I spent a weekend with Wildling in La Grande Motte to check on a few projects that were being done before the sailing season begins again.
A beautiful winter’s day in La Grande Motte, France
Wildling is looking awesome! She has been moved to a marina berth further inside the marina, which is a bit more protected than where I left her last visit. She was spotlessly clean and all the stainless steel had been polished, which is a monthly service that Stephane at Outremer arranged for me.
Pretty much all the projects we needed done were completed, we’re just waiting on some parts to replace the holding tank gauge that is not reading correctly.
The main items to finish were replacing the goose-neck bolt that attaches the boom to the mast, and the installation of the HF radio.
Lorima, the rig manufacturer, fitted a longer bolt and replaced the old locknut with a larger nylock nut, which should not work loose. They added a locking grub screw, just to be extra sure.
Nav station with the new HF radio installed to the right
The ICOM HF radio allows us to communicate much longer distances than the standard VHF radio, which is important when we are far offshore.
HF radio antenna tuner installed in the starboard engine room, right below the transom mounted 8m whip antenna.
We also made some progress on our propeller project. EWOL will be bringing the new props over and working with Outremer to run before and after tests. I’ll post results as soon as I have them.