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!!!!
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Monday, 20 April 2009
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!
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!
Thursday, 9 April 2009
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!
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!
Friday, 3 April 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
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!
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!
Sunday, 29 March 2009
spit and polish
Another thoroughly productive weekend....
Plan was to get a long list of jobs done, and a long list of jobs we did!
My Sister and Brother in law were down, with their daughter at an RYA zone squad training event, so they popped over, and SWMBO, the kids and S-i-L dissappeared off to Oulton, and then the shops, leaving me free to get on.... which suited me just fine....
Initial task (thankfully with the cockpit tent up, as it was thrashing down) was to fit two additional clutches on the starboard coachroof.... so we now have both the kicker and the spinny halyard/spare genoa halyard through clutches, where previously they had to be locked off to a cleat or through a jammer, neither of which made life easy...
Next came the fitting of a Hydrostatic release to the life raft.... I bought this nearly two years ago, and its been sitting behind the chart table taunting me for all that time... well hah!... I got my own back, and it was dragged out into the rain to do its job properly....
After this, I got round to mounting the watermaker on its new base....
Sounds easy huh?
Well.... if you count crawling through a small hole, carring 35Kg of metal and plastic, doing bolts up with one arm crushed into a 1" gap and the other twisted through 45° and inserted under half a metre of wood just 3" off the hull, then yes I guess it was easy....
The biggest challenge was drilling the holes in the base in the correct place.... after several abortive attempts to mark up, I eventually sellotaped several sheets of A4 paper together, dragged the watermaker back out of its tiny hole (remember its 35Kg), and made a template..... I then took a deep breath and drilled the holes....
The water maker is then dragged (at 35Kg!) through the tiny hole... this time with 4 bolts hanging out the bottom (no room to insert the bolts once its in place) so even more difficult without trashing the aft cabin, and plonked on the base.....3 bolts immediately drop straight through the holes.... the 4th?..... well that took 40 mins of cussing and swearing until it relented and dropped into position..... I then had to maneouvre my arms into unatural positions to tighten the bolts......
This was repeated for the pump unit, which proved a whole load easier... its smaller lighter and the bolts were accessible.....
So, with skinned knuckles and severely bruised knees, its was in....
I finally plumbed up the bits of pipe for which I do have the fittings...
I'm rather pleased with the end result even if I do say so myself!
Saturday night was one of those impromptu evenings that proved to be great fun.... Alan was about, down to collect his new boat, and so we gathered him and his crew up, and dragged them to the Shipwreck, where a quiz night was on.... with an excellent quizmaster who spent the whole evening taking the mickey out of everyone.... we came mid field.... not bad for the amount of Adnams and white wine consumed!
Sunday was a cleaning day..... We started by scrubbing the deck from bow to stern with boat shampoo.... lovely... all nice and white again....
Then the cockpit got the same treatment... it needed doing desperately, after getting a lot of muck traipsed in while she was ashore....
Next was the transom.... this had become rather grey... and had a few distinctly grimy areas around the Eberspacher outlet...... I had tried Oxcalic acid last season, and it had little impact on it..... so we tried a new approach.... we decided that a degreaser was needed... so SWMBO bought a spray dispenser of Cif..... well... wow!... this worked spectacularly well..... the previously stubborn marks simply wiped away, revealing a shiny white posterior again!
Last, but not least was the cockpit teak..... I had bought some of the highly recommended Wessex teak cleaner.... I can confirm.... this stuff really works.... on went the first component.... and off poured loads and loads of grimy black and brown gunge..... lots of water was applied, and the second component was sponged on.... revealing lovely rich reddy brown teak again..... all all with no sanding or damage to the teak through excess rubbing.... marvellous!
Swmbo, after depositing S-i-L and her offspring back to Oulton meanwhile attacked the interior.... oven was scrubbed to within an inch of its life, floors were hoovered and wiped, lockers rearranged and repacked... lots of accumulated junk disposed of, and generally making her tidy again....
We'll still need to do a little polishing below, and we've brought the carpets out of the cabins home to clean properly, but she's looking pretty good!
Only remaining jobs on board now are to polish all the stainless... eg the stanchions, pushpit, pullpit etc.... there's a lot of it, but it'll need doing..... and to use the teak cleaner on the cockpit table and grab rails... which shouldn't take long.....
Hopefully next weekend, if the weather is kind, we can get a sail in finally!
Plan was to get a long list of jobs done, and a long list of jobs we did!
My Sister and Brother in law were down, with their daughter at an RYA zone squad training event, so they popped over, and SWMBO, the kids and S-i-L dissappeared off to Oulton, and then the shops, leaving me free to get on.... which suited me just fine....
Initial task (thankfully with the cockpit tent up, as it was thrashing down) was to fit two additional clutches on the starboard coachroof.... so we now have both the kicker and the spinny halyard/spare genoa halyard through clutches, where previously they had to be locked off to a cleat or through a jammer, neither of which made life easy...
Next came the fitting of a Hydrostatic release to the life raft.... I bought this nearly two years ago, and its been sitting behind the chart table taunting me for all that time... well hah!... I got my own back, and it was dragged out into the rain to do its job properly....
After this, I got round to mounting the watermaker on its new base....
Sounds easy huh?
Well.... if you count crawling through a small hole, carring 35Kg of metal and plastic, doing bolts up with one arm crushed into a 1" gap and the other twisted through 45° and inserted under half a metre of wood just 3" off the hull, then yes I guess it was easy....
The biggest challenge was drilling the holes in the base in the correct place.... after several abortive attempts to mark up, I eventually sellotaped several sheets of A4 paper together, dragged the watermaker back out of its tiny hole (remember its 35Kg), and made a template..... I then took a deep breath and drilled the holes....
The water maker is then dragged (at 35Kg!) through the tiny hole... this time with 4 bolts hanging out the bottom (no room to insert the bolts once its in place) so even more difficult without trashing the aft cabin, and plonked on the base.....3 bolts immediately drop straight through the holes.... the 4th?..... well that took 40 mins of cussing and swearing until it relented and dropped into position..... I then had to maneouvre my arms into unatural positions to tighten the bolts......
This was repeated for the pump unit, which proved a whole load easier... its smaller lighter and the bolts were accessible.....
So, with skinned knuckles and severely bruised knees, its was in....
I finally plumbed up the bits of pipe for which I do have the fittings...
I'm rather pleased with the end result even if I do say so myself!
Saturday night was one of those impromptu evenings that proved to be great fun.... Alan was about, down to collect his new boat, and so we gathered him and his crew up, and dragged them to the Shipwreck, where a quiz night was on.... with an excellent quizmaster who spent the whole evening taking the mickey out of everyone.... we came mid field.... not bad for the amount of Adnams and white wine consumed!
Sunday was a cleaning day..... We started by scrubbing the deck from bow to stern with boat shampoo.... lovely... all nice and white again....
Then the cockpit got the same treatment... it needed doing desperately, after getting a lot of muck traipsed in while she was ashore....
Next was the transom.... this had become rather grey... and had a few distinctly grimy areas around the Eberspacher outlet...... I had tried Oxcalic acid last season, and it had little impact on it..... so we tried a new approach.... we decided that a degreaser was needed... so SWMBO bought a spray dispenser of Cif..... well... wow!... this worked spectacularly well..... the previously stubborn marks simply wiped away, revealing a shiny white posterior again!
Last, but not least was the cockpit teak..... I had bought some of the highly recommended Wessex teak cleaner.... I can confirm.... this stuff really works.... on went the first component.... and off poured loads and loads of grimy black and brown gunge..... lots of water was applied, and the second component was sponged on.... revealing lovely rich reddy brown teak again..... all all with no sanding or damage to the teak through excess rubbing.... marvellous!
Swmbo, after depositing S-i-L and her offspring back to Oulton meanwhile attacked the interior.... oven was scrubbed to within an inch of its life, floors were hoovered and wiped, lockers rearranged and repacked... lots of accumulated junk disposed of, and generally making her tidy again....
We'll still need to do a little polishing below, and we've brought the carpets out of the cabins home to clean properly, but she's looking pretty good!
Only remaining jobs on board now are to polish all the stainless... eg the stanchions, pushpit, pullpit etc.... there's a lot of it, but it'll need doing..... and to use the teak cleaner on the cockpit table and grab rails... which shouldn't take long.....
Hopefully next weekend, if the weather is kind, we can get a sail in finally!
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
clean teak?
Just ordered some of the fabled Wessex teak cleaner to see what it does.... it allegedly brings teak back to as good as new.... well our cockpit seats are looking pretty dirty, so we'll be giving it a real good challenge....
We also plan to have a go at the transom, which is looking a bit grimy from the Eberspacher exhaust.... I tried Oxalic acid last year and that didn't work that well, but have been advised to try a degreaser such as Cif....
That and scrubbing the decks and coachroof at the weekend should see Morgana all sparkly and shipshape again!
We also plan to have a go at the transom, which is looking a bit grimy from the Eberspacher exhaust.... I tried Oxalic acid last year and that didn't work that well, but have been advised to try a degreaser such as Cif....
That and scrubbing the decks and coachroof at the weekend should see Morgana all sparkly and shipshape again!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)