Telltale 107

Snow and cold days in Holland and in Turkey.

Well it is 2008. The weather has been great, especially as we hardly had any rain. So, work continued. But, damn we had some very cold times. And to top it, mid February we had snow in Ayvalik, quite unusual and it did not last, but one can imagine that it gets too cold to even step outside. I long for the days of walking around in shorts and not have to bother about three layers of clothing and than a jacket.
On the other hand it was quite unique, so we accepted.





In my 9 years on Sylphe I had snow on deck once before, in the middle of the Cyclades in November. Not usual either.

So, work continued and by the end of january we lifted Starlite out of the water. The boat is with her weight of 82 tons (fully laden) at the limits of the capacity of the travel lift. We emptied the boat and took some 7 tons of weight off: anchor chains, empty tanks, interior, dinghy, etc, etc. And it all went smooth and well.



Burak is he director of the technical company that is doing a lot of work for me on Starlite, he is not only a super friendly Turkish guy (like all of them, but he sets new standards), but he really goes out of his way to find solutions. Thanks for being with me in those moments of despair.......



And on Starlite, well the boat is 20+ years old, but in good shape. The yard that built her really had a quality boat built. No question, so she is worth every penny. But after 20 years some things simply end their life-span. Especially electrically, things stop working after 20 years. So, here lies a large part of my work. Ralph and Rob will be proud of me, when they could see what I am capable of these days.

But to start with it, we first had to remove some of the old cabling. A lot of them were simply cut off and left hanging in the bilges, some still with power on it, either 220V or 24V!!!!!. Not really comforting. Going through bilge-compartment after bilge compartment we followed and removed all these cables. A nightmare job, but safety first. The worst one, I found at the end, a cable directly connected to the batterybank of 24V with 1400 Amp current on it...a killer if one would have touched it or if it had made a shortcut.......



And corrosion also takes its toll, on everything immersed in salt or fresh water after 20 years. So all boilers were gone, see picture. Calgonit advertising could do miracles.



And this was a fitting of two hoses being connected and than let to an underwater sea-cock. I merely touched it and it broke off, resulting in a huge amount of water sprouting in, like a fountain. Would this have happened unnoticed the boat would have flooded quite quickly. Just a little bit of luck helped me here to find it on time.



And now I am working on the 20 something-some pumps. Each one is removed, serviced and put back.



And at the same time, life is bigger than just work/hobby, so friends came and visited. Onur came for a week, he was on Sylphe back in 1999 when we got arrested in Cannakale (ahhh, the good old days!), and he sailed with Sabri and me to bring Gisela to Ayvalik in 2005. The coldest trip we ever made, see earlier Telltales.



And, of course, Sabri and the gang came. Sabri, Fusun, Candan and Cem spent a rather enjoyable weekend, as you can see.


So, works even on Gisela continue, and finally the engraved windows were placed. Just a little beauty that boat is gonna be, soon.






Ahoy

Roland
www.sail-in-style.com