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The Wooden Boat Gathering on Lake Windermere
7th and 8th May 2022 – Lake Windermere The journey from my boat in Oban to London is rather long and tedious so I often take a break halfway. It just happened that I had finished working on the boat a few days early and there was a “Wooden Boat Gathering” taking place over the…
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Down Below on a Vertue Yacht
11th May 2022 – Rotherhithe 32 days to go before the Scoresby Sund Expedition starts I often have people asking me what it is like sailing on such a small yacht. They are intrigued how everything fits in. Yachts seem to have grown in size a bit like cars, just look at the original Mini…
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MOB Scramble Net – Part Three
13th April 2022 – Dunstaffnage It’s the first time I have tried the gizmo on the boat and it definitely needs to have the loops shortened by 6″. I’ll reserve judgement on the rest of it until I can try it out when the boat is in the water in a few weeks. It is…
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Bleeding Engines – Gosh I could do with a breather!
3rd May 2022 – Dunstaffnage 40 Days to go before the Scoresby Sund Expedition starts Warning: This is a very boring technical post It was raining so I decided to work on the engine. I had changed the oil at the end of last season but I decided to leave changing all the filters and…
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Sumara is afloat! (2022)
30th April 2022 – Dunstaffnage 42 days to go before the Scoresby Sund Expedition starts! That was certainly a very good move to ask for my planned launch to be brought forward by a few days. I was really lucky that the yard staff were up for it as they get pretty busy at this…
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I’m ahead of schedule!
28th April 2022 – Dunstaffnage 44 days to go before the Scoresby Sund Expedition starts! I’m ahead of schedule..and you don’t hear that often in boatyards! It has been an up and down week. The downside has been that I have been suffering excruciating toothache for the last week. This was eventually cured by a…
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Boatyards
Dunstaffnage 22nd April 2022 50 days to go before the Scoresby Sund Expedition Starts! It happened a few days later than planned, but Sumara went smoothly into the shed yesterday afternoon, so I am now busy varnishing. I managed to prep virtually everything whilst she was outside occasionally in the rain so no time has…
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Everything I know about antifouling!
17th April 2022 – Dunstaffnage. Updated April 2025 Compared to the complexities of varnishing, antifouling is a simple and manageable task. Nevertheless, there is plenty of scope to cock it up. So here are a few random musings which may be of some minor help to those who may be new to boat ownership and…
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The Preparation Continues
12th April 2022 – Dunstaffnage It’s day two of the annual maintenance. I’ve allowed a whole month this year to do all the painting and varnishing and have the boat launched. Maybe I can squeeze in a wee test sail too. Last year was pretty stressful trying to get everything complete in just three weeks.…
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The Preparation Begins!
11th April 2022 – Dunstaffnage I’ve arrived at the boat ready for a month’s solid work to get her expedition ready for the big Greenland trip. It was 20:00 by the time I got here after a very pleasant stop over at Ray and Jackie’s farmhouse in Yorkshire. I managed to find just enough space…