In this episode of Sailing A B Sea we show you how to replace a head sail furling line, where to buy cooking gas in Milos and the reason why we need to repla...

Closed Captions (CC):
Well there's good news and there's bad news.

The headliner came down very easily

The bad news is there is no access to

the underside where that block is

attached on the deck.

Today is a fairly windless day so today is the day that

we're going to put this brand new

furling line on the furling mechanism of

the headsail

Something we've been keeping

an eye on for the last couple of weeks

was the furling line for the head sail

the outer sheath had started to fray

When we tried to reef, the sheath had

completely separated and we could

actually see the main core and then the

sheath got bunched up on the outside of

the jammer and we just couldn't pull it

through so using electrical tape this is

the bit that we managed to neaten up and

slim up and that slipped quite easily

through the jammer and once it was

through I was able to lock the jammer off

This little bit of black electrical

tape is now our eyeball for how far we

can actually let this furling line go

out. This is our enforced reefing point

basically so for now we're having to run

with a reefed head sail.

I did have a read of the instructions which are not

as instructional as I'd like them to be

but with the knowledge I gained there

and also from what I can remember when

Mike and I took the line off the head

sail when we first arrived in Turkey

I should be able to get this job done.

The first screw to undo is this one here

at the back and once you've got that out

and you're careful not to drop it

overboard then this whole cowling can be

lifted away

These two screws at the

front are not actually screwed into

anything they're just holding the front

end of the cowling into a hole either

side of this black plastic

Now you don't

really need to remove this piece of

black plastic or even drop it down it

does hinge down which comes down like

that. It's already in the right position

for the line coming in and out and I'm a

firm believer of letting sleeping dogs lie

Once this cowling is off we can then get

access to the plastic on the inside and

these two cracks is one here and one on

the opposite side and you need to get a

firm screwdriver in there a really big

firm screwdriver in there and really put

some serious hard effort into prizing

the two pieces of plastic apart

As you can see

the line is only held in

by having this plate in there

So that screw that I've unscrewed

that backs onto this plate

and that plate holds the line

Wow. Yeah wow. I can't show you right

now because it can't furl the drum any

further but this hole on this piece of

plastic has a corresponding hole on the

other side and it has a great big

flathead screw in it and that flathead

screw is attached to a plate of metal on

the inside which holds the furling line

firmly and securely into the drum

Putting it all back together is just a

reverse of what you did to take it apart

and what I found worked best for putting

the two internal pieces of plastic

together was to wrap the furling line

round them as you tried to squeeze them

back together and the furling line gives

a much firmer grip than your hands can

and eventually they will click back into

place and you'll know when they're back into place

You're awesome Baz! You're a legend!

Wow

That was not nerve-wracking in the

slightest - no, no. Not at all.

I was clenching all sorts of things

there, teeth, stomach ...

Well here's an update on the autopilot

situation I've just been having a a

messenger conversation with Jim who if

you'll recall took our broken auto pilot

back to Marmaris on the boat Acheron well

he took it into Nail at NaTo Marine

Services and left it with him overnight

the next day when he went in to

pick it up Nail said there's nothing

wrong with it

it's working perfectly and showed him

had it all connected up to all sorts of

attenuators and displays and artificial

rudder things and everything all working

perfectly. So that's the good news

Now the problem is we need to get our

autopilot back to us, the autopilot's still

somewhere in Turkey on Acheron with Jim

and of course we are in Greece. Now

sending things to a Greek address from

Turkey can sometimes take an immense

amount of time due to customs and all

sorts of other problems and of course

that means we have to stay in one place

waiting for the package to arrive so

what we decided to do is it'll be

quicker to get the autopilot couriered

from Turkey to Australia in time for our

son to bring it over from Australia to

Greece so that's the plan for that.

Of course, the bad news is it means if

there's nothing wrong with the autopilot

why did it fail on that day and my

thought is it's got to be the wiring

The autopilot saga continues

I've said it

before and no doubt I'll be saying it

again, on a boat one job always leads to

another job and this time is no

exception. You've just seen us replace

the furling line for the head sail and

as I was leading the line back to the

cockpit area I looked at this little

block this is a cheek block or a foot

block and I noticed that we could

actually see the ball bearings or the

nylon bearings in this case. Well that

means that the plastic that protects

that area has broken away and this is

one of the original blocks that was

fitted on the boat when she was born 24

years ago. Also the little end of the

pulley here is a little

a bit ragged which means that it's going

to be rubbing against the new line that

we've put in and that's not a good idea

so I've removed this from the front of

the boat and I've been looking online

for replacements. This is a Harken cheek

block and they are super super expensive and

the reason why I wanted to get the same

one is because I didn't want to drill

any more holes in the boat than

necessary but the price of these

Harkens is just ridiculously it prices

them out in the market for us. We have

looked at others online, they are

available, we could probably get one sent

to our son in Australia because he's

coming out here next month but again the

fittings are all different and I'm not

sure on delivery time and so on and so forth.

There is however a

plan B and if you come forward I'll show ya

That block above the forward head on

the starboard side is unused it's the

same shape it's the same size it's the

same model. Of course it does mean it's

the same age, twenty four years old but

it's the only choice we've got at the

moment so I've got to go inside take the

lining of the head down from ceiling and

see if I can get access to the nuts

because when I took this one out you have to

access the nuts at the back and the bolts at the top

Let's go and play in the head shall we?

Here in the forward head the first thing to do is

to remove these little plastic caps

where the screws hold the headliner up

and then we can get a Phillips head

screwdriver in there, (there's a lot of

head words in this segment) in there and

unscrew this. We should just be able to

leave that in place and pop the lining

down over it. There is a light fitting

here which has four screws but it's

possible that those screws only go into

the liner and not right through into

either some wood or GRP. We'll find out

of course when we take these screws out.

Well there's good news and there's bad

news the headliner came down very easily

the bad news is there is no access to

the underside where that block is

attached on the deck. If we're outside

this window and go in that direction to

a roundabout here that's where the block

sits. It would appear that if that block is

attached in the same way as the block

that we've removed is attached then we'd

have to take out this whole port light

and that really is too big of a job just

for that block

Well we've just made an

executive decision and because we can't

take a chance on that block over there

on the starboard side being fitted

exactly the same way we do run the risk

of trying to pull it out and then having

the nut get stuck because of the

Sikaflex that was put into the hole to

make it watertight when it was first

installed and then having the deck

fitting the block half in and half out

with no way of retightening it because we've

got no access to the nut and no way of

getting it fully out. So rather than run

that risk we've decided to just pull the line

through I think it's called a bullseye

which basically guides the line back

here. It actually looks better because

the line is not actually rubbing against

the grippy GRP of the deck which is what

causes the lines to fray in the first

place... but it is a bit of a potential

trap hazard... there is a slight trip

hazard but we're aware of it, it's better

than the other hazard of having a block

half in and half out swinging around on

deck and leaking and all that kind of

crap so I can't take that chance but we

will order a block from Australia and

get our son to bring that out and

replace it at the front at some point

A couple of our subscribers have asked

what do we do, what is life like when we

are at anchor? Well I can't tell you it

does involve a lot of that this is where

we both edit videos write our blogs and

deal with all the social media presence

we have and generally stay connected to

the internet and you guys and if it gets

too hot or we've finished work for the day

then we can head up into the cockpit and

have a swim

I have to say I do enjoy this part and living on a boat.

And at the end of the day we can sit in the

cockpit and enjoy a nice cold drink while

watching the sunset. And I'd just like to take

this opportunity to welcome on board our

latest Patrons, that is Boston and Piper Elmore

Cheers you guys, thanks a lot!

Well that took longer than expected. One of our

cooking gas cylinders ran dry and I

decided that today was the day well this

morning was the morning that I was going

to get it replaced. So I asked at the

hardware chandlery store in town and

they went, No we don't do it

it's a petrol station you need mate. Now

I was quite happy about that because I

can see the petrol station from here

it's 200 metres that way so this morning

I took our gas canister there and showed

it to the guy and he went, Oh no, not this

petrol station

it's the petrol station on the road to

Pollonia. I went, Oh. Do you have a motor bike? I said No I'm on foot. Oh well it's

two kilometres and I went err. Two kilometres is not bad I can do a four kilometre

round trip. As I turn to leave the key to

what he said was, It's just after the

hill. Everything in Greece is up a hill

So long story short four kilometre round

trip, now we have a gas canister

and if you want to get one for your boat

while you're in Milos, I would say get

a taxi unless you want to be sweaty

So now after doing that, I'm gonna do

this! Oh and one more thing I learned about

Milos. They have hedgehogs here and the reason

I know that is because I saw several of

the flat-pack variety along the roadside as I walked

Better?

That's much better

Next week on Sailing A B Sea we celebrate my

birthday, we have an Internet win and we

explore some of Milos Island

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