After a lovely, sunny December, the rain and wind arrived and with it, zero chance of getting any sailing in.
This was one of the quieter days by the way - we had >55kt gusts at one stage and coupled with super tides, well, staying put in the marina seemed to be a pretty good idea. Here's more photos of the yard - it's worth noting cars are generally parked around all the boats, but being the adults we are, the decision was made to take the tender for a paddle to see what else was floating around.
Anyway, no harm done. The boat made it through relatively unscathed although we've found a couple of leaks in the wheelhouse and salon hatches, so a crate of Sika 292 is on it's way from Germany and we'll have them re-bedded prior to summer.
What else.... progress is being made. The wheelhouse is now almost all white and the toe rail has been sanded back, ready for a fresh coat of paint to the deck (when the weather allows). The new sliding wheelhouse windows are also due in two weeks and after a few drinks, the final to-do list has been compiled. There is a bit to do (about 50 items) but the plan is to have it all done by the end of March, just in time for the spring season to start and some proper testing to get underway.
Onto a slightly different tack - the EU have implemented some changes recently as well so I'll be spending this summer upskilling. First on the list is a VHF licence, closely followed by an RYA Day Skipper course, which will allow me to obtain an ICC (International Certificate of Competence), allowing me to take the boat to Portugal and Spain. I've thought about a MIG course as well - as much as I love arc welding, most detail work requires MIG and it's one of those skills which will come in handy at some point during the trip around.
So that's all for now - back down to the boat on Fri & Sat to get a chunk of the to-do list done, and counting down 'til summer begins.....
Wild boat yard conditions - that's one way to clean up for the new year! Re:mig - should really take a look at tig if you want highest quality, cleanest welds. Tig is almost like brazing (ie t's pretty easy once the machine is set up), very small arc, no bb's - and the price of tig machines has come waaay down in the past few years.
ReplyDeleteHey Norm - indeed, we were joking with the yard that these floods were much more convenient than them cleaning all the post-Christmas rubbish up. Looks like we're still in for another week of wild weather before things calm down again.
DeleteThanks for the heads-up on TIG as well; I'll do some research into it and see what I can run off the boat systems....