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Wet run 1 and 2

The purpose was twofold: to check that things are holding together and to practice handling while docking.

Day one was short. We went from our pier/slot to the inner harbour (next to the battleships/navy station) – docking in the centre and shopping for lunch. From there, we went to the old ferry terminal where there is a little pier next to the camping area. Then, we went under the bridge and back. We had to abort mission for a second try to get back into our slot. Still a lot of learning to be done. The wind does affect the boat more than one would suspect.

Day Two: Initially, we planned to cross Storebælt for a short lunch with Il Capitano’s friend Sir D. However, the weather forecast dictated a change of direction. MS Cava is built for easy sailing, and if pushed, it is preferable to have the waves head-on. So, we headed towards Skælskør. A neighbour works at a conference center just before the “canal” into Skælskør. We anchored for the first time close to a pier/bathing platform and swam ashore with the dog. We had coffee at her place, then went across to Agersø to try out their public anchor buoys. Finally, we went back against the wind and waves to Korsør.

So, all in all, quite satisfactory 🙂

Pls find a selection of images here: link

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It’s now T-1

Finally. Fingers crossed. It’s time to start (re)building the front cabin. Il Capitano did the logistics – getting the materials to MS Cava.


It will be a temp. construction. Kind of a prototype. To see what’s what. First up was to move and install pumps/electronics. By now we (as in Chief Engineer) only have one or two “wash-downs” to do before the temp. floor and bunks can be installed.

Please don’t tell Jørn. It’s made in OSB, which, quote: “should never/ever be used”..

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The gift that keeps on giving

Well… a couple of days ago it was T-2 days, and the plan was to visit friends in Nyborg this coming week-end.

However.. today, we are set back to T-4 days (if not more)

Investigating the tanks, unfortunately, revealed a hole in one of the diesel tanks. In fact, there was so much damage that there were a few minutes of chaos trying to temporarily fix the hole while it was pouring out.

With that done, thanks to TEC 7, the new wonder do-it-all sealer, it has taken three days until now to manually empty the tank, transferring the diesel to the other tank (one on each side with a capacity of 200-300 liters). This is done “by hand” using gravity feeding into a can, lifting said can above the target tank, and using gravity a second time. Assuming this is a one off – we wanted to save on buying pumps and other stuff. Just getting Tanks, Cans and Fuellines adds to the cost.

The piping being 8mm at a max height difference of less than a meter means we can move about 60-120 liters per hour. (data from ChatGPT below)


But as the title to this post indicates.. we are not done yet. Of course tank two is now at its limits. So we still have some 30-80 litres to store (in addition to the 60 litres already) in external cans. So off the dealer one more time..

Once this is done – We need to install new (plastic) tanks and hook them up. Quite a change since the old system has the tanks above the first filter, and the new system will have the tanks below that filter.


Still waiting for final confirmation from Jørn on that set-up.

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Ready for the summer season..

Well, almost.

It’s about three weeks before the Chief Stewardess has her well-deserved summer vacation. We are in the planning phase of our first real cruise – taking us to father-in-law in Horsens, Jutland. The plan is to sail south of Fyn on the outbound trip and north of Fyn on the return. A total of some 220 Nautical Miles.



Il Capitano/Chief Maintenance Officer/Chief Engineer is busy meeting the hard deadline. We are about T-minus two days from the tipping point of starting to rebuild.

This season will be a trial run to see what works and what we need for smooth sailing.

We are starting from absolute scratch. Meaning no fancy modern stuff. The only thing is an automatic/integrated throttle/gear controller.

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Lube it up

It takes quite a few filters and liters of oil to prepare for the summer cruises.

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Fantastic early Summer Cruise

We stopped by Lundeborg (Fyn) and Lohals (Langeland) on a short “exercise” cruise. Testing the boat and weather limits. Not scary limits but 7-8 m/s which is about the limit for comfortable sailing with swells causing her to roll quite a bit if not head-on.


On the leg back to Korsør we had warm weather and dead calm sea, with a swim-break in the middle of Storebælt.

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Spring-Cleaning part#6

We continue the work on cleaning out some 60-70 years of dirt and oil. Even cleaning the Iron ballast blocks.

About half way through the front (main) Cabin.

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Shopping haul?

… we are too old-school for that (i.e. shopping hauls)

But it does take a lot of stocking up to prepare for the summer season.

This time around, it was a variety of chemicals, filters, impellers, and tools… It’s an endless list and yet another testament to the point that having a boat is not really a cheap way of doing holidays.

The heart of the boat is obviously the engine. To keep that running, and to be ready for emergency situations – we need to replace and refill a lot of consumables – and keep backups in stock for “on the spot repairs”.

So this first season we have to double up on everything. And as we have quite a few engines at the estate – we need pretty much to double up on all tools as well…”

In many ways it’s the kind of shopping spree il Capitano loves…


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Ok. If you insist!

Here’s todays haul:

– Lacquer (because some people do not respect the no shoes policy)
– High grade (fine) sanding paper (see above)
– Oil for Gearbox
– Oil for Engine
– Additives for Diesel (killing wateborn bacteria – preventive)
– Filters for Diesel (it takes two per cycle)
– Filters for motor oil
– Glue for fixing the rubber dingy
– Sea-weed filter (for some reason never installed)
– Coolant for engine
– Socket tools
– Bits (for different types of screws)
– Impeller (kind of a pump thing)
– Grease for Impeller
– French hot dog. It’s a danish thing. Sausage in a bread roll. (because you have to have at least one – when shopping in Biltema)

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Is it this one?

It is the classic movie suspense-peak. Is it this one? There is a lot of wires/cables. A lot!

One by one they need to be re-traced and figured out – before cutting. It takes time. A lot. We have an autopilot, chartplotter (navigation), lanterns, engine controls and metrics, gauges, speed, depth – and a lot more…

Il Capitano is considering going completely old-school (no fancy electronics) – even though advised against it. We’ll see.