Oil and fuel filter changes.

Decided to change both oil and fuel filters on Chuckle as I wasnt convinced that they had been done. Oil filter change went smoothly enough once I'd worked out how to use the oil pump. If all else fails read the instructions. Fuel filters were a different matter. The primary fuel filter is located in the stern and is not only inaccesible but it's hard to even see it.
Closed off the fuel tap - didnt realised we had one - drained the filter bowl, undid the holding nut on top and the whole lot promptly fell apart into several pieces. Just had to work out how to reassemble which took several attempts. Remembered to fill filter canister with fresh disel before putting it all together to minimise air locks.
The secondary filter on the engine wasnt much better. Intructions stated undo retaining ring and remove filter bowl. Right. Ended up having to remove the whole filter from the engine and whacking it with a large screwdriver and rubber mallet. Eventually the retaining ring loosened up and I was able to remove the bowl, clean it up, replace the filter and fill with fresh diesel before reassembling. Even remembered to anneal the copper washers on the fuel feed pipes.
Bled the system and it started first time. The engine faltered slightly and then picked up and ran smoothly. Just to be sure I bled the system again the following morning.

a weather window

finally the weather forecast was for a dry day or at least the rain was to hold off until late evening. The perfect time to paint the topsides. High tide was at 8.15 and we cast off from the mooring and motored up river to the drying posts at the back of the harbour master's office. The usual drama of mooring up but we made it eventually.

Once in place it was just a case of waiting for the tide to drop. We passed time doing a few jobs onboard - repacking grease into the greaser on the stern gland and J went off to buy some hot food.

Once the tide had receded we collected buckets of fresh water from the burn flowing into the estuary, mixed in some sugar soap and started washing down and degreasing the hull. A final wash with more fresh water, a good towelling down, masking off the bootop and we were ready to start painting.

Teamac oil based marine gloss in mid blue. Similar I suppose to the colour she was. Must admit I'm not a great fan of the colour. I had wanted to paint her in off white or even a soft grey as to my mind it's more of a classical look and there is an old photograph of Chuckle resplendent in white. But we had already bought the paint so set to with a small gloss roller followed by tipping off with a brush. It's a fairly easy method and produces a reasonable finish fairly quickly. I say reasonable because really she needs to have all the old layers of paint stripped off and starting from sctrach. That's going to have to wait until Spring when the plan is to have her craned out at Eyemouth for a couple of weeks so that we can crack on instead of trying to do everything piece meal between tides.

I was hoping to get a second coat on just before she refloated but it started to rain even before the first coat was finished. Bloody typical. I did manage to redo the bootop by towelling it dry but it was all frustrating and annoying.

I ended up sitting for 4 hours waiting for the tide to come back so we could motor back to the mooring. As last time tried leaving to eaely and ran aground. Not a big problem as the tide was rising rapidly and we would float off eventually. The RNLI were out and about practising and I wanted to get off before attracting their attention. Gunned the engine in reverse and tried poling the bow off with the boat hook. Suddenly she was afloat and heading back towards the drying posts at full throttle in reverse. J froze so I had to dash to the cockpit and put in forward gear before she crashed into the old  wooden pier. Final indignity was scratching the new paint surface when we were climbing into the dinghy ready to row ashore. A long day!

short and sweet

J's daughter Holly arrived just as we about to set off to sail Chuckle and was very keen to come along. Turned out to be a brilliant sail. Reaching 6.2 knots on a reach, heeled over at 15 degrees. Everything went well. Can't wait to go out again. Still haven't painted the topsides!

back out into the Bay

the forecast was for very light winds but towards lunchtime the wind picked up from the SE and so we rushed to Chuckle and motored out hoisting the sail as soon as we were clear of the lighthouse. Even as we did so the wind dropped. We took out the reef and managed 3.8 knots on a tack but after that the wind lessened. We perservered and practiced tacking but in the end admitted defeat and dropped the sails and motored back into the estuary. We did manage to goosewing at one point. It's all very similar to sailing our dinghy.
Strange, yesterday we were nervous of the strength of the wind and today we were hoping it would increase in strength.

on the high seas

Managed to get out onto the Bay three times this week. The first was only a short motor out. The second was with sail up as was the third. The first time with sail the wind died immediately we passed the light house and we were drifting along. Still it was good experience in raising the sails. The third time, today, we motored out of the estuary raised the sails and immediately the sky turned dark, the wind strengthened and we were tearing along at just under 6 knots with the starboard toe rail in the sea. All a bit much but a good time to practice heaving to and reefing the main. It all went really well and we felt much more confident than healed right over. Alas the wind died within 30 minutes and so we dropped the sails and motored back in.

We'll try to get out as much as possible as the more we do it the more our confidence and skill levels will rise. Today we learnt how to hank on the main without raising the sail fully and we discovered that we can get out of the harbour at various stages of low tide. Everything going in the right direction.

Galley MK2

Decided to redo the galley as the first one using pine board from Homebase had already started to warp after only a few days. My neighbour very kindly gave me some waterproof board used in bathrooms. It's marine ply faced with plastic. Probably not heat resistant so will just have to be careful.

I've bought a used plastimo 50 ltr water container with associated pipe work and a caravan waste water container for a knock down price off Ebay which will be installed under the galley area. An amazingly high quality sink was included too so I have swapped the homemade one over. It even came with a foot operated whale pump which I may find a use for.  The vintage brass galley pump looks much smarter and is much more efficient at pumping water.

Still haven't glossed the topsides due to the awful wet summer we're having but will crack on with the cabin sole and the front engine cover. Joy has been concentrating on the deck, removing old flakig paint and feathering in the edges. It's all ready for masking off and repainting - weather permitting. Have decided to retain same colour which is a cream.

Did manage a short trip out with the engine. Just wish we had hoisted sail. Here's a few pics of Joy at the helm concentrating  on avoiding lobster pots

Idiots on jet skis

What is it about people on jetskis? Went aboard Chuckle yesterday and opened the hatch to discover mayhem. Tins of paint, varnish, tools etc strewn all over the place. Thought at first a fishing boat had come too close and too quickly which would have been unusual as the few boats operating out of Berwick are very much aware that Chuckle is undergoing a refit and keep well away. In the middle of tidying everything back in place heard the roar of two engines and looking out witnessed two jet skis beginning to tightly circle each moored boat in turn at full throttle. As they did so each boat started to pitch and roll violently. Ours was next in line but on seeing me they veered off and roared out of the bay. What a couple of complete idiots - using a line of moored boats as a slalom course!
An hour later we had started up the engine, cast off from the mooring and were motoring up and down the estuary to recharge the battery. As we did so both jetskis reappeared and as we motored along one of them cut straight across our bow at full throttle only a matter of feet from us. Clueless, dangerous and moronic behaviour.