We've got the power!

Saturday 17th February... Is it springtime? It certainly feels that way in Gosport. Such a lovely blue sky all day long and 8 degrees....whoopie. Dean's always excited to be back so that he can get on with his 'jobs to be completed this weekend' list. And first on the agenda today was to unwrap the new 'Cobb dome extension' for the Cobb barbeque. Here's a pic....

Note the new hot lid holder too

This neat little piece of kit extends the height of the bbq so that we can cook a whole chicken! You wouldn't believe how excited that makes us feel. Anyone would think we've never cooked a chicken before. Saffy wasn't as impressed as us, and she spent the first couple of hours inspecting (sunbathing on) the deck, watching what the neighbours were getting up to. 

Beware of the dog

Before we knew it Dean had been back to the car to fetch the four new house batteries which he had ordered since we were here last. They're 'pure deep cycle flooded lead acid' batteries (Exide ET950's) giving a total of 540 amp hours. Dean chose that particular type over sealed gel batteries because he wants to be able to inspect and analyse them, plus they're a reasonable price. You know he's not happy unless he can fiddle with stuff. 

3 of the 4 new batteries waiting to be fitted

one in place, three to go.....ooh they're SO HEAVY!

There was a bit more loading going on from clothes, to kitchen utensils, to the new vaccuum packer machine. Thesee has always felt like home to us, but that is becoming even more so now that we have started adding more of our belongings. 

Yay! We can have an iron after all....only a little travel one though

Sunday 18th February... Yesterday's blue skies turned to grey this morning. Over breakfast we discussed the new batteries, with Linda having plenty of questions to help her understand the inner workings. Dean replaced the two ball clamps on the duogen, as they had degraded somewhat. Then he measured up the bow thruster batteries to order new ones. When we get Thesee lifted out in April we are going to replace the rest of the seacocks (2 already done, 6 left to do), so Dean took a while making a list of everything he needs for that job. 

One of the shiny ball clamps, i just noticed my reflection in it!

Moving on, we checked all of the ship's papers were in order. Linda's in the process of making crew lists. We'll need these for checking into foreign ports. Then it was the tricky job of paper chart corrections. They're quite mindboggling but once you start to get your head around them they don't seem so bad. The trouble is Linda wants to understand all the meanings too so it takes a while to look into. 

Here's an example of a correction... Insert racon sym & assoc lgd AIS at Lt Ile de Sein in 48.02.6N 04.52.0W

 Oh woe is me .... dreaded chart updates in progress

Last week Dean contacted XW Rigging at Haslar Marina and requested a rigging check. Well, it seems they've been out and done it already as we noticed there is white tape around the rigging screws, and the uphaul has been used.  Maybe they'll contact us this week with a report. 

Evidence the riggers have been here

Monday 19th February…  The day began by ordering a Navionics update card. We have a four or five of these Navionics cards in various forms covering different parts of Europe. After quite a debate over the last few days (weeks 😉) trying to decide which cards to update, we’ve finally decided to update the 26XG Gold France & Iberia card. That may sound obvious being as that’s where we’re planning on going, but we also have super-duper Navionics Platinum cards for the same areas you see. It’s a long story and so I will just leave it at that. 

Linda was busy practising the knots she learned (and forgot) last time we were here. Dean set about repairing the problem on the engine hours counter inside the tacho. He downloaded some info from the internet, but the problem is still not fixed even after having half his upper body stuck inside a hole for a good while. He then went on to re-programme the alternator’s regulator to suit the new house batteries, and likewise adjust the output on the battery charger.

Inspecting the tacho

 Work in progress

There was cooking going on in the galley. You could say it was a belated Valentines Day. 

Cherry shortbread

Love x

Late afternoon, our friends Keith & Liz arrived in the marina on their boat. They’ve been out of the water for the winter having some major work done. Like us, they too have a ‘plan’ for the summer. It’s all getting rather exciting.

Only two weekend visits left at Royal Clarence x

The loading begins

Saturday 3rd February…  Uh Oh! The loading of goods has begun. Two trolleys full today in fact. Thesee we’ve missed you, two whole weekends away seems like an eternity. We’re planning to leave the marina at the end of March when the mooring fees expire, then head across to Cowes where we’ll lift Thesee for last minute jobs and cleaning. At the beginning of May we’re going to head across the Channel to Brittany to start our adventure of a lifetime. 

The two folding bikes that have been sitting in our garage for almost a year are now onboard, safely strapped into place by Mr C in the port aft cabin. Those, along with 5 spare fuel and water containers, we had a car full this morning. Dean’s vacuumed packed some of his shirts to save on space and they’ve been packed away under the bed, and some of Linda’s clothes have taken their new place in the other aft cabin wardrobe. We spent the rest of the afternoon fitting two more coat hooks, plus checking charts and the cruising almanac for prospective routes to St Malo.

Dean's going to be doing some reading it seems

Think Linda needs more hangers

Hope these shirts don't get too creased, no irons allowed

Extra coat hooks in the aft cabins

Sunday 4^th February…  Day 2 of the weekend brought bright sunshine to Gosport, but it was still very chilly with a North Westerly wind averaging 17 knots. Thesee’s facing south at the moment, and so that means the wind was blowing into the companionway. During the night we had our homemade protective plastic sheet in place to keep the wind out, but Dean was still cold in bed. He should follow Linda's example and put bed socks on. She was snug as a bug.

First job of the day was reinforcing the four bow and stern cleats. Like I said it was chilly being outside but we were well wrapped up. Dean’s made some backing plates for extra strength, should we ever need to be towed or to launch the para-anchor. His next job was taking photos of the mast. He’s thinking of putting extra mast steps in, but the ones he likes are real expensive.

Here's the skipper in the sail locker reinforcing the starboard bow cleat

Meanwhile, and keeping warm inside, Linda and Saffy were practising knots. Already competent in the Bowline and the Rolling Hitch, Linda has now added a Water Knot (Double Overhand Bend), and a Double Sheet Bend to the list. Charlie, I hope you’re taking note. How many can you tie?

The making of a Double Overhand Bend 

....and here's the Double Sheet Bend

It was a good ebaying day, Dean cunningly winning the bidding on a Spear Gun. He says it’s Linda’s birthday present…. he’d better be joking. Also today, Dean carried out some servicing on the engine, changing the primary and secondary diesel filters, changing the oil and oil filter, plus the gearbox oil.

Linda finally got some practise in with the boathook. We went out later on to collect the Spear Gun. 'William Tell' insisted on taking photos when we arrived back onboard. Not sure Linda was too happy about that. 

Whatever next??

Monday 5th February... Who set an alarm to go off at midnight? Not us, it was the gas safety alarm beeping and waking us up. Dean of course was up and out of bed first. Linda just raising her head occasionally to see if any help was required. We couldn't smell gas and Dean managed to silence the alarm. All was quiet after that until after breakfast, when it decided to keep going off and on at its own convenience. Obviously there's a fault, which we hope a spray of WD40 has fixed, as the alarm has been silent now for about three hours. Maybe it's just waiting for us to go to bed again before playing games with us. 

There wasn't much to do today really. The main job was double checking the measurements for the new house batteries which we'll be ordering as soon as we get home. 

Under the floorboards... the engine starter battery , plus two of the house batteries

Linda spent a good few hours researching Brittany's north coast ports and anchorages. There were charts, pilot books, and almanacs all over the saloon. Apparantly, Trégurier is a place not to be missed, so that's definately on the agenda.

Dean got the liferaft out of the locker. We're going to drop it in for a service tomorrow. Can't believe three years have passed since we purchased it. We have some flares that need disposing of so hopefully we can get rid of those at the same time. There's not many places that will take them off you these days. 

Roll on summertime and warm weather xxx