Gangplank now in use

During the week we have been trying to make a cover for the inflatable dinghy. The reason for this is that the bottom of the dinghy is black and when its on the foredeck upside down it gets very hot due to the sun. So we decided to make one out of the 'spare' WeatherMax we had ordered. We made the plan and took it round to Sheila's on Thursday, as you can read in the blog, that was not entirely successful.

This morning we started at 8:30 with the sewing machine we inherited with the yacht. We managed to get two seams attaching tape to the the back of the cover, but then the machine was not happy stitching the ends of the tapes. We 'kind of' finished it and Tim went into the Singer shop on the way to King Malu to get some more needles and to ask about servicing the machine.

First job at King Malu was to attach wheels and the fixings to the boat for the gangplank. That went well and then we tried using some shock cord and the halyard from the mizzen sail to support it. Kind of worked, except the shock cord stretched too much.

Then Costas from Raymarine arrived and we discussed what we would do about navionics. The extra expense on the new motor means we don't really have funds this year for everything we might want... actually it might be a blessing in disguise: Raymarine have just released a new series of widescreen  chart plotters. These new chart-plotters use digital rather than analogue radomes. So, our current plans is to put in a cheaper chart-plotter this year and trade it in for a new digital radar/chart-plotter next year.

Then off to Comar to buy some parts to finish off the gangplank... well, not finish off, but get it serviceable for a while. We really want to have nice handholds along the gangplank but the cost of 25mm stainless tube here is ridiculous, so for the moment we have one with a rope linking to the boat. Serviceable, but not pretty.

Whack... or I should say WHACK... as I walked into the boom without noticing. Now have a bump on my forehead. Fortunately was wearing a leather hat which protected me somewhat. First time in 8 months. Not bad I suppose.

We glued the final piece of Treadmaster down: This is above the vents from the for'ard heads. We had thought about making a dorade/step combined, but seems too much work right now, so we have already bought too cowls and will mount them tomorrow.


Finally, we fitted the locker back in the for'ard cabin, leaving a work surface there, and allowing a lot more light into the for'ard cabin. The whole cabin feels much more open now.

'Pass the pink spray and some kitchen towel.'

Then final task before leaving was to clean all the surfaces that need painting in the for'ard cabin so that hopefully tomorrow we can put first coat of paint on them. Pink spray? I think it's actually called Miracle Cleaner. It seems to be a miracle cleaner on grease and oil and other much. No idea what it does to your lungs - there isn't a health warning on it, and one of the main ingredients is citric acid, which makes it smell nicely of lemons.

The ceiling panels cleaned up nicely at the same time. There is still scorching from the fire that the previous owner had in this cabin, but replacing the veneer for the surfaces is something will be postponed till 2011.

Talking of miracles, its amazing that King Malu still exists and that the previous owner is still alive. The scorching from the fire happened while the previous owner was sleeping in the stern cabin and a 12 volt fan in the for'ard cabin caught fire, filled the place with smoke and then put itself out. And no... the previous owner didn't have smoke detectors anywhere on board. But we will!