The Dunkirk Few

Thought people would like to see this boat, moored behind us today;

She is one of the Dunkirk 'Little ships' that went to the rescue of troops in 1940.

Leander out for hull repaint

Just in case I get bored, we thought it about time to take 'Leander' out for fresh anti-fouling & anodes etc. It was a lot faster & easier then when 'Warrior' comes out & a lot less stressful too.

This is the first time Leander has been out since we bought her last summer; I was very pleased to see the hull in such good condition.

If & when we get a couple of dry days, it should not take long to apply the paint, fit a new annode & get her back in the water.

Cabin update

Just showing some update pictures of the work done so far.

The new cladding has had two undercoates.

I have turned the corner into a wardrobe for clothes etc.

Next project

I thought I would post the 'before' pictures of the front cabin, as it will be a long time before the 'after' ones are shown!

 We found this mess hidden behind a double curtain; we knew there was a recess of sorts, as boxes from our previous homes were put there when we moved aboard. What we did not realise was the second curtain was hiding a multitude of sins. I can't work out why the guilty party had gone to the bother of fixing skirting board!

The room was not this untidy before we started, honest! I took this picture after Steph had spent a couple of days dismantling things, so we could work with an empty room; we just need to find somewhere else to put all the stuff. I have ordered the timbers & plaster boards today, even getting them aboard will be fun.

Oh well, idle hands & all that.

Aft cabin refit.

With the March weather still not really warm enough to begin the annual repaint job of the outside, we decided to refit & decorate the aft cabin/bedroom. Due to the shape & size of the cabin, we could not alter it much; just finishing off the previous owners attempts at woodwork & giving the room a general lift with a new colour scheme.

It's a bit difficult to take pictures of the room, this is one I took after I began to take down the very poorly made backing to the alcove/shelf. The spray foam insulation can be seen on the right, the curve is due to the shape of the hull. This area had suffered from rain water leaking from the ill fitting metal hand rails on the stern deck; this has now been repaired, hopefully!

It is only now that the cabin is finished, we realise how drab & uninviting it was before;

I decided it would look better if the recess was not as deep & with a flat surface, so we could buy a nice mirror to give the impression of a larger room. Although the room is now completed, we are still waiting for the old doors to come back, if they don't look up to it, then we will have a new single panel door made.

Although we have begun to prep the decks for this summers repaint, it is still not quite the right weather for it so, we are now embarking on refitting the main & larger bedroom/cabin. After today's efforts, I am already beginning to wish we hadn't started! Watch this space.

Is it really still only February?

These are the days we remind ourselves of when the weather is not so good.

 Who would believe that just a couple of weeks separate the top & bottom pictures.

Not all plain sailing.

A couple of weeks into the New Year & our first problem arose. I had refilled our fresh water tank with about 900litres, went off to collect Steph from work, came home & went to put the kettle on---no water. Opening the hatch to the bilges, I found where the water was! Our pressurised water pump had waited for the tank to be filled, to spring a leak, sending all the tanks content into the bilges. It seems things can never be sorted straight away, it was four days before I could source & refit a new pump costing £360. This time, I went for a stainless steel version, so hopefully, it will last a while longer. The main problem was pumping out all the water, which was not deep enough for a bilge pump so, we had to resort to using our vax hoover & about 100 loads later, we still get some water finding its way back.

Although still involving water, February gave us a slightly messier problem, with the Sanilflo macerator toilet deciding it too had served its purpose. I did attempt to clean it all out to see if that was the problem, you can only imagine what that entailed! After the usual searching of the internet & local suppliers, we had to stump up £535 to buy a new unit; considering we were first quoted £816 by the same place, we were happy it was only that price. Even then, we had go without an on-board facility(posh eh) for almost a week, those offay with sailing will be aware of the 'bucket & chuck it' method!

We & our bank balance can now only hope that we can at least go a few more months before the next crisis hits.

During our visit to the Southampton boat show last 'summer', we came across Crystal Covers & after a good chat with Iain & Mancy, we decided to ask them to come along & give prices on a new cover for Leander & covers for the three sky-light windows that have been a problem since we bought Warrior.

Within a few weeks, the order was placed & deposit paid. We were hoping for delivery/fitting Christmas week but, unfortunately Iain was suffering from man flu & put the date back to the New Year. The slight wait was well worth it, the new covers are fantastic & have made a huge difference, especially to Warrior, we no longer have any rain leaking onto the French Oak flooring.

 The picture above shows Leander with new cover fitted. The dinghy in the foreground is our work-boat/taxi.

Roof-top view of Warrior after the new sky-light window covers had been fitted.

I have been forced into using google chrome in order for this blog to carry on working, the tricks they use to get you to change over!

Anyway, just when people thought we had got away with a harsh winter, the end of January & the start of February changed all that.