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Improving Piffen

In this text I will present a couple of improvements made over the years on
our Southerly 115 Mk III ‘Piffen’, hoping that some readers may profit from
it if they are meeting the same issues.

Piffen was built in 2003 and Christine and I bought her in December 2008
in Hamble from her first owner. She had rarely been used and her general
condition was very good. But we asked John Excell to do a pre-purchase
survey and based on his thorough report a number of adjustments and
improvements were made before we sailed Piffen to her present home
port Hoorn in the Netherlands in May 2009. During the following years
further improvements were made of which some had already been ad-
vised by John Excell. So here follows a selection.
Inspection hole in the diesel tank (and cleaning)
The fuel tank didn’t have an inspection hole nor a plug to tap off sludge, so
we had a small ‘manhole’ made, with a Henderson tank cover, and at the
same time the tank was emptied and cleaned. To get at the hole some
panels in the cockpit locker need to be removed, so I’m afraid I don’t regu-
larly check the contents and cleanness of the tank. As long as we do not
intend to travel very far with the risk of emptying the tank, and as we use
anti-sludge additives to the diesel, I hope new sludge will not cause prob-
lems. The fuel in the water separating fuel filter so far looks fine without
any dirt in it.
Traveller mainsheet

Originally the mainsheet car had to be positioned on the traveller with
pins – not easy as the sprayhood impedes access from the cockpit. A great
improvement was mounting blocks on the end fittings of the traveller and

Page 47