Category: Gear – Yachting and Boating
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Choosing Camera Equipment for the Boat
2nd August 2021 It is not as easy as it sounds, in fact it rapidly becomes quite complicated. I’m not in any way a professional photographer but I do have the slight advantage in that this is my second time around at purchasing boat camera equipment. Eleven years ago, I selected the equipment to take…
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Fruit Hammocks
I know some people think fruit hammocks are rubbish but I find them really useful onboard Sumara. They are very gentle on soft fruits and everything can be inspected. I use one to store little evil snacks, one for healthy veg and one for fruit. They normally collect a couple of mobile phones, sunglasses and…
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The Annual Maintenance 2021
Part 1 I’m now half-way through my allotted time in Scotland to carry out the annual chores, or maybe joys, depending on how things are working out. Firstly, I must admit, it is a bit of a pain having the boat 500 miles from home. You can’t just decide “Oh it looks like a nice…
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Mending things is in vogue! The Sailrite LZ1 sewing machine in action
South Dock 4th May 2021 A couple of years ago I bought a Sailrite sewing machine. After an initial burst of enthusiasm it ended up in the garage. If you don’t know these machines, they are seriously tough but they are also very heavy, so when a little mending job cropped up it was too…
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Sumara of Weymouth has a ReFit
In 2018 the engineer at Pin Mill told me that he felt the life of Sumara’s engine was coming to an end and it could conk out at any time. He had replaced the inboard shaft bearing but it continued to spray some oil. Maybe the pressure was building up? Then my friend Philip told…
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It’s so beautiful!
Positon N70,58.189 x W008,41.469. Anchored in 8.2 mKvalrosbukta, Jan Mayen We have had a truly amazing day. Gentle winds with occasional calms wafted us north towards the east coast of Jan Mayen whilst being entertained by Northern Bottlenose Whales, Fulmars and Puffins. The Mighty Beerenberg Volcano has been very shy and hid all day behind…
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It’s Good to Share
Easy Split The mast head of yachts is obviously a good place to site antennae but there is not much space. When I installed my Simrad AIS I faced the problem of where to site an extra aerial. Andy at Greenham Marine suggested using the, then new to the market, Easy Split to share the…
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Ice Reports
Ullapool Scoresbysund is often blocked by ice even in the summer. In order to approach we need good up to date ice reports as a 26ft wooden boat isn’t exactly an ice breaker. We need to thank John and Phyllis from Morgans Cloud (excellent website for Arctic Sailing) for the method and also Gerry, Samantha…