finally... a sail...

Well, the diaries have coincided, the forecast looks promising.... we're finally going sailing this weekend, come what may!

Also, the bits for the watermaker have arrived, so may try and get that finished this weekend if at any point the weather lets us down.....

can't wait!!!!

wonderful weekend

This weekend, we had the now annual Fitting up supper (yet again, our contrarian little group refuse to have a 'fitting out' supper)...

So... it was at Shotley again, and 37 people travelled by car, boat, ferry and lord knows what else to arrive...

What a grand weekend it was...

The weather almost played ball.... the sun shone its little heart out, but a combination of a Northerly wind, and it being around 20 kts meant that actually it was pretty cold.....

and so we wimped out of going sailing again.... and instead just meandered around...

well actually, Alan dragged me to the pub at lunch time.... and with a local event on to raise money for the lifeboats, with such entertainment as fire brigade demos of car extractions, a fly past by the local coast guard helo and guest slot form Yachting Monthly's Tom Cunliffe, I managed to remain in the pub until it was time to eat at 20h00... sigh!

An excellent meal with good company....

The next day, it was still a bit breezy and cold, although not as much.... but enough to discourage me from going sailing again... well actually... I was hungover to hell..... but why let the trruth spoil a good story....

We mooched again... and generally just had a thoroughly relaxing and enjoyable weekend...

Grand!

Just catching up

No sailing over Easter :(

This was making me very glum, until I saw the weather forecast..... thats's cheered me up a bit.... its not going to be terrible, but not particularly wonderful either...

We've got family commitments, that I can't get out of..... but on the positive side, we are getting them all out of the way nice and early.... and we'll definitely be on the boat next weekend...

With regards to other news.... my bits to finish plumbing in the watermaker haven't arrived yet... after 8 days.... so I mention it in passing to SWMBO, in the earshot of daughter..... "oh yeah.... they called on Tuesday... forgot to mention it" responds daughter !!!!!!!

So I call them, with all the usual thoughts rushing through my head.... "card has been refused", "don't deliver xyz by post", etc etc.... and then tell myself not to be so daft... maybe they just didn't have a bit in stock...

.... the reality..... the poor sods had their stores broken into the day after I placed my order, and every bit of brass in the stores was pinched...... they're nearly back to full stock, and the bits will be with me by Tuesday next week..... which is fine, as I won't be down on the boat before then anyway.....

They were incredibly apologetic on the phone..... and really quite a pleasant company to deal with..... ASAP is their name.... had several positive transactions with them previously too....

Also had to renew the insurance..... that was £330.... ouch..... and then even more ouch.... the bill arrived for the lift out and back in.... £580..... I know they need to make a profit... but crikey... thats a lot of money for less than an hours work..... other bill that arrived was the quarterly electricity bill...... I don't know if there is an error, but it was £143..... it was cold over the winter, and we did leave an electric heater on board, so its entirely possible that its correct..... but i'll be checking!

radar arch

I've spent a bit of time designing the radar arch, and checking it for clearance for a Hydrovane...

Firstly, here's the radar arch in all its glory.

And then, here's the same thing, with the clearances for the Hydrovane layed on.... this is based upon using the 'stubby' vane, and also the L sized shaft..... I may well get away with an M sized shaft, as this is the suggested option for an Oceanis 393, and the 411 suggests and M or an L.... if I can get away with the M, then I may even be able to get the larger vane on.....

The only things I haven't done are check clearance for the pushpit and backstays (I don't expect the backstays to be a problem).... I'll try and add the pushpit later this evening and see how that works.... I suspect that the worst case is that the horizontal bars may need some adjusting....

You'll notice that i've abandonned the idea of integrating with the pushpit.... its too difficult, primarily as the pushpit mounts at the front to the toe rail, and thus would need reshaping anyway, as this wouldn't be a strong enough mount for the radar arch if it is to carry a tender.

plumbing

Last night I ordered all the remaining bits of plumbing neccessary to fit the watermaker..... with a need to be able to divert the intake to sea water, fresh water and pickling solutions... divert the brine out over the side or back into a pickiling solution, and the product into a tank or overboard.... and pull the fresh water from the tank (for flushing) via a carbon filter to remove the chlorine..... and with pipes ranging from 1/2" through 3/4", 7/8", 1" and finally 1 1/2" it was a bit of a mental puzzle!

I think I am there.... a big pile of t pieces, hose tails, L-Port valves and jubilee clips are on there way to me...

If they make it before the weekend, then that will be a job to be done... failing that, then there are family commitments on my time, so no trip to Morgana....

Which will be a pain, as we have a major family birthday party over Easter.... (yes I did grumble at the timing)... so no sailing until 18th April otherwise!