A blast to Bradwell

Just a quickie cos it's late and I'm off to bed shortly

We left Burnham as planned on loose company with SV Laurin and once clear of the moorings set all plain sail

Laurin was some way ahead of us at this point but not for long! Pagan is no slouch :)

We nailed the passage plan perfectly and on the reach up the Ray'sn saw 8.1 knots on the log in about 16 knots apparent. Not bad for an old girl, not bad at all

We put a reef in the main of St. Peter's, having already rolled away a good bit of the genoa, as the wind strengthened.

Then as we cleared start point and shaped up to enter the Blackwater the wind stiffened again and with upwards of 24 knots on the nose we decided we'd had enough fun. Down came the sails and on went the donk for the final few miles

It was a really satisfying sail

The afternoon and evening was spent in the company of good friends and now it's time for bed

Fri 30 Sep Passage Plan

Dep Burnham 07:00 UTC (may be delayed)
Towards Bradwell via Raysand Channel
ETA Bradwell 12:30 UTC

No earlier than 09:00UTC at Raysand buoy
Clear St. Peter's Flats by 12:00UTC

Forecast W or SW 4 gusting 5, fine

Disaster averted, just

We set off at high water to head downriver to Burnham

Our first problem was getting out of our berth. We need to swing the stern 45 degrees to port whilst hardly moving to clear a mooring buoy off our port quarter

Usually, it's no great feat of boat handing because the prop walk in astern easily accomplishes the maneuver

Today, though, the wind was easily overcoming the prop walk and in the end I had no option but to jam the bow into the corner of the finger pontoon and use a big handful of power to get the stern to swing (springing off isn't an option as the finger is too short)

To cut a long story short, we made it off without leaving much if any paint behind bit when we get back in going to be upping my gentle request to get the buoy moved to a not so gentle request!

We merrily set off with Jane on deck bringing in fenders and lines and as we cleared the moorings I engaged the autohelm, which I routinely do, to give her a hand

I'd barely stepped away from the wheel when the autohelm inexplicably turned hard a-port. That was bad enough but when I dived back to the wheel to take control it refused to disengage

By now we were pointing straight at one of the boats on the moorings and yards away from hitting it with considerable force

I managed to wrestle the wheel round just enough, fighting the autohelm all the way, and combined with the help of the tide we missed by, literally an inch or two

Jane had, in response to my frantic yell for help, dashed back to the cockpit, and responding without hesitation to instructions dived into the cabin and switched off the power to the autohelm

Disaster averted indeed. We were both shaking and promptly agreed that a new autohelm is a must before the end of the winter

We'd have probably popped the genoa, even if we didn't hoist the main or mizzen, without that little saga. As it was, we were happy to bimble down under motor

Coming alongside we achieved quite neatly despite the strong wind but when we tried to walk the boat forward so as not to be in the middle of the gap we popped a fender out and added some new scrapes to the paintwork to go with the ones on the bow

Hey ho, it'll touch up

After putting on a harbour stow, we headed off to the shops for fresh meat and veg. On the way back, we stopped off at the chandlers for a couple of odds and ends

Jane cooked up a delicious sweet and sour pork and then it was time to raid the No.1 Beer Hold

Tomorrow, if all goes to plan, we aim to fetch up in Bradwell

Passage Plan - Thu 29 Sep 2016

At last, a passage plan! Not much of a passage planned, just a toddle downriver to Burnham for the night. But it's better than going nowhere which is what we've been doing since March

Forecast

Inshore waters Gibraltar Point to North Foreland: Westerly or sou'westerly 5 to 7 occasionally 4 later. Sea slight or moderate. Weather occasional rain or drizzle at first. Vis mModerate or good, occasionally poor

Meteo and Weatherpro forecasts consistent with Met Office

Actual at 07:30UTC North Fambridge: Sou'westerly 5, occasionally 4, gusting 6 at times

Tides

North Fambridge HW 11:48UTC 5.2m
Burnham LW 17:44UTC -0.1

Plan:

Depart North Fambridge 12:00UTC towards Burnham on Crouch
ETA Burnham Yacht Harbour app. 13:00UTC

Notes:

Dropping down to Burnham positions us for a dash across the Raysand into the Blackwater tomorrow, weather permitting. We also need to pick up some fresh food for a BBQ on Saturday

Working on the chain gang

In between paying work for customers, which is picking up again after the summer, I've been on a push to sort Pagan out so we can hopefully get away for a few days, of which more anon

A critical problem was water. As previously reported, we've had to take the 45 gallon tank under the v-berth out of service after it started leaking badly into the base of the cabin woodwork

Replacing that tank will be a major project and it's best left until we refit the forward cabin so we needed a temporary solution.

After considering various possibilities, I settled on the simple and cheap solution of wedging a 20 litre Jerry can into the starboard cockpit locker and running a hose from the water pump, conveniently situated below the gas locker, which just drops into the can



We've also got a 10l water carrier and a 20l collapsible one which, with some inconvenience, will allow us to carry enough water to last several days

My next target was the ground tackle. Although we're not planning on anchoring during our upcoming trip you never know when it might be needed in a hurry

So I hauled all the rusty chain out of the locker and cleaned up the manual windlass.



There's 50m of chain marked, bizarrely, at 8m intervals attached to a CQR plough anchor. None of it is in great condition and I wouldn't trust it in a gale but it'll do until we get around to replacing it

The windlass works but it's slow and hard work. The rusty chain has a tendency to not drop cleanly into the chain pipe which requires watching but otherwise it gets the job done

After washing down the foredeck to get rid of the rust flakes that had fallen off the chain, a final sort out of the cockpit lockers was all that was left to do on deck

My final job for the day was to replace the activation cartridge and gas cylinder in my lifejacket and giving it the once over.

Then it was time to hit the road back to Kettering for the night ready to pick Jane up and come back in the morning

We're aiming to be out and about from Thursday until Tuesday, fingers crossed on the weather!

Didn't we have a lovely time ...

... the day we went to Southampton

I'm always up for a freebie and when our marina announced they were running a coach to Southampton Boat Show with complimentary tickets I jumped at the chance!

I duly "booked" two seats on the coach PDQ!

Jane couldn't make it due to work so Glen drove down to Fambridge on Friday afternoon after work. We had a bit of a silly session in the pub that night so it was two slightly jaded old buffers who staggered up Ferry Road on Saturday morning to meet the coach at 8:00am

The journey down wasn't the quickest and on arrival at the show the first port of call was the facilities rapidly followed by coffee and a bacon roll.

I had a few things I wanted to investigate and a shopping list and almost the first stand we encountered was one I very much wanted to visit - the Nestaway boats stand.

A key element of my plans for our future sailing in "Pagan" has always been to have a decent expedition tender. I wanted something large enough to carry the two of us over some distance in sheltered waters that could be rowed, motored or sailed. My plan had been to buy or build a small sailing dinghy that would be stowed on davits and that could be brought on deck if necessary. And there's the rub. I'd come to the conclusion that it just wasn't going to work as I'd hoped.

The rig on "Pagan" makes stowing a rigid dinghy on deck difficult to organise and then I realised it was going to be a good deal more expensive to install suitable davits than I'd initially thought. So I was looking for alternatives and right away I found exactly what we need ...

The DingyGo is a 2.75m inflatable that can be used as just that, rowed or motored. But unlike other inflatables, it comes with a sailing rig. It may not be as olde worlde attractive as the wooden pram dinghy I originally envisaged but in practical terms it's a no-brainer. The DinghyGo is exactly what we need!

They are not cheap, compared to non-sailing inflatables, but when you add the cost of a pair of substantial davits (and the additional cost of installing them) to the cost of a suitable nesting pram dinghy the heading towards three grand price tag starts to look quite competitive.

The only question mark is figuring out some way to stow an auxiliary outboard when rigged as a sailing dinghy. A Torquedo electric outboard would seem to be the ideal solution. Another grand plus though! Sufficient unto the day as we won't be buying anything this year. The piggy bank will need a lot of fattening up before we can afford it!

My next mission was to find a decent foul weather jacket for Jane. She's got a pair of Gill salopettes she's happy with but we've struggled to find a small enough jacket to go with them. Searching through the sailing clothing racks on the biggest stands, I found a Musto BR2 Offshore ladies jacket in a size 8 which I think, and hope, will fit. Better still, it was marked down to a mere £149.95, a saving of £70 over the online price (from the reputable suppliers). So that went into the shopping basket

My foulies, which were bought cheap as a short term measure seven years ago, have never been brilliant and the zips are starting to go so whilst I was at it I bagged a matching Musto BR2 men's jacket and trousers. Very snazzy, very comfortable and what I need when we start getting more adventurous. I saved £50 over the online price so making a total saving of £120 or so which I'm not unhappy about!

My final mission was to look at replacing my lifejacket. In use, I'm perfectly happy with it but it's a bulky thing to stow away because it doesn't lie flat. And the gas cylinder indicator had gone red so it needed servicing anyway.

I tried on half a dozen alternatives and didn't like any of them very much so I changed my mind and decided to stick with what I've got.

We had a general wander round the show, looked at some boats and drank several cups of coffee, ate a cheeseburger (expensive but very tasty) before catching the coach back to Fambridge at 5:00pm

Another slow-ish run back saw us in the pub in good time to order some food, drink a pint or three and then retire before it got too late.

A good day out and mission accomplished. Many thanks to Yacht Havens for laying on the trip and to Steve and Adam for looking after us all on the day

So that was Saturday, yesterday was spent finishing off the task of turning "Pagan" back into a sailing boat instead of a workshop. I'd already got the genoa bent back on and sorted out the mizzen which had been refusing to fully hoist.

The main job which took most of the day, initially with assistance from Glen until he headed from home, was removing all the "stuff" that shouldn't be in the cockpit lockers and loading back aboard all the stuff that should!

That took most of the day but we're now ready to go sailing

And go sailing, we hope, we will be doing later this week. Jane has a week off work starting on Wednesday and we plan to depart Fambridge Thursday afternoon (the tide isn't quite high enough on Wednesday) probably to head down to Burnham for the night.

Then we'll head round to the Blackwater on Friday, not sure yet to where but quite probably Brightlingsea or the Pyefleet to pick up a buoy. If the weather doesn't intervene, we're meeting up with friends at Marconi Sailing Club to practice Man Overboard recovery techniques on Saturday afternoon and then it'll be dinghy ashore for BBQ and beer before spending the night on a buoy

I've got a tentative plan to then pop into Heybridge Basin for 24 hours Sunday / Monday before spending a night again on a buoy in the Pyefleet or in Brightlingsea Harbour so we can make it back to Fambridge on Tuesday as we must

We're praying for a bit of nice autumn weather as we haven't been anywhere this year other than the delivery trip when we bought "Pagan" back in March

In a hole

Our hole in the mud!

It's been a busy weekend getting as much sorting out on board done as possible as work is starting to come in as we come to the end of the sailing "season"

After launching, Pagan spent a couple of days alongside the river pontoon whilst I turned her back into a sailing boat rather than a workshop



It was blowing hard from the north yesterday, not ideal for getting onto our berth as the prop walk already pushes the stern away from the finger pontoon and adding a strong wind blowing us off makes the job doubly tricky

So today was the day.

With next to no wind by this afternoon, or was also an ideal chance to carry out a trial under power both the test the rebuilt stern gear and find out whether changing the prop pitch had been a success

Well she ran beautifully and better still with the extra inch of pitch she now happily chugs along at five and a half knots plus at around 1700rpm, a reduction of 500rpm which should significantly improve fuel consumption

And opening the throttle wide now gives us over seven knots at just over 3200rpm compared to 6.4 knots at 3600rpm

That's excellent as we're achieving close to theoretical hull speed at sensible rpm

The mechanicals seem to be working fine, the steering is now much improved and best of all the autohelm can now hold a course without assistance.

(It's still slated for replacement with a modern unit but now we can save up the pennies and do it in a year or two rather than having to dip into our reserves to pay for it)

The fun over, I shaped up to get into our berth which is not the easiest of maneuvers. It would have gone fine, with assistance from a couple of fellow boaters on the pontoon, if I'd not left her in gear when I dashed on deck to get a line on the centre cleat (I thought I'd knocked her into neutral but I hadn't)

No harm done other than a bit of paint scuffed on the stem. It'll not be the last I'm sure!

Much fiddling with mooring line lengths ensued until I was happy that I had Pagan back in place to sit in the mud



And happily she sat straight and level without drama

The "to do" list is still enormous but I'm over the moon to have got this vital but exhausting phase of the refit over

The water is where it should be...

... On the outside!

First thing this morning, I tackled the last job which was to do the cove line on the port side

Then it was a tidy up and sort out of lines and fenders ready to go back in

I can't find where I've put three of the four heavy duty mooring lines! They must be in the container. I'll worry about that tomorrow as we've got plenty of bits of string that'll do the job

The lads came round before lunch to get Pagan in the hoist and I slapped a quick coat of antifoul on the bottom of the keel before we trundled up to the slip



Shortly before midday, we were in the water



Then it was a thorough leak check before leaving the hoist and happily there weren't any!

Shortly thereafter, Pagan was alongside the river pontoon where I'll spend the night before moving her onto her berth tomorrow

I needed to run the engine in gear for an hour to bed in the new shaft seal and that wouldn't be a good idea on the mud berth

The engine started happily and ran sweetly. Better still, there was no sign of any issues with the new seal either



I must say she does look good alongside!

The afternoon was spent pressure washing the deck to remove the bird droppings that had accumulated since I last did it about ten days ago



I'm a relieved and happy skipper tonight

Moving

House and hopefully boat!

A few days up in Kettering saw us moved, at last, into the new house. Not that I'll be there much!

Back down to Fambridge today and the final push to get ready for launching involved getting the name on the boat, putting a new cove line on the topsides and painting the boot top at the waterline

And I have to say I'm pretty happy with the result...




All that's left to do in the morning is the cove line on the port side (the light ran out!) and a massive tidy up

We should be going back in around lunchtime and everything will be crossed that there's no leaks

A trying day

And one of those days you could really do without

The first of two big issues was the topsides paintwork. I was pretty chuffed when I finished painting yesterday and stood back to admire the result.

In the cold light of day this morning and on closer examination I was considerably less happy with the finish. From a distance and at a casual glance it looks OK but despite my best endeavours it's a pretty poor job when looked at properly

Now I know how to paint a boat. I've painted a few in my time. And if I say so myself I'm a pretty mean hand with a paintbrush or roller. The problem is that I tried to save money on the paint and what I bought just will not lay off to a good finish. It's goes on well enough but you can't lay off the brush or roller marks and it doesn't flow to a good finish like a quality paint would

My bad and one I'm going to have to live with until we have the time and the money to redo the job because I've neither the time, the money or the inclination to start again right now

As if that wasn't enough disappointment for one day. the slightly leaky water tank has now become a seriously leaky water tank. So bad in fact that we're going to have to stop using it because it's now leaking into the base of the v-berth woodwork and damaging the timber.

So I've had to drain the tank down and replacing it is now top priority. It's both extra work and extra expense we could well do without right now but there's no choice

Meanwhile, I'm off back to Kettering in the morning and then up to Stockton on the Grand Union Canal on Saturday to play a gig at an event I haven't been to for quite a few years. Then we're making the final house move so I won't be back aboard until next week

There'll be just enough time to stick the new names and cove line on, which will hopefully distract the eye from the less than perfect paintwork (!), before we go back in the water next Thursday

Shinier

It was an early start this morning. As soon as it was light enough to see what I was doing I set about flatting off the runs and hard edges where things hadn't gone quite to plan yesterday

Then a wipe down with sugar soap wipes was needed to remove any dust

The humidity was stubbornly staying up in the 90s, far too high to even think about painting. Happily, after lunch, it finally dropped quite dramatically and I was able to get on

After a brief and less than successful attempt to put the second coat on with a brush (bloody expensive brush at that) I suddenly remembered seeing a pack of two 4" varnish rollers in the painting box stashed in the container

Dug then out and happy days, they worked a treat.

The second coat has gone on much better than the first and there's ample paint for a third coat so that's what she'll get tomorrow

With a good thickness of paint to go at, next week I'll have at it with the polisher and some cutting compound

Pleased as punch with today's results but my shoulders aren't half complaining!

Shiny!

First coat on the topsides. Not perfect by any means but a definite improvement!

Some gentle flatting back first thing in the morning, clean down, dry off and try for a better finish on the second and hopefully final coat

Proper preparation. Oh and some fettling

.Since last I posted, I've spent two more days filling, fairing and sanding the topsides dealing with all the dings and scratches Pagan has picked up over the years. Given that the weather wasn't suitable for painting (mainly far too windy) it was time well spent

Then Sunday was all about a thorough clean to get all the sanding dust off. Simply pressure washing wasn't cutting the mustard and it needed a proper inch by inch hand wash to clean up properly ready to paint

Today (Monday) though wasn't the day for it. It started off wet and although it dried up later the humidity and dew point stayed stubbornly high until late afternoon

So it was down into the engine bay to fettle all the things in the list that needed doing before we relaunch

The first task was to sort out the throttle linkage between the Morse lever and the engine. Whilst the engine idles at about 900rpm, the lever wasn't fully closing the throttle which meant we were whizzing along at around 1500rpm rather too quickly for close quarters maneuvering

After investigating the problem, I found the Morse lever wasn't set up properly. I don't much like Morse controls at the best of times and a badly set up one is guaranteed to make my blood boil.

Once it was set up right the problem was solved although it will require an engine test to check it

The next job was to try and get some lubrication down the steering cables to see if the rather heavy steering could be freed up. It's fiddly as the access is very awkward but I got a fair bit of oil down the cable sleeves and it certainly seemed to help. The steering still isn't light although I've nothing to compare it with. I suspect I'll be coming back to this one

Then the last critical job before we launch was seen off. That was to fit a temporary breather to the PSS gland. When I sort out the engine plumbing to fit the calorifier (hot water tank) I'll plumb a water feed in to the stern gland but for now it needs a breather to prevent airlocks which would starve it of lubricating water (which it will for now draw up the stern tube)

And I was surprised and pleased to find that the graphics had arrived already. I ordered name and number graphics on Thursday and they were delivered this morning. Can't apply them until the paint is cured and it isn't even painted yet!

All in all, a good few days work



The engine bay with the new shaft coupling, PSS gland and temporary breather. All ready to go as long as nothing leaks!

It's not foul

Cos it's antifoul



I was on a mission today. Either the topsides had to be painted or two coats of antifoul applied and since the paint hadn't arrived yesterday the antifoul got it

(ideally I'd have preferred to do the topsides first but needs must as time is getting short. She has to be ready to go back in by next Friday before I head off for a few days to do other things)

It was hard graft getting two coats on in a day, aided by the weather which meant the overcoating time was less than 5 hours. There's just the patches under the pit props to do now and that job can be ticked off as finished

Whilst waiting for the first coat to dry I got online and ordered up some vinyl lettering - 3 sets of the boat name (one for each bow and one for the stern) and our home port and registration number to go on the stern

The weather over the weekend is looking a bit variable but I'm hoping to start on the topsides on Sunday or Monday (I've got paying work to do Friday /Saturday)