Slowly sailing to wherever our fancy takes us

Boat Projects

Browse through all posts about boat jobs and projects

After 20 months in Porto Santo, Emerald's crew sailed south, docking at Las Palmas for essential repairs, and upgrades. The uncertainty about availability and the return of Med-mooring challenges had a happy ending. We settled into the convenience of marina life, pleasantly surprised by the peacefulness, despite the city setting.

What Next for Emerald, Having Escaped Porto Santo?

22 March 2024 by Nichola

After a tricky departure from the pontoon in blustery conditions, we returned to the boatyard to investigate the overheating propeller shaft. We made repairs, replaced damaged cutlass bearings, and recalibrated the alignment between engine and prop shaft. Back in the water, testing showed no overheating, allowing sailing plans to resume.

Why Did We Have An Overheating Propeller Shaft?

23 February 2024 by Nichola

With Emerald back afloat, we were making plans to sail away south. But unknown to us, our batteries were starting to fail. Was this the right time to change to Lithium LiFePO4?

We Need New Sailboat Batteries: Lithium or Lead Acid?

2 February 2024 by Nichola

We just had some Coppercoat repairs to complete before choosing a date to launch Emerald. We were feeling a swirling mix of emotions - excitement to be afloat again tempered with the fear of something going wrong. And there were many things that could go wrong!

Emerald’s Launch From the Boatyard: The Moment of Truth

1 December 2023 by Nichola

A Volvo Penta D2-75 in a boat engine room — Perhaps you were wondering where we were at with our boat engine rebuild? And why did we think we had a dose of the commentator's curse? Click the link to find out.

What Happened Next in Our Boat Engine Rebuild

13 October 2023 by Nichola

Our hydraulic autopilot developed an oil leak. As it's an old model, servicing support was no longer available, so we took on the task ourselves. Here we share our experiences and tips for servicing a hydraulic autopilot

Advice for Servicing a Hydraulic Autopilot

15 September 2023 by Nichola

With our rebuilt engine back in the boat, the next big step was to test it. But before we could do that, we needed to reconnect the ancillary systems. And of course there was an expected issue...

Our DIY Boat Engine Rebuild: The First Test Run

9 August 2023 by Nichola

looking down into a boat's engine room onto the engine — Gaskets have been one of our biggest issues during the engine rebuild. First there was the tear in the timing case gasket, then having remedied that, the oil sump leaked oil from all around its new gasket.

Boat Engine Rebuild – The Gasket Debacle

22 July 2023 by Nichola

With the cleaning complete, we were ready to begin the next step in our engine rebuild adventures. We had an overhaul kit for our water damaged Volvo Penta D2-75 engine that contained new gaskets, bearings and pistons. Some things went well, others, not well at all.

Rebuilding a Boat Engine – Our Continued Adventures

23 June 2023 by Nichola

a dismantled Volvo D2-75 engine — We decided to attempt to repair our water damaged boat engine. With the engine out of the boat, we could begin dismantling to uncover the extent of the damage. After than it was cleaning, replace and repair.

Repairing A Water Damaged Boat Engine

2 June 2023 by Nichola

looking inside a broken sailboat engine — Having got as far as we could with repairing the engine in-situ, the next step was for it to be lifted out. This has allowed us to strip it of components to access the damage. What are our options for repair or replacement?

What to do With Our Broken Sailboat Engine?

15 January 2023 by Nichola

The result of a hydrolocked engine — The likely explanation for our broken engine was a hydrolock - water had got into the cylinders of the engine block. With limited resources on the island, we set out to try and fix it ourselves.

A Hydrolocked Engine – Off With Its Head!

19 August 2022 by Nichola