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.

New galley

Chuckles new galley. A stainless steel sink which wil be supplied by a vintage brass galley pump and an origo 2000 spirit stove.

On deck

We hoisted the mainsail the other day to familarise ourselves with the slab reefing system which is fairly straight forward. I think the previous owner was using a sail tie to secure the reefing point so have attached a stainless steel hook to the goose neck which hopefully will be simpler and quicker to operate.

Also noticed that there is no way to alter the tension of the clew outhaul. The clew of  the sail was tensioned by a piece of cord tied to the clew and threaded through a block attached to the end of the boom and the cord was badly chaffed.
Have attached the block to the clew via a stainless steel shackle and added a dinghy forestay tensioner. The outhaul can now be tensioned according to the wind conditions!

At the same time have added an identical tensioner to the backstay. Again there was no way of altering the tension or at least not easily.

Chuckle has two anchors, a danforth and a fishermans both of which are set up for immediate deployment and they take up a large amount of deck space. Given that we have hank on jibs and need to get up there quickly and safely without  tripping over and falling overboard the fishermans anchor will be relegated to storage in the forepeak. Likewise the heavy wooden beaching legs which are currently stored on the coach roof and are a bloody obstacle course.

Eventually it would be good to lead all the lines back to the cockpit but will have to wait and see.

.......and more rain

Was hoping to get the first coat of gloss on the hull this weekend but the weather has put paid to that. Did manage the final coat on the doghouse but it rained immediately after so that all needs sanding and redoing.

In the meantime have ripped out the galley. It was ugly, totally impractical and not very well put together.

So now we have a big space to fill.

Made a start yesterday evening cutting an old teak table which was given to me to form a work top. Have cut out two inserts which will will house an Origo 2000 spirit stove from Ebay and a circular stainless steel sink. I'm pleased with the sink which is made from a large stainless steel mixing bowl with a hole drilled in the bottom with a kitchen waste added. A fraction of the cost of a caravan or boat sink - even secondhand. The sink will drain into a plastic container beneath the work surface. I've also bought, again off Ebay, a vintage brass galley pump which should look the part once it's installed. It will draw water from another plastic container under the worktop. Hope to get that done today - if the rain ever stops!

Once that's out of the way I can make a start on replacing the cabin sole which is a real mish mash of ply, pine boards and the odd bit of teak. It will be replaced with some mahogany flooring which I bought - from Ebay.  Should look vastly better.
I also need to address the companion way some time soon. There are two mahogany boards screwed in place which look to have come from an old piece of furniture. I did add a curved teak step - the end of the teak table! - which makes access in and out of the cabin a bit easier and added a iroko grab handle which I fashioned from some scrap wood gleaned from a local window manufacturer. The problem is the access to the Yanmar 1GM. In order to check the oil level the whole lot has to be unscrewed to gain access which is fairly daft.

We also want to do something with the forepeak. At the moment it has a raised platform to accommodate two berths (previous owner had two children). Might look at lowering the platform and installing a porta potti or even a proper heads. It did have one some years ago which was removed but the thru hulls are still in place.

coach roof

Two coats of ivory white marine gloss on the coach roof and cabin sides in between work and rain showers. Will probably need another two so that will be 7 coats in all including the undercoat. I like the ivory colour. Makers her look sleek and spacious. Much better than the dark blue it was painted before. Not the easiest job bobbing about in an inflatable dinghy trying to paint straight lines and avoid being swept away by the tide.

Contrast well with the bright work which has so far had 6 coats of marine yacht varnish. the hull will be dark blue and after that it's just the deck to paint and she's done and ready to sail. I would have liked to have removed al the paint and get her back to bare varnished wood but I think at some point in her life she has been neglected and the coach roof sides - built of heavy iroko - are badly split in places.

more painting

4 hours on my back

Well we've spent the past few months varnishing. There's a lot of wood on a folkboat inside and out and it takes a lot of varnish. So far we've put on about 7 coats and she's beginning to look the part.
Just by the harbour master's office there's a set of drying posts used for scrubbing the very few remaining commercial fishing boats on theTweed. With some trepidation and much internet research we decided to motor up on a high tide and let Chuckle dry out so we could inspect the hull and start applying antifoul and repaint the topsides.
Fortunately all went well and low tide found Chuckle upright leaning against the posts ready for some work. Just by the posts is a small fresh water stream and we used this to wash down the hull to get rid of salt deposits. The hull was in surprisingly good shape. A testament to the original designers, the ship builder and no doubt the previous owners.
In the time between two tides we managed to get a coat of primer and the first coat of antifoul. After that the weather turned and it started to rain ......and rain so we still have to undercoat and paint the hull.

In the meantime I've spent my time renewing the electrics and installing a new switched fuse panel and relocating the engine control panel bought from Japan at ridiculous expense. The old one was knackered and was operated by jabbing a blunt screwdriver into the ignition switch.
In between all of this I noticed the main halyard was lying in a mess on the coach roof. I began coiling the halyard into a neat tight circle. what  I didnt realise was that the the halyard shackle had come adrift and my coiling had succeeeded in dragging the shackle to the very top of the 40' mast!
Back to the internet for ideas on how to retrieve it. As luck would have it Chuckle has another halyard reaching to the top of the mast - not sure of its purpose. The boat hook fastened to this halyard, heaved to the top of the mast and then 4 hours spent trying to hook the shackle and bring it back to the deck. This is not easy" 

Off to Berwick upon Tweed

With all this talk of buying and selling boats you could be excused for thinking that we were experienced sailors. We learnt to sail in May 2015 after becoming members of the Berwick Sailing Club. I think I had sailed once before in a dinghy during a holiday in the Greek Islands but that was the sum total of our experience. And until very recently we had never been aboard a small yacht or had ever left the confines of the Tweed estuary.

Chuckle the Nordic Folkboat was berthed at Eyemouth harbour and she had been there since 2012. It's only a 15 mile trip from Berwick upon Tweed and we did consider leaving her there but in the end decided to move her onto a swinging mooring in the Tweed estuary. A couple of reasons for reaching that decision. Most importantly the mooring in the Tweed was free and she would be unlikely to suffer any damage unlike at Eyemouth where, rafted up to other bigger yachts,  her hull and deck were being constantly abraided from mooring ropes criss crossing her. To be honest, we werent too confident in how we would disentangle her from the other yachts in order to take her out and sail.

Moorings in the Tweed estuary are very difficult to come by. There then followed a lot of internet research on how to lay a deep water swinging mooring. Eventually we came up with this. 

 

It's a railway waggon weighing about 280 kgs with a couple of metres of heavy ships chain welded to it. From the ship chain runs 12 mtrs of 12mm galvanised chain leading to a large orange buoy and some very expensive mooring pennant with a yellow pickup float attached. My idea was the the waggon wheel would slowly sink into the soft mud and would take an enormous effort to move it. Just to make sure I also added a 40llb CQR anchor on a short length of chain. Sort of belt and braces job. One of the local fishermen was kind enough to dump the lot in our chosen mooring spot.

All we had to do now was to move Chuckle the Nordic Folkboat from her berth in Eyemouth to her new deep water mooring in the Tweed. It had to happen sooner rather than later not least because in a few days we would be paying visitor mooring fees of £20 a day.  

Fortunately there was a perfect weather window and so with a lot of trepidation we motored out of Eyemouth on a flood tide and after making sure we were well clear of lobster pots, turned south heading for home.  homeward bound

The entrance to the Tweed can be a bit tricky. There is a shifting sand bank at the entrance and with an ebbing tide with an onshore wind yachtsmen are warned against even trying to come in. But we managed and even picked up our mooring at the first attempt.

We buy a Folkboat

In April 2016 we acquired a Nordic Folkboat. She wasnt our first boat or indeed our first folkboat. The first yacht was a Hunter Europa which we bought in July 2015. She was ok but we lusted after an old wooden boat and the fibreglass Europa really didn't do much for us.

In a moment of madness I went on Ebay and put in an offer for folkboat which I had been watching for sometime and of course it was accepted - oops. We travelled down to Felixstowe to view our new purchase and were slightly disappointed in her condition. She was well equipped in terms of electronic gizmos but I reckon the previous owner should have spent a bit more time and money on the fabric of the boat instead.
But she was ours and all we had to do was to arrange for her transportation by road to sunny Berwick upon Tweed.
Now I realised it was going to be expensive but what I hadnt considered was the sheer logistics of transporting a boat 350 miles. I made three attempts to coordinate cranes, transport etc all at the correct tide and at each attempt something went wrong. Usually due to the boat transporter picking up an easier job and letting us down at the last minute.Finally I was so hacked off that I stuck her back up on Ebay and ended up selling her for a small profit.

As luck would have it, whilst all this was going on another folkboat came onto the market and this boat was based a mere 15 miles north of us!
Her name was Chuckle and she was the subject of another blog which I had been following for some time. She had been purchased in 2012 by a young couple in a fairly decrepit state to introduce their young family to the sea and to sailing and the blog both recounts the ongoing refurbishment and their adventures. Two adults, two kids and one dog spent 27 days on Chuckle exploring the Firth of Forth. No mean feat as anyone who has ever been aboard a Nordic Folkboat will testify.

Inevitably the time came when that family simply couldnt all fit together in the boat and she was reluctantly sold. The couple that bought her experienced very similar problems in regard to transporting her to Hull from Eyemouth as we did trying to get our folkboat from Felixstowe. There's a moral there - never be tempted to buy a boat which is miles away from your home port.

Anyway here she is at her berth in Eyemouth immediately after parting with our cash.

A proper boat. Clinker mahogany on oak frames with spruce mast and spars. Perfect.
She was built in 1954 by Harry Feltham in Portsmouth. The same year I was born.