Hello Chas and Martin and anyone else reading, happy new year to you all. Thats christmas over and done with for another year.....the easter eggs will be in the shops any day now and then summer will be just a few weeks after and we can all look forward to some fabulous boating weather. Well, they keep telling us every year we are in for a long hot summer.......they could be right one year!! No maintenance to do this year, so just waiting for my new harbour pilot which still seems a long way off yet. Lots of bits on order including windows, but aperatures are cut out and templates forwarded to supplier to make. Things just seem very slow, but it will all come together in the end! Cheers. Dave.
It is so bloody hot here that we cant leave the house and the computers crash all the time.
No actually we are just too damn busy surfing!!
Sorry, have we made you jealous?
Dont be, we havent even seen the boat for some days and the weather has been too rough anyway. It's about 31 degrees and about 90% humidity. If you want to see what that is like, go to your local sauna with your clothes on. It's about the same. The air conditioner is getting a beating! Really uncomfortable to work in.
I hope all your engines are well and truly winterised, because we just heard on the news that you are having the coldest day of the year. I know you guys use heaters, but what happens if the electricity fails? I have been told by a friend that Holland is -20 degrees at the moment.
Dave, good to hear that things are coming together with your new boat. Is there a finish date yet? How much fuel will you carry?
Hello Harold, and all the best for 2010 to you. Not too sure you will get much sympathy with your weather while we are having it so cold here.....we are too busy skiing........apparently it was almost minus 22 deg. in Scotland last night....bet its cold in Stornaway Robbie? There is still a mountain of work to be done on my boat...in fact its hardly started really as I am sure you are aware we missed the build slot due to some delays in the moulding stage and some other problems, but as I said before, it will be okay in the end and completion is now going to be around the end of april....I HOPE! Kees, Hope your engine turns up soon. My Volvo engines were paid for about 10 weeks ago and although they are ready I haven't even seen them yet as they are in store until my builder is ready to install them! Going to have a nose around the London boat show next week and see what goodies there are. Cheers all. Dave.
Hello Dave, you say, 'hopefully be back on the water as soon as you find a boat'. Does that mean you sold your Mitchell? I am actually missing the tinkering and maintenance usually done through the winter months without my boat and my little Orkney doesn't require anything doing. Cheers, Dave.
All the best for 2010. Enjoy whatever it brings! It is snowing heavily in Holland and iceskating on the lakes at the moment! My boat is in winterstorage but I am looking forward to have her in the water in March!
yes i sold the boat about five months ago it went to poole harbour .
i do miss doing jobs on the boat but i had six good years fishing and mucking about on her . i just fancyed a change and a bit more speed
at the moment i have a bonwitco 500 with a 60hp tohatsu to play with ,i cruise everywhere at 20+ knots ,only trouble is there is no comfort and this time of year there are plenty of cod and whitting to go for but its just so cold on the boat with no cabin or cooker.
i had a look at a couple of boats which when you turn up are a load of crap after being told they are in good condition. why people have to lie ,i would rather be told they need a bit of work before i go to look at them ,i dont mind doing the work on a boat that i want.
dave
-- Edited by dave p on Wednesday 13th of January 2010 03:16:45 PM
Hi Dave, yeah I know what you mean about boats being a load of rubbish when you go to see them! I looked at a few secondhand but in the end I was fortunate enough to be able to have a new one.......whether or not it is justifiable really remains to be seen as I could have bought one that was down here for sale in the westcountry and spent money getting her to the standard I wanted. My builder in Plymouth had a nice Evolution 33 for sale which I very nearly bought.....he built it when things were a bit quiet to show the sort of standard they could do and he's been overwhelmed with boat building orders ever since. That standard, was the reason I decided to get them to build my 333! My little Orkney 520 is great fun with just a Yamaha 30 on the back, cruising at about 17 but tops out at 23 knots......the weather has been against going out though.....lets hope it changes for the better soon for all of us! Cheers, Dave.
-- Edited by fingers crossed on Wednesday 13th of January 2010 04:42:51 PM
Nice to have people talking again after a quiet period.
Best of luck with your hunt for a new boat Dave but having already sold yours you couldn't really be looking at a better time with the market being depressed, berthing fees coming up for renewal and summer seeming a very long way off.
I've still got two sections of fender to do (regulars will probably that I did most of it last winter) but as gelcoat repairs are necessary before it is re-fitted with stainless hardware, it won't be any surprise to know that not much has happened for the last few weeks.
I am rebuilding the galley unit at present as much of the work, I can do at home.
There are several reasons for having to do this job: firstly, as I have probably already stated on the forum, my boat was originally sold as "semi complete" and one of the things built by the first owner was the galley unit. In fact all of the things that the first owner made, whilst not necessarilly terrible, were not up to the standard of the work carried out by the original yard. The second reason is that when I fitted the spray deflector rails, I couldn't get sufficient access inside the galley unit to get to the through bolts so whilct trying to remove the front, it just fell apart in my hands, honest guv!
I'll post some pictures as the new one progresses but in the mean time, here is what it used to look like.
As the Iveco 33 still not arrived from England, I started in the below deck accommodation also.It was completely covered with carpet. And as it was wet once, the smell was terrible and mould was growing between carpet and inside hull. Once removed and cleaned I could start with covering all in wood. Its still freezing, but with the Webasto heater on 20º the epoxy glue hardens in a few hours.
I rebuilt my front bunks a while ago after I put the bow thruster in. When I did the thruster, the front cabin was completely stripped out but I tried to keep it as close as I could to the original.
The plywood bunk sides were replaced as they had quite a lot of holes cut into them for heater outlets and switches etc but I retained as much of the original woodwork as I could.
I still have to re-line the the whole of the boat interior but that will have to wait until I finish all the fibreglass work inside. Don't want resin all over it!
Cheers
Chas
By the way
The light looking stripes are where I bolted the spray deflector rails on then glassed the through bolts in, then faired them in with filler so that I could reline the hull OK then glassed the whole lot over again
-- Edited by chas on Sunday 17th of January 2010 11:14:56 PM
-- Edited by chas on Sunday 17th of January 2010 11:15:57 PM
Hi Chas, looks smart, did you made this all by yourself ?? What kind of plywood you used ? looks expensive. Are you using this boat for fishing ? you could welkom the queen in it.
Yes, I am basically doing it all myself and that's probably why it's taking so long.
The carpenter at the marina supplies me with the hardwood and machines it to my requirements. He also supplies the plywood.
The plywood I use in all exposed places is "Anchor" and yes it is quite expensive but it is the correct grain although the new plywood and solid wood is obviously much paler than the existing.
I cure this by giving it a coat of "Ronseal Jacobean Dark Oak" spirit type wood stain then a thouough soaking with "Deks Olja No 1" penetrating wood oil. On a few occasions where I have needed to make the wood a redder colour, I have additionally applied a water based gun stock stain.
I do try to retain or re-use as much of the existing wood as possible and I am trying to keep the boat "in the spirit of the original".
I'm using the boat for just cruising mostly with the missus although I have done a bit of diving on it in the past.
I used to do a lot of fishing years ago but can't quite work up that much enthusiasm for it these days, not enough big fish left in our waters, Maybe I should move with the boat to the Azores or somewhere.
Hello Chas and Kees, seems like you are both doing a good job on your boats interiors.........perhaps you would like to help on mine Things are slow as you can see from photos, but windows due very shortly, sterngear too, fuel tanks on order and engines waiting to be installed. Will post more when further completed. Cheers. Dave.
I like your pulpit rail, I want to replace mine at some point, Where did you get it made?
Hi Kees, looking at your photo again, it looks like you have lined the inside of the hull with ply. I don't suppose that was easy, I just intended using lining carpet in mine.
What are your reasons for doing this? It will obviously improve thermal insulation.
As far as I can see, the decks are balsa cored so they are quite well insulated.
My intention, once I have finished replacing / moving deck hardware and finally glassed up any surplus holes, was to line both the deckhead and hull sides with side lining carpet.
The only place I get any condensation (apart from a bit on the windows) when I stay on it in very cold weather (like this winter), with the hull still totally unlined, is a small ammount on the inside of the hull next to my bunk. I'm hoping the lining carpet will cure that.
Hi Chas, the pulpit rail, coach rails, ****pit rails etc were all made by a local (Plymouth) guy my builder uses for all his stainless handrail work. I have seen some of his other work and it looks good.... and I am pretty fussy. I could try and find out his phone number if interested? Cheers, Dave.
