My last post ended with the installation of the second oil line. Hooray the engine should now be bullet proof. I fill the motor with new oil and run her in gear for an hour or so to generally wake her from her slumber. Just as I was switching her off, I hear a screech from the warning system that indicates the engine is overheating. Strange? I check the oil level and, oh dear, there is absolutely no oil in the engine. There must be a leak and I have just pumped 1.5 liters of super new Yanmar oil into the engine compartment and bilge.

I talk to Kiyuna san. We do another test and sure enough as the engine runs, oil leaks out at an alarming rate. KIyuna san is abashed. He does not like to get it wrong.

He says he will fix it tomorrow afternoon. I spend the morning trying to clean out the oil and mysterious water that always gathers in the bilge. I scoop it out with half a plastic bottle. I am bent double. Accessibility is very limited. I lacerate and bruise my forearm as I force the bottle into tight spaces. It is grim, dirty work.

I snatch a quick lunch at my fish restaurant.

I should, of course, have left it all to KIyuna san. He bounces up and announces that he fixed the leak the previous evening. Now he insists we have to thoroughly pump out the oil and water and then scrupulously clean the engine compartment and bilge.

He produces a fantastic vacuum pump that sucks out liquid from the remotest cranny. I look at my battered forearm with dismay.

He then produces a big pile of newspapers that he expertly tears into long strips. He teaches me something new. Always tear a newspaper from top to bottom to produce elegant long strips. Side to side only produces little torn patches.

He stuffs enormous quantities of newspaper strips into the bilge and the engine locker.

Anyway, he forces a huge quantity of newspaper strips into the bilge and engine compartment. He then rubs this around for a long time, which soaks up oil, grime and moisture. The result is impeccably clean bilge and engine compartment.

The stern gland is exposed. It is dripping sea water at a fast rate. Next adventure, stay with us.