Every weather…

Ok…. So our plans to go north to Lowestoft were thwarted by the Dragon class event at Lowestoft causing a bit of a berth shortage (or at least hinted at by the marina!)… Also, our plans about meeting up with fellow forum user, Squidge, and his family had been thwarted by a car accident… fortunately, Squidge is fine!… he has agreed to call us Saturday morning if he intends to sail still…. So we drove down to the boat Friday evening, with the plan of either heading towards Burnham or Bradwell in the Blackwater. This seemed a sensible distance, with the huge benefit (with kids on board) of a nice location for an overnight at the end of the passage. So, after arriving at the boat at about 21h00, settling the kids down for the night, we took the opportunity for an early night. I arose early on Saturday morning, to firstly get a weather forecast, and secondly to prep the boat for an early-ish departure. I awoke to the alarm, and listened to the wind whistling through the rigging. Ah. A few minutes later, and the forecast confirmed my fears….. F5, Occ 6….. ah well…. Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be a problem….but with a newbie crew of SWMBO and 2 young kids with pretty much no experience, it’s a risk not worth taking…So.. back to plan B…. wait until tomorrow…. And back to bed….! All arose, and breakfast consumed by 09h30… we decided to have a little motor up the Orwell….. annenometer is recording average of 15kts…. So perhaps even a little sail? We eventually get off our berth… its still a drama… just slightly less than it was…. We swing the stern round, and go out forward this time……I reckoned on the wind pushing us quite hard off the pontoon, and hence trying to swing the stern round being a bit risky….. it worked OK,… but a bit amateurish… good job no one was looking! After we lock out, we motor up the river…. Lots of traffic going in both direction.. unusual for this time for the day… gets me to thinking… Eventually,… 2 coffees and one and a half hours later, we are reaching Shotley….. bloody hell….. the annenometer is now reading an average 20kts, and guts hitting 25kts…… a (very) short discussion with SWMBO, and we turn around, and head back……. No real debate, it just seems the sensible thing to do….. lots of VHF conversation taking place about revised rendevous! So my thoughts at this stage are mainly… thank god we didn’t go towards Lowestoft….. The wind appears to have built steadily… its not just got windier as we went up the river, so we are now heading back towards Ipswich in a pretty stiff blow….. A short fray with the genny (heavily furled) just so we can say that we have sailed, confirms my thoughts… not only is it a bit windy for us, but it is also all over the place…. Another good decision…. We head back to the lock, and I report in to get locked through….. Ipswich Port Radio, Ipswich Port Radio, Ipswich Port radio… this is “Magna Carter, Magna Carter, Magna Carter….. Over” “mkhgewfjhbf jhwgjwqegh, jhbwehbf” Why can’t these folk talk more clearly into the radio….. didn’t catch a bloody word of it… “Ipswich Port Radio this is Magna Carter… just letting you know that we’ll want to lock through shortly” “kehwfbkwhef njhegfjwegjhwgef jygjqwegf” OK……….? How many times can you ask them to “please repeat”? So I head for the lock….. it looks pretty full….. “Ipswich Port Radio, this is Magna Carter, the lock looks pretty full….” “whehwegf jywegfjwegewf jygejegf” Oh heck…. So its now blowing 25kts right up our jacksie…….. the lock looks pretty full… but deciphering the mumbo jumbo coming out of the VHF.. it sounds like he wants us to lock in…and besides… why would he have waited for us with the gates open otherwise? We stick our nose into the lock… there is ABSOLUTELY no way that we are going to fit in there!…. the guy on the outside of the rear raft is waving his arms frantically…. Nice communication mate… what the flippin ‘eck are you trying to tell us… can’t decide if its bugger off, or come on, get a move on…… About 2 feet later, I decide to abort… we are not going to fit… Full astern…… very windy…. She’s not going to stop….. yes she is….. slowly… slowly… the boat starts moving backwards….. thank you…. phew…. Of course, I am now motoring backwards against 25kts…. The next bit is kind of inevitable….. the stern starts to swing…… oh heck….. Argh…. We are nearly out of the lock…. Nearly nearly… she’s still swinging…… that barnacle encrusted, gelcoat ripping wall is getting closer and closer….. slowly… slowly… we just miss it…..what a relief…. Lesson… it doesn’t matter how many times you have to ask the port to repeat… do it until you have got it… and try not to do it from a handheld in the cockpit in 25kts of wind….. So we go onto the holding pontoon… a lot easier as its upwind….. The pack of waiting boats is circling… so eventually we cast off so that we are not left waiting while the later arrivals fill the lock…. We circle in the wind…. Interesting… but not impossible…. The lock is refilled from the inside….. and the gates re-open…… Now. This is definitely a sign of what is awaiting us……. The gates open, and there is a 40 footer sideways in the lock……. And loads and loads of frentic fendering and warping activity going on… this wind is blowing straight down the throat of the lock… and its bloody windy in there…. So it takes what seems to be an eternity for the lock to empty…. Including one red faced skipper motoring backwards out of the lock…. Crikey… now I’m really worried….not only have I got to face this darned lock, but I’ve got that difficult berth to get on to… on the closed side, with a wind blowing me off, and a boat in the next space……oh heck…. So we take a deep breath, and proceed, first boat, into the lock… I secretly think that the other boats have let me go first to protect their gelcoat! A bit of a leap for SWMBO, and we eventually brake the boat to a standstill… half way along the pontoon…. And walk her forward….. phew we are on….. Not too much drama with the other boats, but lots of looks of relief… and several comments along the lines of… thank god we’ve got that over an done with…. looks like I wasn’t the only one….. So we lock out… get the warps and fenders swapped over, and proceed towards our berth… Thankfully, as its really windy, there are plenty of helping hands on the pontoons, and we slip quietly, albeit at a bit of an angle, and without hitting anything else, onto our pontoon….. we get the springs on, and shut the engine down….. that’s quite enough adventure for one day thanks very much. Over the evening meal, we discuss out options, and decide that we definitely need to do a journey to a destination, rather than a day sail, and back to Neptune, so with the increased confidence of a much better weather forecast, and the memory fading ability of a bottle of good wine, we decide to set out in the morning for a short sail towards Titchmarsh Marina in the beautiful Walton-on-the-Naze saltmarshes…. Its not far, but it’ll give the kids a taste of going away from the safety of the home port…. It also has the added advantage, of being so close, that it means no early start, and the tides are timed nicely for best arrival at Titchmarsh at about 15h30… Sunday dawns to clear blue skies, and 10kts…. Marvellous…. All the visitor berths around us have filled through the previous evening, so what was tight is now ridiculous…… We however, at about 09h00 warp off, a near perfect manoeuvre… so good that the other berth holders applaud…and then look nervous, knowing that they now have a high standard to meet when their own time comes….. Our approach was to set a slip on the stern line…. SWMBO then released the bow, and walked the boat back. While I slipped the stern…. As the bow clears the other boat along side us, and SWMBO steps aboard, I choke the stern line to get the bow sliding round, and then pull the rest of the warp through…. We are then rotated nearly 90 degrees, and I slip her into reverse, and gently and serenely motor out backwards….. we are glowing… we made it look dead easy… a couple of old hands……I can’t stop grinning…. We lock in… again, an excellent manoeuvre…. As we stick our bows into the lock the mobile phone rings… C does her best to find it, and answer it, but doesn’t get there in time….Full of confidence, and delighted with our superb boat handling, I ring back when we are tied up… its Squidge…. They are afloat, and heading for Titchmarsh tomorrow, arriving about midday…. Great… the meet up is back on….we lock out…. And motor off down the river…. It truly fantastic out here… its warm, sunny, and blowing 10kts….. so up go the sails, and off goes the engine….. perfect… we are making a nice 5 to 6 knots, and everything is working as intended…the kids are having a ball… they are now laying in the berths, and giggling their heads off, as they roll off on to the floor, or into the wall every time we tack…… joy…. SWMBO is grinning from ear to ear…. Everyone is loving this….. a spell up wind at 30 degrees…. And then we free off, and reach over towards the Cork Sands Yacht Beacon….. the boat flattens off, and speed picks up…. We sail out to the beacon, and then turn around and head over towards Pye End, marking the start of the channel into Walton Backwaters….. We are now going with the tide, and according to the GPS, making 8kts over the ground…. Great stuff…. The distance to Pye End is chewed up, and before we know it, we are on the mark….. I can visual the next mark, the red can number 2, but also have set a waypoint into the GPS…. Primarily to show SWMBO how to follow the rolling road….. all works well… its is approaching 15h00, and we are just entering the channel…. Its an hour to high water, so we are at near the deepest time, and as a benefit still on a rising tide…. We work our way round the Walton Channel, and into the delightfully named ‘Twizzle’… my kids want to be here just because of the name….! I radio Titchmarsh, and am allocated a visitors berth….. Hotel 3…. We also pass the lovely anchorage in the channel… I am going to have to get a tender…. We proceed over the sill into Titchmarsh, and head down towards row H…. Its not clear where our berth is, so we grab the end of the pontoon… again a near text book manoeuvre… SWMBO merely has to step ashore and make off… the boat is right on the pontoon, and stationary….. I walk down the centre of row H trying to see what side 3 is on…. Bloomin good job I checked as 3 is occupied! After a quick conversation with the marina on Ch80 I am re-allocated H6… yes that’s free… its on the closed side, but with our new found skills and confidence, we’ll be fine…. As per this morning, we warp backwards round into the aisle, and gently motor backwards up the centre, past the designated slot. I then stick her in forward and gently place her bang on in the slot, which is now open to us….. perfect….. a complete day with excellent manoeuvring…. In the last hour, the cloud have come over a bit… its still warm, but the heat of the sun has vanished…..the kids are a little disappointed… they have been promised a beach, and have come fully prepared with buckets and spades…. By the time the boat is sorted it’s a little late anyway, so we end up playing card games below with them… a good evening by their reckoning despite the lack of beach….. We eventually retire for the night, and awake at about 07h30 the next morning to pouring rain…… oh heck….. We are stuck in Titchmarsh until 14h10 earliest, and preferably 15h30 or after… (we could have left at 05h30… but that wasn’t part of the plan), so we settle down for an hour or two to more quality time with the kids….eventually, we decide to get a taxi into Walton….its just a bit too far to walk…. Used to be OK apparently, when you could walk along the sea wall, but that had to be closed because of mindless yobs using it for joy riding… so now its a 3 mile trek….. and in the rain, and with a 6 year old….. that’s a bit too far… so it’s a taxi…. Only challenge is that between SWMBO and myself, we have about £2 in cash left…. But not a problem… we’ll get the taxi to take us via a cash point….. and that we do…. Only the cash point isn’t working….. ah says the taxi driver… an old fellow, with a thick East Coast accent….working for pin money…. Don’t worry, buy me a cheap paper… that’ll do….. no way we reply.., take us to another cash point…. Eventually we find one, and he is suitably reimbursed, along with a generous tip….. We wander around Walton…. Takes 10 mins…. Its stopped raining at last, but still very cloudy….. so a quick walk on the beach and a bit of shell collecting placates the kids… what a truly fantastic beach… I can only imagine how nice it would be in the height of summer…. and then, in a time honoured tradition, we retire to the penny arcades, and let the kids shove a couple of quids worth of pennies down the throats of push and shove machines….. they complain that half the pennies pushed over the edge don’t come down the winning chute…. A good lesson learned me thinks! We then discover one of those British gems…. The traiditional bakers, and enjoy an extremely tasty Belgian bun each….. yum yum…. So, we call ataxi back to the marina, and as I end the call, two things happen…. Squide calls… he’s at Titchmarsh, and the sun breaks out….. a renedvous is agreed, and we head back…… So we sit and chew the fat with Squidge and his family… all the kids seem to get on like a house on fire, as only kids can….. and we make our way to the resident bar/restaurant at Titchmarsh, ‘the Harbour Lights’ and have a pleasant pub lunch while the kids charge around and make general nuisances of themselves in the pub garden…… the sun is now hot, and all is well…. So slowly the clock ticks around, and we return to Magna Carter, needing to get ready for a departure…. The tide has risen considerably, and its looking good…… we slip at exactly 15h30, and after a further textbook manoeuvre, we very slowly make our way out of the marina, aware of the shallow water alarm sounding, and the limited depth over the sill….. all is OK, apart from when I drift slightly off course out of the mouth of the marina into the Twizzle where there is quite a set across the entrance…. After a heart-stopping reduction in depth to 0.2m below the keel, we are back in deeper water, and slowly re-trace our root of the previous afternoon back out to Pye End marker….. There is very little wind, and some very ominous black clouds threatening the reappearance of this mornings rain, so we motor at around 5 knots back into the Orwell, and back up the river….. Its nearly 19h00 by the time we are tied up in the lock… and again the berth from hell beckons…. Still we go in slowly, and this time, there is no-one to take the warps… we slip in slowly, and accurately, dead on the money, and tie up… again, no one hit, and a text book berthing…… great stuff….. we’ll be departing with our heads held high, and confidence through the roof! Half an hour later, we are in the car, loaded and ready to go…. After the obligatory trip back to the boat to get the bits that we forgot from the first effort, we are ready to depart…. As per the previous sail… the kids are asleep before we are out of Ipswich…… the SWMBO produces a cool bag from by her feet, with ham and cheese sandwiches ready made… what a star she is….. life is pretty much perfect isn’t it…..

Busy busy busy...

Well... Lowestoft Looks like its off the agenda... v busy.. with a Dragon class event on.... So been looking at alternative plans.... Sunday we are hoping to meet up with a fellow forum user and his family, to let our respective kids have a charge around. This'll be at Titchmarsh Marina at Walton-on-the-Naze... I've spoken to Walton, and they have 3 groups in, so also very busy.... suspect we'll chance our arm on that one... Saturday, is as bit more challenging... I initially thought about the Deben, but looking at the tides, and given that I'm a fin keel, I would need to go into TideMill (I don't have a tender yet!), and that would mean an 04h30 start to get over the sill on Sunday morning..... nah.... The Ore/Alde is a bit too adventurous for us at the moment... i'll wait until the family can handle the boat a bit better before attempting that one... So my thoughts turn south..... its a south-westerly forecasted, so if we go south it'll be into the wind.... but with warm temperature, and 18kts forecast, that'll be fine I suspect, providing we don't go too far..... We fancy Bradwell, as its a nice distance (about 25nm), so that the target... I've spoken to them, and they don't take bookings either, so optimistically, I suspect that's were we'll be heading.... Tides work well, with 08h00 depart Orwell on Sat morning, and 07h00 depart Bradwell on Sunday....and that should see us out of Bradwell creek with plenty of water to spare, and a decent tide supprted run through the Wallet, to/from Harwich... If I was a little more confident in the crews experience, then the perfect run would be across to Oostende, with the rest of YBW crowd... reaching in 18kts, and 28deg all the way!...ah well.....

Plans for the weekend...

We are hoping to do a bit of a longer passage this weekend.... Thought that Lowestoft would be a nice run, of about 50nm.... Forecast is looking absolutely fantastic in 3 out of 4 respects...... southerly or south easterly wind, perfect... a reach or run the whole way..... temperature of 28 degs (wow!)... good visibility....but the downside is its only forecast between 4 and 8 kts, so could be a bit of donkey work....... Sunday looks slightly less warm and poor visibility (but none the less still very pleasant), so thought that we'd spend a day in Lowestoft, and then Monday is about 10kts, and easterly and north easterly for a reach the whole way back.... with improved visibility again.... perfect! C is very keen to visit Lowestoft, having just read Arthur Ransome's Peter Duck, she is desperate to visit the location of the opening scene! I need to check tommorrow what the situation is with berths at Lowestoft's RNSYC, as thats in the outer harbour... otherwise its under the lifting bridge, which is a bit of a pain.... Timing is OKish for the tides, with an 05h30 start on Saturday morning, and an 08h00 start on monday, so nothing too serious..... I don't have charts that far north, so the whole plan depends upon the local chandlers near the boat having the two relevant charts in stock....otherwise its back to Ramsgate!

electrical

I did forget to mention that I stuck a meter across the batteries this weekend, while on the shore power/charger unit, and measured 13.8V, so nowt wrong with the meter... there is clearly still a problem in my alternator charging circuit that I need to track down... Given that the Alternator has been tested out as perfect, there can really only be three areas that are the cause 1] The SurePower charge splitter (which is a high tech equivalent of a splitter diode) 2] The cable from the Alternator to the splitter 3] The Excitor circuit Now....looking at the Sure Power unit, I previous stuck a meter across it, and measured very low voltage at the input, and virtually no resistance across the path to the battery, but very high resistance between batteries. That would seem to be the symptoms of a healthy unit I still haven't tested out the cable, partially because I'm not sure what resistance to look for, and its not easy to put the meter on when the engne is running to measure voltage behind the alternator, or voltage across the cable because access to the back of the alternator is limted, and very close to the spinning alternator belt.... The last thing is the excitor circuit. This might be easier to test, partially because I can switch on the engine circuit, and see if their is 12V at the alternator without starting the engine. Looking at the circuit diagrams that came with the boat, there is a diode in the excitor circuit. I am assuming that this is to drop 0.7V to the alternator in order to lift the overall charging output, and hence charge the batteries better. It is possible that this diode has failed.... and as a consequence, the Alternator isn't getting excited, and hence no output.... just a thought... So, I'll start with that... easily dealt with if its the problem...bypass temporarily to get a charge circuit working, and order a new diode and replace as soon as possible.... Otherwise, I figure it must be the cabling..... Sadly I'm not sailing this weekend.... SWMBO and I are taking a long weekend trip to Paris....

Bleedin....

So we got down to the boat on Saturday night and it, as forecast, was blowing its nuts off..... I stuck the instruments on, and even within the relative shelter of the marina, was measuring 25kts plus..... ho hum.... A disturbed Friday night sleep, by the creaking of the fenders against the pontoon (the wind was blowing us on), and by a wire halyard frapping against the mast all night (since resolved) meant a fairly early rise on Saturday morning to see the wind had not abated at all, if anything it had risen..... a very straightforward decision to not go out was made... not hard... So we wandered off into Ipswich town centre for a look around.... a really nice town... very pretty.... A final relaxed stop at Starbucks for a pleasant mid morning coffee see us back at the boat by about 12h00...... I had a number of jobs to do, that I giot on with... mainly fiddly little jobs.... I had vowed to trace the cable back to its plug for the Decca aerial stuck on a bracket in the stern cockpit locker... removing bits of trim, I eventually traced it back to a cut off cable just laying loose in the cable run.... ahem... so the whole aerial plus cable was removed and skipped..... I think the less 'extra' stuff in the wiring runs, the more likely to get uneccessary failures.... The second job was due to the new batteries. Despite buying exactly the same size batteries, the large one, the engine start battery, didn't quite fit in the battery box.... I had previously removed the battery box, and lashed the battery in place in order to get going, but this needed sorting, so I spent an hour cutting and sawing away at the wooden battery box to modify it for the new battery. Eventually it fitted, and I now have all the batteries safely housed in battery boxes, extremely well fixed down.... The third job was altogther more challenging. When we bought the boat she had a forepeak setup more appropriate to a racer from the seventies.... a complete set of lovely holly and teak sole boards, but then a metal 'rail' rather like a pulpit, allowing the sails to be stored, but that was about it. Above this was a fold down pipecot berth, rather like a metal framed hammock. This was fixed with special brackets glassed into the side of the boat. We are planning to remove this entire setup, and replace it with a more 'normal twin berth arrangement using teak veneered ply, and making up some new cushions....so...firstly I unscrewed and unbolted the metal 'pulpit', so that I had a clear floor, and then I started cutting off the pipecot fixings.... one came off very easily... clearly the glasswork hadn't been good, and it hadn't keyed itself to the hull... the second proved all together more challenging... it most definitely had attached properly!... I needed to be very careful, as I didn't want to damage the hull in anyway, so gently chipping and cutting eventually got this removed.... this second fitting took 2 hours to remove.... there are 2 more to go.... I gave up at this stage... lets leave it to another weekend....! Saturday evening found us sitting down to a pleasant on board prepared emal, and a great fun game of cards with the kids.... reading Libby Purvis' article in this months Yachting Monthly about sailing bringing the family together for quality time... I couldn't agree more.. Sunday eventally dawned.. a bright sunny day with a lovely 8ish knots of wind.... perfect.... We locked out of the marina at about 09h30, and made our way up the river..... just after SYH we raised the sails and off with the engine... bliss.... for the first time we are able to sail up the river.... what a truly beautiful piece of water..... We continued to sail out past Shotley, where we are hailed by a stranger in another boat.... He's yelling....."Its 'Sailorman' from the forum"...... excellent... our first forum rendevous on the water!.... nice to meet you Roger.. even it was only while circling each other in the middle of the Orwell!..... eventually we continue out past Languard point, and following the recommended yacht track, we sailed out to sea, reaching the Cork Sand Yacht beacon by about 13h00.... and then turned back to head for home... C had a little bout of seasickness.... it was I guess a little rolly out there in lightish winds, and she unwisely on my part spent about 1/2 an hour below.... still she seemed to perk up after being sick... I just hope she doesn't have too delicate a stomach... she has often been carsick... so only time will tell..... it is only her second sail, so she hasn't had time to find her sealegs yet....everyone else was unaffected... Eventually we are making our way up the river... its pretty much a dead run, so challenging keeping the sails filled.... I rigged a preventer on the main, and that helped..... As we passed RHYC, the channel is pretty narrow, and ther is a lot of traffic... we are right up against the starboard side of the channel and really need to gybe.... there is unfortunately a boat on our left slightly to stern, so I stick the motor on and just push ahead a little so that we can safely gybe in front of him... I set up for the gybe, and given that its a bit rolly from wash I pull in the mainsheet as we gybe.... unfortunately I get the timing wrong and as I lean in for the final handfull of mainsheet we hit a wash, and gybe....the boom just barely clips me on the crown of my head as we gybe.... bugger that hurt... SWMBO is distressed to turn around and find me with blood pouring down my face.... I hadn't realised that it had cut me that much, thinking it was just a nick.... but it was dripping off my chin! I immediately start thinking oh bloody hell....concusion and all those nasty things, so order a rounding up into the wind, and dropped sails..... It was chaos dodging all the craft making their way back up the river!... I did quickly realise that all was well though as I flaked the main, and worked hard to avoid blood dripping onto the sail... I reasoned sensibly that I couldn't actually be hurt that bad if I was still trying to keep the sails clean!... Sure enough it stopped bleeding in about 3 or 4 minutes, and besides a bit of blood on the decks to wash off, the panic was over! I can concur with the statement that head cuts bleed profusely!....... Getting into the marina starts as a treat... the lock gates are on free flow, so no mucking about..... we set the warps and fenders to port side and creep at a snails pace in towards our challenging berth.... the wind is blowing us off, so its going to be difficult..... We creep on, and immediately the stern blows off.... we are tied on at the bow, and A heavy burst of reverse and full lock drags the stern in close enough for me to leap to the pontoon.... and eventually we are tied up safely.... not the prettiest of arrivals... in fact absolute rubbish.... we need practice! So after a short relax, Magna Carter is put back to bed, and we depart for home... tired and happy....... but bugger its going to hurt in the shower later when I wash the rest of the dried blood out of my hair! Todays lessons...... 1] Be more patient... the gybe was largely as a consequence of me pushing on too hard to get by another boat... 10 mins of patience would have avoided it completely.. and we would have been in wide open water... 2] Teach SWMBO how to drop the sails... her big moment of fear was that if I had been seriously hurt then she would have been struggling to remember how to drop the sails herself.... 3] Don't let C spend too much time below at sea... at least not until we've worked our her sensitivity to seasickness....

leaks!

Among the many challenges I have set myself for maintenance and improvement of this boat (a list with 60 items on it.. I kid you not!)... one of the highest priorities is to identify and cure any leaks..... now she not a desperately wet boat, but she does have a little water in the bilges..... When we brought her round from the Hamble it raine pretty hard one day, and there was noticeable water coming through from where the mast passes through the coachroof (keel stepped mast).... when I looked through the pile of receipts and instructions I inherited with her, there was a leaflet on the seal used.... looks pretty straightforward, but thats my first challenge to seal.... its obviously related to the gator on the deck, but also possibly a little silicon sealant will help.... The other obvious leak might be a bit tougher..... under the engine in the section of area of the bilge is a puddle... its a bit oliy... so its being supplemented with a slight oil leak from the engine (pretty minor)..... but the water is either coming from the engine/pipework (direct cooled) which may be fixeable, or from the stern gland..... its a DSS stern gland.. My plan is to dry this area out at the weekend, and then look v carefully for where it is coming from....... hope its an obvious drip from a pipe! Whatever, its not too serious.... perhaps 3 pints of water in 4 weeks, with 200M and 30hrs of motoring.... There is also a very small drip from the port side cabin window.... these windows are perspex and permanently fitted... no nice chrome surround...... the port side one has a little sealant already added, so its clearly not a new problem!.... I'll perhaps remove them over the summer (8 screws) and reseat them... but in the longer term I'm contemplating replacing them with a decent set of portholes... it'll make the boat look considerably better, and add to the resale value no end I suspect....

getting off the berth

One of the challenges that I haven't yet mentioned is that my berth is on a finger pontoon that is at about 45deg to the main pontoon..... Splendid i hear you cry... dead easy to get onto... and yes you are right... its even port side too, so with a slight kick to port astern its really very easy to go in nice and tight and tidily..... However the challenge lays in the fact that the next row of berths are really quite close, and i'm still not sure yet how well she go in a straight line astern when under way..... with the rudder very far back, and a fin keel, I suspect that she'll want to turn rather than go in a straight line...... So my plan is to pull off under power, but leave a running stern line, and at the last minute choke the stern line to pull the back end round a little, and voila, I should be pointing in the right direction.....and if I do it gently with the stern line, I shouldn't even 'over rotate'.... But god help me if she doesn't want to continue in that direction, as there is not really room to turn her in the aisle.........cou;ld be messy.... :o)

Where theres a will...

A visit to Foxs on the way to the boat this morning, resulted in me being delighted that they indeed, as suggested by various knowledgeable folk, stock all the neccessary elctrical bits for me to undertake my days task of fitting the shorepower unit..... Foxs considerately relieved me of another £100..... So it was nearly 11h00 by the time I reached the boat... and bugger... i've forgotten the keys to the lock on the companion way cover........ bugger bugger bugger... its a 3 hour round trip back, so forget that.... I know... its a crap lock anyway, so i'll cut it off as it needs replacing.... great idea..... damn shame that my hacksaw is inside the boat though...... eventually I manage to get in via another route (details witheld for the sake of security!... and besides I've fixed that route now!)... so back out with the hacksaw, and 1 min later I'm in...... I proceed to start fitting the shore power kit..... one question.... just what sort of contortionist do you need to be to work on boats?... its very difficult drilling holes upside down, in the dark, with your whole body up to the waist inside a locker...... After 5 hours I've fitted the new boat power socket, run cable through various lockers and hidey holes to a Galvanic Isolator, and beyond to the intended new home for the shore power unit in a locker in the main area of the boat (which is immediately above the batteries), run cable to the batteries themselves, earthed it all, and neatly and tidily fixed everything down to keep it safe and secure.....For those interested I bought a cheapo crimp tool... hard work on the big terminals, but did them a treat in the end... Just need to connect up and i'm away... so i wander up to the marina office as instructed on the phone mid week to ask them to identify which power outlet to use, and to get the meter read....... "don't think there's any spare power there mate... think theyre all being used......"........ arghhhhhhhh Eventually, after getting the marina staff to wander down, a spare outlet is found.... he wanders off, and I plug in, full of anticipation..... naff all happens..... oh no..... So I start looking for voltage... none anywhere..... eventually, out of desperation, I swap the connector on the pontoon for another outlet.... and ping, everything springs to life..... It appears after investigation that the fella in the office didn't actually turn the power on properly after reading the meter..... in the end we get it sorted, and all the correct lights are on the device as per the instructions..... YES! So now, the batteries are charging from the shore, and I can use whatever electrical kit I like while plugged in......... result! I didn't have time to plumb in the 240V mains socket... that'll have to wait.... the cable is run, but the box and face plate needs mounting and wiring in.... that'll have to wait until next friday..... With the batteries charging I stuck the meter across the terminals.... still only reading 12.8V.... I'm becoming more convinced that the meter is underreading.... perhaps a new battery is in order in the meter...... Also noted that the pump was running permanently despite being on a float switch...... lifted the sole boards, and the sump hole had a little water in it, but not much... it just wasn't going down..... ho hum..... after much head scratching, and thinking that the pump had failed (a little rule one), realised that I had closed the bloody seacock..... opened it, and voila... empty sump and stopped pump in 5 seconds..... lucky I didn't destroy the pump! Last task before leaving was to get C's sleeping bag out, and retrieve the teddy bear from the bottom of it (we had to tell her that he was looking after the boat for us!)

yep... it was wrong!

My electrical bits have arrived, and as suspected the boat side plug is the wrong gender..... never mind... I'm guessing that there's a fair chance that if a chandler stocks electrical cable, then they'll also stock these plugs..... The wiring looks straightforward enough.... I do however still have to work out exactly where everything is going to go for the neatest set up..... One of my cockpit lockers has a special cut out to allow a cable to be passed through the lid with the lid still shut (for the autopilot cable), so it makes sense to put the shore connector in that locker... which is conveniently te same side as the two main batteries, the switches, isolator keys and the earth busbar etc etc.... I'm just trying to decide where to go the following weekend... it will be our first full weekend as a family on her..... might take a look at Bradwell perhaps?..... i've left all the charts and pilots on board, so I'll have to bring them back with me this weekend.... don't want to go too far, but enough that it feels to teh kids like we 'travelled'.... The weekend after that is non sailing.... I bought SWMBO a long weekend in Paris for Chrimbo, and thats the one... guess it'll be quite nice, but secretly i'd rather be sailing.... Its Easyjet to paris, and then a rather nice hotel near the Louvre.... The following weekend however does make up for it though as its the bank holiday weekend, and both SWMBO and I have wangled the Friday off, so thats 4 clear days on board...... whooppeeee.... I think thats the weekend that the SB crowd are planning to go to Oostende.... we'd love to, buts I think its a bit too soon in terms of my willing crews' experience and skills! Also, As mentioned a good few posts back, C has decided to forgo her Oppy nationals, and we therefore get a clear 9 days on the boat..... I have been having a bit of a think about what we might do, and am currently wondering about a trip Ipswich - Ramsgate - Eastbourne - Cherbourg - Brighton - Ramsgate - Ipswich.. It might be a bit too much in a week, so a fall back could be Harwch to Flushing and a week exploring the area.... perhaps back via a French port?

delivery pain again!

Bloomin electrical bits (for shore power)delivered today.... only I wasn't in.... flippin 'eck..... I've had to arrange to work from home tommorrow to receive delivery.... I've thought about the bits I ordered.... the combined RCD/switch/charger unit, and a galvanic isolator.. thats all fine... I did also order a socket to fit in the boat for the shore power cable to plug into.... only I think i've ordered the wrong gender.... i'll find out tommorrow I suppose..... I need to get some cable, cable clips to fit it neatly, and a 240V mains style plug for the boat.... I'll take a trip to the DIY store, and buy one of those nice tastefully coloured/shaped plastic faceplates and a back box, but need to get some decent marine grade cable plus P clips and stainless fixings, so I guess that'll be the chandlery at the weekend.... I'm stuffed if they don't sell it... anyone know of a decent chandlery at the top of the Orwell that stocks that kind of stuff? The weekend is a bit of a pain.... I've got a long standing commitment on Saturday at my Dinghy club to help out, so no Magna Carter on Saturday... and given the forecast, SWMBO has suggested that I go down to Ipswich on my own on Sunday and fit the shore power set up with some peace and quiet.... I'll try my damndest to get some of the other jobs done while I am it.... the list is now HUGE!!!!! I also need to work out how to crimp ring terminals onto the battery cables (assuming I can get ring terminals at the weekend!)... I think I might be able to borrow one of those crimpers that is

food for thought

Following a conversation this evening with TonyR (thanks Tony), I have additional food for thought ref my power challenges... The initial fault presented at lack of charge, showing just 12.3 to 12.4V at the batteries..... the batteries were confirmed as knackered... When replaced, I was dissapointed to see on 12.6 to 12.7V at the batteries.... thinking darn... the problem must be elsewhere.... Tony however made the point that this might be a symptom of a fully charged battery, and not a battery failing to charge! What I need to do, besides testing out the alternator to splitter cabling, is run the services for sufficiently long without the engine running to deplete the battery a little, and then see what voltage I get at the battery when the engine is started.... it might be as simple as the batteries just not needing charging as thet are fully topped up! Food for thought..... Maybe I can get my laptop back out as a PC based chart plotter after all!

Power crazy!

Given my previous issues with power, and the state of the three batteries, I fitted three new ones thinking that this would solve my power problems....... no such bloody luck.... still only measuring 12.6V at the batteries... and slightly more at the input to the diode splitter... so its either the cable run to the splitter (difficult to get at... the alternator is in an awkward position), the alternator (despite it being tested OK?) or the exciter circuit (?).... I'm slightly confused as to why the voltage isn't held higher at the battery terminals by either the solar panels or the wind generator, but given that there wasn't any wind much, and that the sun was a little hidden, i'm sticking with the basics for the moment!.... my vote is still for the cable from the alternator to the splitter.....might have to take a jump lead with me, and test it as a bypass.... Didnt have the time or inclination to work it out last weekend, so its the next challenge...... It has however prompted me to address one other need, shorepower. I can now hear all the traditionalists throwing their hands up in horror.... wind, solar, aletrnator AND shorepower!.... well... you obviously don't have two young kids with their long list of electrical and electronic dependencies, and also, I have several requirements for shore power myself... Firstly, with a direct cooled engine, its easier to fit a Calorifier and run it off the 240V thermostat, rather than try to plumb in a water feed.... Secondly, I have quite a bit of woodwork I want to do, not least fitting berths in the forepeak to replace the (extensive!) sail stowage area.... and it would be one whole load easier with mains power for tools... Thirdly, it would be really nice to be able to run whatever we like at night without having to worry about consumption... Fourthly, it makes my charging issues less pressing! Last, but not least, it also allows me to look at other needs such as a cooling plate for the cool box, to keep the beer properly cold! So, I've order the combined Dolphin battery charger/shorepower/RCD/Breaker unit from merlin, along with the appropriate Galvanic isolator and the female socket for the boat.... I've acquired a shore cable FOC from a caravanning friend.... I am going to have to buy a temporary domestic 3 pin socket to shore power 3 pin socket adapter to be able to use the shore power tools to fit it!... I'll need to source the appropriate cable for the DC and AC side, plus some electrical sockets..... Another challenge is.... how on earth do you crimp DC terminals yourself?..... Anyone got any smart ideas as to what else could be wrong with my existing setup?

perfect!

Well..... It was an interesting trip across from Ramsgate.... not a great deal of wind...... After leaving my house at 05h00, and departing Ramsgate at 09h30, we then had to motor for 13 hours...... had the sails up at one point, and they might have even added 1/2kt to our speed at one point...... highlight was dolphins just off North Foreland.... We decided given the poor visibility to go round the outside, via Kentish Knock.... we timed our departure to stem the tide for the first hour or so, and then get a fair tide with us.... so progress was painful until 11h30 or so.... Eventually we worked our way up the Orwell, tying up alongside at 22h30. A bit of a heart stopping moment when the depth shallowed out to less than 1m in the run into the lock into the wet dock, where Neptune Marina is located, and the new home for Magna Carter.... after some 'navigational assistance' on the phone my SWMBO also arrived from the land side! I then gave 'Yanita', my volunteer crew (many thanks!) a lift home, finally getting back to the boat at 01h30 the following morning.... That night we were treated to a superb thunderstorm, and despite this we all slept pretty well..... the kids raised us fairly early, excited about their first day on the boat (or on a boat bigger than a dinghy full stop).... after breakfast, and then a visit to the marina office to introduce ourselves, get our door keys/gate card entry thingies, and find out what number permanent berth we had been allocated, we set off towards the lock.... Slipping our previous nights berth was pretty straightforward... and the first stop needed to be the fuel berth.... this was going to be interesting given that SWMBO was on the ropes (pun intended), and there was another boat already on the (admittedly very long) pontoon, so I needed to go in front of her... I stuck the nose in..... and stuck her in reverse to pull the stern in.... perfect.... exactly parallel to the pontoon..... just 5 feet from it........ The other boat eventually, and thankfully took the warps, and we were soon tied up...... good news is that there was no raised voice scenario!... looks promising.... I needed fuel very very badly... for the last 1/2hr up the Orwell the previous evening, I had been panicking about running out of fuel.... to the extent that I had released the fastening for the anchor! 20mins later, I had put £13 of fuel in her... read it and weep MOBO owners!.... Off we set towards the lock.... nice and easy... port side to.... beautiful.... nicely alongside.. no arguments.. tied up and happy! Out we locked and off we went... After motoring round to Long Reach we stuck the main up... and with a gentle 8kts of true breeze we made gentle progress....we motorsailed round past Shotley spit buoy, and decided to just stick our nose out of the estuary and in to the sea.... as we passed Languard Head we unfurled the genny, freed off, and miraculously the wind picked up, and we found ourselves holding a steady 5kts with the engine finally off..... bliss.... kids all had a go at the helm.... I have to say that C, at 9yrs old, demonstrated that her time dinghy sailing had paid off.... she instinctively held her on the wind... and M, at 6 needed a little more help... but will have no problems if the first impression is anything to go by.... SWMBO even had a go! Tacking was a drama at first, and by tack 10 we had it down pat!..... So after 3 hours we freed off, gybed round, and headed back into the estuary.... as I paid out the sails, and we lost the benefit of the apparent wind we found the sails pretty useless... so we furled the genoa, and I then helped the kids to raise the motor sailing cone.... we motored back up the river... kids took on various 'challenges' as we made our way.... their highlight was, believe it or not, scrubbing the decks..... Their idea I promise you! So, about 4ish we tied back up in Neptune, and relaxed.... A decision was made at this stage.... We were all exhausted... late or very late nights meant that we were all very tired.... and the forecast for Monday was not looking too good, so we decided to close her up, and head for home... all weary, sunburned and very very happy..... its just over an hours drive to home from Ipswich..... kids were asleep before we made it out of Ipswich...... So...... A VERY successful weekend... a very happy family.... And a list of jobs to do as long as your arm............ happiness!