READY FOR LAUNCH

Another winter ashore, another inevitable round of spending. Smuggler’s Blues 2 is now 14 years old, so extra maintenance is an inevitable part of life. I’ve come to realise that beyond my usual expenses of marina berthing, winter storage and servicing, there’s always something further that needs money hurled vigorously at it, and it’s wise to incorporate at least an extra £2,000 into annual running costs.

This year it was heat exchanger end caps. A known weak point of Volvo Penta D4 engines, it was an inevitability that I knew I’d have to face eventually. So when the boat was