MV Dirona travel digest for Stornoway 2020

Opening a package from our satellite systems supplier KVH, that the Stornoway Port Authority had accepted for us.

6/9/2020: Oil Change

Performing our 41st oil change on the main engine.

6/9/2020: Garbage

A cart full of household garbage that we'd built up over the past couple of months and 10 gallons of oil for recycling.

6/9/2020: Helping Hand

We'd asked the Stornoway Port Authority about recycling our waste oil, and were planning to get rid of the garbage ourselves. But a port employee came down and insisted on taking it all away for us. Stornoway is taking great care of us and we really appreciate it.

6/9/2020: Fisherman's Co-Op

Position: 58°12.49'N, -6°23.52'W

Our first time ashore in 79 days, since leaving Portland, UK on March 22nd. Stornoway, like the rest of Scotland, is very much still in lockdown. The Fisherman's Co-Op only allows two customers in at a time for social distancing, so we are waiting outside for our turn.

6/9/2020: New Boots

The last time we were in Stornoway, James needed a new pair of boots and we got a great pair for him at the Fisherman's Co-Op. This year Jennifer needs new boots, so it was off to Fisherman's Co-Op again. We didn't realize this until looking at the photo, but Spitfire is taking advantage of our distraction to mooch some of our lunch.

6/9/2020: Square Pails

We normally try to get cylindrical pails of oil, like those on the right. They no longer are the standard container of choice in the EU, with most suppliers favouring the square jugs of the same size, such as those on the left. The square jugs are actually slightly more space-efficient, and so a perfectly fine choice, but our storage system is setup to retain the round pails. We've decided to retrofit our oil storage system to fit either one.

6/9/2020: First Groceries

Our first time grocery shopping for 81 days, since the Lidl in Portland. Here we are at the local Tesco superstore, waiting our turn. The grocery store is laid out in a one-way traffic pattern, with customers required to stay 2m apart. At the entry are disinfecting spray and hand gel for customers to use to clean the cart handles and their hands before entering.

6/9/2020: Full Cart

Position: 58°12.54'N, -6°23.37'W

Returning from Tesco with a full cart of groceries.

6/9/2020: Boots

Position: 58°12.51'N, -6°23.29'W

Buying a few drugstore items at Boots Pharmacy in Stornoway.

6/9/2020: Macleod & Macleod

Position: 58°12.60'N, -6°23.28'W

Huge supply of Scottish beef being delivered to Macleod & Macleod in Stornoway.

6/9/2020: Stornoway

The views from our berth in the marina at Stornoway. We're in a great slip in the same location we used last time we were here. We love the RNLI lifeboats, so its great to have the Tom Sanderson right across from us. Stornoway is an excellent stop, where we can refuel the diesel tanks, fully provision after being away from civilization for more than two months, and get the parts we need to repair the generator.

6/10/2020: Morning Calm

With a full tank of fuel and a start on our provisioning, we slept well on our first night back in Stornoway and woke to a beautiful, calm morning.

6/10/2020: Propane

Position: 58°12.56'N, -6°23.38'W

It's wonderful having local propane tanks. The Stornoway Port Authority gave us a lift to the local Calor Gas supplier and we were soon back with a full tank to replace the one we'd recently emptied.

6/10/2020: One-Way

Position: 58°12.98'N, -6°23.05'W

Shopping at the Stornoway Co-Op with our folding cart. As with the Tesco grocery store, shopping traffic is all one-way through the store to maintain social distancing.

6/10/2020: Second Groceries

Returning with our second cartful of groceries. We'll have a few more to go before we've fully reprovisioned.

6/10/2020: Retrofit

Retrofitting our oil storage system to allow storage of both the cylindrical pails still used in the US and the square jugs used in the EU.

6/10/2020: Oil Storage

We now can store either square jugs or round pails of oil, or both. The square jugs in front are shorter than the cylindrical pails behind, so when we do have two kinds, we need to add a couple of blocks of wood as spacers.

6/10/2020: Green Bags

To keep our produce fresh for weeks, we wrap them in paper towel and repackaging them in produce-saving green bags.

6/10/2020: Meat

Repackaging the meat into consumable portions for freezing to reduce storage space and minimize on-board garbage.

6/10/2020: Smoked Salmon

Repackaging several packages of hot-smoked salmon.

6/10/2020: Wanna Order Chinese Food?

Position: 58°12.53'N, -6°23.30'W

During our nearly ten weeks anchored off the Isle of Gigha during the Scottish lockdown, we'd sometimes jokingly suggest "Wanna order Chinese food?" Well, tonight we actually did. This was our first meal not cooked on board Dirona in 89 days, since our last restaurant meal at L’Officina in Antwerp on March 12th.

6/10/2020: Nearly Midnight

We're not quite in the land of the midnight sun, but we're pretty far north. The sky is still fairly bright at 11:45pm (the cameras display the time in GMT, one hour earlier).

6/11/2020: Card

Blog reader Claire Tiernery sent us a lovely card care of the Ardminish Stores on Gigha that Joe Teale scanned in and emailed to us.

6/11/2020: Spitfire

Everyone is feeling a bit more relaxed now that we have a load of fuel and are making headway on our provisioning. Although Spitfire rarely needs an excuse to relax.

6/11/2020: Queue

Queuing at Tesco for another load of groceries. We were third in line last time we went, but this time at least eight were ahead of us.

6/11/2020: Third Groceries

Returning from Tesco with our third cartful of groceries.

6/11/2020: Longer Queue

An even longer queue for our second shop of the day at Tesco.

6/11/2020: Well-Stocked

Both Tesco and the Co-Op in Stornoway are well-stocked, and we're able to get almost everything on our list. Shopping with the one-way system in an unfamiliar store is a bit challenging, as you have only a limited amount of time to look around without building up a long queue behind and you can't go back if you've missed anything.

6/11/2020: Fourth Groceries

Our fourth cartful of groceries coming back to Dirona. And we still have at least two more trips to go.

6/11/2020: Vacuum-Sealing

Repackaging and vacuum-sealing cocktail shrimp to reduced space consumption and for freezing.

6/12/2020: No Bread Flour

Position: 58°12.98'N, -6°23.05'W

The local stores are well-stocked and we've been able to source most items on our list except for some bakery supplies. Bread flour, baking powder, and chocolate chips are completely sold out in both stores. The stores restock regularly, so we tried coming to the Stornoway Co-Op when they opened at 7am in the hopes of finding bread flour, but no luck there either.

6/12/2020: Fifth Groceries

Returning from the Co-Op with our fifth cartful of groceries.

6/12/2020: Bread Flour

After quickly emptying our cart, we scurried over to Tesco in the hopes of finding bread flour there and were in luck! There wasn't much left from an order that likely was put on the shelves this morning or last night.

6/12/2020: Checkout

The local grocery stores have installed plexiglas shields to protect their cashiers.

6/12/2020: Folding Cart

Tesco won't let us bring our folding cart inside, claiming it's too large and would impede social distancing somehow, although it looks almost identical in size to the larger carts they supply. So we lock it up outside and use a regular cart, or trolley as they call them here, then transfer to the folding cart to bring the groceries back to Dirona.

6/12/2020: W J Macdonald

Position: 58°12.51'N, -6°23.26'W

Buying some high-quality Scottish sirloin steaks from the extensive selection at W J Macdonald in Stornoway. It's one of the best steaks we've had in years—we're going to have to open up some more space in the freezer to buy extra.

6/12/2020: Sixth Groceries

The sixth load of groceries returning to Dirona. We still have a few more items to purchase, but our list is down to a half page from three.

6/13/2020: Waxing Hull

With a couple of days of nice weather forecast, we're taking advantage of being on a dock to wax the hull. We were able to do all the topsides while at Gigha, and we could drop a tender in to do the hull, but it's much easier to do from a dock.

6/13/2020: Waxing Bow

Because we're in a side-tie with a lot of space beside us, we were able to pivot Dirona to bring the bow on to reach it for waxing. It looks a little odd, but is super-effective for efficiently waxing the bow portion of the hull.

6/13/2020: Port Side To

We've finished waxing the starboard side, and have turned the boat around to wax the port side.

6/13/2020: Stornoway Inner Harbour

A beautiful calm evening in Stornoway's scenic inner harbour.

6/14/2020: Morning Calm

Calm conditions at 5am in Stornoway. We should have another clear and sunny day to complete the wax job.

6/14/2020: Waxing Port Side

We did a portion of the port side yesterday and are finishing it off today.

6/14/2020: Dirona

Dirona looking all clean and shiny again after a full wax job. Including the topsides, it took the two of us nearly six full days to do the complete wax job, plus the stainless. It was a big effort, but we're really pleased with the result and happy to have the job behind us.

6/15/2020: Fishing Net

Local fishermen using a forklift to pull a net off a fishboat, presumably for on-dock repairs.

6/16/2020: Fridge Full

Our fridge and freezer were looking pretty lean when we arrived into Stornoway, but are now close to as full as they'll ever get. We still have a few more items to pickup, but are close to fully stocked now.

6/16/2020: Compacter

We heard from Chris Barber, owner of Nordhavn 47 Paragon, that the compacter is nearly impossible to remove if it fails in the down position. We thought we'd have a quick look to see if there was anything we could to do easily correct that. It does look very challenging. Hopefully we'll not have to face that issue in the future, but we don't see an easy way to correct it.

6/16/2020: Jack Screw

While we had the compacter partially apart, we decided to grease the jackscrew, to see if we improve the lifetime of the overall unit. 12-inch compactors no longer are made, so if this one fails, we won't be able to replace it.

6/17/2020: UPS Package

The good news is that our replacement cylinder head arrived from the US into the UK at 2am last Friday June 11th (6 days ago). Each day we hear another reason why its been delayed, are assured that it's corrected and that it will ship the next day. The next day, we repeat the process. (For those of you who have seen the movie Groundhog Day, we've started to hum "I Got You Babe".) We know we've spent just over $1,200 to ship these parts, but we don't know when we're going to see them.

6/17/2020: Fresh Lettuce

Alison Alston, partner of Olly Alston who gave us the fresh mackerel at Loch Mariveg, brought us some fresh lettuce from her garden. It was amazingly good, potentially the best lettuce we've ever tasted.

6/18/2020: Celestial Dawn

The net being loaded back onto Celestial Dawn three days after it was offloaded. The skipper had help bringing the net off, but was single-handing as he pulled the net off the dock and back onto the spool. We were impressed.

6/18/2020: I Got You Babe

Two days after we paid the invoice, we finally got UPS to confirm that and move the package out of "Duties or taxes are due on this package" status. But our cylinder head still is stuck in Castle Donington, now delayed for "aviation security screening", and we're still humming I Got You Babe.

We have no idea how a package can pass UPS aviation screening and cross the Atlantic by air, and then fail security screening for a regional hop. UPS claims they will get it to us by Saturday, in two more days.

6/18/2020: Gratitude K

It must be the season to do net repair in Stornoway. Here the net is being lifted off Gratitude K using a forklift.

6/18/2020: Blind Failure

One of our Hunter Douglas top-down, bottom-up blinds failed today in the top-down position.

6/18/2020: Disassembled Blind

We took the failed blind apart, but weren't able to fix it without parts. The clutch mechanism has failed, and it's a sealed unit that needs to be replaced. It might be possible to drill the rivets out of that unit and service it, but it looks challenging. We don't use the top-down feature much, so we ran a couple of screws through to keep it from falling down and are back operational with the blind able to go up and down.

6/19/2020: Inverness!

Our cylinder head finally has moved from Castle Donington, exactly one week after it arrived there, and now is in Inverness. UPS promises that we'll have it tomorrow. They are on track to charge air freight pricing for sea freight delivery time.

6/19/2020: Stepping Mast

Mast being stepped at the boat launch opposite our berth in Stornoway.

6/19/2020: Lunch

Lunch in the cockpit on a nice sunny day. We're really enjoying being back in Stornoway.

6/19/2020: Dirona

Position: 58°12.55'N, -6°23.37'W

View to our berth at Stornoway, next to the RNLI lifeboat Tom Sanderson.

6/19/2020: Thomas MacLeod

Position: 58°12.47'N, -6°23.50'W

As we were walking through town, we noticed this plaque commemorating Stornoway native and Polar Medal recipient Thomas MacLeod who sailed on three expeditions to the South Pole, including on Shackleton's Endurance.

6/19/2020: W J Macdonald

Position: 58°12.51'N, -6°23.26'W

Back at W J Macdonald to buy more high-quality steak for our dinner.

6/19/2020: Shipment Arrived

Amazingly, our package arrived on tonight's ferry and the Stornoway Port Authority delivered it right to the boat. Amazing service. They sure are treating us well.

6/19/2020: Box On Board

We'll sleep well tonight knowning that shipment with our new cylinder head is now on board.

6/19/2020: NL Starter Tool

In our video of changing the starter on our generator, we described our "invention" of a Northern Lights starter tool. Apparently we weren't the first to think of this. Blog reader Steve Harvanek pointed us to this relay bypass tool that does essentially the same job using a switch on the relay.

6/20/2020: Crate

Opening our crate of parts that arrived last night.

6/20/2020: Christmas Again

It felt like Christmas getting a load of essential groceries at Gigha and it feels just like that again seeing our cylinder head shipment arrive. We also received the gaskets and other parts we'll need to complete the cylinder head job and to change the rear main oil seal, and a replacement PTO clutch for the one we changed earlier this year.

6/20/2020: Removing Old Cylinder Head

This morning we removed the old cylinder head. A video of this portion of the job is at https://youtu.be/983xSI_Nghs.

6/20/2020: Engine Apart

Our generator with the rocker carrier, cylinder head, and heat exchanger removed, and the exhaust system detached.

6/20/2020: Valve High

Looking at the old cylinder head, it's clear that the leftmost valve has a problem. It's sitting much higher than the others.

6/20/2020: New Cylinder Head

Torquing the new cylinder head.

6/20/2020: Attaching Exhaust

Re-attaching the exhaust system. So far the job has gone well and at this point all that's left is to adjust the valves, re-install the air filter, refill the coolant and bleed the fuel lines. It's getting late in the day, so we'll finish the job tomorrow.

6/21/2020: Gen Running

A happy James with the generator running for the first time after completing the cylinder head replacement. This morning we adjusted the valves, re-installed the air filter, refilled the coolant and bled the fuel lines, then started the generator. It started up without a hitch and sounds smoother than before. We'll post a video of the full job.

6/21/2020: Valve Seat Recession

After replacing the cylinder head, we examined the old head to determine the cause of the problem and think we got to root cause.

Read more ...

6/22/2020: Baking Powder

Position: 58°12.42'N, -6°22.98'W

On all six trips to the two grocery stores here in Stornoway, we've not yet been able to find baking powder. Tesco was expecting a resupply on Sunday when the store is closed. So we went first thing Monday morning to see if we could get some. And we did, but there weren't many left. As the sign shows, baking soda still is sold out, but we don't need any. The notices Tesco puts up to indicate when a restock is expected are quite helpful.

6/22/2020: Seventh Groceries

Position: 58°12.56'N, -6°23.41'W

Returning from our seventh grocery shop. It was much easier shopping first thing in the morning as the crowds were less. We didn't feel quite as rushed moving through the store, so were able to spend time locating a few more elusive items on our list.

People must follow a one-way path through the store and aren't allowed to pass in the aisles due to social distancing, so a strict line of shoppers flows through the store like a snake and a queue builds up if anyone spends too long browsing. Shopping when the store is busy can feel a bit like a game show, where you have a limited amount of time to locate items in the shelf and get them into your cart before you have to move on to the next aisle.

6/22/2020: Armed Forces Day

Position: 58°12.54'N, -6°23.32'W

Armed Forces Day, previously known as Veteran's Day, is an annual event commemorating the service of those in the British Armed Forces. A small ceremony took place this morning in Stornoway's main square. A major event scheduled to take place in Scarborough, North Yorkshire was postponed until 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

6/22/2020: Piper

Position: 58°12.54'N, -6°23.32'W

A piper playing at the Armed Forces Day presentation. We always love hearing a piper, and actually have piping in the family. James' uncle Gordon Hamilton was the pipe major of the internationally renowned Black Watch, the oldest pipe band in North America.

6/22/2020: Dirona

Position: 58°12.53'N, -6°23.40'W

Dirona moored at Stornoway next to the RNLI lifeboat Tom Sanderson with the turrets of Lews Castle visible in the background.

6/22/2020: Fisherman's Co-Op

Position: 58°12.49'N, -6°23.53'W

Shopping at the well-stocked Fisherman's Co-Op in Stornoway.

6/22/2020: Spanner

Position: 58°12.49'N, -6°23.52'W

We found an adjustable wrench almost as big as Jennifer at the Fisherman's Co-Op.

6/22/2020: Amazon Order

Our first Amazon order, from Amazon UK, since departing Amsterdam in mid-February.

6/23/2020: Amity House

Position: 58°12.47'N, -6°23.50'W

Picking up a package from the Stornway Port Authority at Amity House. The building dates from the early 1800s and initially was the Stornoway Customs House.

6/23/2020: Buoys

Position: 58°12.47'N, -6°23.50'W

The ferry just came in and some really large fishfarm buoys are being unloaded in the yard next to Amity House.

6/23/2020: Islander Seafood

Position: 58°12.61'N, -6°23.36'W

Islander Seafood always has a queue outside whenever we pass. On our way back from picking up our package, there was no queue, so we stopped in to pickup some delicious fresh salmon for dinner.

6/23/2020: Queue

Position: 58°12.61'N, -6°23.36'W

We weren't inside Islander Seafood for long, but the typical queue had already built up by the time we left.

6/25/2020: Sanding

Sanding our teak furniture and the cap rail for refinishing. The last time we did them was four years ago in Cape Town. They've done pretty well since then, mostly because we've been in temperate climates. When we were closer to the equator, we needed to refinish them after two years. We use 2 coats each of Cetol Marine Light, followed by 2-3 coats of Cetol Marine Gloss for shine and UV protection. This treatment looks great and lasts well.

6/25/2020: Thunderstorm

We'd painted a first coat of Cetol Marine Light on the teak when a sudden, intense thunderstorm hit. It looks like this did damage the fresh paint in a few places, so we have a little more sanding to do. :(

6/26/2020: Laptop Fan

This morning Jennifer's laptop wouldn't start, showing the message "Fan Error". We took it apart and found that the fan had thrown all it's blades, some visible at bottom right. Fortunately James' old laptop is identical, so we took the fan from it and got Jennifer's up and running again. Since our backup laptop has now been raided for parts, we'll need to get another laptop soon.

6/26/2020: Bottom Paint

Two 20L pails of International Micron 99 bottom paint just arrived today. We've not had the bottom painted since early 2018 in Southampton, and also need an insurance survey done (due at the 10-year-old mark and every 5 years after). We were planning to do this in the Mediterranean later this year, but instead will haul out here in Stornoway next week.

6/27/2020: Sanding

Resanding the cap rail, table top and parts of the chairs where the thunderstorm damaged the paint. We've got a Coolaroo Square Shade Sail out for rain protection and also to capture heat so we can turn our cockpit patio heater on to help dry the paint faster. We'll also secure drop sheet around the corners. With close to 100% humidity, we've a ways off ideal painting conditions. But if we waited for several days of sunny weather, we'd never get the job done.

We purchased the Coolaroo Shade Sail, or "the roo" as we call it, while in Hawaii to shade the cockpit from the hot tropical sun. It has worked out super well. We string it between the boat deck rails and the swim step staples and can deploy and pack it away in minutes. It takes the cockpit from intolerably hot in direct sun to quite comfortable.

6/27/2020: Painting

Putting another coat of Cetol Light on our teak furniture and cap rail. We've taped drop sheet around the corners of the cockpit for rain protection where "the roo" doesn't reach. It also helps enclose the cockpit to retain the heat from our patio heater to help dry the paint.

6/27/2020: Umbrellas

Position: 58°12.55'N, -6°23.37'W

The drop sheet worked well for protecting our paint work from light rain. But the lightweight sheets tore off as the wind picked up later in the day. So we replaced them with umbrellas. This looks a little odd, but is fairly effective against light rain at least. Ideally we'd be painting with a forecast for days of hot, sunny weather, such as the last two refinishing jobs in Cape Town and Whangarei, NZ. But, well, we're in northern Scotland :).

6/27/2020: IR Shot

Every six months, we do an infrared scan of the breaker cabinet and the high amperage DC switching panel in the lazarette. We try to do this under high load, looking for any evidence of loose connection, excess resistance or other issues that can lead to fire. We use the relatively inexpensive ($400) Flir One. Using this, hot spots are easy to see and we can make follow-up mechanical tests where there are suspicious levels of heat.

We haven't found anything for years, but back when the boat was about 4 1/2 years old we did see one connection so hot is was easily seen without aid as a red-hot connector. We recommend a retorque of all connections after a boat has been in use for a year, or one year after any major electrical work. Many recommend an annual retorque, which makes good sense given the potential cost of a problem. But in our experience, it seems like after the first retorque things don't change or only change very slowly thereafter.

This picture shows our KVH V7hts satellite system. The infrared imagery is not a concern from a connection or fire perspective, but is a good IR picture example since this system dissipates a surprisingly large amount of power in operation and shows what an IR photo can reveal about heat and heat flow.

6/29/2020: Milwaukee Jigsaw

We've been slowly switching all our corded power tools to Milwaukee battery-operated ones since our first purchase while in Boston in 2016. We really like the convenience and ease-of-use of battery power, and the Milwaukees are well-made.

Normally we couldn't buy any kind of power tool or applicance locally in Europe, since we're a 60 Hz boat with 120-volt outlets and everything here is 50 Hz, 240V. But battery-powered tools are fine, as is anything such as electronics that charge via USB. Normally we'd be returning to the US in July and bringing back several suitcases loaded with parts and supplies. But that won't be happening this year, so we're buying what we can locally instead.

6/29/2020: Tool Storage

We retrofitted the tool box from our old DeWalt corded jigsaw to fit the new Milkauekee jigsaw and a right-angle drill.

6/29/2020: Stornoway

Colorful boats moored in Stornoway below pastel-painted buildings. We're really enjoying being back in Stornoway and especially getting the boat fully fueled, provisioned and any outstanding issues addressed. The plan is we'll be hauled out this week for bottom paint and an insurance survey.

6/30/2020: Painting

Applying the final coat of Cetol Light to the teak furniture and caprail. We've had a couple of days of quite rainy weather, so haven't been able to paint. But we're in the homestretch now and just have a few coats of Cetol Gloss to apply. The teak already is looking a lot better.

7/1/2020: Happy Canada Day!

Position: 55°41.44'N, -5°43.48'W

Happy Canada Day! And for those really old Canadians, Happy Dominion Day! Growing up in Canada, it seemed all our language and culture came from our larger neighbour to the south. So when we moved to the US in 1997, we were surprised to learn of many words that only existed in Canada or had different meanings there. But we weren't that surprised to learn that most Americans knew little about Canada.

Here's the "Are you Canadian?" test Jennifer used to give her friends at Microsoft. All the Canadians easily passed and the Americans usually could only answer one, mabye two, correctly.

Name the capital city of Canada.
What is a chesterfield? (It's not a cigarette.)
Who eats pablum?
What do you do with a toque?
What is a loonie? (With respect to a toonie.)
How do you pronounce the last letter of the alphabet? (It does not rhyme with 'B'.)
How many states does Canada have? (Trick question.)
How many beers are in a half-sack? (Bonus if you are from Vancouver Island.)

Molson captured some of this in their I Am Canadian: The Rant ad back in 2000.

Image created by freepik - www.freepik.com

7/1/2020: Donald Murray

With Donald Murray of ACRO Marine Services for the interior portion of our insurance survey. He'll inspect the hull and running gear when we haul out. Donald also is the coxswain for the RNLI lifeboat Tom Sanderson moored next to us, and is the first person we've had on board since the UK immigration officials in Ramsgate on March 14th.

7/1/2020: Cetol Gloss

With sunny weather predicted, we removed "the roo" and the umbrellas we had out for rain protection and put the first coat of Cetol Gloss on the teak. It's looking great.

7/2/2020: Emma

The fish boat Emma heading out this morning. The skipper often is up early to head to the fishing grounds.

7/2/2020: Painting

Applying a second coat of Cetol gloss to the teak. It's really starting to shine now. We've got more rain in the forecast starting late tonight, so we might not get the third and final coat on for a few days.

7/2/2020: Chocolate Chips

We've not been able to find a few items on our list, such as soy sauce and chocolate chips. These seem to be completely sold out due to the lockdown. But we were able to order them on Amazon.

7/3/2020: Bird Watching

Spitfire watching the birds swooping in Stornoway harbour. He's not much of a hunter, and prefers to be inside with glass between him and his "prey".

7/3/2020: Removing Tape

Removing the tape around the cap rail after the painting it with Cetol. In between periods of rain over the course of a week, we managed to get three coats of Cetol Light on all the exposed surfaces, three coats of gloss on the cap rail and tabletop and two coats of gloss on the rest. If we find ourselves with some time and good weather, we might put another coat of gloss on.

7/3/2020: Pull Up Bar

We're always looking for ways to stay fit while living on the boat. Walking and hiking are part of the solution, but we haven't been doing much of that of late. And we need to do more for the upper body. There's not much space on the boat, and height is at a premium, but we did come up with a way to do 3/4 pull-ups, combining an Ultimate Body Press bodyweight resistance trainer with a long half-inch extension and a big socket.

7/3/2020: X1 Carbon

Jennifer's laptop fan failed last week. We've got it back running well, but it's a reminder that both of our laptops are getting close to needing replacement. We can't afford to have either one of these down for long periods of time so we investigated the possibility of getting new laptops here in the UK. We could get two ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen8 laptops shipped within a week, and they just arrived tonight.

7/4/2020: Setting Up Laptops

We spent much of the day setting up our new laptops. So far we really like them, but the UK keyboard layout, although remarkably similar to the US layout, still is taking a little getting used to.

7/4/2020: Flying Polishman

The Stornoway Port Authority helping the Flying Polishman land at the berth behind us. Scottish marinas still are generally closed to all but local vessels and this is the first visiting boat we've seen since we arrived into Stornoway nearly a month ago. The crew were here for a brief stop to wait out some bad weather before crossing the north end of Scotland en route to Poland. Their stop was even briefer than they'd planned as the forecast improved shortly after their arrival and they departed within a few hours.

7/5/2020: Spitfire

Spitfire doing what he does most: sleeping on his fleece pad. He just loves that sleeping pad and will howl for it to be brought to him if he wants to change sleeping locations.

7/5/2020: PSS

Our PSS (packless shaft seal) has been leaking since our last haulout and on inspection appears a little crooked. The bellows on the port side (upper) look more compressed than on the starboard side. When we haul out next week, we'll see if we can fix that. The reason why a PSS works is the shaft floats inside the carbon flange that seals up against the rotor. If the shaft contacts the flange, and there's any runout at all in the shaft, the seal will leak. We don't know that we can see the problem here, but we're suspicious and will investigate while the boat is out of the water for bottom paint.

7/5/2020: Blooming

We've kept up our green onion “farm” and now a couple are blooming.

7/5/2020: High Tide

This very high full moon tide in Stornoway reminded us of the astronomically high tide, or King Tide, that flooded the streets in Portland, Maine when we were there in 2016.

7/6/2020: Slipway Dock

Position: 58°12.21'N, -6°23.08'W

Dirona moored at the Stornoway Port Authority slipway dock, ready for our haul-out.

7/6/2020: Stornoway Slipway

Position: 58°12.21'N, -6°23.08'W

View to the Stornoway slipway prior to our haul-out. It's a big commercial railway that can lift boats up to 50m long and weighing up to 850 tons. The yard is very commercial boat focused, but everyone here is super-helpful and professional, so we expect it will go well even though our boat is a bit unusual for this facility.

The whole assembly will slide down the rail and into the water, including the boat at the top of the railway and the control tower behind. This is the second time Dirona will be hauled out on a railway instead of the more common travel lift. Our first was in Whangarei, NZ.

7/6/2020: Hydraulic Support Arms

Position: 58°12.21'N, -6°23.08'W

The railway cradle has three pairs of hydraulic support arms to hold boats in place. In order to support large and heavy commercial vessels, the hydraulic rams are quite powerful and could damage our relatively delicate 50-ton boat or do major damage to the stabilizers or keel coolers if they made contact. So the crew needs to use care when lifting the arms. The slipway manager requested pictures and diagrams of the hull, so they know exactly where to place the supports. The crew work efficiently and patiently, and every arm ends up exactly where it needs to be for a nice gentle lift.

7/6/2020: Ready To Go

Position: 58°12.22'N, -6°23.08'W

Precisely at our haul-out time of 9am, the Stornoway slipway crew had us ready to go and the cradle started sliding down the railway.

7/6/2020: Coming Out

Position: 58°12.21'N, -6°23.05'W

Dirona just coming out of the water, secured with a bow-line forward, as the cradle moves back up the railway. The white squares visible through the water are the ends of the hydraulic support arms.

7/6/2020: Arms in Place

Position: 58°12.20'N, -6°23.04'W

Dirona coming out of the water, resting on one pair of hydraulic arms. The slipway crew did an awesome job of perfectly and carefully positioning the supports.

7/6/2020: Out of Water

Position: 58°12.20'N, -6°23.03'W

Fully out of the water, with both hydraulic lift arms visible. It's only been 20 minutes since we started the haul-out.

7/6/2020: On the Hard

Dirona on the hard at the Stornoway slipway, our new home for the next little while for an insurance survey and bottom paint. We'll post a video of the full haul-out.

7/6/2020: Power Wash

The hull being power-washed within minutes of Dirona being completely hauled out. The slipway crew was super-efficient and always careful—we're quite impressed.

7/6/2020: Extra Support

To ensure Dirona doesn't slide off the cradle, the slipway crew put two additional support arms in place.

7/6/2020: Props

A view to the running gear shortly after the haul-out. We have a bit of barnacle growth, but not much marine growth yet on the paint given we've not cleaned the bottom since it was painted 2.5 years ago. We were starting to see some growth at the waterline and our experience has been that once that starts, it gets worse fast.

7/6/2020: Stabilizer Fin

It looks like the starboard stabilizer fin just barely touched bottom. We didn't know about this event, but it might have been in some of the tight passages in Finland's Great Saimaa Lakes region.

7/6/2020: Hull Wear

Here it looks like the boat was up against an underwater obstruction or projection from a dock, and the paint wore off in this location as the boat gently moved up and down in the water.

7/6/2020: Flaking Paint

In general the bottom paint looked remarkably good for 2.5 years. There were a few locations where the paint appeared to be flaking away. Two of them were in the area that was underneath the travel lift strap. We suspect these just weren't sanded properly prior to painting. Another couple of spots down near the props were either caused by turbulence from the prop or, more likely, inadequate sanding in that one area. Generally, 2.5 years later, it looks like the last bottom paint was executed fairly well with good adhesion over most of the hull bottom and it has stood up to 2.5 years of use very well. Partly good workmanship, and partly excellent paint in International Micron 77. Unfortunately Micron 77 is too effective to pass current EU pollution standards, so we'll be applying Micron 99 this time.

7/6/2020: Generator Delivery

This is a first for us, but this big commercial yard doesn't have 240V utility power and instead runs their equipment off a big generator that operates during the day. We can't run our generator while we're out of the water, so with no shore power available we rented a 6kW diesel generator for the time we are here. The Stornoway Port Authority, who operate the slipway, has been exceptionally helpful. They picked up the generator for us and here they are dropping it off, exactly where we want it.

7/6/2020: Shore Power

Dirona plugged into shore-power via a diesel generator. It's a simple trick that works remarkably well.

7/6/2020: 4.2 Degrees

Resting at 4.2 degrees on the slipway is a little like being at sea. 4.2 degrees is close to nothing, but when constant feels surprisingly large. Round items will roll of the counter, we're using heavy-duty latches to keep the freezer drawers and pantry from sliding open, and we secure large pots of water on the boil with pot holders. And we have to be careful going down the stairs into the salon as they are at a steeper angle than usual. On the plus side, the lazarette floor that slopes down forward is now level. :)

7/6/2020: Y-Valve

Our galley drain has a Y-valve to direct outflow either overboard or into the grey water tank. Here we're about to switch the Y-valve to direct the galley sink water into the grey water tank rather than overboard. We do this while in the yard or at locations where even grey water must be kept on board.

7/6/2020: Sarnia Cherie

We love the view from our perch in the yard, particularly of all ship arrivals and departures. Here the oil tanker Sarnia Cherie is arriving into Stornoway for a bi-weekly fuel delivery.

7/6/2020: Removing Zincs

James removing the zincs from the running gear while the painters clean the keel cooler.

7/6/2020: Keel Cooler Zinc

There wasn't much left of the keel cooler zincs.

7/6/2020: Old Zincs

The remains of our zincs. The zincs definitely needed replacing, but are in remarkably good shape after 2.5 years.

7/6/2020: New Zincs

A new set of zincs ready to go on after the bottom paint.

7/6/2020: Detaching PSS

Now that the boat is out of the water, we can inspect the PSS (packless shaft seal) installation. We had PSS on our previous boat for 10 years and it never leaked, and have had excellent service on this boat for 8 years. In the last yard service, the prop shaft was replaced and unfortunately the new shaft is out of true. Its runout is only around 0.008" but it's enough to vibrate slightly and this causes the PSS to leak. As you can see in picture this slight leak is making a real rusty mess of the area around the PSS.

The best possible solution is to replace the shaft, flange, and PSS seal assembly but, the more we think about this, the more we wonder why it leaks with only a relatively small amount of shaft runout. The shaft runout is more than it should be, but normally PSS seals are fairly forgiving. We decided to take it apart to see if it was installed correctly when the shaft work was done.

We found that the carbon stator was resting against the shaft at the top where, if properly installed, the shaft should be central in the bellows and rotor. The rotor should "float" and be only minimally affected by the shaft runout. But, in this install, the rotor was forced against the shaft at the top and, with the shaft runout, will be vibrated badly. This certainly will cause a leak. It may still leak with this corrected due to excess shaft runout, but we suspect that this will substantially reduce the leak and perhaps fix it.

7/6/2020: PSS Detached

The PSS completely detached. The reason this job has to be done out of the water is the gap between the shaft and the shaft log is open to the sea and this will bring in a large amount of water in a very short time.

7/6/2020: PSS Reinstalled

The PSS reinstalled properly and the bilge area cleaned up. We managed to reinstall the PSS so that it properly "floated" around the prop shaft and is equally compressed all around. We also compressed the bellows to the manufacturer's specification, which is considerably tighter than it was after the last installation. Between properly aligning the rotor and bellows to the shaft and compressing the bellows to correct specification, we think there's a good chance that we've eliminated this leak, or at least reduced it dramatically.

7/6/2020: Loch Seaforth

The ferry Loch Seaforth arriving into Stornoway from Ullapool on the Scottish mainland. The paddle-shaped symbol at the waterline directly below the first 'n' in Caledonian indicates the active stabilizer location so tug boats can stay clear. Stabilizers aren't that common on a ferry of this size, but this one operates in difficult weather conditions and likely needs it.

7/6/2020: Supports

Looking along our starboard side to two of the four substantial hydraulic support arms holding Dirona in place.

7/6/2020: Stern View

The view west from our stern down the railway and across the ferry dock to central Stornoway.

7/7/2020: Generator

Our shore power generator is working out great. We run it 24x7 and it feels just like we're plugged into shore.

7/7/2020: Loch Seaforth

The ferry Loch Seaforth turning in its own length to depart Stornoway this morning at 7am. The ship arrives and departs three times daily, with the first arrival around 5:30am and the final departure around 8:30pm. We enjoy the ship traffic visible from our slipway perch, particularly the ferry, and generally stop whatever we're doing to watch the Loch Seaforth come and go.

7/7/2020: Lews Castle

View from the Stornoway slipway to Lews Castle, built in the mid-19th century.

7/7/2020: Spitfire

Spitfire doesn't like other boats too close and has become quite concerned about the pilot boat Portrona ahead of us on the slipway.

7/7/2020: Sanded

Position: 58°12.18'N, -6°22.98'W

At the end of the second day of our haul-out, the boat has been masked around the paint line, completely sanded and washed, and is ready for painting tomorrow. We're making excellent progress.

7/7/2020: Fin

Position: 58°12.18'N, -6°22.98'W

The starboard fin area after sanding.

7/7/2020: Welded Plate

Position: 58°12.15'N, -6°22.97'W

The pilot boat Petrona, ahead of us on the slipway cradle, has a few sections in its hull that have become too thin over the years. Steel hull plates are being replaced in several places on the ship. Before we could haul out, the crew had to finish plating up the stern of Petrona since picking us up on the same rail carriage would require that boat being partially in the water.

Today the crew heated and bent a plate for the bow. They're also replacing a steel plate at the a fuel tank, which means they have to pump the fuel out and clean it sufficiently well to not be a fire hazard before welding. They work remarkably quickly.

7/7/2020: Wild About Shellfish

Position: 58°12.16'N, -6°22.86'W

On a walk around Goat Island, where the Stornoway slipway is located, we walked past an office of Scottish-based shellfish company Macduff and loved their motto. According to their web site "We process more wild shellfish than anyone else in Europe - and that's all we do. We are masters of our trade."

7/7/2020: Cromwellian Fort

Position: 58°12.17'N, -6°22.74'W

Plaque commemorating a 1653 fort built by Oliver Cromwell's forces when they occupied Stornoway during a pro-Royalist uprising in the northwest Highlands.

7/7/2020: Seawall

Position: 58°12.20'N, -6°22.57'W

The substantial seawall protecting the road to Goat Island, with the edge of the Stornoway slipway yard visible in the background on the right. Despite the width and height of the wall, we found sizable piles of seaweed that waves had carried over to the other side of the road.

7/7/2020: Dirona

Position: 58°12.24'N, -6°22.53'W

Dirona prominent on the Stornoway slipway behind the pilot boat Portrona.

7/7/2020: H M Coastguard

Position: 58°12.20'N, -6°22.61'W

H M Coastguard office at Stornoway. We hear them on the radio all over the Hebrides.

7/7/2020: New Marina

Position: 58°12.19'N, -6°22.80'W

A view to Stornoway's new 75-slip marina, scheduled to open this year. The inner harbour where Dirona was moored is often full in the summer, so this will open up much-needed space to increase visiting recreational boat traffic.

7/7/2020: TravelLift

Position: 58°12.23'N, -6°22.97'W

The new marina development at Stornoway includes plans for a 100-ton TravelLift to be operational at the end of this year.

7/7/2020: Bow View

Position: 58°12.18'N, -6°22.99'W

Looking down the slipway to Dirona resting on the four hydraulic support arms in the Stornoway slipway cradle. It certainly is an unusual sight.

7/7/2020: Ladder

Position: 58°12.19'N, -6°23.02'W

With the added height of the cradle and railway, a reasonably long ladder is needed to reach the swim step from the ground.

7/7/2020: Railway View

Position: 58°12.19'N, -6°23.00'W

Looking up the slipway to Dirona sitting on the cradle. As with any haul-out, we can't help but be a bit nervous, just because these operations carry more risk than a normal day boating. Rail lifts can be safer, and better for the boat, than travel lifts and shore-side blocking. But the job requires more skill, and if not done well, can be a big problem.

7/7/2020: Mail

Since we wouldn't be returning to Seattle this summer, we had our surface mail forwarded from our UPS box to Stornoway and it arrived today. We had surprisingly little given that we last got our mail in early February.

7/8/2020: Paint Pickup

The paint crew using a forklift to pickup our paint from the swim platform. The forklift is a good choice, since the pails weigh over 50 lb (23 kg) each.

7/8/2020: Props Covered

The propellers covered in preparation for the bottom paint.

7/8/2020: First Coat

Macmillan Engineering applying the first coat of bottom paint.

7/8/2020: Freezer Hot

We had a bit of a scare this morning when we noticed the freezer temperature was at 24F (-4.4C), barely below freezing, and a couple of items in the top drawer had thawed completely. The freezer is packed full and we were worried we were going to lose the entire load. And worse, if the freezer was broken, we'd be in real trouble. SubZero no longer makes that model and getting replacement parts from the US, even if we could fix it, would take time.

It struck us as odd, however, that everything was still frozen except for two items at top center in the upper drawer. And those shouldn't have thawed anyway because the freezer temperature still was technically below freezing.

We discovered that even though we had secured the drawers with latches, the top drawer had opened slightly due to the boat being on a 4.2° incline sitting on the slipway. This was enough to turn on the light at top center of the upper freezer drawer. The bulb was too hot to touch and the heat from it had thawed the items directly below it and warmed up the freezer. We wedged the drawers tightly closed with cardboard, the light stayed off, and the temperature fell back to 0F (-18C) in minutes. Whew!

7/8/2020: Second Coat

The paint company, Macmillan Engineering, took advantage of today's excellent weather and at times had as many as four people on the boat to ensure we got two coats of paint on today. The job is progressing super-well.

7/8/2020: Paint Line

The Macmillan Engineering painters are so careful in painting the bottom that they're barely touching the masking tape.

7/8/2020: Stern Tube

Painting the inside of the stern tube.

7/8/2020: Shower Pan

The shower pan is on a slight angle forward, and water normally collects at that end. But on a 4.2° aft incline, the water is all collecting at the aft side of the pan. It's hard to see in the picture, but there's no water at the front and it's more than an inch deep at the back.

7/8/2020: Climbing Down

Climbing down for an inspection of the day's work and a short walk around Goat Island.

7/8/2020: HebDrone

Position: 58°12.17'N, -6°22.86'W

HebDrone was out testing their subsea ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) for a job tomorrow. The one they were testing is rated to depths of 300m.

7/8/2020: Dirona

Dirona in the Stornoway slipway cradle with two coats of bottom paint.

7/8/2020: Crushing

Dirona is supported by five relatively evenly-spaced blocks of wood. But even with that weight distribution, 55 tons leaves its mark.

7/8/2020: Tide Pools

Jennifer jumping among the tide pools at low tide. Given the location right below a shipyard, the pools were full of life and healthy pink corraline algae.

7/8/2020: Arnish Point Lighthouse

View on a calm evening from the Stornoway slipway yard to the Arnish Point Lighthouse at the entrance to Stornoway.

7/8/2020: Refueling

James refueling our shore-power generator. We generally need to fuel it twice a day, which works out well for us.

7/9/2020: Loch Seaforth

The ferry Loch Seaforth arriving at 5:20am for the first run of the day at 7am. The ship's first scheduled morning departure and last evening arrival are both at Stornoway, but the ship doesn't overnight here.

7/9/2020: Equipment

We've been quite impressed with how clean and tidy the Stornoway slipway yard is, and how well the crew maintains their equipment. This Magni telescopic handler is in excellent condition with hardly a scratch or dent, but the Stornoway Port Authority took delivery four years ago in 2016.

7/9/2020: Fender Door Stop

We slid our patio table into the forward port corner of the cockpit to keep it out of the way and reduce the likelihood of damage to the fresh paint. But with the boat at a 4.2° angle, the salon door will swing hard into it if we aren't careful. We solved this by using one of our fenders as a doorstop.

7/9/2020: Painting Under Support

The slipway crew lowered the two forward hydraulic support arms so the painters could reach there.

7/9/2020: Paint Used

You can tell how good a job the Macmillan Engineering paint crew did by how much paint is left. In between showers today, the painters applied a third and final full coat on the entire hull and used up all of one and about 2/3 of the other 20L pails of Micron 99.

7/9/2020: Wing Prop Shaft

Cleaning off the wing prop shaft in preparation for installing the new zincs now that the bottom painting is complete. This will ensure the zinc is electrically well-bonded and tight on the shaft.

7/9/2020: Main Prop Zinc

Installing the main propeller zinc. The main propeller shaft itself doesn't have any zincs due to insufficient clearance.

7/9/2020: Retaining Cross

Position: 58°12.18'N, -6°22.99'W

The main prop zinc is held in place with a bolt that is further secured using a retaining cross with one arm bent over. In addition, two set screws hold the zinc in place at the base. This is all to prevent the bolt from backing out due to propeller rotation.

7/9/2020: Wing Prop Zinc

The wing prop zinc was slightly too large to allow the propeller to fold properly, so we sanded it down.

7/9/2020: Wing Shaft Zincs

Installing the three wing propeller shaft zincs. Here James has tightend them all down. He then taps each half once with a hammer and then tightens them again to ensure they are set and electrically well connected.

7/9/2020: Line Cutter Zincs

The two new Spurs line cutter zincs in place.

7/9/2020: Hull Zincs

One of the four new hull zincs in place. Besides the one on the transom, we have one on the the rudder foot and one on each side of the hull. Here James is installing the final one on the starboard side.

7/9/2020: Keel Cooler Zinc

One of the two new main engine keel cooler zincs in place. The hydraulics keel cooler on the starboard side doesn't have zincs because it's made of titanium.

7/9/2020: Thru-Hull Covers

The thru-hull covers re-secured with cotter pins.

7/9/2020: Masking Tape

As the masking tape comes off, you can see how careful a job the Macmillan Engineering paint crew did near the edges.

7/9/2020: Refueling Gen

Our twice-daily refueling of the shore-side generator providing us power. It's worked out super-well.

7/9/2020: BRMC

In 2017 we took in one of favorite bands, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, live at the Limelight in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Tonight we watched them on YouTube put on another great show at the 2018 Down the Rabbit Hole music festival in the Netherlands.

7/10/2020: Rear Support Arm

The rear hydraulic support arm down slightly for the painters to reach underneath.

7/10/2020: Control Tower

We got an opportunity to check out the slipway control tower shortly before our launch this morning.

7/10/2020: Slipway View

The view from the control tower with the pilot boat Portrona ahead of us on the slipway.

7/10/2020: Launching

Position: 58°12.19'N, -6°23.03'W

We're launching this morning after a speed record of only four nights in the yard. This is by far our shortest biennial yard trip ever.

7/10/2020: All In

Position: 58°12.21'N, -6°23.06'W

As with the haul-out, the slipway control tower and the pilot boat Portrona ahead of us all descend together down the slipway.

7/10/2020: Floating

Position: 58°12.21'N, -6°23.07'W

Everyone is paying close attention as the hydraulic support arms fold away and Dirona floats free.

7/10/2020: Tesco

Position: 58°12.42'N, -6°22.98'W

The lockdown restrictions in Scotland eased a bit while we were in the yard, and more people are on the streets to visit the newly-reopened shops. But unlike last week, those that are out mostly are wearing face masks and the Tesco grocery store is now requiring them.

7/10/2020: Provisions

Position: 58°12.56'N, -6°23.41'W

Returning to Dirona with our eight cartful of provisions to replenish the stores we'd used in in the past month.

7/10/2020: Scrubbing Deck

Position: 58°12.56'N, -6°23.41'W

The Stornoway slipway is quite clean by commercial yard standards, but it still is a boatyard and avoiding getting dirt all over the boat is difficult. Here we are scrubbing off the non-skid.

7/10/2020: Waxing

Some of the dust from sanding the bottom settled on the boat and lightly stained the gelcoat on the horizontal surfaces. Fortunately it was relatively easy to remove with a quick waxing pass.

7/10/2020: Happy Hour

Happy hour on the back deck after a busy day of launching, shopping, scrubbing and waxing. The yard visit was a real success and we're enjoying being back at the Stornoway inner harbour for a couple of nights.

7/11/2020: Hopeful Seals

Hopeful seals waiting for a handout next to a newly-arrived fish boat. They seem to know the drill—whenever a new boat arrives, they are alongside immediately.

7/11/2020: Waxing Port Side