exhaust elbow

While I was on the boat at the weekend, I noticed a little pile of salt under the engine..... there'd previously been a leak from the impellor face plate, which the previous owner claimed to have fixed.... so I was groaning.... however, upon exploration, I had to take back my curses, as the leak was in fact from the exhaust elbow, or more accurately from the water injector pipe to the exhaust elbow, which is a small and seperate casting, and appears to be pretty badly corroded....So, i'll replace this section.... lots and lots of dried (ish) salt around the area..... maybe a replacement elbow will let a bit more water through the exhaust and stop the slight case of steam that we have....I just need to get some measurements so that I can order the right bits....

Davits in!

A really productive day today courtesy of help from Jim....I stopped down Saturday night... i'd agreed to meet Jim at 08h30 on Sunday, and didn't fancy the really early start.... as it happens it worked out well, as Jim was early, and arrived at 08h00.... just as I opened the hatch!So... we did the sensible thing, and had a fried breakfast!The previous night, i'd managed to complete one other minor task... I swapped the pipes over for the sink sea water inlet, and the fridge drain..... the fridge never drained properly as the pipe looped above the bottom of the fridge, so that shoudl help... its not quite completely finished as I need a 90 degree elbow to fit the water inlet pipe in a way that doesn't foul the dustbin when the door closes..... but that's the work of a few mins....The breakfast didn't take long though, and soon enough, we were marking up for the Davits.... it took us until Lunch time to fit the first one.... we had to cut out the backing plates, and what with taking our time to ensure that we didn't make any stupid mistakes... it wasn't the fastest of jobs.... it was however, lovely and neat!We started the other side, and then lunch got in the way... Ham, Egg and Chips in the Shipwreck, wasjed down with a quick pint, and we were ready to finish the second davit.... which took significantly less time... we by now knew what we were doing, and it was in and sorted by 14h00....

Excuse the quality of the picture, its a mobile phone piccy... but I am pleased to bits with the davits.... they look very substantial, fit perfectly, and are very much in keeping with the boat.....So, with the davits behind us, we decided to take on another challenge... the cockpit speakers..... the first challenge was to remove the old VHF speaker.... which was more than adequately attached with sikaflex..... this eventually decided to let us remove it, after combinations of razor blades, screwdrivers and brute force.... it won't be re-useable i'm afraid!We hoped to use the wiring to this speaker to pull through the new speaker cables (we need extra cable for stereo speakers), and indeed it was looking good until just near the end, the join parted.... we ended up having to thread the cable by hand.... this was laborious..... but eventually fruitfull, and the cable was in... it was starting to rain, and by now 15h30, so a sensible decision was made to quit for the day... which we duly did......Really good progress, much to do... but a good start... many thanks for your help Jim.... it is very much appreciated.

sails

Genoa and cockpit tent taken to the sailmaker as well....Sailmaker doesn't think we need a new UV strip on the Genny, which is good, and will instead just tidy up in a couple of places...Cockpit tent is great, except one of the internal fixings to hold the frame in place has come unstitched.... that'll get sorted at the same time....Only money after all!

A new year

Sat doing nothing much on Sunday afternoon when I suddenly realised that Morgana goes back in the water in 6 or 7 weeks....Yikes... better get on and do a few of the winter jobs....So, will be down to her on Sunday... Jim is coming over to help, and between us, we'll fit the davits... or at least trial fit them. I need to get some plates made up to spread the load, but can't do that until I know how big I can make them... so i'll trial fit them without, measure up, and then get the plates made up... a good thick piece of stainless should do the trick... about 5mm thick!If I get time, we'll also try to fit a set of cockpit speakers.... one either side of the steering pedestal.. hopefully, one will use the existing hole left by the current VHF cockpit speaker, which I intend removing, as we are going to fit a dual station VHF, which has the speaker built into the cockpit mike... Jim and Lynn have rather generously bought these speakers for me as a birthday present! (must remember to get a load of speaker wire)Final job for the weekend is to try and remove the anode that sits on the end of the prop... it was replaced by the previous owner just before we bought her, so not had to fit one yet... and when she was lifted, I noticed that the anode was held in with a hex headed bolt, which looked a bit chewed up.... so not sure how easy that will be to remove... we'll see!Best take a long look at the rest of my list, and get some of the other jobs underway!

2007 in review

Well, what a year its been....January started as a cold an unpleasant month, with mixed feelings.... we didn't have a boat after Maggie had been sold the previous September, so I was somewhat glad that the annual delights of antifouling could be missed out, yet I was watching the weeks tick by on the calendar with our house sat stubbornly on the market and showing no signs of selling... and starting to see a saeson starting with no boat to use... it wasn't nice.Matters came to a head in January when we attended the boat show, and realised that this was an untenable position, so reviewed our finances, slightly reduced our budget and declared loudly 'sod it' and started looking for a boat...Several came on the market, including a rather appealing Sun Magic 44, that upon viewing was rather disastrous, with massive cracks in the keel grid. My heart was looking for a solution, but fortunately my head won out.... so we kept looking.... eventually a rather nice First and Feeling popped up down in the Solent, and we rushed down to take a peek.... not what we were looking for in either case... well actually the Feeling looked nice, but the decks were shot.... but alongside the First lay a rather nice looking Oceanis 400.... we asked for the keys in passing, wandered aboard... and there was our boat... we knew almost instantly.... it was just 'right'...A deal was constructed.... and with a bit of a last minute panic caused by the broker screwing up, but eventually solved, we collected the boat over Easter...I'm still waiting on the final bit of paperwork/letter... Ancasta, I haven't forgotten.... you clearly have.... shoddy. You didn't do a good job.A long windless trip back to the East coast with Jim, Lynn, Chris and John, and she was back in our new marina, Shotley....We made a few trips to start to get used to her.... what a wonderful experience... space, heating, hot water, comfortable berths, space in the cockpit... everything we'd dreamed of....By late May, as June crept in, we set off on the now annual Oostende trip.... great fun... what a pleasure crossing the North sea in comfort... and so much quicker!We proceeded to have a great week in the company of Sirenia and crew culminating in a brilliant BBQ on the beach at Stone Point... one of the highlights of the year for us....June too was a very special month.... besides a number of lovely sails, our dear friends Jim and Lynn hitched the knot in spectacular fashion, using their boat as transport to the wedding... another highlight of the year.... one we'll remember fondly for many years....July appeared rather quickly, and the weather hadn't been living up to the expected standards, but during the month, we organised the Pirate weekend, for which the weather relented, and we had a superb fun weekend, with a massive bonfire on the beach... marvellous stuff...As August approached, the summer cruise plans were being developed... a romp down channel was on the cards, but a slightly less than ideal forecast, along with pleading kids saw us back towards Holland... we ended up again on the lovely Bastien de Langeplaat island, spent a few days there, completely and utterly chilled out, cruised on a bit, visited some great destinations including Veere and Goes and then headed back to Ramsgate, crossed the Sunk (another big tick in the box) and then on to Burnham for the last few days of Burnham week with our friends.... great fun as usual, and then finished off with a wonderful night sail back to Shotley.... a first really for SWMBO... she's now done quite a bit of night sailing, but never set out in daylight, and sailed into the dusk and night.... she loved it!September saw our other annual event, the 'girls and boys' weekend.... as usual, a riot.... the boys were on Morgana this year... a bit of drama....miscalculating the depths over the Ore/Alde bar and loosing the steering... but nothing too exciting!!!!!!!.. as usual, we drank too much, ate too much unhealthy food, and generally misbehaved....Along the way, we all met up at the Deben for a lovely weekend at anchor....a good month.In October, the weather was frankly, rubbish... so it was with some surprise that Jim and I, after driving to Scotland to sail with Silkie, experienced superb blue skies and gently breezes to see the West coast at its absolute best.... another of the big highlights of the year....But by the end of the month, the weather had deteriorated to the extent that the planned 'last sails' of the season turned into trips to prep the boat for winter....November saw her lifted, and there she sits ashore, stripped out, with dehumidifer onboard, waiting forlornly for the end of Feb, when she'll be woken up, put back in her natural element, and the season begins again..... can't wait!Happy Christmas and a great New Year to everyone... hope '08 is everything you wish for!

All's well

Down to the boat yesterday...to check her over...All is well..Dehumidifier seems to be doing the job... boat didn't feel at all damp. Also grabbed the final few bits off the boat such as spare oilies and two sleeping bags....Measured up for a few jobs later in the winter such as a fitting the davits and a permanent plotter mount.We have a grab rail in front of the steering pedestal that I have used to mount the plotter to... its only temporarily fitted at present and i'm going to make up a wooden plate to fit it more permanently and neatly...Must get a few other things under way... the genoa needs a little attention... a few bits of frayed stitching here and there, and the UV strip needs replacing as its started to rip in one little place... better that than the sail I suppose..

empty

Down to the boat yesterday morning, and brought back a car full of cushions (and I mean a car full!), along with charts and books....Also put a dehumidifier and small greenhouse frost guard heater on board..... will have to go back in a fortnight or so to firstly check that the heater and dehum are OK, plus there are still a few bits that I want to retrieve....Ho hum.... still... its only 3 1/2 months till she's back in....