Karizma

Glorious day for our first C in C ........... few photos captured on route.

Safety First ........ travelling back from Loddon to our home moorings (......... back home tonight ). Next time out will be for the NBN Spring meet 'up north'

well looks as though it could be catching .........

Captain Cody ...........

We will be staying overnight at Salhouse on Friday so will travel to Ranworth Saturday morning - hopefully Does that mean there might be two C of C's - a 'mini'' one from Salhouse to Ranworth and then one from Ranworth back to Salhouse?

Have a great week aboard. Looks like you've got off to a great start. Two sleeps to go and then we'll be finally on the river - can't wait.

Would love to know what the response would be if somebody tries following this guidance .........? I for one am already having 2nd thoughts on visiting Ranworth in the future due to these unreasonable additional fees, which is a real shame because the local businesses (well the pub!) will also be loosing out.

Wasn't they also proposing a £5 daytime fee? Just think about the turnover of boats that use to moor up for an hour or two to have a pint / walk - Think this charge might significantly reduce the 'passing trade' as people will now want to stay as long as possible to get their 'moneys worth'

Very sad indeed. I do hope he managed to get down to his boat on the 7th March as planned. Condolences to the family.

Not that we've stayed at the Ferry Inn recently (always full when we pass), but at least the mooring fee is refundable against food and drink, which is fair enough and deters people mooring up and not using the facilities.

nice job

We are coming down on Thursday 6th for our first 'proper' (6 day) holiday of the season - we might try and head north for a few days (depends on weather / tides).

Wow I've never read or heard this before. I have a PRM gearbox (PRM 160D2), so I'm now a little more educated, as long as I remember! Every day is a school day

that cutlass bearing housing brought back memories for me on what we've just done to ours!!!! looking forward to watching the progress - keep up the good work

Thanks. Your man recommended I stick with what I had (rather than replace it) as he believed it would be just fine based on previous performance experience (and save a few hundred ££££), and after the 4 hour trip back to the moorings, it certainly felt like great advice.

Final post for me on Winter upgrades and Maintenance ........ Final week of tasks to be completed and Karizma is now back in the water and ready for another season of cruising …….. (though not without a little hitch!) We went back down early Tuesday morning to give us as much time as possible to complete, as many jobs as possible, focusing initially on the ‘must do’ tasks to allow a planned relaunch on Friday morning, giving us enough time to check her out and get her back to her home moorings, before going home on Sunday evening. So tasks completed during the final week ….. • Installed the new Vetus 330 Raw Water Strainer / hoses – I was surprised to read that it needed to be installed at least 6 inches above the water line. This only just allowed enough room to install it below the flooring without snagging! I would have thought the water line would have been ½ way up the basket? • Install new bow thruster anode/locking nut. • Replaced / re-greased rudder packing gland • Replaced stuffing box packing • Reinstalled the prop/new split pin • Reinstalled the raw water impellor • Re-sealed the rubber ‘bumper’ around the hull / decking with Arbo 1096 and replaced missing screw plugs to make her look ‘tidy’. • Polished the hull with 3M Perfect-It Gelcoat Light Cutting Polish & Wax And then we launched her back into the water. Initially everything looked fine, so we spent a day/night in the basin at Loddon to clean the upper decks, deep clean the cabins and check the prop shaft alignment. Sunday morning came, and it was time to go cruising back to the moorings. This is when we noticed that the cutlass bearing housing was leaking from the bolts. It wasn’t leaking badly, and the bilge pump could have easily coped, but I wasn’t prepared to ‘make do’ after all the work we’d done to her over the winter. A quick call to the boat yard on Sunday, and out she came first thing Monday morning to take the bearing housing off again (after again removing the rudder & prop) - I’m getting good at this now. This time we sealed it with (lots of) Arbomast BR (which stuck to absolutely everything!), and then kept our fingers crossed that this time it would be ok. 24 hours later and we were back in the water and, thankfully, she was water tight. So it’s now time to celebrate, relax, ……… and then continue with all the ‘to do’ list tasks that can be done in the water, whilst cruising!!!!!!

ours is hopefully going back in the water this weekend (if we get all our remains winter maintenance tasks completed) - though we will have the tube heaters on via a thermostat, if it gets too cold.

Thanks as always Vaughan, will follow the above guidance. Interesting that the original packing never dripped and the temp of the gland never got above 21 degrees C (when it was a really hot summer) - and the shaft temp at the entrance to the stuffing box got to maximum of 24 degrees (again when it was really hot summer last year) not sure if you think thats still too warm?

Looks great - but you lost me technically after .".........modified code and a picaxe 08m2 chip/eeprom/4 channel op-amp" Its always good to know what's going on - I have a handheld infrared temp thingy and routinely go round and check temps (stern tube, gearbox oil, plumbers block bearings etc) when travelling from south to north - just to make sure everything is 'tickety boo' and stable. Yes I've certainly been considering one of these (like the "Digital Marine Exhaust Temperature Alarm"), after getting a raw water blockage travelling back from Coltishall that was only noticed when the engine 'over temp' alarm went off.

they sound interesting - any chance of sharing what you have?

thanks for the quick replies - thats sorted that one out then

Another good weekend getting Karizma closer to being put back in the water. This weekend focused on antifouling; a coat of underwater Primer (where needed), two coats of Hempel broads (other brands available!) on the underside of the hull and two coats of Hempel Boot Top Hard Racing Antifouling on the waterline. First time we’ve done it like this, so only time will tell how it wears. I’ve decided to leave the bow thruster ‘tube’ with primer only, as the Vetus bow thruster instructions state “……to prevent corrosion problems, do not use copper based anti-fouling” – anybody else do something similar? Things still to do before she goes back in: Install new Vetus 330 Raw Water Strainer / hoses Install new bow thruster anode Replace / re-grease rudder packing gland Replace stuffing box packing (see question below) Reinstall the prop Reinstall raw water impellor Polish hull Things to do once she’s back in the water: Check for leaks following installation of new hull fittings / cutlass bearing housing !!! Check prop shaft alignment Deep clean the inside of the boat – she been used as a shed for the last 2 months Start cruising again …….. ! Question: I’ve purchased Graphite (Vulcan VR3) gland packing for the stuffing box as mine doesn’t have a grease nipple as its water cooled from a feed off the raw water supply of the oil cooler. I have noticed that the previous owner packed the stuffing box collar with grease – I’m assuming I don’t need to pack it with grease as I’ve purchased graphite packing?

I went with Aluminium following guidance from members on here.

Another productive weekend putting things back on the boat ....... must mean we are making progress! Cutlass bearing / housing fixed back in place, bonded with BossWhite (thanks Vaughan) - was a relief to find that there is now no movement between the cutlass bearing and the prop shaft! Rudder / Skeg painted (rust eater, primer and paint), new Oilite Washer installed between the base of the rudder shaft and the base mount (thanks Griff / M&P), and fresh anode installed. Topped off with new gland packing / grease on the rudder mount. Next steps will be antifouling, servicing the bow thruster, installing new TruDesign through hulls stopcocks, replacing the stuffing box packing and then polishing the hull ........ cant wait!!!

Welcome Bucket. Hope to see you on the river some time soon .........