Another weekend, another project. This week required the salon hatches to be removed and the wooden supporting ring replaced. With two very damp winters and what is now looking to be a dodgy batch of Sikaflex allowing drips to filter through, the wood had rotted sufficiently that it required full replacement.

Off to the local lumber yard we picked up some Iroko & Mahogany hardwood for a very good deal (about £40 for 9m of 50 x 40) then set about removing the old hatches, cleaning up the deck & surrounds, then trimming and fitting the new hatches. What an effort. This photo was mid-way through removal of the old hatch surrounds.

Anyways, fitted the new hatch surrounds and have had reports from the guy working for me that there's been no leaks. We used 3M's 5200 this time to attach the wood surround with Sika 292 holding down the hatch itself, along with 52 stainless screws. That should just about do it.

What else. The guy working for me has almost finished sanding back the toe rail, so next on the list when the weather clears up will be to get a few coats of white paint on it. The deck also needs a re-paint in a slightly darker shade of buff.... or maybe we'll just go for a layer of Flexi-Teek. Watch this space.

Our autopilot also arrives in the next week or so and I'm working on acquiring a diesel cooker to replace the existing electric galley. Another 3.5 day boat weekend is coming up (the joys of consulting) so I'm sure there'll be more solid progress to report soon.

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Happy New Year to you all, and what an interesting start to the year.

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.....

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And the work goes on. Here we are, closing in on the fourth Christmas I've owned this boat and progress continues to happen. The new naming stickers went on last weekend and after a bit of rain, seem to have settled in well. The boot stripe stickering is having trouble adhering tho, so we might paint that on next time the boat's hauled out.

As some of you will remember, last winter was also truly a misery. Cold temps, constant easterly winds and snow. Having fitted the Mikuni diesel heater (which does a great job heating the wheelhouse and warming the rest of the boat), I finally got around to installing the wood / charcoal burning stove. What a revelation. 8 degrees outside with a chilly wind and we're working in t-shirts inside. Brilliant. I still need to build a box around it and perhaps install a 12V fan behind (circulating the warm air will up the temperature even further), but thus far it's definitely proven to be one of the best investments. And all for £120.

Of course, there are other ways of installing these stoves and I spied this one whilst on a "come over for a drink" evening. I won't name names, but the creative effort put into this install is just amazing.

The cooler weather has produced some great sunrises (or was that a sunset? I can't remember) and this has easily been one of the warmer winters I can remember in a long time.

And here's progress. The cabin's almost finished (I'll fit the TV this weekend and stuff all the excess materials into the cabin) and other than a few jobs, we're all set for test sailling the week of NYE. I think the plan will be to head to Osborne Bay (about 15nm) for an anchored lunch, before making a decision on whether to proceed up Southampton Water and anchor again in the evening, or return to a local anchorage. It all depends on the weather really, and whether it stays calm or blows up.

The next big trip then will be a circuit of the IOW (a good 12 hr / 70m sail) before next summer's week long trip to the Channel Islands. Big tides, tight anchorages and a Channel crossing all thrown into the mix. If it's going to happen, it'll happen out there....

Anyway, that's it for this week. The next update should be from on the water... Have a great Christmas.

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Now there's a post title to get you wondering what's going on. Sadly, no, the boat hasn't sunk. Yet. A good chum (Grant) and I have however spent the past two weeks tearing aspects of the boat apart that I've never really been happy with, and rebuilding them into something a bit more useful.

Let's start with the salon table. It was one of those great ideas in principle - use a heavy bit of wood on a skinny adjustable pedestal so everyone could sit around for some fine dining, then lower it for folks to sleep on. A sizable sum was spent on the pedestal, everyone oooh'd and aaah'd, then we realised the table pedestal just wasn't man enough and frankly, how many people were actually going to sleep over on the boat (see the next paragraph for more on this)???

Next, for those people who did linger at the end of an evening and we couldn't punt back to their boats, a forward cabin seemed a logical idea. That and I'm sure I'm going to find myself banished there at some point. Did I mention as well the desk was just not really working, the TV had no place to be bolted to, and those hundreds of DVDs on the boat could be swapped for a single memory stick containing THOUSANDS of movies?

Now this presented a problem. Building a forward cabin would mean a cupboard had to be lost, but building a cupboard under the table meant we had a new place to store things. Like rum (50+ bottles to be exact). Problem solved.

Bring on the demolition team. To his credit, Grant does amazing woodwork and hasn't destroyed the boat *that* much, but it did take a tonne of garbage bags and a good couple of hours to make the boat presentable for Lauren's arrival. Anyway, here's some pictures of the work in progress. I'll get some updated pics this weekend.

What else did we get up to.... hmmm. The boat now has a slightly darker shade of blue on half of it, the salon benches are coming along quite nicely and one of them now has a paperwork locker beneath it. I've also ordered the aluminium angle for building the new internal winch towers (which, btw, will allow for a full turn on the winches) and as of a brain wave late last night, am refining a way of storing various food stuffs in the bilge areas. Needless to say it's going to take up more money and time, but will of course allow us to store even more tins of beans, vegetables and fruit. Yay.

Updates to follow.

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