Jobs on the boat

At long last I have been able to get to the boat to some work on it. I resecured the shore power socket. Cleaned the rear port cabin as there was some mould building up in there. Re - installed the water tank and tightened all the water connections. I have long suspected one of the joints has been leaking as I get water in the port bilges. As there are no though hull connections below water line in this side it must be rain water or water from the tank. Investigations continue.


As the weather was dry I decided not to delay and got the antifoul applied. Blakes Tiger plus did a very good job last year with only a small layer of slime evident at haul out at the end of the season. it was a bit of a rush as light was fading towards the end of the job. Not perfect , as the masking tape didn't stick in a couple of places. Ooops! Waves on the waterline.

It's been a rainy Weekend

It's been a miserable weekend and now it's over I can get down to some work on watanga. Lots to do as launch time is looming. I want to get it back in the water as soon as possible. The wind speed seems to have given up, the rudders are going to get a hush kit. Hopefully I have thought of a modification to silence them. Theres water tanks to refit all the soft furnishings to go back, and I still have to find out where the rain water comes in although I now have a couple of ideas. The stanchion bases are a favourite leak site and also where the shroud plates pass through the cabiin roof. so there a bit of work ahead.

Diet that infamous word.

I have been at 12-13 stone for some time now and while it's not obese I am aware that I'm still over weight. From age 17 through 35 I weighed exactly 10st 4lb and it didn't seem to matter what I ate or drank, the weight just stayed the same. However I was playing Rugby and squash and training once or twice a week.

Now there's nothing like stating publicly that you are going to diet to doom it to failure but here goes. I weighed in at 12-6 this morning and would like to get to betwen 11 and 11-7 for the summer. I also have read that you should aim to lose weight slowly so at 1-2lbs per week I aim to hit the top target 11-7 around June time .

This article on fat and diet http://members.shaw.ca/bodybuilding/Fat.html seems to make sense and I lke the idea of not stopping eating so lets see what happens.

High Tides and Storms

The sea was as high as I have ever seen it at Swanage today. With very strong winds from the southwest the sea in the bay was relatively flat. However there was still a significant swell coming in despite the offshore wind direction. The studland ferry suspended operations at high tide. The ferry was fine but the road leading to it was awash at times. It's not often you would be able to drive upwards onto the ferry.!


The pier head building was getting an impromtu pebbledashing as the sea surged across the road at pier approach and the Police decided to close this to traffic. The Mowlem too was getting a right pounding.

At Buckshore, the tenders on Slippery ledge were being jostled by the waves. Just as well they were all tied down. The sea was washing under the boats on the beach but local club members were there monitoring the situation, ready to move boats if necessary.

Another rush Weekend

The weekend's here again, Hoorah. It's almost like when I was working, slogging through the week only wishing the weekend was here. Still I keep telling myself it will all be over soon, house sold, other place rented, Sitting on the boat wondering where to sail next.

Still there's a social on this weekend with a meal and music from Jim Etherington to help us through the evening.

Sundays another blur of candidate interviews, the end is getting close only a few more to do. Frankly this is the best part of the membership job as you get to know everyone.

Have spent a lot of time today investigating the web for suppliers of various parts for the boat.

Putting up a new fence

It is sad to think that for over 25 years we have got on with our neighbours. For all that time we have had a shared alleyway between the two houses. Now we have decide to erect a high fence to hide the slum that was the house and the jungle that was once a beautiful garden carefully tended by the original owners. The place is now rented accomodation, and while the neighbours are pleasant enough, neither they nor their landlord give a monkeys about the state of the house or garden.

New Members

Dashed back to Swanage on Saturday night as I was interviewing for New Members at the sailing club on Sunday morning. This takes about 30 mins per applicant depending on how chatty thay are or how many questions they have. Everyone seems quite keen to help out this year. It's good to see enthusiasm in an applicant. No bad vibes from anyone yet. Had a sore throat by the end as had so much explaining to do.

Monday Back to London on the coach leaving Swanage at 7:30 am, back to work on the house. I need to start thinking about ordering bits for the boat, and scheduling the work in that needs to be done.

London Dinghy Show

About 25 members of the sailing club travelled to Alexandra Palace in North London to support the club as we had been shortlisted for thre RYA sailing club of the year award. As well as keeping an eye out for a bargain or two!

It was all very exciting, Swanage Sailing club had made it to the last five in the country to receive the award. We didn't win but it was a great honour to be up there amongst the finalists. Top honours went to Gurnard Sailing Club on the Isle of Wight. We were secretly relieved as once we saw the the size of the trophy we realised we would have to have a new trophy cabinet!!!

The floor finished

Well thats it done but in hindsight maybe we should have hired a cement mixer. Luke and I both have backache now.

Next onto fitting the doors, door furniture and refitting the alarm.

We are off to the dinghy show tomorrow, Swanage Sailing Club are in the top five shortlist for club of the year. There's a good contingent of us going so should be a good day out.

Luke hard at work, leveling the floor

30 years of not throwing stuff away!

All the bits and bobs that were banished to the garage are now piled up in half a garage. Theres no room to move. I will miss having the space to do stuff here. It's been a garage, a car repair shop, I've built a rowing boat in here, built furniture, mended bikes. Why am I selling it again?

The floor

Project Studio

With Luke now wanting to extend his music publishing capabilities further, we have gone into project mode and are extending his studio. This involves refurbishing the garage which has been in a state of disrepair for some years. The end and side walls of this end of the garage were cracked and ready to fall down. So after propping the roof up, I helped it on it's way. You can just see the bow in the side wall thats being held in place by bracing.






Then you rebuild it, adding a brand new door.

Yes I know the courses are not level but I felt more important to be able to "stitch" the bond into the side wall when the time came.

Once the walls had been built and the room was all cosy we put up 4" of acoustic lagging followed by two layers of 12mm plasterboard. The room became a lot quieter almost as soon as the last piece was up.



A hole was sawn through into the mixing room and a frame put in and sealed with caulking. This frame was later triple glazed.







Then the whole room was dry walled using the direct bonding method




Then we added the electrics all surface mounted

Next the floor!!!

Haven't even thought about the blog for months. As I have started a diary I suppose the next thing is to resurrect this. We have been away to guernsey, Watanga's longest journey to date and certainly the longest time away from home.

Guernsey was great, we went for the Regatta which had all sorts of things going on, Races concour's de elegance, sea shanties, sail pasts. Plus a host of evening entertainment. Survived the channel crossings, but found them a bit boring.

The Islands were a fun place to sail around with lots of pilotage challenges. That in lay terms means there were rocks everywhere and you had to be on your toes with the navigation.

Happy Christmas everyone, I hope you all had a great time, we were certainly busy, as is custom we hosted the whole family on Christmas day. That was 10 of us. I had the dinner preparations worked out like a military operation. Happy to say I nailed it spot on. Never been so happy with the way everything went. We were all so stuffed we didn't have tea and only a very light supper.

Boxing day was a funny one for me I got up went for a bath jumped out to find Nicky going out the door. Where you off to, I asked. To meet the relee's at Brentford was the reply. It was at this point I realised it was the middle of the afternoon, not 10 o clock or so that I thought it was. Should have asked for a watch this xmas.

Of to Swanage today sometime. Get ready for all the Parties. Well three anyway, should be fun
I'll try to get some stuff done on the boat as well.

Four Days to Xmas. Tommorow is shopping day for all but the perishables. I must make a list. The house is a tip the seond bedroom has two more walls to plaster and then decorate. I ain't going to make it. Never mind it was a good try.

Just saw the secret millionaire on TV. What a great tv idea, and what a nice thing for well to do people to get involved in. Sadly what a terribly put together program. Yes we get the drift from the title that the millionaire may be undercover but do we have to be reminded by the narrator every 5 minutes?

The more I work the more it piles up. After watching the floor fitter work laying my new laminate flooring, I was inspired to be more efficient and positive in my DIY work, and to be honest it's working. Having taken 6 -- 8 weeks to finish off the back bedroom, I have steamed ahead on the front bedroom. I have to replace the lighting wiring with modern stuff then skim the walls with plaster and it's ready for decoration, 5 days and counting. This may have to be postponed a while whilst Xmas preparations take over. It is a worry as I haven't planned the food and we've 10 people sitting down to the table oo-er. I don't mind the cooking it's keeping it warm and ready for serving that the problem.

Must buy some presents too.

It was meant to be a quick trip to Swanage for a meeting on tuesday and take the living room carpet up on wednesday. Things as usual took longer than expected and I didn't get back until Friday.

It was great to catch up with the guys from the MES department (a bit of a reunion) We went to the orange tree in Richmond. Graham, Paul, Mark. Julian, Elaine, Matt, Clare, Lucy, Ruth, Roger and myself.

What a windy week! Can't help but worry about the boats and if they are safe and standing up to the conditions, It's going to be blowing like this for the next week at least.

Meanwhile the Back bedroom is now almost finished. The doors has to be hung, also the curtain rail. bits of fitting and painting to do then we can move in and go on to the next room.

Xmas finish for the project is not going to happen. There are too may other things to do. Now wishing I hadn't gone into the trimaran syndicate. Another drain on my time is the membership secretaries job., I have no idea how much time that is going to take. Must organise my time better and not waste so much time with idle browsing on the internet.

What a busy weekend that was. Even so it was also relaxing. The Dinner and Dance was a great success this year with good venue, good food, and a great band. Little too much to drink but that is just par for the course. The AGM was much as it always is with no great changes and the usual turnout of regulars. The rest of saturday was watching sport on the telly. New Zealand demolished the welsh and South Africa beat the English.

Sunday in the active sailors meeting saw Greg take over as sailing secretary but little else changes. Tougher rules on winter berthing. Well no, thats not quite true, the rules have always been there, we have just been lax in applying them.

More interesting was the possibility of becoming a part owner of a 42 ft trimaran, We picked it up and moved it on Monday. It has seen better days and although it is very tatty it is basically sound. First job is to beef up the repaired rudder and then see how well she sails. Then it's a matter of deciding weather she is a white elephant or a worthwhile proposition.