Slamming the mainsail in heavy swell with very little wind,we broke 3 of the cars of the mainsail.

The day before making landfall we switched back to primary autopilot (that was not used due to a minor leak from steering cylinder),and when doing that we found the rubber straps holding the pumpmotor of secondary autopilot both broken !

That has happened before on primary autopilot when crossing the Bay of Biscay,and apparently these rubber straps must be suffering from some design flaw. Allthough the pumpmotor was now moving freely,fortunately nothing serious happened and spares are available onboard.

Once tied up in the marina I wanted to level Dora Mac with some fuel transfer. The fuel transfer pump then stopped working !

That was a scenario I had as a nightmare before and during the crossing. The fuel transfer pump is a central part of the whole fuel system and if it´s not working it will be VERY difficult to get fuel over to the cruisetank. I built a separate 12v mobile fuel transfer pump in Las Palmas for emergencies. That would mean opening tanks rolling out at sea and transfer from one tank to another without fuelfilter polishing the fuel.

Fortunately we also had a spare Walbro fuel transfer pump with only 6 years on it and allthough the replacement procedure was more complicated than anticipated it was all working well after. The Walbro pump now braking had 12 years on it and must have transferred loads of fuel during the years and it really is a piece of quality equipment. Now all regular working pumps on Dora Mac (obviously not bilge pumps) have been replaced during my 10 years of ownership.