How quickly, and dramatically, plans can change. Our thoughts for this years' cruising were to hop across to Holland, explore some more canals and slowly wend our way up to Germany. Instead, we are now looking forward to being able to sleep on board again and perhaps cruise to the SW of England.
It felt like an age since the last time we visited Destiny. Fortunately, she was set up for the winter and had 4 oil heaters placed strategically to keep things warm and dry.
My normal routine of cleaning and polishing the boat in Spring time went out the window so when I finally got access to the marina post lockdown she was looking dirty and dull on the outside having not had the luxury of a wash down for many months. Inside I was pleasantly surprised at how nice she looked.
A good look around the interior, all engine spaces, lockers and bilges revealed all to be in order so we fired her up and took her out for a long awaited run. I'd forgotten the sense of freedom and enjoyment that boating brings. A trip down the river and out to sea followed by 2 WOT (wide open throttle) runs gave her a good shake down. We also fired up the generator and wing engine. All good.
A job I had been planning to do before Covid was change the main engine coolant. This is a simple job with everything easily accessible. The Volvo Penta D6 has a neat little set up to assist with this task. At the rear of the intercooler is a clear pipe attached to a nozzle which does nothing throughout its life other than wait for the coolant to be changed. To drain the water it's a simple matter of removing the pipe from the nipple and fixing it to the drain plug at the front left of the engine. Once all that coolant has drained, remove the pipe and place it onto the second drain plug on the LHS of the block. Simple as that.
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| Drain pipe ready to be removed for action |
The engine holds 16.5 litres of coolant. I used a 40/60 mix of ethylene glycol antifreeze and de-ionised water giving protection down to -27C.
We are awaiting clearance to be allowed to sleep overnight on Destiny. Once that's given we'll make some local trips and have tentative plans to take her down to the West Country in July. Even more so than normal, these plans will be open to change! In the meantime, I'll get on with polishing the exterior. Prior to lockdown I had arranged for some scratches we picked up during our Caledonian Canal trip to be repaired. This has now been re-arranged for the end of July.
