Winter storms arrived frequently in early January as we continued south from the headland Stad. We travelled in calmer weather and stopped at Helleviksundet and Resesundet, pictured above, as the systems passed through. In calmer conditions we made a tender trip through the complex islets around Resesundet, and in the stormier weather completed some boat projects, including performing the 7th valve adjustment on our generator and addressing a corroded pickup pipe in our blackwater tank.

Below are highlights from Jan 6th through 9th, 2021. Click any image for a larger view, or click the position to view the location on a map. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps.

1/6/2021

Sunrise Position: 61°32.90’N, 5°10.39’E Sunrise as we approach the Stongasundet bridge en route to the anchorage at Helleviksundet.

Helleviksundet Anchorage Position: 61°32.62’N, 5°10.43’E Our anchorage in Helleviksundet, southeast of Floro, in 70 ft (21 m) on 250 ft (76 m) of rode.

Klauvekeipen Position: 61°32.61’N, 5°10.45’E View to snow-covered 2,522-ft (769 m) Klauvekeipen from the anchorage at Helleviksundet.

Sunset Position: 61°32.60’N, 5°10.43’E Sunset from the anchorage at Helleviksundet.

1/7/2021

Vent Position: 61°32.60’N, 5°10.41’E Plugging the inlet for the master stateroom ventilation system to prevent large amounts of cold air from entering the stateroom. Big winds tended to whistle and rattle through the vent, so this also made the stateroom much quieter during a storm. The original Nordhavn 47s on which the 52 is based didn’t have an overhead hatch to the Portuguese bow, so the master staterooms could get quite stuffy. The solution was to add this vent. The hatch on the newer boats works really well, while the vent is only moderately effective and can be quite noisy in a storm.

Valve Adjustment Position: 61°32.61’N, 5°10.43’E Performing the 7th valve adjustment on the main engine at 11,586 hours. The adjustment interval is every 2,000 hours after the first 1,000 hours, and we also did it when we changed the injectors.

1/8/2021

Sunrise Position: 61°12.82’N, 4°51.15’E Sunrise underway through Buefjorden.

Resesundet Anchorage Position: 61°7.12’N, 4°48.88’E Our anchorage in Resesundet in 110 ft (34m) on 330 ft (101 m) of rode. Before we anchor, we measure the swing space with a divider to ensure we have sufficient room. And when we drop anchor, we set a red circular anchor mark to show the position of the anchor then draw a divider to the limit of our pull for the given rode when we set (in this case 110 yards). We can use this to verify that the anchor is not dragging when we encounter big winds. This screenshot, taken after we saw gusts to 49 knots in the anchorage, shows that the boat has pulled back in the wind, but no further than the limit of the rode.

Resesundet Views Position: 61°7.11’N, 4°48.92’E Views from our anchorage in Resesundet (clockwise from top left: forward, aft, starboard and port).

Feeding Position: 61°7.11’N, 4°48.87’E Shortly after we anchored, a local resident arrived bringing food for the sheep on the island of Hogneskjela to our west.

Shipwreck Position: 61°7.31’N, 4°48.86’E Shipwreck off the west coast of Klubben, viewed on a tender tour of the area.

Dirona Position: 61°7.16’N, 4°48.56’E Dirona at anchor in Resesundet, viewed looking east from Gullholmsundet.

Hardbakke Position: 61°4.46’N, 4°50.15’E View to the harbour at Hardbakke, the administrative center for the municipality of Solund.

Sunset Position: 61°4.15’N, 4°49.68’E Sunset looking south to the bridge over Indre Steinsundet at Hardbakke.

Sheep Position: 61°7.06’N, 4°48.74’E When we returned to the anchorage and toured along the Hogneskjela shoreline, the sheep seemed to think we were the local bringing food and came rushing down.

1/9/2021

Snow Position: 61°7.13’N, 4°48.91’E An early-morning snowfall with high winds in the anchorage at Resesundet. With the aft floodlight on, the snowflakes looked almost like fireflies.

Greywater Tank Position: 61°7.13’N, 4°48.92’E The TankWatch 4 tank level measuring mechanism in the greywater tank had become fouled and wasn’t reading properly. We cleaned it up and got it working again.

Blackwater Tank Position: 61°7.13’N, 4°48.91’E Today we decided to tackle the problem with the blackwater tank not being able to pump all the way down to the bottom. Our current working theory is the in-tank pickup pipe is corroded through, leaking air, and no longer allows pumping to the bottom. The first step is to remove the tank cover to inspect the pipes. Getting the hoses off and out of the way was a really difficult job. These hoses are incredibly stiff, and eleven years hasn’t improved the situation. We eventually got them off by applying small amounts of heat with a heat gun.

Cleaning Position: 61°7.13’N, 4°48.92’E After eventually freeing the blackwater tank cover, we put the whole thing in a large garbage bag and carried it out to the cockpit. Here James is cleaning it prior to inspection.

Corrosion Position: 61°7.13’N, 4°48.91’E After cleaning, we found the blackwater tank pickup pipe is made of super high-quality stainless steel, but the weld that made the pipe less so. There is a quarter-inch gap where the weld has rusted out. Some corrosion also is visible towards the top of the pipe, but not much. Generally the pipe is in wonderful shape, but the weld is gone. We’ve heard several Nordhavn owners complain about having trouble at pump-out stations and this could be the problem in some cases.

Sanitation Hose Position: 61°7.13’N, 4°48.93’E The obvious solution to fixing the corroded pickup pipe is to re-weld the seam, but we don’t have welding gear, and James isn’t much of a stainless-steel welder anyway. Instead, we cut a sanitation hose to fit and slid the hose down over it. The pipe keeps the hose in exactly the right place, and the hose provides a nice seal for effective operation. Getting the cover back on and those stiff hoses back on place was another big job, but after reinstalling everything the system is back to working perfectly. But what a monstrous job—it took the entire afternoon.

40 Knots Position: 61°7.13’N, 4°48.91’E A weather system is moving through the area today, bringing 49-knot gusts to the anchorage (see tell-tale on the wind speed gauge at upper right—click image for a larger view).

Click the travel log icon on the left to see these locations on a map, with the complete log of our cruise. On the map page, clicking on a camera or text icon will display a picture and/or log entry for that location, and clicking on the smaller icons along the route will display latitude, longitude and other navigation data for that location. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps.