I wasn't about to start with this, but tragedy as my favourite (and only) stool to get into the front bunks for things has just broken - and it did this with me on it. Not hurt, but gave a bit of a fright. It was supposed to take the weight of an elephant, and I am definitely not bigger than that despite Dave's excellent cooking, but fall to bits it did. So now it will be back to the old box again which is not as good as it does not fold up and gets in the way. It was just about to go to a new home too - so there are small mercies I guess as it is still with all the other going to a good home bits. And it is still only early in the day, the sun is still asleep with Dave and it's not yet time for the weather forecast.
So back to the main part. Day before yesterday we were out on the mooring and it was horrid outside, windy and wet, so an excellent day to do the engine maintenance chap thought. My idea was to maybe do the odd bit of knitting while listening to the radio, maybe read a book or two....I dread engine maintenance as it means total destruction of the living space. 'Won't take long' says Dave, with that look of love in his eyes as he contemplates being able to caress the other woman in his life. I sometimes think she is the alpha female with all the love and attention that goes into her, but then she is pretty indispensable. She is brand new, fitted in place of the trusty old Perkins that has been the motive power for the last 25 years and which needed to go to a less demanding home (has been re-homed to a little boat on the south coast by another engine lover). I was allowed to choose between the red one and the blue one - so naturally we have the lovely silvery blue one. The engine lives in the middle of the saloon under the table, so this is a considerable evolution to get it uncovered. All bunks have to be cleared of the things that accumulate there like books and knitting, the top of the table has the drawers in it which have to come out and be stacked, the top then has to be carefully lifted up so the side leaves don't catch and somehow parked sticking up on the port bunk and wedged with pillows. The base is a big box, and this gets lifted and put on the starboard bunk, but by this time one of us is straddling the yawning chasm with the engine in it and has to take a leap over the top to park it. Then you look around and realise that when work begins the non-worker, me is now confined to the chart table, and this is chock a block with things from the saloon. And as it is raining then there is no option to sit in the cockpit and as it is freezing cold and windy the outside office under the spray hood is not an option. At least I can get to the galley.
So out come all the bits and Dave is as happy as a sand boy. You would have thought that years of playing engines in the Navy would have cured him, but not a bit. First is the diesel filter. Should be easy but won't come off. Tries one bicycle chain thing, no joy and holes in filter. Tries old undoing thing and happily it comes off. Now looks expectantly at me with a filter in his hand as he has not thought of getting a bin to put it in , but this is easily sorted. I retire for a bit to the steps with a book and then i am called into action. I am needed to go out into the cold and turn the engine on. So big coat, hat, outside furry boots on, I scramble out to turn the engine on. No joy, as there is air in the system. To cut a long story short this part of the exercise took a couple of hours, including getting out the spare battery. I would await orders up in the cockpit, Dave was fiddling around with injectors, the shout would come, try the engine start again, no joy, wait for further orders. The engine was not going to start. The voice of optimism from below assured me it would eventually, once it had had a good burp,but by this time i had added another coat on top of what I was wearing and demanded coffee to keep the insides warm. It is a bit of a problem if the engine won't start and the batteries are flat, as we would the have to go in by dinghy and recharge the batteries, and they weigh a huge amount, to much really to totter around getting them into the dinghy when the wind is up.. However, just as we thought the battery was going to give up on another attempt (we were now on the spare one pulled up from its hiding place under the floor), we had one last go and, behold, the magic sound of engine noise rumbled from below. with a sigh of relief I thought this was the end of engine maintenance. Not so lucky, even if it was now into the afternoon. We then had the oil change. Not too messy this time as he got a new gizmo to suck the old stuff out. Then the putting in of the new stuff. A minute later a big cry from himself - 'Jen , I think it's the wrong oil!!!!!' The can didn't say 'diesel engines'. So off he goes in the dinghy to sort it out. I am still on the steps with a book. Back with proper oil and then that bit's done. We are now well into the afternoon, as I had needed a short lunch break to feed the tummy. Now we are finished I think. Not yet. Bilge pump to connect up, and this needs my agile fingers to grope down into the depths under the coupling to join up the wires that had come adrift. Now we have the electric bilge pump again, so we shouldn't sink if we run out of energy to pump bu hand. Finished? No, need to go up and start engines again to get oil around so the level is right. Then it is the emergency engine stop. We had realised that we had no way of stopping the engine if the switch up top failed. so there is now a lovely bit of string we can pull. This meant going up top to start the engine so it could be stopped down below and make sure the string behaved. Then it was over, at last I could come back inside to the warm. Then back on with the box, the top, and the the drawers. A comfy seat at last and just in time for PM on the radio. Next engine day we will be alongside, I am sure I can think of shopping to do! To be fair, chap has realised why it took so long to get a good burp and promises faithfully it will be a doddle next time. As this happens every 100 hours I think sailing everywhere and absolutely no motoring should decrease the anguish quite considerably. But it is always good to end a day on a happy note, and the old boy was very pleased that his other love has been cared for and loved, and exceptionally pleased to have the bilge pump and pull string done - good to see him so contented. And I got some knitting in after all.
Thursday 28 January 2010
Friday 22 January 2010
HENRY IS FORGIVEN
I think Henry has had to pull his socks up at last - especially as he has heard my comments about Harriet. You will meet Harriet soon. Anyway, after I had written how he had given up trying to produce heat in the storm, he managed to get going at last, and kept on keeping us warm and toastie non-stop for the next 36 hours of severe gales. We found out he likes to run at full speed, none of this turning him down to a moderate level. Bit like a boy racer.
Harriet has been with us longer than Henry, and is the wind vane self steering gear on the back of the boat. Harriet has been having a bit of a check-up and some cosmetic surgery before the big setting off, and on our recent trips to Oban we have missed her. If Harriet is not working, then someone has to steer the boat all the time, rain or no rain. And as Dave is allergic to rain, this is a bit of a problem. Harriet is a gem, the harder the wind blows the more she likes it. She doesn't ask for food or cossetting, all we have to do is set the sails up the right way for the direction she has to go in, and off we go. We can retire below (keeping a watch out for other boats etc of course) and the rain can do its worst. She has travelled many miles, indeed she has even been around the world without complaining. So when I said why can't Henry be like Harriet, I think he perked his ears up a bit and took on the challenge. Maybe it's a man/woman thing.
Yesterday was such a change - we woke up in the middle of the night not because of a noise, but because of no noise - the wind had died. After days and days of really big winds the silence was eerie. We were able to go alongside, and I got off the boat for the first time in five days. The forecast was good so we have stayed overnight so I can get the early bus and go to Oban to do a bit of shopping and Dave can stay and tinker about with one of the little jobs that still wait to be done. I leave at 7:45, have 1 and 1/2 hours in Oban, get back at 1:30. Carbon footprint must be the size of a yeti!
Harriet has been with us longer than Henry, and is the wind vane self steering gear on the back of the boat. Harriet has been having a bit of a check-up and some cosmetic surgery before the big setting off, and on our recent trips to Oban we have missed her. If Harriet is not working, then someone has to steer the boat all the time, rain or no rain. And as Dave is allergic to rain, this is a bit of a problem. Harriet is a gem, the harder the wind blows the more she likes it. She doesn't ask for food or cossetting, all we have to do is set the sails up the right way for the direction she has to go in, and off we go. We can retire below (keeping a watch out for other boats etc of course) and the rain can do its worst. She has travelled many miles, indeed she has even been around the world without complaining. So when I said why can't Henry be like Harriet, I think he perked his ears up a bit and took on the challenge. Maybe it's a man/woman thing.
Yesterday was such a change - we woke up in the middle of the night not because of a noise, but because of no noise - the wind had died. After days and days of really big winds the silence was eerie. We were able to go alongside, and I got off the boat for the first time in five days. The forecast was good so we have stayed overnight so I can get the early bus and go to Oban to do a bit of shopping and Dave can stay and tinker about with one of the little jobs that still wait to be done. I leave at 7:45, have 1 and 1/2 hours in Oban, get back at 1:30. Carbon footprint must be the size of a yeti!
Tuesday 19 January 2010
HENRY HAS A TANTRUM AND DAVE GETS RESCUED
Well, yesterday was a day that's for sure.
First I will have to introduce you to Henry. Henry is a beautiful brass heater that we installed to keep us all nice and toastie in the Scottish winter. He took a lot of thinking out, and a lot of hard work by Dave to put him in as he gets fed diesel from a tank that needed to go in the next door bathroom and this required lots of copper pipe to get food for him in the saloon. Then he had to be tiled, and Dave set off to Edinburgh to see sister Jen and get tiles - very nice they are too. Then there was the drilling of holes to get the flue outside - the deck is solid steel, but at last he was in and all resplendent. we even spent a shedload of money to get him a special top for his flue that is supposed to let him work in strong winds. Henry is usually very well behaved I must say, and in the recent very cold, down to -8deg he soldiered on night and day without a murmur. However he has his ways and when the wind gets up a bit, or is a bit gusty, he shows displeasure by putting out a cloud of fumes and relighting with a big bang. This is thankfully very rare, he is usually totally fume free. Except yesterday. The wind decided to blow the gale that had been forecast and as that was a force 8, (over 40knts to you landlubbers) he went into a deep decline as had refused to work since as it is still windy. So we have had to resort to using the cooker to add a bit of heat to keep us happy. I dare say he will come to life when things ease up a bit.
Anyway Henry's little tantrum occurred just after Dave decided he just had to go ashore and get some food and the newspaper. It didn't seem too bad and it was only going to be a short time, nothing can go wrong in 20 minutes or so, can it? Wrong. He has just got over to the pontoons and marched off to the co-op when I noticed a)we were lurching, b) it had got dark and c) the noise from outside was something else. Poked my head out of the hatch and saw we had just received the full fury of the promised gale - 0 to 40 in a few minutes. So then tried to phone Dave to tell him not to come home - no answer. Tried again, still no answer and so it went for ages until at last he was out of the co-op and back on line. Said not to come home - the waves were up with pretty curling breakers on the top blowing spray everywhere. Not to worry says Dave I'll sit here and read the paper till it goes. It's not going, says I. Oh, says Dave. So next was a phone call to friend Steve the diver, who has a big boat. Laugh down the line and says he would be delighted to help. Told him he could keep Dave for the night or bring him home whatever was easiest. Doubt Dave would have been too chuffed to stay with Vivien and Steve as there are extra bodies as well as 6 dogs and a mad parrot. Anyway kept looking and finally saw Steve and Dave coming out towing our little red dinghy, Water splashing over the 2 of them, and braved the elements myself to help get the stranded mariner and the food supplies on board. Hard to get a jumping boat alongside, apart from getting things off it, but at last we had Dave and the shopping on board and .the dinghy tied up on the boat again. Relieved of his load good samaritan Steve took off like a rocket and went playing in the storm in his boat (I'm sure he has a good excuse for playing boats in a gale),before going back home, and once dried out Dave was able to sit down and do his crossword and Sudoku - which was the real reason behind the expedition. The fact that food for the next couple of windy days was a good idea too was probably incidental. So the wind is still blowing, Henry is still on strike, but we are warm and comfortable, lots of books, knitting and planning to do.
First I will have to introduce you to Henry. Henry is a beautiful brass heater that we installed to keep us all nice and toastie in the Scottish winter. He took a lot of thinking out, and a lot of hard work by Dave to put him in as he gets fed diesel from a tank that needed to go in the next door bathroom and this required lots of copper pipe to get food for him in the saloon. Then he had to be tiled, and Dave set off to Edinburgh to see sister Jen and get tiles - very nice they are too. Then there was the drilling of holes to get the flue outside - the deck is solid steel, but at last he was in and all resplendent. we even spent a shedload of money to get him a special top for his flue that is supposed to let him work in strong winds. Henry is usually very well behaved I must say, and in the recent very cold, down to -8deg he soldiered on night and day without a murmur. However he has his ways and when the wind gets up a bit, or is a bit gusty, he shows displeasure by putting out a cloud of fumes and relighting with a big bang. This is thankfully very rare, he is usually totally fume free. Except yesterday. The wind decided to blow the gale that had been forecast and as that was a force 8, (over 40knts to you landlubbers) he went into a deep decline as had refused to work since as it is still windy. So we have had to resort to using the cooker to add a bit of heat to keep us happy. I dare say he will come to life when things ease up a bit.
Anyway Henry's little tantrum occurred just after Dave decided he just had to go ashore and get some food and the newspaper. It didn't seem too bad and it was only going to be a short time, nothing can go wrong in 20 minutes or so, can it? Wrong. He has just got over to the pontoons and marched off to the co-op when I noticed a)we were lurching, b) it had got dark and c) the noise from outside was something else. Poked my head out of the hatch and saw we had just received the full fury of the promised gale - 0 to 40 in a few minutes. So then tried to phone Dave to tell him not to come home - no answer. Tried again, still no answer and so it went for ages until at last he was out of the co-op and back on line. Said not to come home - the waves were up with pretty curling breakers on the top blowing spray everywhere. Not to worry says Dave I'll sit here and read the paper till it goes. It's not going, says I. Oh, says Dave. So next was a phone call to friend Steve the diver, who has a big boat. Laugh down the line and says he would be delighted to help. Told him he could keep Dave for the night or bring him home whatever was easiest. Doubt Dave would have been too chuffed to stay with Vivien and Steve as there are extra bodies as well as 6 dogs and a mad parrot. Anyway kept looking and finally saw Steve and Dave coming out towing our little red dinghy, Water splashing over the 2 of them, and braved the elements myself to help get the stranded mariner and the food supplies on board. Hard to get a jumping boat alongside, apart from getting things off it, but at last we had Dave and the shopping on board and .the dinghy tied up on the boat again. Relieved of his load good samaritan Steve took off like a rocket and went playing in the storm in his boat (I'm sure he has a good excuse for playing boats in a gale),before going back home, and once dried out Dave was able to sit down and do his crossword and Sudoku - which was the real reason behind the expedition. The fact that food for the next couple of windy days was a good idea too was probably incidental. So the wind is still blowing, Henry is still on strike, but we are warm and comfortable, lots of books, knitting and planning to do.
Monday 18 January 2010
18 JAN10
Just had a word with Kate to wish her a very happy birthday. Most surprised all the parcels arrived by the due date - wish we could give her a great big hug.
Yesterday saw us doing a bit of entertaining. We were having trouble with a mooring buoy crashing into us as it was too close, so Vivien's fiance Steve, who is the diver who looks after us went down and had a good inspection of our mooring and then moved the offending buoy out of the way. Now we won't have to be like gypsies and move about when the wind is in the wrong direction for hitting the thing. So we had Steve and Vivien, Steve's 2 grown up sons, the 2 yr old grandson, Guinness the cocker spaniel (very wet) and Hamish the spring spaniel (exceedingly wet) all down below while Dave provided bacon rolls and real coffee for all. Knowing that we were expecting incoming we had scurried around before church to tidy up - one is so boat proud you know. It was great - Guinness was out of his brain when he saw dave and me, as we haven't seen him for ages. He was all over the place at first and then settled down for a real long grandma cuddle. I have missed Guinness cuddles that is for sure. We really enjoyed the company, more so as we have all been a bit busy of late and with not being able to be alongside for so long have missed seeing each other
Today is drop dead beautiful - calm, chilly but so sunny and blue, wouldn't be anywhere else (more or less!) and we are off to tidy up the cockpit and try to squeeze the biggest things into the smalles spaces.
Yesterday saw us doing a bit of entertaining. We were having trouble with a mooring buoy crashing into us as it was too close, so Vivien's fiance Steve, who is the diver who looks after us went down and had a good inspection of our mooring and then moved the offending buoy out of the way. Now we won't have to be like gypsies and move about when the wind is in the wrong direction for hitting the thing. So we had Steve and Vivien, Steve's 2 grown up sons, the 2 yr old grandson, Guinness the cocker spaniel (very wet) and Hamish the spring spaniel (exceedingly wet) all down below while Dave provided bacon rolls and real coffee for all. Knowing that we were expecting incoming we had scurried around before church to tidy up - one is so boat proud you know. It was great - Guinness was out of his brain when he saw dave and me, as we haven't seen him for ages. He was all over the place at first and then settled down for a real long grandma cuddle. I have missed Guinness cuddles that is for sure. We really enjoyed the company, more so as we have all been a bit busy of late and with not being able to be alongside for so long have missed seeing each other
Today is drop dead beautiful - calm, chilly but so sunny and blue, wouldn't be anywhere else (more or less!) and we are off to tidy up the cockpit and try to squeeze the biggest things into the smalles spaces.
SITTING IT OUT 13 JAN 10
Well, here we are with a branny new blog spot – never thought I would see the day, but after all the prodding I have given in. Can’t say how regular it will be, as internet access is a bit on the iffy side. We can get wi-fi on the mooring, but only if I sit in the outside office, and that has been most chilly lately with temperatures below zero and rather windy too. It is not possible to type with gloves on – how Jerome managed to type with his huge furry paws has always been a mystery to me.
It is just after 6 am, and I have crept out of bed leaving Dave dreaming of sunny places, made a cuppa, cajoled Henry the heater into life – there is a real gale blowing at present, 30 – 40 knots, and rain so he is a bit reluctant to get going. But he is now well behaved and life is pretty good. We are sitting pretty comfortably on the mooring, the occasional lurch, but given what it is like outside, can’t complain at all. I plan to write downstairs and cut and paste when I brave the elements to get the weather maps.
We have had he snow which was lovely to look at but chilly. Henry worked amazingly well and kept us very toasty until the day when enough was enough for him and he gave up in a force 9 – very very windy to you landlubbers. We resorted to using the cooker for a while, so life was still OK. Then we realised that the cooker was going very slowly indeed, not enough to boil the kettle before bed time. Thought light bulb – it was 8 below zero and we were using the wrong kind of gas. Purchas of 2 new cylinders of the right gas for cold weather and were eating again. The windy weather has meant we have not been able to get the boat alongside for a while, although we braved things a bit the other day as we were very short of water and it is not really possible to bring enough over in the dinghy – even if it is possible to get into the dinghy. Poor Dave found the water hoses on the pontoon were all frozen up and had to jerry can water down from the top of the pontoon while I scampered to the shops to make sure we were stocked up for the next few days. As soon as we had sufficient water we were off again thinking the worst was on its way only to find that things settled down for a couple of hours. Sod’s law is alive and well.
We are looking forward to setting off in the very near future – have a few little things to do, but nothing major. And the final beaurocracy – a total nightmare. I had no idea 2 simple folk could be involved with so much government paperwork. It’s driving me scatty. Funny how man jobs need to be done when the paperwork comes out!
The new radios appear to be doing what is expected of them, but won’t be sure till we set off as the long range e-mail etc can’t be tried out until we register and once you register you have to pay and we don’t want to pay before we have to. Help is at the end of the phone though from the chap who sold it to us. Must admit he has the patience of a saint as we have had to contact him a couple of times as we are not the most computer literate of folk.
We have quite recovered from the journey down south and have the most wonderful memories of you all. It was just so good to be able to touch base with everyone – even had Kate on the phone to join in, we missed her very much. Alex stole the show of course, he is such a charmer, he is going to get away with murder. Won’t be long and it will be baby on the move, so hard to realise he is the grown up version of the minute scrap of humanity in March. He is now growing into the 9 – 12 month sizes. I think Rachel had better put a brick on his head, can’t keep up with the knitting. Such a happy chap, biggest smile in the world – tells you what a super Mum and Dad he has.
It is just after 6 am, and I have crept out of bed leaving Dave dreaming of sunny places, made a cuppa, cajoled Henry the heater into life – there is a real gale blowing at present, 30 – 40 knots, and rain so he is a bit reluctant to get going. But he is now well behaved and life is pretty good. We are sitting pretty comfortably on the mooring, the occasional lurch, but given what it is like outside, can’t complain at all. I plan to write downstairs and cut and paste when I brave the elements to get the weather maps.
We have had he snow which was lovely to look at but chilly. Henry worked amazingly well and kept us very toasty until the day when enough was enough for him and he gave up in a force 9 – very very windy to you landlubbers. We resorted to using the cooker for a while, so life was still OK. Then we realised that the cooker was going very slowly indeed, not enough to boil the kettle before bed time. Thought light bulb – it was 8 below zero and we were using the wrong kind of gas. Purchas of 2 new cylinders of the right gas for cold weather and were eating again. The windy weather has meant we have not been able to get the boat alongside for a while, although we braved things a bit the other day as we were very short of water and it is not really possible to bring enough over in the dinghy – even if it is possible to get into the dinghy. Poor Dave found the water hoses on the pontoon were all frozen up and had to jerry can water down from the top of the pontoon while I scampered to the shops to make sure we were stocked up for the next few days. As soon as we had sufficient water we were off again thinking the worst was on its way only to find that things settled down for a couple of hours. Sod’s law is alive and well.
We are looking forward to setting off in the very near future – have a few little things to do, but nothing major. And the final beaurocracy – a total nightmare. I had no idea 2 simple folk could be involved with so much government paperwork. It’s driving me scatty. Funny how man jobs need to be done when the paperwork comes out!
The new radios appear to be doing what is expected of them, but won’t be sure till we set off as the long range e-mail etc can’t be tried out until we register and once you register you have to pay and we don’t want to pay before we have to. Help is at the end of the phone though from the chap who sold it to us. Must admit he has the patience of a saint as we have had to contact him a couple of times as we are not the most computer literate of folk.
We have quite recovered from the journey down south and have the most wonderful memories of you all. It was just so good to be able to touch base with everyone – even had Kate on the phone to join in, we missed her very much. Alex stole the show of course, he is such a charmer, he is going to get away with murder. Won’t be long and it will be baby on the move, so hard to realise he is the grown up version of the minute scrap of humanity in March. He is now growing into the 9 – 12 month sizes. I think Rachel had better put a brick on his head, can’t keep up with the knitting. Such a happy chap, biggest smile in the world – tells you what a super Mum and Dad he has.
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