Technical Week

Work on ZigZag continued this week, we had boat parts everywhere, all the floorboards were up and workmen coming and going. Everyone that we have spoken to who have had work done in Turkey have found that it took a lot longer than scheduled so I decided to take an impromptu visit back to the UK and leave Paul in Marmaris with Ziggy to deal with everything!

The first job to be completed was the engine, many parts had been removed from Ziggy and taken to the work shop, most were found to be in good order after servicing but some required changing. The engine was given a thorough clean and all fluids were replaced. We had a new exhaust elbow, new hoses, belts and a new thermostat along with a few other fittings. The heat exchanger was welded to repair some rust damage. Gradually all the parts arrived back at the boat and the engine was put back together and reconnected to the Saildrive.

The engineers were working hard to get things done quickly, we found out that it was coming up to the Sacrifice Feast, a four day religious festival.

The Sacrifice Feast traditions include sacrificing an animal in a special ritual, visiting relatives and helping the poor. It is one of the oldest Islamic holidays in Turkey. It commemorates the story about Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) who showed obedience to God by agreeing to sacrifice his son. God then sent him a ram to be sacrificed instead.

Most businesses are closed during this national holiday, and the workmen were planning to get everything completed and ZigZag launched so that they could go off and enjoy their festivities. Good news for us to be ahead of schedule and back in the water after just 2 weeks rather than the 3 that was originally quoted.

Work to the rudder was our next challenge, we have had an ongoing issue with a slight leak from the rudder where it enters the boat below our bed. Paul had previously done some work to try to rectify this by replacing the seals whilst in the water. But over time we were still experiencing some seepage through.

Ideally we wanted the rudder to be disconnected and dropped from the boat while out of the water for a full investigation. But unfortunately, due to a breakdown in communication/language difficulties and the time restrictions, they were unable to do this. After a few hours of head scratching they contacted a local machine shop who were able to manufacture a new housing for the seals which was ready and fixed into place the next day.

This repair slightly raised the steering quadrant so a small adjustment to the steering system was required to accommodate this. It was all very tight with only a couple of millimetres to spare before anything started rubbing on the base of the bed!

Next on the list was to replace the seacocks, we had replaced various components of the seacocks and fittings over the years. Following our last urgent replacement of some seized and leaking cocks back in 2021 we decided that at the next opportunity we would replace all of the cocks and fittings with a modern plastic solution which promise a longer and maintenance free life.

Finally the last job was to resolve our issue of keeping the beer and wine cool. It seemed that a replacement keel cooling refrigeration system was not available to us and we were left with a Hobsons choice of installing an air cooled system from a Turkish supplier instead. The compressor was replaced and a new evaporator plate was fitted into the fridge freeing up a bit more space. Overall it is not quite as energy efficient as our original fridge, but at last the beer and wine was chilled.

Managing people was obviously very stressful for Paul and so he did have to go and relax in one of the local restaurants where they fed him very well, (I think some beer was also involved), yes all that food was just for one person, at least he wasn’t going to waste away!

By now it was the day before the holiday and ZigZag was the last boat in the yard to be launched. She was definitely looking a lot smarted than when she was lifted a couple of weeks ago!

Once in the water, the engineers came on board to check their work, thankfully she didn’t sink, no leaks through any of the seacocks. The engine was fired and all was working well. Unfortunately, there now appeared a new leak from the water lock in the exhaust system. The engine exhaust on a boat also contains water that has been used to cool the engine. The water lock serves to prevent water draining back and flooding the engine when stopped. There was no time to fix this at the time due to the holiday, the boat could be moved from the dock and this would have to wait until the following week.

Paul decided to solo sail out to the anchorage (approximately 500 meters), rather than paying extortionate daily costs in the marina, here he could wait for the holiday to be over and for my return. There was plenty of entertainment in the busy anchorage with various boats coming and going, trip boats, tourist fun boats, taxis etc often only narrowly avoiding collision. Here’s a near miss involving a banana boat and taxi, two ‘bananas’ were splashing around in the water while the drivers were loudly debating how the ‘rules of the road’ operate when you’re towing a giant yellow inflatable!