Repairing the Summer Amy

We worked on the boat together getting all the items picked up in the survey sorted and whilst doing so, I got to know pretty well everything about the workings of the boat... There is just SO much to it. They turned out to be really good guys and so we worked all day and taverna’d well into the nights... Any thoughts of losing weight in Greece have gone out the window.. 

The food is inexpensive, the portions are over the top, the house wine is dirt cheap and very drinkable and comes in quarter, half or full liter carafes’. Perfect, although I don’t know why we don’t just order the one liter carafe first up!

This is Brian and I on one such night. This shot was taken to send to an old mate I worked with in London and Portigal, Steve O'Lauchlin who, we ascertained was Brian's very first Tradesman in the sign writing business 25 years ago...

The main job that needed to be done was to fix the steering which had failed on Ken the previous year due to an amazing design fault in the Lagoon 440. Basically, if water got into the compartment containing the generator, which is pretty well inevitable given the generator is a big diesel engine which requires water to cool it and priming to ensure the water flows... Once the water gets in there, there is nowhere for it to go.

Well, for Ken, water did build up and just sat there rotting out the beam holding the steering blocks until the blocks simply came away and the steering failed. Always loads of fun losing your steering in a 44 foot boat in a confined and windy harbour!

The crane used to lift the generator out of its compartment.

Lifting it out inch by inch.
This generator is a 9.2 Kva beast and
only just fits into that spot.

Out, the generator siting on the cockpit floor

The mess that was the floor of the generator housing
note the steering block still on the cables but detached.

Brian's magnificent repair job. Now stronger than new
and the water can never build up in here again