a cautionary tale

Well this has been some year for all, what with Covid, nonsensical conspiracy theories and a dangerous petulant, narcissist wreaking havoc on a democracy but, given that we haven't sailed even a metre of distance there hasn't been that much movement to write about. Consequently this update will really just be about repairs, changes or cock-ups....

Last year I noticed the leather covering on the main mast hoops was showing signs of wear. Not the usual stitching coming adrift but the leather beginning to split. Given that they were probably made up 28 years ago I can hardly complain and recently decided I needed to get on and get the split ones replaced. In the end 5 of the 6 needed replacing and having established I had nowhere near a big enough piece of hide I bought one from a supplier. Natural not tanned and 3-3.5mm thick, it was ideal. 

 

The rings are about 30cm diameter so each ring would need about a metre by 50mm strip for decent coverage and once it had arrived I began the process of cutting off a strip then marking out the two lines of facing holes for the stitching about 5mm from each edge.

 

Stretching into the distance..

 It is much easier to pre mark this before you soak the   leather and I used a "pricker" to form the holes that will make the actual stitching so much easier. Having made the first pass and made sure the line is straight(ish). I go over the same holes a second time but it requires a mallet to drive the pricker through leather this thick and it all takes time. The pricker doesn't punch a round hole through but an angled slit which enables you get the first stitch through and leave enough room for the second coming from the other side. The needles are not sailmakers needles but narrower with a soft point that rarely snag the thread and a joy to use. The 1mm Ritza thread compliments the needles and being pre-waxed is easy to thread through the eye.

Having soaked the leather overnight I set to, having to work with the rings in situ was made difficult only by the cold weather - it was December. 

 

 

 

part of the process..

The wet leather is roughly formed by hand around the ring and then using two needles at opposite ends of the thread I push one in from either side (one from the left, one from the right), overhand the thread as they pass then insert each needle from the inside to the out so the left needle exits on the right side and the right from the left and haul tight, stretching the leather so it dries tight on the steel. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat... I wasn't particularly in any hurry so the individual marking out was done on one day, soaked overnight and stitched the following day. The whole thing took a couple of easy weeks as somedays standing on a foredeck in rain and wind lacked any sort of appeal. Anyway all five are now done, a couple of coats of tallow applied and I'll replace some of the mizzen ring leather too over the winter.

Five completed

Traveller

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The traveller was done at the end of last year, different leather, thicker and bigger spacing between the holes. The white is tallow sat in the indentations of the hide - but we're pretty much good to go.

 

 

 

As part of the checking of gear we'd hauled out our anchor chain to go over the links. Much of it was rusty which we don't fret over too much but a closer look at some of the links showed marked wear - from 10mm down to 8mm. It may not be significant but a rough calculation suggested we were losing more strength than we were happy with and we began to think about replacing. We'd got the chain second hand though with very little use some 10 years ago and it has served us well. But we always felt it to be too short and had gone on to chain and rode but much prefer all chain and punted around for what was out there. In the meantime, while we researched, we dug out the spares we have for the SL500 windlass as we wanted to check the gypsy against our existing one. Turns out to be for an earlier model and didn't fit anyway. But it had 6 "slots" for the chain whereas our existing one had 8. The new 10mm chain fitted the 6 slot gypsy very well whereas the 8 has a bit of slop but takes a 3/8 chain perfectly. Hope that makes sense. You can, if you're so inclined get Dave Webster to make you up a gypsy to fit the chain you use exactly although, understandably, you need to provide a new chain sample with the order before he'll start work.

Carbon from the elbow

The year long break also pushed us into those jobs we know we should do but invariably put off. The engine exhaust elbow was one such. Apparently these very expensive pieces of kit are prone to pinhole damage where the ally is welded to the stainless part. It's a pain to take off but worth it in the end. Although we couldn't really see much damage it had been on for 5 years and the resulting carbon was something to see and having gone to the effort we replaced the elbow keeping the old one as a, cleaned up, spare.

 

Before the clean up

 Apart from Covid, a reason in itself not to wander off for the summer, we've also had the distress of 3 friends die this summer from non Covid issues. The last one was actually Steve, a boat dweller here at the quay. Painful to watch him in his last few weeks; grateful for the kind friends who offered him a room in their house for his last months. Given the restrictions on internal gatherings his send off gathered, fittingly, on the quay where there was enough room for all to be socially distanced yet able to share the moment too. I'll never hear "Into the Mystic" again without having his send off come flooding back....

 

 

On a positive note, in October we began out 21st year aboard this fine boat and in August Toots started out on her 19th year of life with all but the first couple of months aboard. She's curled up on the table as I write, basking in the warmth of the stove. Of course those aren't the only positives we've found - Bee, ever active around and about came to know the two women, Jemma and Hazel who run a brilliant project called Cafe Abundance in the village. Rather than waste the food that many supermarkets end up with they have persuaded said s'markets to donate the food to them. Actually by donate I mean food becomes available and Jemma drives out, loads up the van and returns late at night when it's all unloaded, stuck into freezers before being reloaded and taken down to the kitchen. Once a week they cook up whatever they've been given and turn the food into a 3 course meal. Orders are sent in by Wed and on Friday a team of volunteers deliver anywhere between 80 and 130 meals to one of the two alternating designated areas. The price of the meals are what you can afford to give, the food would probably go to landfill if not used and it's far more important that folks get a good meal.

That rather bald paragraph really doesn't do justice to the amount of energy and effort they have put in to getting this thing off the ground - the days are LONG, particularly the Friday when the meals go out and possibly the most amazing aspect is, to us, that they have no idea what food will be passed onto them, the dietary requirements vary enormously requiring a lot of ingenuity and talent to make this all work. As if this isn't enough all the meals come with a small bunch of flowers, often a poem or note from these two caring people.

 

 

One of our regular tasks is to empty our pee bucket and on this particular day it was my job. It's easy enough, tipping the contents over, hosing out the jug and replacing. Not exactly rocket science.... Having sorted it out I carried on with pottering around until nature called again and I sat down to pee (this is a boat after all) and then went back to whatever I was a doing. It must have been about 10 minutes later when I wandered up the companionway and into the cockpit and saw the pee bucket hanging innocently from the tiller where I'd hung it to dry and air several hours previously.....

It took several hours to clean up the mess....

 

A sign, designed by Bee, is now placed on the cover whenever the bucket is out....it reads "Piss Off"

It will take several years before Bee allows me to forget....

 

mbt

Millbrook

Bound for Greenland......en route to the Co-op

Ah yes the thought crossed our mind, the ice-charts have been examined in minute detail and we finally made it..... of ice was there none, no gales encountered and the night watches comprised of sitting around the wood burner supping whisky.

 A tiny street off Millbrook Lake may well be the closest we get to the continent this year as we all struggle to come to terms with the pandemic. Awful as it is we can't help but be inspired at the way folks are responding and helping out where they can.

Wherever you are, whoever you are, stay safe, look after yourselves and your neighbours and we'll see everyone on the other side of this.







mbt

Millbrook

Beach Combing in the 21st Century

As with so many folks we've become increasingly concerned about the amount of plastic we have in our lives and look for ways to reduce it. But recently we moved to a different side of the discussion and got involved with our local  beach cleaning group. 

We arrived a few minutes or so before the advertised time and spent a few moments trying to work out how we could possibly make ANY impression of what we could see. 

The majority, by far, seemed to be these awful nurdles in various colours, tiny and with no easy way to collect them it looked as though many hours would be spent for a minute reward. Luckily the organiser arrived armed with the tools required; bucket, dustpan and brush and a kitchen sieve. 

 








 The process is simple but very effective. Sea water into the bucket, sweep the plastic, sand and any other small items entangled in the stuff into the dustpan then empty it into the bucket. Plastic etc floats on the surface whilst sand sinks allowing you to scoop the detritus out and dump it into a bag. Unfortunately because the plastic is all very different it can't easily be recycled so gets incinerated. Not ideal but at least it's off the beach and away from birds etc who are often confused into thinking it is fish eggs. We set to and before long the beach was a mass of people with a group of 70+ pickers interspersed with dozens more enjoying the beach, walking dogs and themselves along Tregantle Beach

Since then we've got involved in further beach cleans and also in the local woods where volunteers help out with various management tasks and tree planting. I'd file this under hard physical work as the it involves moving logs from where they've been cut to an area of track where they can be shifted by vehicle and stored. As the woods are on a serious slope it is possible to roll the smaller (about a metre)logs down pathways which sounds easier than it is, as logs are frequently heavier at one end sending them off course and requiring retrieval or restarting. Still easier than trying to carry them down hill. 


The longer logs, 4 metres, are dragged down using a portable winch and a clever semi-flexible cone. A rope passes through a hole in the cone "nose" and is then attached to said log. The shape of the cone enables the log to ride over stumps and through undergrowth to a remarkable degree. I'm not sure what these things are called but they work far, far better than the canoe "nose" that was once used but proved too brittle and thin for the task.

Aboard Hannah, life "quietly" continues. The winter storms come and go although we're well protected in our little spot. The local Coastguard Watch, part of the NCI provide updates on the weather coming over Rame Head. The trees I wrote about at the top of the page offer excellent protection and of course we're much lower so Rame's 70knots of wind is down to 40knots when it whips across our masthead. We're due the next storm, Dennis, this weekend and can look forward to 48 hours or more of shrieking noise; wearing yes but certainly no where near as uncomfortable as being hove to in the seas such winds would generate.

a lovely part of the world..

Millbrook