Mooring fix

With a couple of hours notice of the long overdue mooring maintenance guys being in the bay Monday 8th December 2008, Ben and Sam dropped what they were doing and hurried out to Tui in the Hand on a grey, but temperate day. The mooring had been booked for inspection for almost a year and Tidal Engineering finally decided to turn up without telling us! Frenchie was of no use either, he was on a barge somewhere in the desert near Dubai.

Anyway, we quickly rowed out and put the outboard on the stern. The clamps were well seized and we eventually got one to screw closed with a wrench. We then hooked up the fuel line and pulled. Then pulled again and then pulled a little more. No go. Upon lifting the engine cover, we noticed some sea growth, which is never a good thing on an engine, and qucikly gave up. Thinking we'd missed our annual chance at a mooring inspection, we were plesently surprised with the offer of tying up next to the mooring barge while they did their efficient work. We were passed a bow and stern line and Ben wedged his foot between barge and our hull for about 45 minutes while two pirate-looking "engineers" pulled up a beyond-massive flywheel and gave it a good look at. They replaced the swivel and rope and marked a brand-new bouy EY15. Without much fuss they lowered it back down into a the depths of Duder's Bay, Ben hopped back onboard and they drove off to do some more muddy work.

Ben took the outboard home and then magically reported that it was running again in the new year! Wow! I believe we have his uncle to thank for that. Unfortunately, it would seem that we should have left the mooring to rot and break away. Then our boat may have drifted somewhere safe. Instead, it sat there bobbing away, waiting for trouble to come a knocking.

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