a good job in purging the stern gland (the seal on the propeller shaft), and a few days after getting back to waters, we got into a crisis with hundreds of litres of waters in the hull.

What sounded at the time as a major crisis that could jeopardise the start of the season, ended-up smooth and easy as we happened to be passing Gävle...

Belisama on the good care of Christer in Gävle Fliskärvärket

Stove fan, the solution! - 5 November 2018

For quite some time, I was looking for a way to circulate the air in the cabin when using the Antarctic Dikinson diesel stove. I got tired of getting my feet frozen while running full stove. While shopping in Clas Ohlson for led lights for the boat, I came across this product put on sale, to be put on wood or diesel stove to circulate air in the "stuga", the typical cabin owned by most Swedes. In fact, according to Wikipedia, there are 680,000 stugor in Sweden, meaning that 50% of the population has access to a stuga. Heating the Stuga in winter is quite a problem, and therefore, any way to improve the heating is quite a priority.

I bought one and tried it on Belisama...

Fata morgana in Huvudskär - 18 - 20 May 2018

Huvudskär is located 31 miles from Stockholm downtown, therefore easily accessible for a weekend.  It is usually the first ride of the year, even though, this year, with the summer starting early May, we have been cruising around to Sandhamn and Utö earlier this year.

Huvudskär, Belisama moored at the Svenskakryssar association buoy.

Bleeding the pilot cylinder - 19 April 2018

At the end of the season last year, I had the bad surprise to get my pilot to stop operating the tiler, while I could still hear it attempting it. A few checks later, I realised that I was missing oil tank was empty...

No oil in the level bubbling window!

An inspection of the hull below the cylinder identified red oily spots indicating that there had been some leaking from the purge bolts...