If you’ve read earlier posts (Thank you!) you may remember that the storms in Abelike revealed that most of our portholes (opening windows) leak. We were up for trying to fix leaks in one or two, but 10 or 11 . . . ??? It can be notoriously difficult to know just where the leak is, and we do want to sail a bit as well as do maintenance. It’s also really important that we make sure LouLouDitsi is dry before we leave her for the wet Ionian winter.
So, while in Lefkas, we call into CYS (Contract Yacht Services) to see if they can help. Apparently, Takis is our man (not the cushion Takis, a different one) and he can come on Thursday 28th June. Good.
In the meantime, the forecast wind and rain arrive, and we position the drip trays again. 2 particularly inconvenient leaks are the one above our bed (my side 😓) and one above my hanging clothes locker 😥 John, the ever inventive engineer, has a solution. We buy big tubs of Greek yoghurt and keep empties as useful pots for casseroles, curries etc as they don’t leak in the fridge. John’s rigged 2 up over my bed and above my wardrobe.
In the film Shirley Valentine, Shirley talks to the wall in her flat “Hello Wall” and “What d’you say to that, Wall?” When she finds herself on holiday alone in Greece, abandoned by the friend who dragged her out there, Shirley finds a bit of beach behind a rock, “Hello Rock,” which becomes her new confidant. I feel echoes now on going to bed, “Hello Bucket” and then “Night Night Bucket” – my new best friend (after John, of course!)
Takis arrives and replaces all the O rings on the porthole handle (for some reason these are called dogs . . .????!!!) He enlists John’s help to test the results by pouring a bottle of water over each window (“Too many windows! This is not a boat, it’s a hotel” Takis grumbles.) He disapproves of the insect screens on all the ports (they are official Lewmar ones, the same manufacturer as the ports) and removes them all, saying they cause leaks. We’ve never heard this from any boat with them fitted – mostly people just make sure we know how brilliant they are!
Some ports seem to be fixed, others still leak and the inside cosmetic frames have to come off. Several screws are corroded in and break off – Takis later drills these out. One of the handles breaks, we manage to buy a replacement (nearly 30 euros – everything labelled marine is much more expensive than its shore based equivalent) although it’s a slightly different colour grey.
Sicaflex sealant is applied to almost all the portholes (did he forget some or just get fed up?) and we are left with strict instructions not to touch anything for at least 24 hours.
After paying the bill (the hourly rate was much as expected, and 24% VAT, but we hadn’t quite realised he’d spent 10 hours in total) we really weren’t up to doing anything for 24 hours!
We do as we are told and then put all the insect screens back in again, so we can open the portholes. They all withstand the bottle of water test, but time will tell. We’re pretty sure there’s a leak from the toerail on the port side, which finds its way in above the chart table and into a couple of lockers above the fridge, but that’s a bigger job and may have to wait until the autumn.
In the meantime, I miss bucket being there to say goodnight to. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be over the moon if the leaks are fixed, but I had got really rather fond of bucket.
