Small Boat Voyages

First leg of the journey to get from our home in Crewe to somewhere near the ferry port in Dover. Rang a few campsites en route bit all fully booked for the bank holiday weekend. One kindly advised us to stop in a lay by near Folkestone so that’s where we ended up tired after Read more

Based on the sucess experienced with the front hitching guide I now turn my attention onto how to bring the guide built for the front towball to the rear towball the main problem being the towball type is different I.e it is a swansneck bolted between two vertical flanges. I’m not going anywhere near modifying Read more

Today I spent an hour or two making a trailer  hitching guide. Tarka has been in and out of the summerhouse this last couple of weeks and each time I hitch up there’s a frustrating period of misalignment, too far left too far right not forward enough too far forward it’s a real pain in Read more

Mizzen getting oiled today. Leather bearers getting a lathering in neatsfoot oil. Race is on to get ready for France. Read more

Been busy polishing metal with brasso and oiling topside with Danish oil this week. I’m rubbing the oil in with some 320grit wet and dry to re establish an even surface. The mixture of oil and ground dried oil from previous treatments helps to fill in any open imperfections in the surface. Temperature have soared Read more

And ready to back into the boat. I suspect it’s the first time it’s been out for a deep clean so should be good for another 25 hears or so. After pressurising I’m leaving it for a while to see if there are any gas leaks between the tank and the isolator valve. Read more