I went down, fitted my new Icom IC-M411 VHF/DSC, then went out for a little cruise.

The sun shone and all was right with the world.

Then it pi**ed down and there was thunder and lightning as we moored up!

 

Didn't bother today in the end. We'll have to give each other our MMSI numbers now  

Our Bombard goes in the undefloor locker with loads of room left...luvly jubbly

Do you like the built-in pumps by the way  

Well make sure you screw them up, or the boat deflates, as I discovered at the Cookham BBQ. I went to go home, and the boat looked like a used Condom, the engine nearly submerged  

I pumped it up, and it was fine though....

LOL thanks for the tip, when i first saw the pumps I thought they were having a laugh but they really worked surprisingly well, did not take that long to inflate.  I have an LVM Inflator but always usefull to have the built ins if I cant be bothered to hook it up to the battery.

Pacer Marine had a suzmar on offer as well, very nice and les money but more bulky so went with the Bombard.

Here in Cambridge we also seem to be on a roll with maintenance and improvement costs (trying to fit our new cd/radio/mp3 player yesterday without success - on top of new hoses, sound insultation and what not).

Not getting any cruising done of course but plenty of time working on and spending money on the thing!

Always admire anyone trying the single handed cruising particularly in windy conditions. The bro in law and I had a trial run from Tiptree to Cambridge last year - there were two of us but we took it in turn to be at the helm, work the locks etc, with the other person pretending not to be on board. We secured additional ropes to make it easy supposedly.

Well we sort of succeeded (if you don't count the assistance leaving our mooring!)- but all came adrift through leaving a fan on whilst we worked a lock which led to running the battery flat having failed to top up the batteries for some time!

Just as well we have a solar panel - forced us to wait in the sunshine in the lock until we got enough juice to get going again!  

--Last edited by brianm on 2008-07-07 11:51:51 --

Just a few more  

Took the brush and some kind of woody varnish stuff to the strakes and mast again last week, ended up refinishing quite a lot of the interior woodwork, which previously looked fine, but now looks utterly lovely (Bearing in mind it's never going to be a Fr**man) Also did the wooden rear bed supports, and floor joists (The ones exposed, between the removable floor panels) which don't ever appear to have been done, and I must say it looks classier.

Had a real good vacuum too, as we were plugged in, and killed all the Spiders, cleaned the engine bay again, and thinking of putting in a mini bilgepump so I can wash down the engine bay and not have to use a sponge and bucket to remove the suds...

Running out of things really, as I don't want to immobilise the old girl seeing as there are some exciting events coming up:

1/ Bray marina party
2/ Getting some cold beer from Ramages fridge
3/ BCC Barbeque



etc  

There seems to be loads of spiders this year.

I suppose they keep the flies down, but I wish they wouldn't leave so much mess!    

We've got a Hog Roast coming up this weekend at our marina, but the weather doesn't look good.   Still, a few bevvies and a pig sandwich cures most ills.

Sure does, but don't go too mad on the Pig sandwiches eh?  

"Had a real good vacuum too, as we were plugged in, and killed all the Spiders"

well if a bit of vacuuming could get rid of our spiders I would be more than pleased, every bit of internal or external equipment and every nook and cranny seems to be full of them. Last time I did a quick deck swab I was washing groups of them overboard only to see small grappling irons appear and them shimmying back up on those ropes they carry for themselves.

Spiders on boats (thousands of em!) is there any cure?

Frogs! Thats what you need.

I pride myself on my totally useless ideas  

I thankyou

SWMBO keeps chucking the beer out of the fridge to make space for Milk etc      

Frogs, eh?  

There ya go, Brian!  Get collecting!

(Brian has just installed a pond in his garden and he's got more frogs than he knows what to do with.)

We can talk about John behind his back at the YBW do, as he is unable to make it!  

Quote :

Ramage wrote : SWMBO keeps chucking the beer out of the fridge to make space for Milk etc

Get UHT cartons. No need to chuck that stuff in the fridge then.

Warm beer! noooooo  

If we talk about him behind his back, i've got this feeling we'll "regret" it at the BBQ  

A/ Ramage needs to have a serious chat with Mrs Ramage about the beer. He needs to show here who wears the trousers on Carli  

B/ A friend of mine successfully removed all the Spiders in his boat using the Frog method. The problem is, the Frogs have taken up residence, and keep blocking the Hoover up. I hoover up the Spiders, and then use a Spider spray to keep the bastards down for a while, and it's pretty good. A once monthly spray lasts at least a week.  

C/ Talking about me behind my back isn't a good idea, as I have friends in low places  

Anyway, where does the Beer go now.....

Do the frogs climb up the walls and sucker their way across the roof in true Mission Impossible style?

Or do the spiders shin down their threads and foolishly wander about the floor at nightime and fall prey to the frogs that way?

What you need is an amazonian tree frog. Lil buggers stick to anything woody.
I'm sure a Birchwood will be a good substitute.  

Careful with the Birchwood jokes, YBW have been a bit Liberal with them in the last week or so.

Bloody Freeman owners most of 'em    

Nearly finished.....LOL

My arse  :/

Latest jobs:

1/ Hood zipper requires replacing, I'll get both done, as the hoods quite sound otherwise, being quoted around £50 all in (Collected and refitted)

2/ Getting a quote for a shower cap for the roof. anybody else interested (Winter storage idea!)

3/ Still have to fill the holes left by the Davit bolts...booooring!

4/ Cabin carpet to replace. It's done with carpet tiles at the moment, which is horrible, like an office. I want shaggy '70's  

Thinking of a retrim in the cockpit, to get rid of the Browny colour. Not sure this is smart, as I'll be too scared to use the bloody thing....

Heellllp!