Good bye Alise!

Alise left yesterday on the high speed cat to Piraeus. She will next be joining her family in Teneriffe.  Have a safe trip Alise and thank you for all your help. Eidos looks very nice with the new varnish.

Dragging.

This morning, the wind shifted to south westerly, so my anchor dragged several meters before it reset itself. And so, Eidos got  really close to an unoccupied  boat that is on a mooring. At one point, I had to push it away with a boat hook. 

The starting battery is dead, so I couldn't start the engine to move out of the way. Had to pull up some anchor chain to get away. Luckily, after an hour  the wind shifted again and now all seems ok. I must take the batteries to shore to charge them tomorrow. They are bloody heavy! Hopefully the wind will remain steady. Never a dull moment. 

Update:

Here is the second battery in the dinghy. The first one is already on shore. With the help of another sailor, a local fireman and a taxi driver, I managed to find someone who came to the harbor and took them away to charge overnight. He said he will bring them back tomorrow morning. I hope I will be able to reconnect the cables correctly.

Ok, so the batteries are back, charged and reconnected. The engine started. All good. Not. I tried to lift the anchor so that I could move little farther away from the boat on the mooring but the anchor will not come up. And so I need a diver. The good thing is that now that Eidos will not drag. Still too close to the other boat but at least no more dragging. Perhaps I should stay here all year.

My neighbours,  Uli and Veronika recommended a local diver business and called them for me. Couple of hours later they showed up and while James went looking for the anchor I spoke with his wife Vicky. Soon James had it untangled and I was able to re-anchor. Over the past two months that I've been here in all kinds of winds from different directions the anchor probably scraped the bottom clean while dragging around and resettin and pulled up picked up all this junk which eventually I wasn't able to pull up with the anchor. I think from now on, I will pull up the anchor at least every couple of weeks just to make sure that it's clean and the chain runs smoothly.

I am now 100 euros poorer but can sleep well from now on and not worry about colliding with the boat on the mooring. Keeping my fingers crossed. Oh and by the way, I was  filmed and interviewed during this time. I promised I would not say any more until I get an okay from the camera man.

On my own again

Brenna left today, so after a brief break, I got to work on the teak decks. I'm hoping to reseal them all before the rains begin and before my next helper arrives in 10 days. 

Step one: lots of masking tape and then Sikaflex in between.

 Step 2: peel off the masking tape before the Sikaflex hardens but making sure the day is calm so that the least amount ends up on my hands and arms and most of it in the trash. 

Step 3: create some kind of a barrier so that you don't accidentally step on the wet Sikaflex.

Step 4: clean up your tools and yourself then go for a swim and relax.

Rain is predicted next week,  so I have four days to repair as much of the deck as possible.

Another section done.

We didn't get any rain, but dome wind and the temperature has dropped. Time to pull out some long sleeves and long pants at least for the early mornings. There's more wind predicted for early October, but after that I hope to find a nice weather window so that my new helper and I can move Eidos to Poros Island and within reach of the boatyard.

Welcome Brenna!

Another helper arrived from Workaway and soon I had her helping me drill holes in my deck, filling them with a messy caulking and replacing the screws.

Here are all the tools that did not help seal the holes in my deck. The tek plugs did not fit in the holes. I need a bigger drill bit.

Next: cleaning the dinghy. 

We also had front row seats for a triathlon.

 Brenna is getting the deck ready for the sealant and new plugs.

Getting some work done

Sofie arrived yesterday and after a relaxed breakfast, begun helping me by tackling my next project - sanding the teak trim. It's a never ending process!

And then a swim before lunch.

In the late afternoon, we went on a short walk and found a treasure! I will write about it tomorrow. We also went to the weekly market in the harbor and I bought some local grape juice, tomato sauce, and sun-dried tomatoes.

VHF handheld radio

We are back to lovely weather again although yesterday afternoon I had a bit of exciting times. Another boat dragged its anchor into Eidos and for a while it seemed that there would be some damage. But with help from friends we managed to disentangle the two boats and re anchor safely. Unfortunately due to the urgency of the situation I have no photos.

Today I have another project to take care of. My two year old VHF radio is no longer holding its charge.

It's a Standard Horizon HX210 that I received as a prize for a short article published in a sailing magazine.

You would think that all I needed to do was get a new battery for it but it's not that simple. The only access to the inside of the radio and the battery is by taking off six screws. I had to buy a new screwdriver to do that. It was not difficult to open and a bit of a struggle to get the battery out but I managed.

 I searched online for a source of this battery but only found one place that had any in stock in Cyprus.     https://www.telectronicsit.com/product-page/sbr-23li-standard-horizon

However, they have to install it. Why I have no idea because any monkey with a screwdriver can do it. I found another source but this particular battery is on back order. Price approximately 50 euros plus I don't know how much for service. I can buy the whole radio for 100 euros. I am getting the idea that the company that makes these radios are doing this on purpose to make life difficult for me. Here is a link to a conversation online to support my theory. https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f13/trying-to-buy-this-battery-236922.html

I have been in contact with an Electronics shop in Lefkas. Perhaps they will have better luck sourcing the battery for me.

My son has a Standard Horizon HX851 and he can just pop the battery in and out to easily replace it. Why is the HX210 so complicated?

Cleaning the dinghy.

The dinghy, or yacht tender as it is sometimes called is my car whenever Eidos is anchored out. I depend on it to get me to shore for shopping and back again. 

And just like a car, the dinghy needs to be cleaned about once a week if it is kept in the water.

Otherwise, in a few days, it will look like in the photo above or worse. Not only sea grass will appear on its bottom, but also barnacles who love to glue themselves to the seams. It doesn't take very long for the seams to open up and your dinghy will start leaking. 

This is my dinghy after an hour's work with a scrubber and a scraper.  

I deserve a reward.

And with a five minutes' effort, the dinghy is now clear of the water and safe from getting fouled.

Installing mosquito netting

Mosquitos love me, but like most of us, I don't love them. Furthermore,  I don't like the smell of spray or smoke that is supposed to discourage them from finding me in the first place or smearing myself with nasty chemicals. I try to follow an  anti mosquito diet of garlic and onions but it doesn't seem to be working very well so far. There is always at least one mosquito that hides inside my boat and wakes me up in the middle of the night with its buzzing while it feasts on my blood.

To keep them away, I installed netting using elastic cord on the two  overhead hatches. 

In Greece, where I cruise, you can either purchase mosquito netting already made as curtains for the house. I found some with little glass beads which look like stars from below.

Another way to source mosquito netting is in a fabric shop by asking for wedding veil material.

I also have a mozzie curtain for the v-berth doorway and throw another one over the main entryway at sunset. 

However, it is getting hot, so I can no longer keep the portholes closed at night. It's time to install netting in all the remaining openings.

I followed an instructional video and made a removable insert using closed cell foam for one of the portholes as a prototype. This is my first attempt.

As you can see it's not perfect. In fact there is no way I could make it any better unless I use silicon to fill in the cracks. This method also reduces the size of the opening. 

I decided that velcro will work better holding the netting in place.

I found a wonderful system at the local supermarket for only three euros. Velcro strips that you stick on the surrounding surface and then attach the net. I did just that for the main entrance and at first all was well.

But after an hour or two, the velcro pulled away from the wall. The glue does not hold it in place.

It certainly loves sticking to itself.

So now I need to get either stronger glue which will damage the wood if I ever need to take the velcro off, or some small nails or staples. Most importantly, the velcro does not stick to the bronze portholes or even look very nice.

My second attempt for the portholes involved a tube of silicone gasket and some semi-stiff plastic netting which would keep its shape in the portholes.

The result seems a lot more successful. However, the real test will come when it rains and I have to close the windows. I think I better test this method with a bucket of water first. Perhaps putting the netting on the outside would solve that problem. The downside of this method does not allow me to remove the nets during the day, which means they reduce the circulating air inside.

But I suppose you can't have everything.

Happily, the porthole over the chart table passed the bucket of water test, so I cut out the netting for all the remaining openings.

The description on the back of the tube says: cures at room temperature, does not shrink, stable on contact with oil, remains indefinitely elastic, easy to remove. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it also holds the mesh in place.

A few days later I found that I had a solution for the doorways. Seal and Fix adhesive that I had on board already held the velcro to the wooden frame quite well. I think I'm all set now and safe from the annoying critters. 

 Meanwhile, today Nidri seems to be the hottest place in the Ionian.

I am glad to have all the hatches and portholes open with the netting keeping the unwelcome visitors away.

Small jobs day

Today I am tackling a few of the small jobs that have been on my list for a long time.

 I varnished the trim all around inside of the boat.

And glued in some strips of wood for more trim in the heads and the galley. I think that job was on my list for at least two years . 😁

This solar powered dryer is a wonderful way to dry herbs, especially when the wind is blowing. Thank you, Justin and Christa for a great gift.

New bimini

On Monday, I moved Eidos to the IBA dock and had my new bimini fitted. So now, it'll be much cooler to sail In the heat of the summer. I also washed the boat and top top my water tanks. It's nice to have access to the docks whenever needed.

 However not all was well as I discovered while at the dock.

I noticed some damage to the bow roller from a boat that collided with Eidos at anchor while I wasn't on board a couple of weeks ago. So now it makes it impossible to raise the anchor all the way up onto the bow roller. Another job to add to my lengthy list.

A friend took some photos but the boat disappeared and I have no way of chasing after them. But I'm sure their damage is worse than mine.

Thank you, Anna for letting me use this bird's eye view photo of Tranquil Bay and Nidri. Vliho Bay is on the right side of the photo.

And here are some more recent images. May this year has been very pleasant.

Cilantro drying on deck.

And new cilantro (corriander) seedlings have sprouted in my herb garden. Thank you, Marie for seeding them while you were here.

Sunrise in Tranquil Bay. 

Ancient fishing boat passing by.