summary of the year

This will be my last blog of 2005, so thought i'd take the time to summarise the year... We bought Maggie in April, and after the usual round of hassle to get her ready for launch, exacerbated by being 4 hrs drive from the boat, we launched her at the very end of the month.... A delivery trip planned for a 4 day weekend, starting from The Hamble ended up prematurely at Ramsgate after we suffered terminal power loss.... the following weekend, I did the final leg from Ramsgate to Ipswich with fellow forumite, Yanita.... The battery problem was finally diagnosed as a failed diode in the excitor circuit, but we also replaced all 3 batteries anyway... Fitting shore power also helped in keeping everything fully charged... We enjoyed a VERY hot June and July with various trips around the locality, venturing as far as Burnham on Crouch, but our main destination, and favourite was Stone Point in the Walton Backwaters, where we spent several nights at anchor, and the kids enjoyed the beach... The purchase of a tender and outboard improved matters somewhat for us.... All throughout this, our boat handling steadily improved, and now arrival and departure is not a big issue.... In the run up to August, I spent more hours than I care to imagine building berths in the forepeak, and fitting a fridge... August saw us venture farther afield, with a trip across to Boulogne and Calais, again lucky enough to have fantastic weather.... Besides this, we also visited Brightlingsea, another favourite.... and enjoyed a drink or two along the way... ;-) Expecting things to slow down as we approached September, we were lucky in having superb weather right through to late October, and spent most weekends crusing around the area... Seem to have spent a fortune in the autumn on Radar, Navtex and various bits and bobs, as well as starting the process of recovering all the cushions... Other highlights includes dragging anchor, smacking my head on the boom, flying the spinnaker for the first time, and daughter C, seeming to miraculously cure seasickness...... So.... a grand first year for a family... they've gone from novices to absolute addicts in one season, and while they still have a huge amount to learn, are competent crew, and are willing and keen to venture farther afield.... So to boil it down to three words to summarise it all...... BONDING - HAPPY - EXPENSIVE Happy new year and best wishes to all!

Rope ladder

I've spent the afternoon (and various parts of the day making myself a rope ladder..... Cost a fiver for the rope from ebay, and a couple of quid for two cheap broom handles...... already had some varnish.... a drill, a saw and a sander, bit of varnishing and waiting for drying, and then 2 hours of knot work and I produced the following...

Rather pleased with myself, as it looks great... As its made from Poly rope it'll float so no prop fouling issues. The wood doesn't actually do anything other than hold the sides apart, and the ladder will work even if teh wood breaks.... It'll let us swim off the boat, and also aid MOB god forbid....

Christmas again

Another year vanished before my eyes! Not a lot boaty going on at the moment.... plenty of planning work for boat jobs, but not able to get down to Maggie to get anything done..... Hopefully we'll have an early start to spring with a mild March! We are still working on the itinery for our May trip to Oostende... looks like we'll go north to Vlissingen, through the Middelburg canal, into the Oosterchelde and then out into the Nth sea via the Roompotsluis..... Did make a rope ladder this week from Polypropolene rope and heavily varnished broom handles (wrapped in the rope to keep the sides apart)... looks good.... Must get on with the cushions and the sprayhood! In the mean time, all that is left for me to say is.... Happy Christmas all, and a great New Year

new berth

Should add that it looks increasingly unlikely that we'll get into the new marina that I previously mentioned...... A friend phoned me today to say that another of his friends can't get in, and I know that they were on the waiting list before me..... and their boat is a similar size..... must phone them tommorrow to find out the score.....

cushions again

Finished the first cushion...... rest being left until after Christmas.... Struggling to work out how to repair patch in sprayhood..... standard domestic sewing machine isn't upto the job...... after much time deciding how to sew it by hand, parents let slip that they have a sailmakers sewing machine in the loft.... humhhhh Spray hood got damaged after the boom rubbed across the top of the rear supporting bar, and just wore through in a couple of places.... got some spare material, so a simple patch will fix it..... obviously not a new probelm, as the same area on the boom/sail cover has a repair patch..... New 2006 almanac turned up.... so now we can start dreaming about our plans for next summer...... Initial planned trip is a week in May... a run across to Oostende, and then a week crusing in the area.... rerally not sure where to got yet.... need to look at the Almanac, but either North into Holland, or perhaps south via Dunkerque..... we did Calais and Boulogne last year, so perhaps prefer a north run..... perhaps just a day or two going north from Oostende, and then a trip across to Lowestoft (another of last years plans that never happened), and then back to Ipswich via Southwold (before its closed to yachts!) and the Deben (another of last years plans that never happened).... any suggestions for a short run North of Oostende for a 1.6m Fin Keeler?

cutting holes in your boat!

Spent the day down on Maggie today, getting a few jobs done.... On the starboard bulkhead by the companionway, there is (was) a Stowe wind direction indicator that had its mast head unit removed, so didn't work...... I removed it today, and have fitted the Plastimo compass in the hole left.... only had to make some minor alterations to the hole shape, so that helped..... I did need to put a plywood backing plate on the compass, otherwise, I couldn't get suitable location for the compass mounting bolts.... its a piece of 10mm untreated ply... so it'll need to come off in the spring to be replaced with a neater piece that is varnished to make it weather proof... Did manage to re-use the switch that previously turned the wind indicator on/off as a switch for the compass light.... after 1/2 hour of tracking down where the wire ran, and how it was wired up.... Also, spent 2 hours cutting apart the shelves and drawers by the chart table to make room for the Radar unit... got there... unit fits perfectly, and is now nicely located at the left hand side of the chart table, near the back... good viewing location, protected from spray and yet visible from the companionway...... Removed the dodgers an stowed them below..... Don't sound like much, but took me 5 hours to do all this..... Still, thats two more jobs crossed off the list..... just 68 to go.....

cushions

Spent 3 hours last night picking apart the old berth cushion covers, cutting new ones (from a roll of material we bought on eBay!), and then sewing them together with SWMBO's sewing machine..... 3/4 of the way through the first one..... only 6 & 1/4 more to go...... I'm really pleased with the results, and SWMBO is not sure whether to be impressed or pissed off......! Also, bought a Navtex on eBay...... now think I'm electronically about there...... and financially nowhere close......

winterising

Went down to Maggie today to start winterising her.... We may want to sail her ocassionally, so winterising is limited to things that can be reversed quickly... So, we took the sails off, removed all the cushions to take home, taped up various air entry points, and repositioned the dehumidifier.... the boat seems very dry, so its been making a huge difference.... We had the heater plugged into the same extension lead, and when I turned the heater up from its frostguard setting to warm her up, I popped the fuse on the extension lead.... never mind, just plugged the dehumidifier in directly into the socket... just hope it doesn't get too cold this week... We've drained down the water, and opened every locker... I'm down both days next weekend getting some of the long list of jobs started.... want to start repositioning the winches, perhaps mount the radar unit below, and take a few measurements such as where to fix the rope clutches, the forepeak cushions, the forepeak walls (for carpet lining)... and mount the compass in the saloon bulkhead.... one step at a time eh!

scrap the radar pole

Humh..... decided that the pole would look odd in the cockpit, so back to plan A.... on the mast..... now what shall I spend that Paypal money on...... perhaps a Navtex.....

radar pole

Going down to the boat on Sunday to check that all is OK, and that the dehumdifier is working as required..... While I'm there, i'll bring back a load more cushions, so that we can begin covering them.... Saw an interesting article in this months PBO about making drawers... another thing to add to the list! We are intending to move the liferaft from its current home below the chart table to one of the cockpit lockers.... that'll free up the space under the chart table to turn into storage space... thought a few draws would be good... plus some draws in the currently wasted space below the galley lockers.... Will need to box in the second locker so that I can relocate the fenders to it, but will also need to make the floor removable, as this is the only access point to the back of the engine, the shaft seal, the rudder post and the exhaust..... Last, but not least, I am looking at buying a radar pole.... the 24" raydome I have is a bit too large to go on the mast... I've found a secondhand one, but not sure what its worth.....or what the seller wants for it..... will need to relocate the GPS aerial to the same pole, otherwise I'll be growing a forest in the cockpit with the GPS, radar and wind gen all on their own poles!