First outing of Moksha this season. I took her to Bristol Docks launching at Bristol Marina the old Albion dockyard.

Engine started first pull.

Repair to rudder bearing seems to be watertight.

Tiller Hand steering lock works well.

The only fault seems to be a flat battery

and so it would seems that my large solar panel is not working properly.

I had a motor about the docks and enjoyed the sunshine. The bars and restaurants on the dockside were busy and the water was busy with other pleasure craft and rowers.

Recovered the boat back onto the trailer with no problem and went back home to sort out the battery.

Rudder bearing repair

When I first acquired Moksha she suffered from a leak which resulted in water under the cabin floorboards. Initial investigations were made in the bow area of the boat such as the forward keel bolts and the screws fixing the band on the bow area of the boat. These proved to be inconclusive and so I took a radical step in order to discover the area of the leak.

I flooded the interior of the boat with water and tipped it forward thinking that the leak was going to be in the bow are of the boat. What happened was that as the boat filled and reached the stern locker with the keel box that water started leaking out of the boat. It became clear that the problem was in the stern of the boat.

I carried out some research on the Drascombe forum and the NKDE (Dutch Drascombe website and I found the likely source of the problem.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~veronica/tom/#mozTocId873807

The bottom rudder bearing is fixed to the GRP hull with 2 stainless steel wood screws. The assembly is covered by the keelplank.

It is common for damage to occur when the rudder is lowered through the trunking and the bottom bearing is hit by the rudder. The photograph shows that the bronze is bent and when it was removed the two crews were detached and loose. The keelplank was keeping the bearing in place.

The second photograph shows that the GRP around the screw holes was cracked and broken and that the fissures went right through the GRP structure around the rudder casing causing a leak. When I came to drill through there could not have been more than 2 or 3mm of GRP. I carried out a repair using 6mm screw bolts and an amount of expoy to seal the cracks on the underside and to surround the tops of the bolts and to strengthen the whole area. It will remain to seen whether it will remain leek free.

This is a blog of the exploits of my Drascombe Coaster "Moksha".

She was bought in 2010 from an owner in Devon who had her for her 5 years and as far as I know I am the fourth owner. The previous owner have included a carpenter and a priest.

The name was I believe picked by him and always causes comment and enquiry.

According to the dictionary "Moksha" is a noun derived from Buddhism,Hinduism,Jainism meaning freedom from the differentiated, temporal, and mortal world of ordinary experience.

This might aptly describe the "Drascombe" experience.