I need a bigger hammer

I'd booked to be lifted out today but with high water not due until 13:40 it wouldn't be happening early

So the morning was spent giving the interior of the boat a good clean. Just routine domestic stuff but it needs doing regularly.

And then, in due time, the lads were ready to lift us out. Due to the configuration of the slipway and the way Pagan was lying alongside the pontoon, she needed turning around to get the dory on her port side so with Wiggy aboard to cast off, I started up the engines and had a go at reversing down the inside of the pontoon against a fairly stiff flood tide

It's not a manoeuvre I'd normally attempt! But with the dory on hand if things went awry it was a challenge I couldn't resist. By and large, it proved surprisingly easy hampered only by the stiff steering, the sticky throttle cable and my losing track of how much rudder angle I'd got on a couple of times.

With the throttle cable sticking at the end of its travel, as I discovered when we motored of the berth, the engine is ticking over rather fast which had us flying along backwards at quite a rate of knots! That, coupled with the tide, meant that too much rudder angle would have the rudder slam hard over and it was then impossible to straighten it up until the speed had dropped and the stern had turned out of the full force of the tide.

So my progress was somewhat erratic but it got the job done. With the tickover problem sorted out (it's on my list!) and practice I'm sure I could do a better job of it and unlike our previous boats Pagan seems to be quite controllable going astern

Although I could have motored round, the dory was on hand anyway so made fast and towed us round to the travel hoist. After a bit of faffing to get the slings rigged right out we came.

Being lifted out always makes me nervous! And Pagan is far larger than our previous boats as becomes evident when she's out of the water

But the yard hands know what they're doing and all was executed safely

I'd agreed with Wiggy that we'd sit in the slings overnight and be pressure washed and chocked up in the morning as the lads had a long list of boats to launch round at the marina and limited time to do it

So it was out with a set of ladders so I could get aboard, on with the shore power so I could boil a kettle for coffee and then it was time to get cracking on the first critical job - removing the prop

The prop has to come off so that I can remove the cutlass bearing housing (the tube bolted onto the boat ahead of the prop)


The housing needs to come off because the cutlass bearing needs replacing. It's a press fit into the housing and I'll need to either find a local engineering firm who can press out the old bearing and press in the new one or take the housing to one of two firms, one in Isleworth and the other in Fareham! Long journeys either way, assuming I can arrange for it to be done while I wait, as I'm rather reluctant to entrust the housing to a courier. If it went AWOL it would be an expense I could well do without to replace it (and a like for like replacement could be hard to obtain so I could end up having to do yet more work to fit different gear)

The anode was half off already and needs replacing. The securing nut came off worryingly easily! I'll need new locking washers and a generous dollop of Loctite when it goes back on (I suspect the Loctite was omitted when it was fitted, there's no sign of any)

Even with some assistance, hammering didn't shift the prop at all

I'd got a three legged gear puller in amongst the tools I retrieved from the tool shed when we sold the house so it was out with that to see if it would do the job


It wouldn't! The housing for the feathering gears in the prop makes for a rather large boss and the puller I've got simple won't fit around it and get a grip on the base. As soon as you start winding it up, it pulls the legs apart and they slip

After several hours of trying to get the prop off, I gave up and went for a pie and a pint.

The next step is to try a bigger puller. £11.99 from Screwfix for a 6" puller (the one I've got is a 4" model) has got to be worth a punt. That will be delivered before 10:00am on Wednesday morning along with some overalls and a torque wrench (which I need for fitting the new glow plugs on the engine)

So first thing in the morning it'll be pressure wash and chock up time and then I'll start looking at the other jobs I need to do while she's out. The jury is out on whether I'm going to remove all the old antifoul on this occasion or not. The topsides definitely need some TLC though so I may make a start on that

The rudder needs dropping too but that's a job I really need assistance with so we'll tackle that at the weekend when Glen is down I think