All hands to the pumps!

Last week was exciting! Vaughan, a fellow yacht taxi skipper and general good egg aided me with his superior knowledge and upper body strength in swinging the engine of Lucy Morales, our yacht (currently under restoration) with the ancient cranking handle and bringing the cold lump of steel to life. Flushed with success, I let the engine run for 40 minutes or so to charge batteries, give it a good run etc. As I closed everything down to go home I noticed a tiny trickle of water, which I traced to the stern gland (the area where the propeller shaft goes through the hull of the yacht). "Only a trickle" I thought, merrily going home. A few days later I went down to do a bit more work only to find the bilges full of sea water! Forty minutes later all was dry again - but ... oh dear! I gave it one more night to sort itself out only to find the bilges half full again. Time to sort it out. After a bit of contortion and the locating of a greasing nipple, a couple of squirts of grease stopped the trickle (now visually located) in its stride. A stern-gland greaser will be the answer - another little job to do. On a more positive note, Lucy M's new wash boards look splendid!