Grimsby

When we wake around 9:00 skipper Martin has already contacted base and a new throttle cable is being sent up by courier – it is due around 14:00. As a back-up he has also contacted a marine engineer locally who is also bringing a cable. After a shower in the Humber Cruising Association showers and breakfast on board we are asked to move the boats by the Marina office and again Barry acts as the remote throttle as we gingerly move pontoons.

We then help Martin take off the old unit and investigate where the problem occurred. The throttle control cable is in fact a complicated fixed length sealed unit made up of a thick wire encased in metal, which runs inside an outer protective sheath – this has crimped ends which terminate in threads that screw into units on either end – one into the Morse throttle leaver and the other to the engine. Our unit broke about 10 cm from the throttle at the point it bends most.

While we’re taking everything apart to remove the old cable, Karen goes in to Grimsby for more provisions. She returns some hours later with a tale of a post-apocalyptic landscape and describes trying to rescue a fox cub on wasteland that had a crisp packet stuck on its head – luckily the mother fox appeared and they ran off.

We have lunch and wait for the cable. A man arrives and tells us an engineer is on his way. Where we sail next is determined by the time we can get the cable fitted and the tides. There is still a chance to get into Whitby, but only if we arrive two hours each side of high water. We wait for the cable. We are also low on fuel so need to fill up – but having dismantled everything we can’t move the boat. Barrie suggests we top up using the spare fuel cans each boat carries and refill them at the pontoon which we do. We wait for the cable.

The courier with the cable arrives around 16:30 – the marine engineer never did. We lay the two cables next to each other and discover the new one is about 2 meters longer than the old one. We later discover that the old cable was fitted as an earlier repair when the longer one was not available. After an hour of work threading the cable through the boat via a visit the bottom of the rear locker to thread it through the steering mechanism, it is ready to be fitted to the Morse. The split pin is so small that it keeps popping out so I lie down and reach in holding it down while the skipper lies next to me and fits the unit. Done.

However it does not look right. Skipper Martin looks at the photo of the old one he took and discovers we have fitted it incorrectly. There is a clip that is in the wrong place meaning there is too much movement. Martin starts to dismantle the unit again and I locate a bigger split pin – in twenty minutes it’s all back together and working correctly.

For some time now Barrie has been cooking supper and it’s almost ready, but we need to undertake sea trials. Supper is put on hold as the boat is manoeuvred off the pontoon and tours the marina – reporting that the cable action is smoother and better than before.

That evening the sun was warm and we eat on deck, have a G N T and a glass of wine and celebrate our team work and the result. The time we needed to fix everything has determined our next leg. We have to have an early start with another overnight sail up the coast to Newcastle over 100 miles away.

The weather is looking more challenging too with wind and rain peppering the forecast.