Chris Russell and his team from Silverwood did an excellent job polishing the topsides and doing the anti-foul. They also replaced all the anodes and checked the skin-fittings.
Steve Edwards came up from MarineTech in Gosport to fit the RedBox wi-fi booster; replace the depth transponder; and fit fans in all cabins. He did so with his usual meticulous attention to detail.
However whilst all this work was going on I rather stupidly didn't do anything with the (now redundant) forward-facing sonar. We have this unit on board and it worked initially but then ceased working. To be honest, I never used it even when it was working - I couldn't see the point. It's range was so limited that if you were travelling at any speed even if you did notice an unexpected shallow ahead you would have hit it before you had time to react. When it stopped working I thought "c'est la vie" and since I was haemorrhaging cash elsewhere decided that I wouldn't get it repaired or replaced, it wasn't doing any harm - I would just leave it. Well it has now come back to bite me, as these things generally tend to......The through-hull fitting for the transponder is weeping. Not a lot, but just enough to be really irritating.
I should have had the transponder removed and the hole plugged properly whilst Viridian was out of the water, but of course now that she is back in the water that can't be done. I think I am going to have to try and bodge it using some sort of sealant. I will report back and let you know how it goes...
