It’s a good job I started preparing the boat at the beginning of last month for her summer cruise, because there have been so many things happening in my private life that I’ve not been able to devote as much attention to the sailing project as I would have liked.
Anyway, today I managed to squeeze in a couple of hours working on ‘Bumper’. Her engine has been completely serviced and it is in running order. I was rather surprised that the engine started first time, but as I followed the manual, perhaps I should not have been amazed. Everything sounds sweet, if the noise of an engine can be delicious.
Some people are fanatical about their yacht engines, but I’m not such a fan of complicated mechanical devices. On the other hand, ‘Bumper’ should be thought of as a motor sailer, rather than a pure sailing vessel. Because this is the case, when the wind is on the nose, or it is slight, I prefer to keep the boat moving, and that warrants using the engine. Also by running the engine the batteries get charged, and with the proposed use of my laptop computer for navigation and for surfing the web, I shall certainly need a plentiful supply of electrical power.
There’s less than three weeks to have ‘Bumper’ ready for the water – that’s allowing one week for trial sailing before setting off on the long awaited adventure - cruising towards the Scilly Isles in the hope of reaching them. It’s an unwise sailor who says he will reach his objective, irrespective of weather and unforeseen circumstances, but it’s always a good idea to have a general plan which may be modified according to events.
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