De-Bunking

Filling in time ahead of our annual boat lift to maintain and glamorize our tittle ship, we decided to settle the argument about the size of our fuel tank. The Bloke was adamant our tank held 150L. I was certain I'd seen that it was at least 20L less. Our fuel consumption under motor is a tad over 2L per hour. At 6knots under motor we are talking roughly 60nm or 120km. Certainly this was an argument worth resolving with a long passage on the planning table!

To progress this project our bunk had to be stripped - doona, sheets, woolly underlay, eggshell foam, memory foam, the mattresses and finally the boards. This is de-bunking! We'd then have full view of the aft water tank plus the diesel tank. As usual, all these displaced items had to be carted off to other cabin areas and the boat made an uproar!

All thoughts of the fuel tank were scuppered when some corroded wire came to light! What was it? How long had it been like that? We were leaning towards it being an earthing strap of some sort. Research was required and opinions sought. Neville, a fellow cruiser from The Bossa Nova, was called upon for his expert opinion. He has some electrical expertise and was keen to reciprocate The Bloke's assistance with getting their new IridiumGo satellite Comms gear going.

Not a good look. The copper wire strap had totally disintegrated. 
Luckily this wasn't electrolysis.

Something from an archeological dig?

This did have a happy ending. Neville felt a favour was repaid plus he got to have tea and chocolate brownie. The Bloke was reassured that it was a earthing strap and could get a replacement made at Battery World - but not the same day as it was a public holiday long week-end. We were due to be hauled out in a couple of days which would make it possible to determine if there was any adverse outcomes for the P-bracket that supports the propeller shaft. The answer, once revealed, was no damage. Phew.

  

Digging out the 'Bog'to reveal the earthing nut was awkward but the new (and note fully protected) wire was a beauty.

Oh, and the fuel tank size? Answer :-A measly 126l! Which means The Bloke intends buying more jerry cans, which means we'll need a longer rail support to lash them onto AND more Sunbrella so I can sew covers for them. And so it goes on. We'll need to get that bed back together. I'm tired just thinking about it.