A full day servicing the Paxton Princess until very late in the evening after a hot and sticky day in Horning with just brief spells of rest to eat and listen to test cricket on the radio as England struggling against the West Indies at The Lords Cricket Ground
I had got to bed quite late, updating my journal, but still woke up quite early this morning. I had left my equipment monitoring the weatherfax broadcasts, but the reception was not good enough without the active aerial and so no useful data resulted. A simple breakfast of tea and cereal and then out to start work on the boat. I opted to work inside as the mist had settled on the varnish and I reckoned that the heat might make this job more difficult later. It was the difficult job of changing the fuel and oil filters and I was not looking forward to it. I ran the engines for a while to warm them up and then, taking my heart in my hands, I unscrewed and removed the starboard fuel filter and struggled to replace it.
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The problem is the difficult access in a boat and also the danger of getting air into the fuel system as bleeding it of air would be doubly difficult. I succeeded in completing this task and re-starting the engine and then it was time for the other side. Then to drain the engine oil pint-by-pint into a milk bottle as the easiest way of avoiding it going into the bilges. At least there are permanent oil change pumps installed. This done, I then had to remove the old oil filters and replace with new. The port filter is usually nearly impossible to do but I did it without too much difficulty and this encouraged me to complete the starboard one in short order and so I had done the most difficult jobs. I went up to Heronshaw to rest and recuperate and then, after changing, went into Wroxham to buy some more engine oil and get fried plaice for lunch. It was mid-day by this time, and I was tired and hungry after working since early morning. I also got some seafood for tea and some other bits and pieces.
I ate and listened to test cricket on the radio and then had to get back to work. It took until nearly teatime to finish the job. I had to grease the shafts, check battery levels and electrolyte, change the water filter and it was this last job that also proved troublesome. A welcome rest for tea of shrimps and cockles and then the evening doing more varnishing to the ship’s rails. As dusk drew in, I had to clear everything away, pack up and load the Range Rover until it was after 10.00pm when I was finally on my way. It had been a very hot and sticky day and I had sweated buckets getting the job done but I was well pleased. With the engines so inaccessible, it makes sense to look after them particularly well as more major work would be a real problem. Home at midnight and I found Daniel with a throng of friends staying up much later still which did not please me.