Gathering Bits

So the gathering of parts for the boat continues. Today I have ordered yet more service parts for the engine and drive and paid for the refurbishment of the propellers. This time of year always proves to be a bit harsh on the wallet as the gathering of bits continues.

Time and money spent on maintenance now though should hopefully pay off with a trouble free summer of cruising, even more important this year as we intend to cruise to the Scottish Borders on our own in July.

With the extra time ashore this year we will be able to spend more time on the finishing touches instead of the usual rush to get everything ready for Easter.  If this proves to be a successful strategy we may well pull Naughty-Cal out early in coming years as well. We have a lot of plans for Naughty-Cal so we need to keep her in tip top condition, which will only be achieved with time, money and elbow grease.

This will be weekend three of the 2014 maintenance session and we should hopefully start to get a few jobs ticked off the list. It has felt somewhat like we have been making more jobs for the last couple of weekends which can be a little disheartening, but fingers crossed for some real progress towards the end goal this weekend.

The weather forecast for the weekend looks better than expected, so although windy on Saturday it shouldn’t be wet and looks set to be a tad warmer than of late as well. This will be helpful as we have lots of outside jobs to contend with.

Fingers crossed for a productive weekend ahead.

Not much to report

Its a typical working week with not too much to report. 

We have been busy working on a plan of action for this weekends work on the boat. So far we plan to flush the drive through with fresh oil, refit the freshly retrimmed throttle panel and grease up the cable connections, do a few minor scuff repairs and then set about some polishing and of course more scraping! Oh and we need to remove the rest of the cabin carpets as well. 

Nothing too strenuous this weekend but we are reliant on the weather for most of the jobs. So here's hoping for dry weather. 

Karting Chaos

Just a few pictures from the weekends go karting for you today. As expected it got quite competitive with plenty of crashes, dodgy driving and sideways action. But in the end there was a clean race for the final.

A really great morning was had by all despite a few bruises, aches and pains the following day. The pictures didnt turn out too great due to poor lighting, the speed of the karts and not having time to take too many!!

 Start Finish straight

Ready for the next race.

 Jostling for position

 Are you ready to race?

And the winners.

And the winner was

And the winner of the E Pontoon go kart Grand Prix 2014 was.........

Mark Jessop, followed by Liam and the other Mark.

A great time was had by all 21 entrants despite a few bruises and aches and pains afterwards.

On Your Marks

Tomorrow is the day of the long awaited E Pontoon, Go Karting Grand Prix. It has been three months in the planning but the day is finally upon us. 

No doubt there will be crashes and bumps along the way and many aching muscles and bruises to compare in the pub afterwards. 

Who will be the champion, well the jury is still out. Only time will tell so watch this space.

Stuffed Chicken Breast

Another tasty dish for you to try today. This one is son simple to prepare and cooks in about half an hour so is ideal for a quick but tasty week day evening meal.

Mix grated garlic, finely chopped chilli to taste (or you can leave this out if you are not a fan of spicy food), grated reduced fat mature cheddar and a knob of "lightest" butter in a bowl. 

Cut a large pocket in your chicken breast and stuff the mixture into the chicken, really pack it in tight and then try to reseal the breast around the mixture if possible. 

Bake for 25-30 minutes at 200 degrees. These were quite large chicken breasts so they needed the full 30 minutes. Smaller ones can have five minutes or so less time in the oven.

Served here with roast potatoes and curly kale but can equally be served with a fresh seasonal side salad if you are cutting down on the calories for the new year. 

The carrot and the stick

With all the hard graft we are putting into the boat at the moment we need a bit of a carrot on a stick to keep us motivated and keep the work heading in the right direction.

Its so easy to get disheartened when you are faced with a mountain of jobs to plough through. Sometimes it can feel as though you are heading backwards rather than forwards, but it all comes together quickly in the final stages. These early stages of the spruce up always feel as though we are heading backwards.

So the carrot on the stick for this week, at the leas,t is the promise of a stunning two week cruise in July with Naughty-Cal gleaming in the summer sunshine as she skips along the east coast towards the Scottish borders. 

It feels a long way off at the moment but with the evenings getting longer and the nights gradually getting shorter we are heading in the right direction. Spring is on its way, you can feel it in the air and with it an urge to get the boat finished in plenty of time for our first break at Easter.