On 7 August, we are underway to Pythagorio where this time, we moored along the wall.
Pythagorio's daily rate for motor yachts is 36 € /day water and electricity included. We came in late so we paid for an extra day. Pythagorio is an active town with lots of people walking after the sun goes down. Took a day trip to Vathy where we had been last year to shop at Lee's favorite butcher on the island and Zehra's favorite fruit and veggie guy.
Our 90 day visa clock runs out on 12 August, so Zehra wants to check out the day before just in case there are problems. So, on 11 August, we trek over to the Passport Police who is so nice and full of useful info that we nearly fall over. He said that Greece allows us to stay as much as 24 hours after your passport is stamped and if one asks nicely to the Port Police, they can extend that one extra day. The we go to the Port Police and tell him we want to depart the next day and he says "then, come back tomorrow."
So, we are officially out of the country, but LeeZe is not. So, on 12 August, we go to the Port Police who have seem to have lost out arrival paperwork, so we sit they while they recreate it. Then out come the stamps, and with numerous chunks, our arrival paperwork is stamped and so it our transit log. Then after taking photos of the now completed transit log (just in case) and paying a €5 exit fee (this is new), we walk next store to the Customs Office and she takes the transit log, looks at it for all of 5 seconds, and says goodbye!!
So, we depart for an anchorage at the tip of Samos called Poseidonio. It is a 5 nm run and when we turn into the bay, there we se what we believe is MV Castalio, a 1968 95 gross ton wood yacht that was built in Scotland, and owned by a very good Turkish friend who last we heard was very very sick.
It is Castalio, and our friend, with part of his family, is on board. We try to anchor near to them, but there was not enough room if the weather turns bad, so we anchored just a little further away. Now, at this time, the anchor windlass was acting "funny" but it functioned and I did not give it another thought. Our friend came by and invited us over later when they return from their shore side trip. We catch up then, and learn that he is about 60% better after falling some 5-6 meters off of a scaffold onto the concrete while doing some repairs to Castalio. He suffered significant neck injuries that took weeks to diagnose. As he is not a spring chicken, the healing process is quite slow and he is still on the mend. But we are so happy that is better that we are both overjoyed.
He invited us ashore for dinner, but as we were officially out of Greece, we did not want to poke at the immigration Gods by going ashore. So we decline.
It is now 13 August and our PLAN was depart the anchorage and go to Teos, north of Kusadasi. Up at 0800 and notice that Castalio is gone. We kind of expected that as the owner is an early bird riser who likes to begin his trips just after dawn. So, we get ready to leave and I goes to retrieve the anchor. The motor spins but the wildcat does not. No amount of prodding can get it to work.
I begin retrieving the anchor by hand but realize that I do not enough in me to retrieve the 65 meters of chain out + the anchor. There is another lifting motor on board which is used to raise the tender. I rig it in such a way that the wire goes from the boom thru an omega shackle tied to a rail thru the bullseye of the anchor system to the chain. In this way, the motor can be used to bring in 2-3 meters of chain.
Surprisingly, a man in a tender shows up and asks if I need help! He is a godsend, and the next time we cross paths, I promised him the dinner of his choosing! With him in the tender, we can place the hook further down the chain and bring in more of it at one time. But this lifting motor is not big, and after 3-4 lifts, the thermal overloads trip. Between dousing it with water and waiting, we are able to get the anchor to the surface but no higher. The entire retrieval process took three hours!. So, again with this man's help, I use a mooring line to lift the anchor as far out of the water and tie it in place along side the starboard side of the bow.
He departs, and so do we.
The plan to go to Teos goes down the tube. We are off to the Kusadasi marina some 15-16 nm away for repairs. The sea is so calm that the anchor hardly ever bangs against the hull. There, we know a person who helped repair the anchoring system (but not the windlass) in 2014 so I call him on the phone (I have his cell #) explain to him the problem and he says he THINKS he can get someone to look at it on Monday, and for sure, Tuesday.
Since we had no anchor, we cannot drop anchor in the harbor and wait for him, so we arrive at the marina and get a space near to the machine shops. I am tired, filthy, and concerned because I have a problem that I cannot fix.
Our good Turkish friend is also in the same marina, comes over later on this Sunday, and between us and two beers, we deduce the problem is inside the windlass, bolted below the deck in the anchor locker.
Meanwhile, our neighbor to port calls up his repair person who tells him that he will be by Monday at about 3 PM to look at the problem.
So, the next morning is Monday. Knowing that the windlass will have to come out, I CAUTIOUSLY open the chain locker (34 bolts, as it is also a collision bulkhead) in the forward stateroom thinking that the chain COULD be laying against the metal plate and could tumble out onto me me and the floor if I am not careful.
But the chain is not resting against anything! It is piled up quite nicely in the middle of the locker. So, laying blankets everywhere, I slowing pull out 100+ meters of chain, leaving just enough so that the person taking the windlass out can stand on the chain, which is relatively flat.
Then I go to the bow and disassemble the upper part of the windlass just on the off chance that the problem is in that part. Nope, having taken this apart every year for the last 5, I see nothing broken.
If you would have seen me, you would have found dirt and grease over most of my body and clothes.
Then a miracle of sorts happens. My person that I called on Sunday shows up at 2PM with two people in tow. He hears my story, sees my windlass is not working, and tells his guys to pull it out. We go down below and his face lights up. I have done all the menial work so the two dive in and 15 minutes later, the windlass is out and on the aft table. Then, we all go off to the work bench in his shop, and slowly taken apart. We get the gears all out and none look damaged. That is a great sign because it points to a "key" on a shaft somewhere being broken. But as we take it all apart, every key is fine and undamaged. Then they start disassembling the motor and we find the broken key. It is tiny, maybe 3 x10 millimeters, and it sure is broken.
(Meanwhile, my neighbor's mechanic shows up at 3PM, realizes that there is no work, gets quite upset with me and throws me the finger. This is when I learned that my neighbor called him on my behalf.)
I got a somewhat generic diagram from the net of the windlass and studied it quite carefully. The mechanics found a 4.5 mm movement between the motor's drive gear and the windlass' main gear, which they thought was excessive. No one could find any evidence that a wear ring was grounded down into pieces. A magnet was used to scan the oil and the oil was clean, and clean also to touch. The diagram showed that there should have been a 4 mm aluminum wear ring there but the other 4 wear rings were steel, not aluminum.
Called the company in Italy and come to learn, for my size and larger windlasses, the wear rings are steel, and they could not believe that one got assembled without one. They also said that I should have been told that I need to pull this windlass apart every three years to inspect, replace the keys (as they wear) apply fresh grease and change the 140 weight oil. When I said that was NOT in the manual, they said that is a generic manual and my distributor should have told me this.
(So lesson learned is no electrical or hydraulic machine can go years on a boat without an open and inspect and repair, and even the most well made items have parts inside that wear and need replacing.)
So, the mechanics measured everything and remade two wear rings to take up the slack that existed. The company said that main gear should have no more than 0.5mm play and when done, the mechanics got this on within 0.2mm.
So, now it is Tuesday afternoon and they are back on board to reinstall, which goes without a hitch. They help me reload the locker with the chain and then we all go topside to reassemble the anchor mechanism topside. Here is where I learn that I was using way way way too much grease, and putting grease on mating surface that allow the anchor windlass to grip and do its job.
With it all reassembled, I go and attach the bitter end of the chain to the anchor and to make a long story short, dump the entire chain locker into the water to ensure that there are no kinks and chain runs thru without a problem. There is none and by late Tuesday, the anchor is in its proper position on the bow of LeeZe.
I go and pay, and the job was not cheap. They stopped two scheduled jobs to handle me so I paid a small premium for the work. The boss also promised me that if this should fail again within the next three years, call him and as long as I am in Turkey, he and his men will come to me and fix it for free.
So, I am just as dirty and filthy as on Sunday but this time, the marina's showers get a chance to clean me up. I am also bone tired and after dinner out, and a walk about after dinner, my energy levels are hovering just above zero.
Wednesday morning I get up to wash LeeZe because guests are coming. Make a quick run to the grocery store, pay my dockage fee (not cheap either!) and by the time our guests arrive, I am dragging my ass on the floor. When the time comes to depart, I call a timeout and decide to stay until the next morning because I think I would have made costly mistakes because I was so tired.
That is all for now folks!
If you have any questions, please ask.
Lee and Zehra
MV LeeZe
http://whereisleeze.blogspot.com
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