To and Fro And Spending Money

The next couple of weeks look set to be rather slow ones as we get things sorted out for now. We have a date at the boatyard in Portimao on Tuesday to be measured for our new spray hood. It is to be hoped that the diver there will also be able to do the bottom scrubbing as well. We will then have to hang around while the spray hood is made up and fitted. We have also found other things to do as well. This includes working out if the outboard is finally dead or not and dealing with the windvane.

In the meantime, we have divided our time between Portimão, Alvor and Lagos. The anchorages at Alvor and in the mouth of the Rio Arade here at Portimão are very nice places to be! Lagos is still rather expensive even in the low season and our post wasn't waiting for us either.

This picture is Portimão.


The full moon rose over the hills behind the anchorage and this picture almost does justice to the sight.


Although the sky looks stormy here, the weather was really quite nice though the wind did blow up quite hard in the afternoon.


Finally, this is the view of Alvor from our anchorage just inside the entrance. Once again it was quite windy but that did give the kite boarders a chance to come out and play and they are always good entertainment.


The windvane has proved rather frustrating. I have been hoping that the stiffness in the main shaft has been a function of needing oiling. Obtaining an oil can has proved difficult but we did eventually manage to get one only to find that this was not the problem. There is a little hole near the bottom and also one at the top of the main shaft assembly. I have poured all sorts of oil in there and the whole external casting now has oil all over it but the shaft is still too stiff to work. It seems as if the only option is to have it off and taken to bits and probably replace the main bearings. The Aries website has a rather scary set of instructions involving a sledge hammer and drift but I am hopeful of being able to drop the shaft without having to take the upper wind part of it off as well.

Following a visit to the boatyard, we have got a lot of work in progress. Marine Canvas here have measured up for a new sprayhood and also taken the old one away to work from so we should have that delivered by Friday week. At the same time, we got Bluewater Algarve to do a few things. They have taken our old Honda outboard off and pronounced it effectively dead. More importantly, they have taken the Aries vane and used their hydraulic press to push out the main pin and have also fabricated new bearings from a different material that will not absorb water in the same way that the old nylon ones do. We should be able to fit that today so will do a bit of daysailing to test it out as well as hone our downwind rig using the jib, genoa, spinnaker pole and boom.

All in all, we have had an exciting couple of days here with a lot done. We are sad about the outboard but will probably reconcile ourselves to getting a new one rather than soldiering on without one. We have also decided that we will have to bit the bullet and get a new outboard. After some shopping around Bluewater Algarve have got a deal on a Mercury 2.5 which we should have in four or five days.

So, lots of money going out but we will be in a much better position and will be fully prepared for our further adventures. Finally, congratulations to my Sister and her Husband on making it across the Channel in their Dutch canal barge Archangel who are now in Dieppe and ready to commence their adventures in the French canals.

We have "Henry the Navigator" our windvane reinstalled now and it is very satisfying to see how free the main shaft is now. We will be out sailing tomorrow to test it out but would like to particularly commend Jaoao at Bluewater Algarve for doing such a good job on rebuilding it for us. I have to put this picture in though you really need a video to show it moving freely!