Just finished one of a limited repertoire of meals. Pork chop, green beans, carrots and new potatoes boiled, all with lashings of butter salt, pepper and Mail, France's favourite mustard. Dining by your self can be a familiar formula.
Well it's been a week of the diesel mechanic thing and I am ready to put boat maintenance into Room 101. To be truthful I am learning the merits of patience but I am still pretty green when it comes to the basics of a job. Saturday was a case in point or was it Friday. I'm loosing track of the days. They are all blurring into each other. This did happen though. I was disgusted with my progress on the diesel engine so I thought I'd divert my attention with a simple job like removing the faulty winch from the mast. Hey he. Well after, screwdriver, hammer, and finally drill, I hopelessly tried to remove the winch base from the mast plate. I was making such a kack handed spectacle of myself this 30 something German dude from the charter boat next to me came over to help. I got a lesson in how to remove a seized bolt. Lots of vibrations, lots of oil, and not too vigorous on the old screw driving, other wise you strip the head and it's time to resort to a drill to drill it out. Click on the picture for a spellbinding tour of the diesel engine. My big moment this week was cleaning it and the bilges. Yup I got all domestic with my engine and gave it a good scrubbing and then hosed it down with water. I was given instructions to service and paint the rust back when I had the boat surveyed but it has taken me two years to finally muster the courage to tackle the job. A little professional advice helped from David, but hey I am going to have to admit engines are about as familiar to me as astral physics, which is a bad analogy because at the end of the day it all seems to be about nuts and bolts.