weather again...

In an effort to turn this into a repetition of last years "lets whinge about the house not selling" blog, I thought that this year, i'd try the "whinge about the weather" blog instead....!Forecast for the weekend is rubbish again.... perhaps slighly warmer (but not much) and strong to gale fore winds..... sigh...On a more positive note, we managed to source a 15" LCD TV for the boat for under a £100, and a seperate articulating arm to mount it for £25.... not sure exactly where to position it yet.... the easy option is on the bulkhead, but thats not ideal for sitting positions.... so may try and fit it above the chart table... the works much better for the seating plan, and also opens up the possibility of turning it around for use as a plotter screen.... not sure if the arm is long enough yet though.... need to take a better look with the television on boardIts a 240V version.... over £200 cheaper than the 12V version.... I figured that with a decent inverter/charger combi being about £370, and with an ebay opportunity to sell the current Cetrek charger as a contribution towards the cost, that makes more sense... as we can then use the microwave away from shore power, and save the gas... and besides... i'm not sure that I trust a television to run on a 12V supply from the boat as it can vary from anywhere between about 11.5V to 14V.....For the TV aerial, we have a second VHF antenna up the mast.... this terminates at the chart table in a F series plug.... I sourced an F series to TV style adaptor... so a trial to see how well that works.... not sure that a VHF antenna is really optimum for a TV signal, but its got to be better than nothing!.... not sure why there is a second VHF aerial up the mast in the first place though.... hardly an emergency spare if they are both at the masthead!... Maybe it isn't a VHF aerial!.. i'll leave it in place if it is though, as it might make a future useful aerial for an AIS unit...So we sit here waiting on the weather to break into early spring sunshine....

quick visit

As planned, a quick visit to the boat today.... The tender was still fine in the davits.... nicely in place, ie not slipped fore and aft, or sideways, but after a week, had deflated a bit... so that'll need sorting this summer.... it didn't have much water in it... a bit, but not much....I did however want to deflate it, the reason for going down... to avoid it getting filled with snow later this week.... yep... snow.... welcome to British spring weather....The marina was noticeably fuller, but not a lot of evidence of anyone rushing to go sailing.... even just letting the tender down saw me with frozen fingers!Stargazer had, after reading a previous blog entry, talking about fitting a teak hand bearing compass holder, left just such an item in the cockpit.... many thanks John!Other than that, nothing to report.....

(Miles logged 0nm
Miles this season 0nm
Miles since this blog started 2,937nm
(though i'd just add that to reinforce my dissapointment at the weather!)

Easter plans come to a crashing halt

Easter is being cancelled!We've a 4 day weekend, and then i've got the rest of the following week off.... and typical.... the weather forecast is a shocker!Not only is it forecast to be blowings its nuts off, but they are also forecasting snow....Friday, as an example is 35mph, max temp 6deg, min -2deg, occ snow showers....Hardly ideal sailing weather... looks like i'll be staying home!I may need to go down and check out how the tender is fairing in the davits.... but it'll just be a day trip...sigh.....Apparently Easter isn't this early again for 142 years.... so not likely to be a problem for me unless there are some pretty dramatic advances in medical science in the next 3 or 4 decades!

forgot the tender

I didn't mention that the overnight deluge had all but filled the tender.... putting a lot of strain on the lifting points... the drain didn't drain easily.... it is one of the sort designed to drain when under way, with a rubber flap... so I poked a stick into the valve to jam the rubber open, lowered the rear to make it an even more extreme angle, and lashed it a bit more firmly to stop it tilting.... seemed to work... time will tell..

...and the heavens opened

When it rains in the UK, it sure can rain...We arrived at the boat on Saturday morning a bit earlier than expected... we had planned on M playing footy on Sat morning, but he'd been a bit under the weather Friday night (enough to not want to go to Cubs, so it must have been bad!), and so we told him, no footy on Sat. Instead we wandered down to Ipswich, and arrived at Morgana by 11:00...And, hoorah... the water was back on.... so we filled the tanks....I looked into the bilge pump sump to check if it was as dry as usual, to see it steadily filling with water!!!!!Now, logic stated that this had to be as a consequence of filling the tanks, and quick taste test confirmed this... and what followed was a frantic 15 mins of hunting around trying to find the source.... eventually it was traced back.... it was the flippin shower fitting that i'd reconnected over the winter..... ******!... however, a pinch up (as tight as I could get it) with a spanner reduced the leak to a drip.... enough to be able to take a breather and make a cuppa!We then unpacked the final pile of stuff brought down...I inflated the dinghy and got it into the davits.... looks great!And then the skies started turning black, so we put the cockpit tent up, and retired below.... and the heavens opened!So... a few jobs down below.... the clock and barometer were refitted.... the fridge was cleaned, and various bits of rearranging undertaken...Soon enough we ate, and then after playing cards with the kids for Jelly babies, we got an early night.... at least we tried to... the torrential rain, and howling wind made it less than easy...On Sunday, we decided to get a coupls of minor bits and pieces out of the way and then leave.... I turned off the tanks, and then drained off the hot water.... took the shower fitting apart and reconnected it using a load of PTFE tape.... upon refilling it seemed to have worked as the leak had vanished... once more job to cross off the list.... however, the wet locker yet again seemed to have been the final straw for the Eberspacher... it wouldn't fire... but finally, after an hour of coaxing, and drying.... away it went....So... by 11:00, we left... still raining... we headed towards Titchmarsh... I had a few vouchers for the chandlery there.... which I was able to spend only a tenner of... on some additional wooden bungs, so that I have enough to tie one to each seacock now... and a few bits of bungee, to replace the elesatic on the cockpit tent and on the curtains down below... both of which bits of elastic have seen better days....Home by 15:00.Ah well..... hope the weather is better over Easter.... but not looking promising at this long range....

task list

This weekends jobs list...

1] Remount barometer and clock... they were removed to fit glass, tumbler and spice holders last season... I didn't get round to remounting them as the glass had come out of the barometer, and in regluing it, I managed to get some glue on the inside of the glass.... earlier this week, I managed to remedy the situation with extensive use of Acetone...

2] Clean up generally... pre-season wipe down and polish of bulkheads etc etc...I may also nip to the chandlery at Titchmarsh, as I have £30 of vouchers for there... i'm planning on a teak compass holder and some more wooden bungs...

Other than that... not a lot to do but relax and chill!

Nasty weather

Its when you see forecasts like this, that you are glad the boat is back in the water...

Its looking pretty nasty.... not often the shipping forecast has 'Force 12' and sea state 'phenomonal' in it... hold on to yer hats!!!!

power

While wandering around the local superstore today, we noticed that small LCD flat panel TVs have come down in price significantly... we had a good poke aroud them, and sadly, all the particu;arly cheap ones are 240V, and the only ones with a 12V power supply are the more expensive ones....This got us to thinking about what the options might be...I've looked at the price of inverters, as we have a built in Microwave onboard, and its useful in the marina, but obviously can't be used away from shore power... its an 800W microwave, so not overly powerful...However, I have also noticed that the combi charger inverters aren't much more...So i'm thinking of taking the following approach:A combi inverter, that takes 12V from the batteries and delivers 240V, with a crossover switch, so that when we are on shore power, then that is the source... this has the advantage that it can share the load between the two sources, so you can avoid popping marina fuses if you want to boil the kettle while the lights are on!. They also have a built in battery charger...I've looked at the Sterling system, which also has a solar input, allowing instant regulation of a solar panel setup, plus allows an external source such as a generator in future to be used instead of shore power...It would also allow me to remove the existing Cetrek battery charger and shore power set up...Overall potentially a very neat solution...However.... the bad news... its either £349 for a qausi sine wave setup, or £600ish for a pure sine wave... neither is cheap... i would need to decide whether a quasi sine wave would be good enough...So, this afternoon, i've stuck the spare tender and outboard on eBay... add to that the £150 quide saving on the TV, and maybe that'll provide enough funding....Back to the subject of TV's, two other considerations... I have a spare VHF aerial up the mast that appears to have a standard F-Socket aerial connector... I have found an adaptor to convert that to a normal TV socket... so maybe that'll provide a decent signal... secondly, I need to review how I mount a TV..The obvious answer is to mount it on a bulkhead, for which we potentially have some space... this doesn't appeal for two reasons... 1] thats the best space for a really nice picture of family and friends, and 2] its in the wrong place for lounging and watching TV... a better position would be above the chart table, which I like as it also allows potential future use of the TV as a large display for the laptop basde plotter option!However, this isn't a bulkhead, its just a space with a pole at one side, so I need to explore the options for a mounting kit that use a pole... I know they exist....Plenty to consider....

blog layout

The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that i've changed the layout of the blog a little.... added a few more links, and more importantly, a Google map, with little markers showing where we are, and where we've been (well eventually, when i've got around to adding them all).I'm also working on putting in routes... but it took me long enough to work out the markers.... so don't hold your breath!Be interested to see what people think...

Editors note: this post was written when the blog was at its previous hosting home

no sailing this weekend

Skipping a visit to the boat this weekend.... firstly the forecast looks pretty ropey... and secondly, the fence blew down in all the wind earlier this week, so that needs fixing... Still... the old VHF and ST50 compass have arrived at new owners... and many of my bits and pieces that i've ordered over the last few days have arrived... including the 2008 alamanc, a set of code flags and 2 very large shackles..I ordered these shackles, as when leaving last weekend, I walked past the bow, and noticed with some horror just how badly corroded the existing shackle attaching the anchor to the chain was..... ideally, i'd put own of the stainless anchor swivels in... but reading the PBO/YM report from the middle of last year about the inadequacy of the cheaper ones left me only trusting the expensive ones like Kong... and they are really expensive.... and besides its been fine with a shackle up to now... I've not had any trouble with it twisting up at all...The weather really does look like it'll be very windy over the weekend.... so i'm quite glad we are back in the water....I guess we'll be down the following weekend though, as SWMBO wanted us to do a bit more cleaning... wiping down and polishing wooden faced bulkheads etc etc before easter..... which would be the weekend after that.... not sure what our plans for Easter are yet.... but maybe a trip up the Ore/Alde or Deben....

ahhh.....

It was fantastic to be back on the boat!!!!!!!A good few jobs done as well.....We got the sails back on.... easy enough with the Genoa, but quite a challenge with the main in a good stiff breeze.... still.... we got there.....the sprayhood is back on... thee liferfat is back ni its cradle... the danbuoy sits happily on the rail again... the lifebelt and light are back....... we're ready for sea!I couldn't get the tender in the car, so that'll have to wait until next weekend, or the weekend after...The engine started first turn, and my new water injector elbow was completely watertight.... so thats a good start too!Only downside was the fridge drain hose.... I'd previously mused as to whether the loop in the pipe was to stop the sea coming in..... and surely it was!......when I opened the seacock, the sea came into the fridge rather than vice versa!... sadly, with the loop in place, the top of the pipe is above the bottom of the fridge rendering it completely useless...... so... I stopped at the chandlery on the way home, and bought a one way valve.... lets see if that works... if not, the next phase is to buy a small electric pump and put that behind the one way valve... and fit a small switch somewhere... that'll work!You can tell we are back in early though.... still lots of spaces in the marina... definitely needed the heating on... and the water on the pontoon was still turned off.... so no filling the tanks.... and no testing the repaired shower fitting on the transom.... however... with the cold snap forecast for next week... no worrying about the pipes freezing either!