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Posted by navigator on Nov 6, 2011

We Built A ‘Summer Breeze’ Dinghy in Two Weeks

Introduction Fatpadds was in Portimao, in a picturesque, but very rolly anchorage. It was late September and we hankered for one last trip before the season’s end. We decided that Tangier in Morocco should be our next stop. We looked at the weather forecast and we were immediately set back by the forecast for the next week. We wanted to go east but the wind was from the east! Sailing directly into...

Posted by navigator on Sep 24, 2011

Bored in the Boatyard II

There we were waiting and waiting for parts and experts, we were not quite at screaming pitch, but I needed a diversion. When in a seaway, water would shoot up our cockpit drain holes. I had the answer – cut a stainless butter dish in two and siko them beneath the holes to stop water shooting up your leg! We already had the dish, it once had a smoked plastic top to go over the butter,...

Posted by navigator on Sep 23, 2011

Yacht Clubs – Sweet or Unsavoury

It always feels good to put the boot in so our all time, most miserable yacht club is in Spain and is Sancti Petri Club Nautico. We dinghied in and went to their office and tried to speak with them. We were initially ignored. We wanted, as is usual to be allowed to visit the bar and have a few drinks and obtain permission to take water. Were we made to feel welcome to be a part of this great sailing...

Posted by admin on Sep 22, 2011

Bored in the Boatyard I

We were spending a lot of cash fixing our juddery rudders, which regularly kept us awake as they bumped and danced in the wee small hours by having new top bearings made and fitted by engineers see ‘Be Your own Expert’. It seemed wise to also remove the slop between the rudder arm and rudder bar. The gaps were not large but there was a lot of play. I didn’t have any nylon washers and, if...

Posted by navigator on Sep 20, 2011

Be Your Own Expert

Be Your Own Expert So often we doubt our own skills and we pay for shoddy expertise, when given a little thought and planning we could have done the job ourselves. The quality of the work would be better and the cost savings significant. Here is a little tale of the new rudder bearing and the expert. We had taken off the rudders and had new upper bearings fitted, when reassembled, the port side lower...

Posted by navigator on Sep 20, 2011

Into the Boatyard

Planning Before being lifted out and plonked onto the gravel, it is important to have a clear understanding of why you are there, what you want to achieve by the leaving date. Remember some boats went into the yard for a couple of weeks and five years later, they are still there. Have you written a list of the jobs you want to do? Have you the spares you need? If not, order them before you are lifted...

Posted by navigator on Sep 18, 2011

Clippy Boxes

I got my pictures and came back down to the dinghy and tossed the camera box in, its one of those dinghies with the blow up floor, and the little box just bounced out of the boat and started off down the river. I jumped in after it fully clothed and rescued the box returning to the boat dripping wet and covered in mud but the camera inside was perfectly safe, dry and unharmed and I still have the pictures to prove it.

Posted by navigator on Sep 17, 2011

The Only Gun You’ll Ever Need?

Every boat and I do mean every boat needs a caulking gun. I have owned dozens of these, but they all died when trying to move old sealant out of the end of the tube. I also think that many guns now sold are unfit for purpose and my last two cheap guns died with the first fresh tube in them. So having got very, very frustrated, I went to the hardware store (ferreteria in Spain, drogeria in Portugal) and...