Practical Boat Owner – May 2018

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■ This is Millie, our 10-year-old retired

racing greyhound, aboard our 1950

Buchanan Wind Elf 25 at Birdham Pool

Marina, writes Ben McMinn. Proof that

having stupidly long legs and being more a

home on the track than a boat does not

prevent her from being a bona fi de seadog!

SEADOG OF THE MONTH

Send us your seadog photos for our web gallery

http://www.pbo.co.uk/seadogs and your pet may be lucky

£30 enough to become Seadog of the Month and win you £

V is for...

■ Just received my April

PBO and it makes me yearn

for the start of the season!

Thanks for a great read.

Last August I bought a Mk

Moody 33. I’m now in the

midst of a fairly extensive refi t

so she’s on the hard with the

mast down at the moment.

I’m just beginning to explore

the nooks and crannies of my

new boat, with the great help,

not to say patience, of the

wonderful Moody Owners

Association. Each and every

enquiry – and I’ve made

many – produces a wealth of

experience and knowledge.

A fantastic resource.

I recently had the

opportunity to explore a

curious switch on my panel

marked simply ‘V’ (see

photos above). None of the

various yard folk who have

visited over the winter could

shed any light on its use. So

in a quiet moment I went

exploring.

The wires from the switch

lead back to a little box

labelled ‘Aqua Signal code V

unit’. There’s a diagram on

the box that looks like an all

round white masthead light

and indeed the wires

connected to the terminals

head off to the foot of the

mast and presumably up it

when all is connected.

A fellow Moody owner

pointed out that fl ag V is

used in the international

system of signals as ‘I am in

need of assistance (non

distress)’. I’ve never come

across this as a light signal

and in truth, if I saw

someone’s masthead light

blinking I’d probably think

they had a short in their

wiring loom.

I’m not in a position to test

the thing at the moment. I

wonder whether your experts

or my fellow readers can

shed any light on its use? In

the fullness of time I intend to

fi t LED replacement bulbs at

the masthead, so I could do

with knowing whether this

little gizmo will get in the way.

Simon Neal, Chester

Stuart Carruthers replies: This

one has me stumped. I

suggest trying it out when in a

position to do so. However, It

looks like it connects to a light

so it’s not beyond the

possibility that the box makes

an anchor-like fl ash code ‘V’.

That might have been a

requirement in some parts of

the world, but I do not know

for certain.

Winch handle

wisdom

■ I really enjoyed John Willis’s

excellent article on ‘Living with

Leaks’ (PBO April 2018) but

that opening shot of two

loaded winches with handles

in, makes my blood run cold!

Perhaps I’m just grumpy

because I’m ‘between boats’,

but when I fi rst sailed on a

boat with winches one of the

fi rst things I remember being

told was never leave a winch

handle in a loaded winch – or

in any winch for that matter.

If you need to release a line

from a winch in a hurry it’s

highly likely the handle will

impede the process. Also, if

someone was to try to release

the line with the handle still

attached, the chances of the

line becoming tangled around

it are very high.

Keep up the good work.

Rob Macrostie, by email

John ‘winch handle’ Willis

replies: Yes I suspect you are

grumpy for being boat-less –

that is indeed an unbearable

torment and I wholeheartedly

sympathise.

One claim I will never make is

that I am a great sailor. I do my

best and seem to have rubbed

along OK these past few

decades, occasionally winch

handles akimbo and lines

trailing. But it’s something for

me to bear in mind in future.

I do hope you acquire

another vessel soon – I’m sure

you’ll feel very much better.

Practical Boat Owner • http://www.pbo.co.uk 15

LETTERS

What is the

meaning of

the switch

marked ‘V’

(above)

connected to

this mystery

box (left)?

It is fairly simple to remove the

cylinder head from a 2-stroke

outboard and scrape it clean

Outboard

maintenance

■ I read with interest the

recent article on overhauling

an outboard. I think it worth

pointing out that when

servicing such an engine it’s

worth taking off the cylinder

head (easier than it sounds),

as the water jacket gets

blocked with salt quite readily

and this is far more likely to

give issues than the water

pump, which lasts for years.

Simply remove the head (just

a plate with the spark plug in

it) and scrape it out with an old

screwdriver or coat hanger.

Stephen Carter, Plaistow

Handles in loaded winches...