Getting ready for winter

We were needing a pump-out sometime soon and with plans to spend much of next week at Elanor's house and with almost no wind at all this morning, it was a no-brainer to do it today. It proved to be more of a challenge than usual, though the trip across to the service wharf went just fine. The problem was that, having backed onto the side wharf, we found that the pump-out pump was not co-operating. You could hear the pump running in the cabinet but there was no suction at all at the probe.

After doing the usual basic stuff to get it working (wave the hose up and down, thump the cabinet), Sheila went over to the office to seek help. Meanwhile, Paul from New and Used, who'd been offering advice, had moved two of their boats out of the dry dock, left one on the front wharf and taken the other one away. So when Sheila returned with a free pump-out token and instructions to use the front pump, we couldn't get onto that wharf...

A bit of time passed, which we put to use doing clearing up type things inside the engine room, and finally Paul returned, apologised and took the other boat off. Having juggled round onto the front wharf, we got a pump-out at last, though that pump is never as good as the one on the side (when that one is working, of course). I then reversed Sanity Again up to the far end of the arm and winded to go back to our pontoon, only an hour and a half after we'd set off.

For once, we managed a perfect arrival on the pontoon, lining up exactly and sliding in without touching either the pontoon or Inkling. Sheila then nipped off to get some bread for lunch whilst I finished the various jobs involved in settling onto the pontoon again, connecting up the shoreline, turning the stern greaser down, coiling and stowing the cruising lines and so forth.

After coffee, we had a walk round the marina in the sun; it was lunchtime when we got back and some well deserved rest was taken after it.

This afternoon, I've been doing the end-of-cruising-season jobs. I topped up the batteries, sucked some fuel out of the bottom of the tank to check its condition (all well) and removed as much as possible of the water in the stern bilge, so as to reduce the amount of condensation in the engine room.

We're now both quite weary. Elanor and Sally are coming round later. As I said, we'll be working over at her place for much of next week, doing some redecoration, so these blogs may be a bit erratic for a while.