A Gentle Start

With Naughty-Cal having been out of the water for so long, a shade over five months in total, we are going to give her a nice easy shake down cruise this weekend to break her back into the swing of things and check that everything is working as it should.

We will have a few bits and bobs to sort out on Saturday morning before we can set off from the marina but nothing that will take too long. 

We are planning to head to Saxilby for the evening and to hopefully fire up our first BBQ of the year. A whole four miles for our first cruise of the year, well eight if you count the return trip but still, it won't go down as an epic voyage!

From The Coast

Just a few pictures from our blustery bank holiday on the coast for you today. It was a pleasant day despite the threatening skies we didn't get wet but it did chuck it down with rain as we were driving home. I think we were lucky to stay dry.

Spicing It Up

This recipe is one that I discovered recently and it has changed how we have our Sunday lunches. Now we like a Sunday lunch as well as the next person but sometimes they need a bit of jazzing up and this is the perfect way to do it.

It is so simple you won’t believe it.

Simply chop up some potatoes and cauliflower and place in a large baking tray. Take one tablespoon of curry paste (all supermarkets sell this now but it need to be the paste) and massage the curry paste into the skin of a whole chicken. With the residual paste on your hands toss the veg around to give it a light coating. Place the bird on top of the veg and roast in the oven at 200 degrees for an hour and a half. Serve simply with some green beans.

So simple yet so delicious. We did this with duck last night which also works well but I think I preferred it with chicken.

Playtime

As Sydney has been such a good boy this weekend while we have been busy with the boat and when we had guests come to stay yesterday, we decided to treat him to a trip to the seaside today.

It was lovely and fresh on the beach and he helped us with some fish and chips.

All sorted

It was a bit hot for painting antifoul today. We were both baking in the sunshine. It is done now though and Naughty-Cal is ready to go back in the water on Tuesday.

A Mixed Weekend

We have a very mixed bag in store for this long bank holiday weekend. Something different planned for every day.

Tomorrow we are heading over to the marina to finish off Naughty-Cal. We only need to apply a couple of coats of paint to the bottom and get the fenders scrubbed and the ropes back on so it shouldn't take us too long and then she will be ready for relaunch on Tuesday next week.

On Sunday we have some friend coming over to stay for the evening. This will be our first over night guests in our new home so we are really looking forward too it. No doubt we will have a walk to one of the local pubs and then will return home for Sunday lunch and a few more drinks at home.

Monday we are going to take the chance to explore more of the areas surrounding our new home on foot with the dog. We are not 100% sure where we will end up yet but we are thinking perhaps a walk in Carlton might be on the books.

A Word On Paint

For almost as long as we have had the boat we have used an antifoul paint by Premier Paints called Premier One Can. It has proven to be a very cost effective way to keep the bottom of the boat clean and looking fresh.

Unfortunately this time we have decided not to use the Premier Paints product due to a massive increase in price that no longer makes the product an attractive prospect.

When we got the boat she was painted with Cruiser Uno which we never really liked. It got too much weed growth for our liking over a season in the water. So it was time to look elsewhere.

Several people have recommended Hemel Tiger Xtra. So on the back of these recommendations that is what we have gone for this time around. It has come in a good £30 a tin cheaper than the Premier Paints equivalent product which is about a third cheaper. 

Only time will tell if it will perform as well. Fingers crossed it does.