Ten days later we set off on what was intended to be a more extensive sea trial. We got as far as Tobermory, but the weather turned grim and we retreated back to Balvicar via a night in Lochaline. Not a lot of sailing, but the engine ran perfectly. One incident where it did not go into gear, but otherwise it performed flawlessly.
Our first trip was up to Oban for a couple of days on the pontoons there sorting things out. Darren spent a night on board and helped us with various things, plus a bit of socialising. Most fun was trying out our new cruising chute, least fun was when the engine wouldn’t go into gear just off the entrance to the marina. The jury is out on whether or not this is due to worn clutch cones or we just need to adjust idle setting and morse cable more carefully.
Finally, two years after we bought her, Avy-J goes back in the water. The engine started, no water came in, and we left her on the mooring looking good.
