Bad weather - 10 September 2021

This was the first day of bad weather that we’ve had since we’ve been in Italy. The skies were overcast, there was rain periodically and strong winds throughout the day.  We decided to do jobs below deck and the main one waiting for us was to clean the bilges under the saloon. This entailed lifting all of the floorboards, each of which is screwed in place. I lost count of just how many screws I had to undo. With the floorboards up, you have to negotiate your way around, using the bearers in much the same way as you would do in the loft. It also makes leaning into the bilges to clean them quite uncomfortable, even though we put some of the boards down temporarily to give us a place to kneel. The job was split into two parts so that there were some spaces we could move around normally.  The larger area we did before lunch and the smaller later. I would not suggest that you eat your lunch from the resultant exposed area of the hull, but it is a good deal cleaner than it was before and hopefully we will have removed some of the lingering smell of diesel that we have endured in the past. Reassembly of each half was a little like doing a giant jigsaw, as all the pieces are different sizes and shapes, and each will only go into one place.

Under the floor area, with some of the 18 keel  bolts, in view

And afterwards, restored to its normal state

The marina guy came to complete the last two jobs that they had outstanding, and so from that point of view, we are all ready to go. My Italian is not quite up to understanding some of the words he was using as he had to squeeze into yet another tight spot under the chart table. Anyway, one of our electric winches, which has never actually been fully functional before, is now working properly. Another job ticked off the list.

The "African Queen" heading back to Bosa

The weather cleared as the day went on and we were able to sit on deck to eat our evening meal. Each day as we have done this, we have seen a local pleasure boat come past on trips showing tourists the river estuary. We have christened this boat the African Queen, as she looks vaguely reminiscent of the boat in the film. It is always intriguing to see how far down the river the captain takes them, sometimes turning before he gets to us and sometimes going way past.


Steve (and Tricia)

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