And she'll be nigh on perfect!

1/ Refit Propex (Fixed!)
2/ Fit new horn (Identical to old one, but new)
3/ Machine polish topsides
4/ Get hood zips replaced
5/ Fit larger speakers  

Then to the interior:

When Shamby is sold, I'll be having her retrimmed inside too.

Oh, deep joy...more cash  

Have there been any interested punters for Shamby yet?

Nibbles only, nobody hooked....

Hopefully the good weather will encourage the buyers out!

No bids, so dropped the price to £25,950  

Still, fitted the new Horn, refitted the home-fixed Propex which works a treat, and changed the trim screw caps, which look perfect (The old ones were faded, making the cockpit appear scuffy!)

Machine polished the bows and port topsides, so next time I moor, the stern and S'board will be done!

Hoods require new zips, otherwise she's starting to look really lovely for her age  

My arms are currently aching somewhat though  

Marian has been rubbing down the woodwork & applying stain to the sunbleached woodwork.

The Lowrance chartplotter went on strike yesterday, refusing to respond to the Page and Menu buttons. The manual was no help, but the support page on the internet tells you how to do soft and hard resets. Luckily the soft reset cured the problem.

Also finally got round to fitting a plug to the Engel fridge, so that now works on mains when in the marina or on the generator.

Cold beers all round then, you tight git?      

The Propex saga..

Had one, didn't work, bought s working but scruffy used one, robbed a part and got mine working.

So far, so good, but £120 out of pocket...

Put old unit on Ebay, as 'Not functioning' and picked up £80-odd so far

REEEESULT!  

And 9 hours to go....

It'll end up being a free repair at this rate  

I now have front speakers, making for a very nice ambience at low volume, and improved rear speakers.

The ever essential cockpit fan went in today too, a lovely little retro chrome device which took five minutes to fit, and works a treat without being too tacky or intrusive!

Slipped the Tender in the rear starboard storage locker to clear more room topsides and had a good tidy up.

Nearly there...

Quote :

No Regrets wrote : The ever essential cockpit fan went in today

Our cockpit fan was one of those tacky ones. Plastic blades, plastic cage, plastic body.

I say 'was' because, one hot summer day when it was whirling round at full speed, the blades disintegrated!  

Fortunately, no one was hurt, but we were picking shards of plastic out of the carpet for months afterwards!

I think it happened because the blades had been exposed to UV for so long that they'd perished.

Needless to say, at the start of each season we now check that the blades of our replacement (but still plastic) fan aren't starting to get brittle!

Maiden voyage from Bray on Sunday, as discussed elsewhere...

Cockpit fan 9/10:  Slight noise, but a welcome breeze, even on the low setting. This is essential for the Skipper, and an easy alternative to sitting on the roof steering with ones feet.

iPod with FM transmitter: 7/10: Allows music to be played on any unoccupied FM station on the boat Radio. Beats piles of CD's, and lasts all day!


Next time....

Remote searchlight on bows, to replace horrid car foglight.  

Quote :

No Regrets wrote : Cockpit fan 9/10:

Yes, gotta be good.

Quote :

iPod with FM transmitter: 7/10:

Ah, yes, and it can be taken out and used in the car. Clever!  

Last week, we bought an all-in-one car radio with CD, USB, SD-Card and MP3 inputs.  It was one of the weekly 'specials' from Aldi and we've yet to connect it all up.  Let's hope it actually works!

Quote :

Next time.... Remote searchlight on bows,

Do you do a lot of night cruising?  We've got one of these http://www.force4.co.uk/ProductDetails/mcs/productID/4416/ things and I must say that the most use it gets is when I use it to startle newbie crewmembers who insist on blocking my view by sitting above the bow windows while we're cruising.  

No, what you want is to fit something like these (I mean the sliding windows, not the stylish hats that me and my sis-in-law are wearing!):


Essential for keeping your cool in summer.

Mmmmmm...Sliding windows....Nice!

yes you would think that sliding windows gives a pretty good and comfortably cruising position - not good enough for my son who announced that he had sat on the roof and steered with his feet - which I thought a heinous crime until I see from a post above that you lot on the Thames indulge in that sort of thing!

but they are our pride and joy and we have little foam pads to put along the runners to make them really comfortable. Now I know you will all want them!  

--Last edited by brianm on 2008-07-02 10:16:11 --

I want them lol - did it come like that or was it a modification?

Nick

The previous owner but one made and fitted them himself. (He also fitted and marinised a Ford 1600 diesel.)  

As you can just see from the photo, the glass is slightly tinted which cuts down quite a bit of side glare.  The grey round thing which you can just see peeking out under my wrist is a length of 22mm pipe lagging which clips over the bottom aluminium window channel to make it softer on the arm.

The whole thing is perfect for getting a tan on your elbows!

To any thameseee based Birchwood. I'm in the marina this weekend but doubt i'll be going out. Weathers not looking good with strong winds and not from the beans i've eaten either!!!

Got a few jobs to tackle. New speakers for the stereo etc etc. Gonna shout for a radio check now the new mast is in situ and now i'm qualified to fill the airwaves with my droning voice.

So if any of the Thames massive are down give us a shout and no, not abuse!!  

We shall be down on Sunday morning, possibly cruising, perhaps not if the weathers bad.

See you then....

well still pondering whether to go down to the tub or not. Weather looks bloody shite tomorrow. Will do a weather check in the morning.  Perhaps a stiff drink will make it look better than it is

We went, it pissed down, so I removed the horrible cyclops spotlight from the bowsprit, and replaced it with a s/s flagstaff and pennant  

It carried on raining, so we went home  

I hate the bloody rain it costs me a fortune lol.  My wife just said she will be glad when I am back on the boat as I spend money when I am not moving lol lol.

So this weekend I have purchased a new Bombard AX2 2.4 metre, slatted floor good advice from John as it is half the size of the quicksilver 270 airdeck when packed in the bag. So finally we will be able to get use out of a dingy when on board and without davits.  The built in pumps work surprisingly well.

So now the gopod lady is moaning that the dining room now has a quicksilver and a bombard  ( she made me move it out of the breakfast room after I inflated in to test  it yesterday lol

Also purchased a new life jacket for the 10 years old

A folding picnic table and stools for the mooring

And I just had to buy some more shorts and t shirts

O and a set of speakers for the MP3

luckily the folding camping chairs with a recliner for for your feet were out of stock.

So in a desperate attempt to stop myself spending I went off to the boat before the shops opened again today and cleared out a load of junk ready for the Bombard and our up comimg holiday on Tristan in a few weeks time.

But Kris Crusiers are open on Sundays and had arranged to drop Tristan off today so they can do the 200 hour service on the Nanni 4.150, then thought they may as well service the Mariner 4hp and the Suzuki 2.3hp and hell some new windscreen wipers would be nice lol.  So even on the boat I managed to spend.

None of the family wanted to come down today so some single handed crusing.I arrived at Kris Crusiers even in a strong side wind I managed to get onto the pontoon with no big bang and get both ropes secured all on my ownsome lol.  I felt quite smug, not done much singlehanded on her.  My admiration goes to Geoff from Poole for the trip he undertook.

So all in all despite the rank weather I had a bit of fun at least.