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Jun 5

Written by:
6/5/2010 3:12 PM 

Well, my poor little boat has been a bit neglected since we bought the house in Dorset. Having a severe winter didn’t really help either.

Caraway has been sat forlornly under a tree gathering leaves, twigs, spiders and mould while I’ve been busy decorating bedrooms, painting kitchen cupboards and fretting over web sites and invoices.

But now that the weather has cheered up and I have a few spare weeks before the next project it’s time to crack on and get Caraway ready for the water again.

The sun has been shining, cricket is on the radio, the world cup is just about to begin and Christchurch is looking beautiful. Perfect circumstances for getting down the yard and doing some boat work.

For the winter Caraway has been propped up and trapped in by dozens of other boats and some trees. So the first thing to do was take off all her covers and wash her down completely.  So I spent an entire day cleaning off the filth, washing the covers and ropes (which I’d stored in the garage and shamefully not washed before the winter).

When most of the filth was off I started to clear out books and gear I wouldn’t be needing in the UK or I would now be able to store at home in the garage. Cruising guides to the Med, French and Spanish dictionaries sanding and polishing machines, varnish and brushes, sandpaper and masking tape. Tools that only ever get used once a season like grease guns and filter wrenches. I was looking forward to having a simple and uncluttered boat that was as light as possible and not a liveaboard cruiser festooned with the usual clutter of life.

To start with I invested in one of these Little Giant ladders that I can stick in the car and is highly versatile for use around the house and garden. It’s brilliant and will last forever but it wasn’t cheap. You get what you pay for: http://www.little-giant.co.uk/little_giant_classic.php.

One first job I decided to do was sand down the wash boards and treat them with something. They had been left for years and were very grubby and grey. I was worried that the soft wood was starting to wear away rapidly and that before long they’d need replacing. So I thought I’d protect them with something to make them last.

Teak really is incredible stuff. Caraway is 1993 and the wash boards have been unprotected in the elements for most of her life. It took me about 2 hours with a palm sander and block to sand them down and apart from various dings and chips the wood came up like new.

I also bought a pair of plastic saw horses from B&Q that will be useful for these kinds of jobs. I didn’t want harsh metal or wood that would rot as I want to store them in the shed. These plastic ones are ideal. Quite forgiving when working with wood, won’t corrode, they’re light and yet they can hold a great deal of weight.

I used the Sikkens Cetol natural marine teak which is a bit darker than I expected but it dries a bit like teak oil with a satin finish which is ideal since I wanted the interior sides to be harmonious with the interior which is all oiled teak. I didn’t want a bright glossy finish. In my experience teak oil doesn’t last long at all outside and needs to be maintainted much more than varnish or stain. I’ll put about 4 or 5 coats of Cetol on and see how they look.

By the way, I recommend Purdy brushes. They make an excellent range for all types of paint. If you look after them they will last and last but they’re not cheap. Not what you should use for staining the shed..

It’s a problem doing the boards because I can’t just leave and go home. I have to put the boards back in to lock up! So I think I’m going to make a replacement in plywood so these can be left drying when I need to do other things. It would also be sensible to have a sacrificial solution so these could be stored in the boat during the winter to save wear and tear. A single drop in plywood board would be easy enough to make and I could install some kind of vent to keep the air flowing during the winter.

As usual the boat is chaos when I’m working and for that reason alone I am so glad I’m not living on board at the same time!  It’s a joy to have places to store all the stuff I need while working and don’t need while sailing!

 

 

For a while I had been fretting about finding a mooring nearby. The solent and west country is a very popular sailing area. There are many reasons why the UK won so many sailing medals at the Olympics http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/sailing/default.stm. No mean feat for a tiny island with a comparatively miniscule population.  One of these reasons is that sailing is very popular round here. It has a very long and fascinating history.   Sailing is practically non existent in the Med by comparison. People sail the solent in all weathers and in all kind of boats. People pride themselves on crossing dangerous waters in the smallest of boats. And if they are not sailing boats then they are kite surfing or wind surfing in a gale.

Due to the popularity of boating many marinas are full with waiting lists and all are expensive. Prices range from about £2600-£4500 for a 20 foot boat and this usually doesn’t even include electricity and water.  So I signed up on the three year waiting list for a mooring in the river in Christchurch harbour. For me at this time it was either sell the boat or find something cheaper. I simply can’t afford the £4500 that Lymington are asking and I don’t want to drive for an hour when I want to see my boat.

You can imagine my surprise when I got a call while shopping the other day from Bournemouth and West Hamshire Water saying a berth had become available on the river in Christchurch harbour!  I rushed down to take a look and on first impressions it looks ideal. Apparently suitable for a 23 foot boat there is supposed to be at least 3 feet of water at low tide. Well, another couple of feet would have been nice but in my experience when a Flicka dries out she either sits upright in the mud or gently leans over. Hopefully most of the time she will just sit upright with her fat keel in the mud. If she really does draw 3 foot 3 then she should be fine. We shall see.

The good news is that the spot is absolutely beautiful, with a field on one side and views out over Stanpit Marsh. It is not a swinging mooring. She will be tethered fore and aft to poles that extend from the river bank and are secured by chains. Since it’s a river there will be no serious waves, there is shelter from the prevailing south west wind by some bungalows and there is little or no through traffic. I can walk to the bank side from home and wade out to my boat. I could even carry the folding dinghy down, although if I attached wheels to the transom it would be easier!

Alternatively I can pay the yard to store my dinghy in their dinghy park. Not cheap but would mean I can leave my car there.

The slipway at Rossiters where I can launch a dinghy. The berth is the fifth one from the left, not much of a row at all.

On a nice day the whole area is a lovely place to be. It seems to be trapped in the past although I’m not sure why or how. The shop is shut on a Saturday and there’s hardly anyone about. A pain when you need a tin of varnish and reminds me of France but it makes for a lazy and peaceful place to be.

Here’s a pic of a nice little sailboat I spotted up river.