Windy Weekend

With the weather proving to be a tad too windy for us to venture out this weekend we managed to spend the weekend fixing and fettling in readiness for next weekend’s trip to West Stockwith, a last blast for 2013.

First up was putting yet another 60 litres of diesel in the tank. With fresh, clean fuel we have noticed a remarkable difference in the amount of smoke not only from the engine, well exhaust but also from the Webasto diesel heater on start up. Just goes to show how careful you need to be when buying your fuel. Luckily we seem to have nipped any problems with dirty fuel in the bud before they became a problem. We can afford to be suffering fuel problems before next year’s big trip!

Next job was installing the new shower sump box. This has been a problem for the last few years. We had already replaced the float switch and the box lid on the previous one but then the pump failed. Sick of spending money on the thing we just bought a whole new unit. Whilst the box was out we took the chance to suck out the bilge water (from the leaky shower box) and clean the bilge area thoroughly, not a job that gets done very often it does have to be said. So out with the old, smelly box and in with the new which now works a treat, however as with all things it didn’t go smoothly and we have found another leak, this time from the shower waste pipe. I’m sure this boat likes having wet bilges. Luckily it won’t be a major job once we have the pipe to hand and the leak isn’t so bad that we can’t use the shower so not a major problem but a pain all the same.

With the midships berth reassembled we could then set about cleaning the boat. As usual I tackled the cabin whilst Liam set about the cockpit. As the bed had been dismantled to allow access to the bilges it made sense to fit fresh bedding whilst reassembling it and to also take the opportunity to fit the electric blanket, perfect for winter boating season. The rest of the cabin just needed a quick wipe around and vacuum as it wasn’t too bad but we do like to go away with a clean boat. The cockpit also needed just a quick wipe around but unfortunately by now the weather had turned too vile to wash the exterior, which is a shame but never mind.

Yesterday we took part in a session of go kart racing which was fun but left us all feeling very achy and tired after a half hour on the track. I think we all realised how unfit we are! Following our strenuous exercise we all retired back to the boats and chilled out for the remainder of the day, no exertion at all for the rest of the day thankfully. The weather didn’t really give us any reason to venture out again with strong winds and heavy rain so we took the chance to chill out, relax and unwind with a few Buds and some lovely slow cooked lamb shoulder and curly kale.

Luckily we appeared to miss the worst of the weather. Whilst we were lashed with rain for much of the night we missed the strong winds and subsequent damage suffered in the south of the country. In fact the wind dropping woke us up in the night as it became eerily quiet when the water lapping on the bow stopped!