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2012.  Discount Marclear antifouling For Sale.

 prices pegged for 3rd year!. Feb 2012.

 I have again been  offered a great deal  on Marclear, for High Strength Work Boat Red Antifouling.  The same price as last year...  Bear in mind this is 45% copper and the price of copper  rose  300%!  I think we have a bargain especially as the stuff really works!  Prices for 2010 are at the moment the same, but there is a chance the price may rise, so if interested, get in quick....

I hope to be able to sell it at £60.00  for 2.5 litres, instead of the R.R.P. of £107.00!  This will include a donation of £2.50 to the EOG for every can!  

The  other colours are available but are dearer at £75.00 with the same £2.50 in that to the EOG.  (These brighter colours are OK but the copper strength is  very slightly less than the Workboat Red, which is why that is so good!)

There is now also a white available at £80.00 for 2.5 litres.

(The colours cost more because the pigment needed to change the colour from the natural copper to whichever colour you chose...)

Thinners for wiping down, cleaning up or thinning 10% if it is really warm, (wish), £5.50  for a litre can.

There is also a primer in 2.5 litre cans, for covering old antifouling that may be flaking, unstable or not copper-based.  £40.00

Also will have to be picked up from me in Essex, or carriage free if you want to order  4 cans, ( over £200 worth)  to be sent to you up country!   (Get together with a mate!)

For more details contact me on 01621 778859 

 This year again I will be accepting payment from credit cards on ordering

via the  SOS PayPal account.

Contact me via this site  enquiries@eventides.org.uk and I will send details.

 John

Marclear have a web site up and running now, click here,  Marclear  to see the other colours.

Wednesday 22nd February 2012.

After an energetic weekend with all the family at Center Parcs, good to get home for a rest!  Wonderful place for kids, and not bad for grownups! Swimming, and water park flumes and slides, cycling and walking in wonderful woodland, surrounded by wildlife. Deer come to the patio doors for the carrots we took, magical for kids! Hot tub in minus 3 great for the oldies!

Waiting for a bit of rain to wash the roads off, then my old van will come out of hiding..  too much salt on the roads still, so walking a lot, have to say it is good for you, time to get fit for the antifouling and general fitting out!

Talking of Antifouling I have  a few cans in stock (and a few set aside for customers.). If you would like a can and are local enough, contact me to pick up from here in Tillingham or meet us at our end of month meeting in Chelmsford area next Wednesday.

If you would like to come and meet us we will be at 'The Grange', Boreham, Wednesday evening next, 29th at 1930 hrs.  however we do need to book, so contact me by Monday next as I have to book it then......

Welcome to another new member, Dave Whittingham of Yorkshire, not sure as yet which of our boats he is interested in, hope to hear.

Have been asked for any history on the Eventide 'Mary Louise'..  If you have any info let us know....  I will be scanning the records shortly. Steve has sent a few pictures to add to the Gallery and he is already busy with the sander and paintbrush!

I have just added another chapter to the Senior Carita's page of the builders pages. John in Tasmania is beavering away and has had time to build a new dinghy as well!

If  Carmello in Australia is reading this, your mail refuses to work......cannot reply.....   So.... Re donation, £6.50 per CD please.  Go to the ‘Donate’ button on the home page then just confirm by e-mail the CDs of drawings your require, 3 Tonner and Wild Duck I assume!

A big thankyou to Frances and Tim Knight for their generous donation following the sale of 'Mayna', will keep the website alive for years!  Very grateful for the cheque folks...  Makes it all worthwhile.

With the weather taking a warmer turn time to get cracking on our boats!

John

Thursday 16th February 2012.

Three new enrolments!  Welcome to Malcolm Symonds who has acquired Doug Bullock's boat, the Eventide 26 'Karali'.  Some will recognise those names as Doug and his boat featured for years in the Around the Coast correspondence in Yachting Monthly. Malcolm tells us he is new to sailing and has only recently learnt in a Caprice, which he has crossed Morecambe Bay in, treacherous waters!  He is launching 'Karali' in April to sail her for the first time...

Welcome to Graeme Stevens in Surrey, who is looking to buy an Eventide, Waterwitch or Riptide....

And Peter from China! He has actually joined us before as a prospective Mouette builder, now he is interested in the Eventide 26, a much more commodious and usable boat.  Much as the Mouette looks good from a distance, the sitting head room only inside would get to you quite quickly I suspect!

I have added a link to the Links and the Gear that Works pages.  They are links to the firm that has supplied me with the Navigation Lights App.  I wrote to them and they tell me a new App is due out shortly, in conjunction with  Nav. Lights and that will have the sound signals and the rest of the Prevention of Collision Regulations.  For the few pounds, literally, that these cost I would think they were excellent value for money.

I bought a program for my boat laptop as well, Lightmaster, but though it has the lights on vessels and buoyage system as the App, the graphics are not as good as the App and again there are no fog signals etc, ad yet.  Await on this one.

The weather is still holding up with temperatures in the teens still.  Off to the boat to check her out....

John

Wednesday 15th February 2012.

Hope you got a nice card or present yesterday and remembered to buy a bunch of flowers or make that meal reservation! Got one of the biggest bars of Toblerone I have ever seen!  Brilliant meal in local eating house....  Traditionally the day birds start to find nest sites and a further step towards warm weather!

Good news today, the sale of another Eventide off our pages and a nice donation promised.  Hope to see 'Mayna' out and about on the Blackwater still and hear from the new owner soon. Tim and Frances will stay on as friends!

Have had a serious enquiry from China for a CD of Eventide drawings. the question has been asked, how many can we build?  Are we about to see a resurgence of wooden boats courtesy of China!  Well there is a fleet of Seniors building in the Philippines, so why not..  MG called it the peoples boat!

With all the snow gone and temperatures at a very pleasant 10 degrees today, time to turn attention to fitting out again!

Another delivery of antifouling today, taking orders....  Discount for members and donation of £2.50 a can to the EOG.

Off now to mend a bird box...

John

Monday 13th February 2012.

The snow is at last melting after a few of the coldest nights we have had here in the past 14 years, recorded minus 7C.  the lowest before that was just over a year ago with minus 4, and before that minus 3 was as low as it had been. Chris in Holland was talking of over minus 20C there!  Hope you got the antifreeze in that engine!

Today a balmy 6 degrees above!

I bought a book the other day, it arrived Friday and I have had the weekend to read it.  It was written by our late friend Colin Faggetter in 1995.  It takes you from lofting the plans and reading the table of offsets, to launching, with a few pics of his Goosander in Greece to whet the appetite.  I have been trying to trace the publishers, but it would appear they have disappeared.  So I am going to publish a few extracts of it on the site without being able to get any permissions!  Having said that a lot of it has appeared in Eventide newsletters and articles over the years anyway..

It is the sort of book any home builder should have on his bookshelf, all good common sense advice and lots of builders tips and wrinkles!

The family gave me  a nice combined  birthday present last summer, an Apple 'iTouch'.  not a phone, basically a touch screen device I could put all my music on.  It turned out to be far more useful than I ever had imagined.  It is WiFi enabled, so will pick up any WiFi.  I have it at home, but it is also able to pick it up in my marina berth, at anyone's house when I get the password, or out and about at free WiFi spots.  I use it now for news updates, the weather and more recently have discovered the world of 'Apps'.

I have loads of then now, the ones associated with boat use I must mention, but I have language trainers too, trying my hand at Arabic! Also some about trees and even cats!

For boating the obvious 'App' to start you off would be weather and tide tables, some free too!

The marine side to these 'App's has opened up a new world.  Years ago when working as a Marine trainer, I used a couple of old DOS programs to help me and my students in their quest to pass the Boatmaster and Yachtmaster exams.  (Professional and amateur qualifications I taught.).  Sadly these old programs no longer function on any computer I have, which is sad as they were good for entertaining a crew, and they never minded  learning as it was fun.!

I have found an 'App', 'Nav lights and Shapes', which is fun and though not including the sound signals....  (as yet, have already been on to the company!!) it will suffice as a stand in.... as a training aid, it even has a fun test, and I have to admit to not getting all the  answers right first time round!  Practice makes perfect!

If you have one of the modern phones or an iTouch, worth a look.!

Off to recharge my iTouch, John

Thursday 9th February 2012.

Happy Birthday to the Eventide Owners Group!

Nine years old today!!!!!!!

Today, nine years after the formation of this group, I am so pleased to announce we have far exceeded our hopes and dreams.  We have kept the designs alive and we have had over 1350 people think we are doing the 'right thing' and have been moved to join us!  A far cry from the days at the end of the old association with just 100 paid up members and many of them non owners.......  From the original 65 association members who joined the EOG at the outset we are so pleased that we have been joined by so many owners, ( and 'Friends') which just goes to show we were offering the 'right ' sort of support, 'For owners, by owners and Friends'!

Let us hope that we  are able, as a group, to continue to support owners and prospective owners for many a year.

If you are a voting member, an owner, do not forget our Annual Meeting is coming up soon, (March 25th) and you can send in suggestions for the activities or direction of the group and turn up at the meeting with them and have a vote too!

Hope to see as many of you as possible....

Looking forward to seeing many afloat too this year, we already have a list of events, but would like to organise others in Scotland or the North West, Wales, and the south west.  Any offers of host boat? All you need is a venue, a sailing club, marina, pub, cafe with nearby moorings or anchorages and a date, we will advertise it, if another boat turns up you have a meet!

What about a meting at a part restored or built boat project?  These always were fun years ago, just have a kettle ready and allow people to drop in and chat!  Interested, just call or mail.

Enough armchair sailing! Time to stoke up the fire, still got at least 4" of laying snow...

John

Wednesday 8th February 2012.

Sold a few more bits off the site yesterday, there are some bargains to be had, person buying very pleased!

Sent out 2 CD's yesterday, Eventide and WW to new member Alistair in New Zealand.  Hope to hear which he decides to build.

Snowing again here, just light stuff, but having just walked to the post office and back in zero temperatures, it is drifting across the road again.  Still 6 inches on the roof and all the sheds etc.  Warm as toast inside, insulation, lots of it.  Made me think how many of us have insulated boats? 

I lined the dead spaces in 'Fiddler's Green' with closed cell insulation, mostly to try to make her unsinkable, which with the dinghy inflated in the saloon she would be now..  (No, not going to test it!!)  But it also makes for sound insulation and heat insulation too.  Behind the saloon seating backs, behind the galley lockers against the hull, under the cockpit floor, and each side of fore peak bunks.  Sadly there was no good way of insulating the cabin top without losing headroom....  with a larger boat, Riptide or GH this could be possible, but if damp gets in, disastrous....  Anyone had any experience of it?

I have now moved the updated Marclear antifouling advert up onto the Stoppress page and the 'What works' page.  For the third year running the price is pegged.  already had the first orders in  from boat owners in Bradwell where we know it works!  Order your now. small donation from each can to the EOG.

Time for lunch and to toss another log on the fire!

Just noticed my office/house anemometer is working again!  Just 3 knots of wind , but this is the first time it has worked since it went off the scale during the blow on Jan 2nd!

John

Monday 6th February 2010.

(No, it is 2012, just checking to see if anyone was watching..... thanks John)

The snow arrived on cue!  We have between 6 and 8 inches here and must be the heaviest dollop of white stuff in 14 years!  There are snowmen all round the village!  Yes it has made the back roads tricky and some are still icy, but main roads were quickly clear, which was just as well because I was in Chelmsford area Sunday lunchtime to test out a pub restaurant with a view to use for the Essex Section.  The place turned out to be a great venue, clean, warm, friendly, well staffed with good food and beer and even with flowers in the loos!  Have to thank the BSA Bantam boys for the idea as we went there to meet the local Essex section of the bikers!  Just as with the boating, a load of old chaps and their ladies with a common interest.  Another great crowd.  Why don't younger people get involved...?  Mortgages, children, jobs all seem to get in the way of fun!

I will be trying to book the place for the end of February Essex meeting, only slight snag is they need a couple of days notice, as they can get busy, being attached to a Premier Inn....  We can but try. will be asking for calls to make the reservation the preceding  Monday.  That's the 27th February.....

Had a query about tacking  long keeled boat today, a Barbican. (not a bilge or centreboard version)  Now from what I have under stood from Nigel and Heidi they have had no problem with theirs, and as their keel has been stuck up for a while, they are exactly the same set up.  I think from experience with my long keel Eventide, it is largely down to the setting up of the rig.  I am waiting on some pictures of his mast and sails to see if I can spot anything obvious!  Any Barbican owners like to comment, ones with stuck centreboards of converted to long keel?

One of our 'friends' boats was out over the weekend in that snow, John Hopthrow. John was tucked up warm at home but his daughter and partner were sailing her, they were warm down below till the butane bottle froze!  Has anyone converted to Propane, for winter sailing or for good?  Be interesting to know.  I contemplated it for a bit as I  extend my season till November most years, have even got a bottle and regulator, just in case, but have never fitted it, yet...

Keep warm, time to return to the log fire!

John

Thursday 2nd February 2012.

Winter has arrived, minus 2 here this evening, though it has just warmed up to Zero, so it's probably going to snow.  Snow is about the worst thing for boats afloat or out in the weather.  It settles, blows in everywhere, melts slightly, then the next night freezes and lifts all the darn varnish!  Hope you have been to check your covers! 

We have had a couple of new members join us, both as Friends...  Carmelo in Australia trying to decide whether to go for the CD of the 3 Tonner or the Wild Duck. He at the moment sails a 17ft carvel built gaff rigged boat, so already a traditionalist!   Phil here in the UK is looking for a bilge keel Barbican. Phil sails in Wales with a 36ft Westerly at the moment, but is looking for a sea kindly traditional boat!

I have been busy adding boats to odd pages, a Bawley seen on EBay, not sold yet and this is at least the second time she has been listed. Lots of work but lots of boat.  I have also deleted a few bits of the boat bits page, sold!  Donation to the site!

I will attempt to start the next newsletter off soon, have a few items here for it and one huge one.  This Edition may just end up with one article!  Watch this space, it's a biggy!

All for now, time to throw a few more logs on the stove and then turn in....  cold out there, cosy in here, but hang on, whilst thinking about our log burner....  Anyone any any recommendations for a replacement stove for a Waterwitch?  there is a thread on the forum that needs an answer....

John

Sunday 29th January 2012.

Saturday 28th January 2012.

I have just added a couple of photos to the Builders and Restorers section.  John down under is forging ahead with the construction of his Senior, the keel in now on!   John has opted for a steel plate keel and by the looks of it will attach weight to it by through bolting..  simple and effective.  John is fitting out the interior as well now, hope to see her afloat before too long...

How many others are out there building?  we have heard of a few over the past nine years, but many have gone quiet.   ???  We noticed the Steel Riptide Rachel was building was a finished hull when it went on the market last year.  Don't know what happened there, why she sold, or if she did, we have lost contact...  Seems to be an ongoing problem, keeping in touch, so many change their mail providers and forget to tell us...

I said earlier 'Nine Years'.  Yes the EOG celebrates 9 years next month.  How far we have come!  Present membership stands at over 1350 joining!  We are trying to keep track of all members and all boats and past members and further back to all known owners and boats.  This task is proving to be a problem.  We have 3 separate databases that we are trying to merge into one automatic, on line system.  We have made great strides, but have a way to go yet.  Our new Webmaster Peter, is working on a system, but if you think you have a way of combining 2 Access databases and a MySQL one into something we can manage, please contact us!

I said I would report back on my experiences with the new CTEK battery charger.  I successfully de-sulphated and restored my little lawnmower battery with it, that battery now on the solar panel again to keep it topped up. Not so lucky with the Morris Minor van battery, that showed up a fault and had to be replaced. I have been charging it once a week and it has been struggling.  Worked out it was 8 years old!!!  This week I tried my generator, (for the house, we live at the back of beyond..).  That was reluctant to start the genny, even though that has also a Solar Panel permanently connected.  So tried to revive it with the CTEK.  Instantly threw up a fault...  cost £50 to replace it, but as it was 7 years old and as an ex hire generator and you have no idea how it was cared for, did not think it had done too badly.   Anyway connected new battery to CTEK and it zipped through the charging program and it informed me battery was fully charged after just 24 hours.  Generator starts as soon as it sees the key now!

Doing further research into Lead Acid boat batteries, I have just bought 2 cheap 12v trickle chargers so I can leave the boat batteries in my garage over winter now, on a permanent trickle charge. I also have a 6v one on my old BSA Bantam....

Used the EBay page to buy them too, put 10p in the kitty! Do try and use this facility, Peter has reactivated it after our ex-webmaster threw spanners everywhere, it is working 100% again.  I'm not saying the cheapest things are always on EBay though, far from it.  One of the good things our ex web man showed me was how to search the net to find items for sale.  Google 'shopping'.  Part of the normal Google search engine.  It will find the cheapest and if it is on the Bay, simple to copy the items details, and paste them into the EOG search page. works for me anyway.

Had a £20.00 donation in this week for the 2 Ali portholes that were on the pages.  Sold to raise funds. hope to sell more items shortly, have bought a job lot of chandlery with some Seagull parts, and will be posting them shortly.

Enough for now, though it is cold, I am off to the boat to remove the last battery and wire in the new battery monitor.

Will drain any water too, as the weatherman reckons it's going to get chilly for a bit!

John

Wednesday 25th January 2012

Burns night! A nod to Barry our ex webmaster!

It is also Chinese New Year, the year of the Dragon, so this evening we are going to meet in Maldon at IZUMI Chinese Buffet!.  Sadly all the regulars are indisposed or busy, (Jo is on her way back from Malaya and Doug of course is picking her up from Heathrow).   Have had calls from two other members, but when I told them it was just to be myself and Darian they opted out....  good job I don't bruise easily or I could get a complex!

One of the two calls was from Martin who had just bought 'Mayna', advertised on the site.  Hopefully we will see more of him afloat next season. Awaiting his enrolment ....

Another new enrolment in from Mark Symonds.  Mark owns the Atlantic Clipper I have just added to the For Sale pages.  She is a good looking boat with all the gear, make a good cruising boat for someone!  Mark says if she does not sell she will be out and about in the Solent, watch out for him!

John Hopthrow has brought my attention to an Eventide 24 for sale at Prestwick.  Project boat that sails and floats.... have a look....

  http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120845740586&ssPageName=ADME:B:EF:GB:1123

OK that's it for now, off out to Maldon!  Hope to see a few members in a months time maybe??  Or at the Annual Meeting 25th March at Bradwell.

John

Sunday 22nd January 2012.

Just back from lunch at the Marina and this year, again, Mike and Anita have agreed to let us use the dining room for our Annual Meeting.

Assemble 12.30 for lunch, beer and a chat.  Normal large menu available.  Meeting kicks off at 1400 and will last approx 1 hour.  Anyone with anything they would like put on the agenda please mail it in at least 7 days beforehand.  All members welcome, and full owning members get a vote don't forget.

I was going to take a look at the works going on at the Bradwell Baffle site, off the PowerStation, but though it was a balmy 8 degrees, the F6 made it feel a lot colder, so postponed.  However we did learn that they have had major problems and though they did an experiment some years back and  easily removed 30 metres of baffle by vibrating the piles out, this time they had opted to send divers in and cut them off.  Subsequently they have had 2 incidents with the divers, so now have resorted to the 'vibrating out' method that worked!  As a result the work is months behind and the exclusion zone around the area will still be in force, well into the summer.  In addition they have now announced that the central concrete pillars are going to be more difficult to remove than first imagined, so they may leave them!  They were supposed to be finished by spring with all removed and the bottom swept by wire to ensure no obstacles....

Will keep you posted.

I have updated the Events page today.  If there are any other events, like a builders meet around a part built or restored boat, let me know and I will add it to the list and can arrange e-mailings to members living locally.

Had a mail in regarding a Steel Eventide, 'Torfreda'  She was built in Holland and sailed to the UK by the owner and family in the late 50's early 60's...  John Hubbard would like to know where she is now.  They kept her in Bosham, (Chichester).  I suspect she was one of the 'Kesteloo' built Eventides and possibly 27ft long, over 100 were sold to he UK in the early 1960's.

Had a mail in from John Slevin in Tasmania, he is building a Senior and making a lot of progress. See the Newsletter..  and the builders pages.  Still got time to take the Eventide he built earlier, out fishing though!

Says there were no fish biting though!  John is getting on ever so well with Carita and it will not be long before the boat is launched, the ballast keel is now fitted!  Well done that man!

Time to go and throw another log on the fire and relax. I am saving my energy for the forthcoming fit out!  (My excuse anyway!).

John

P.S. Stoppress.... Stoppress.  This came in from our historian John Stevens as I was closing down the page to save it, have a look!   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16671444

John

Thursday 19th January 2012.

Welcome to Roger Hartley in South Africa.  He is looking at an Eventide 26 and send the name of the area he would be sailing.  The Historian mailed me back after I sent on the form, Google it he said. I did.  Nice place!  'Saldanha'.  We will have to update the number of members joining on the site soon, must have got well beyond the 1,300 listed!

Have had a couple of enquiries about advertising on our site, seems the 'For Sale' page is easily found!  One came from a member of the old eoa from long back, selling a GH 31, the other enquiry from a commercial boat builder in Turkey.  Once I realised that was what he was I informed him politely what we were about and we were not about to advertise his 27ft modern boats.  Sadly it seems people will try it on.

End of the month meeting next week!  Have heard from several of the regulars and they cannot come along.... We were going to meet in a Chinese restaurant in Maldon. If there is anyone who may be interested in coming along please contact me on 01621 778859, seems Darian and I may be on our own otherwise!

The saga of batteries....   after giving that bit of duff info and quickly correcting it, I can report that 2 of my 3 boat batteries have passed all tests with new charger, with flying colours.  Next the old lawnmower battery, which amazingly has also come back.... This was  dated 2004, a much abused 38Amp hr battery...  Kept going for the past year by the use of a 5 watt solar cell on the lawnmower shed.  Looks good!

However not so fortunate was the battery on my moggy van, which failed to respond and cost me £60 for a replacement yesterday! Had been nursing that with frequent recharges for a year now. Yesterday, one turn of the motor, then dead as a doornail! Was 7 years old.....  So cannot complain, well not too much..   (£60, ouch!)

I will be trying to rejuvenate the battery for the house generator next, that too has been on a 5 watt solar cell for the past year....  but has needed charging as well...  could be a tricky one.  Clever charger/tester/rejuvenator, is a CTEK 5 amp unit....More later.

Had an enquiry re the WW CD today and there has been some activity on the Forum, sad there is not more....

Click here to go to the Forum pages...

All for now,

John

Monday 16th January 2012.

Welcome to Tim Baldwin with the Vulcan 'Silverhow', the latest to join and share information with us. 

Today I had an odd request from someone who saw his boat listed on the gallery, he wanted it's location to be a secret... (It is in the Netherlands).  I can only suspect he is hiding it from someone...  very odd.  Myself I always tell my boss what I have and why I buy these bits of boat kit, she rarely understands what I'm talking about anyway when it comes to boating....  but I have heard of aggrieved wives attacking their other half's boats..  famous one in Poole last year....  Takes all sorts as they say.

And talking of acquiring boats, I acquired another at the weekend, a cold moulded ply dinghy about 9ft long.  I hope to renovate it for little Horatio, the grandson.  Will post a picture later.

Have had an enquiry for the iron keel I have here, from a member building.  Better than sending it for scrap!  Have recycled a lot of bits recently.  Good to see them going to good homes to be reused.

Will be altering the advert for the Eventide 'Funky Floater' shortly, price reduction, also adding info about the Clipper and Barbican....

Back soon,

John

Thursday 12th January 2012.

Sadly learnt today that the last GH building company, Newson's, is no more.  We do not know if the moulds are still there, the yard now seems to be in the hands of the MTB 102 preservation society.   Now should I volunteer to host the mould in my garden...  After the last boat, not a chance. We also have lost track of the moulds of the Lone Gull II.   (Are they moulds or are they molds?).  I think it is the former, but what the heck...  We were approached by someone who had a Lone Gull II part completed, he had the drawings too, which would have been great to save for posterity, but sadly we never heard again.  We never heard from the family re the drawings of the Francis Drake and GH 39's etc, suppose those drawings have now been lost to all.  Some people still think these boat drawings are worth a fortune and sadly determine to hang on to them till they get forgotten.  Sad legacy for some of M.G's and the other designers, boat designs.

We will do our utmost to preserve as many different sets of these drawings as we can.

Heard from two members that they have successfully applied and got ship licences for free as a result of my posting the notice about the fine!  Nice to know a couple more of our members will not be getting 'The Knock'.  I know there are a few more out there who need to get legal.....

Had a nice series of pictures and text in from Justin about the centre plate on the Barbican.  Should help a few owners decide what to do!  Justin is proud skipper of one of a handful that were actually built to the MG drawings, with a centre plate that not only cannot fall out, but is used!  I will be adding the pics to the Barbican and Atlantic Clipper page shortly.

I am pleased to say we have had the whole text of a GH's circumnavigation sent to us.  Brian and Joyce sailed Tusk for years all round the world.  they took pictures and wrote avidly.  I am hoping to publish the lot for all to read, for free.  A Generous gesture by Brian and Joyce.  'Tusk' can be followed from launch to her Mediterranean cruising today.  More later.

Chris in Holland, one of the Steering Group, has sent in details of a free plotter navigation program. 

http://www.antech-it.nl/nieuws/nws007.htm

While not as detailed as the electronic charts you can buy, it may well be adequate for many, especially if you are using it to back up paper charts.

We also heard from the grandson of the Classic MG, 'Ayuthia'.  Launched in 1936 and spotted for sale in the USA in 2006, she of course appears on our pages and we have been able to furnish Charlie with some more info so he might track her down. He has promised some photos of her sailing in the Solent in 1950's!

I have taken delivery of a CTEK 5 amp battery charger, bought using our EBay page, to put funds in the kitty for the Webmaster...  I will report back after I have tried it out on a couple of suspect lead acid batteries I have here.  The lawnmower is going to be first!

It has a reconditioning program to try and bring back older batteries and a normal charging set up that first pulses to 'de-sulphate' a battery, going then through 8 stages to ensure batteries get the best chance.  It also test them along the way. The one I bought is good for up to 120 Amp hr, but there are larger and smaller units to suit different sizes of lead acids.

Hope you are ticking off the jobs on your fit out list too.

Off Saturday to pick up another boat. This time a 'Fairy Duckling'!  I intend to sort it out for Grandson No 2, Horatio,  a budding Admiral at the age of 6 years  and  2 months!  Pictures later, of boat and crew....

John

Sunday 8th January 2012.

Have spent a few hours on the boat over the weekend and have partially installed my new battery monitor gauge.   Took the opportunity to remove the start battery, Voltmeter said it had 12.7 volts in it, and sure enough the little green indicator in the top showed it was charged.  Put on the bench and connected to the charger it barely took an amp!  Hope you do this at home folks...  Next step is to discharge it with a lamp and then recharge.  Will keep it tip top. Now the battery is out i can replace the hose and check the seacock behind it, another job ticked off the list. 

A day later and I have had some advice.  Do not drain a lead acid down past 20% capacity by discharging, it does them no good.  Instead let them self discharge slightly, to 80% it says, (now if you have not got a clever Nasa Battery monitor you will be hard pressed to figure that one out), suffice to say if the voltage is down to 12.5v., then recharge.  Better still buy a clever auto charger that you can leave on all the winter.  I have just bought one on our EBay page.  cost £50.00 but if it saves the cost of the batteries...  Will charge up to 120 amp hour battery and keep it charged

Fridge battery only registered 12.2 volt and the 'fuel gauge' on  the NASA Battery monitor read 60%.  That too is on the bench for charge discharge charge cycles.   Not any more... a day later and wiser and it is now fully charged and awaiting the clever trickle charger.

With any luck I will be taking that back and maybe swapping it with the Services Battery next week, then connecting the new meter. 

No power in the barn, or it would have been easy to leave the charger on!  I do have a little generator, 60 years old plus,  ex WWII Royal Corp of Signals battery charger, Bet my dad used to use one just like it in the north African Desert!  corporal later Sgt in Signal corp.  Only trouble is it is a little noisy, heaven knows how they kept them quiet behind lines in the L.R.D.P.

Though the thermometer says 9 degrees, the chill  gets in you out there, so not too long on the boat today....  Hope you are managing to get jobs done.

Realised the London boat show was on.  Had a scout round, apparently the place near empty.  Well I do not know anyone bothering to go. Few if any chandlers, few deals, virtually no boat under 30ft and 100k!  As one chap said, where are all the starter boats now for him to sell on to when he wants to retire from the game.

They are on our site!

John

  Friday 6th January 2012.

Twelfth night so I hope you have your decorations stowed away safely.  One Neighbour had his taken down for him, one of several trees felled by the horrendous winds we have had in the last few days!

I spotted the following and thought I had better print it.

Now I hate to have to say this, but in my view it is a 'no brainer'

If you have a radio, even a handheld VHF, you need a ship license.

It is FREE!!!!!!

If you do not have one the fine is £5,000.

Please contact the Radio licensing  boys to get  legal. 

Will be adding more kit to the for Bits for sale pages, some new some usable second hand.  I have also added a GH 31 to the For Sale pages too.   If you have bits or boats, we do sell them from our pages!

For the first time ever we have had a member ask to be erased from the membership list!  As he is in N.Z. it cannot be my B.O., not sure what the reasons are but we have written to Mike telling him we are perfectly willing to remove all his contact details etc, to comply with Data protection etc, but we can and will leave his name on the archive as an ex owner of the Eventide 'Quest'.  Shame to lose you Mike.  (most ex owners stay on as 'Friends'  and still keep in touch occasionally, and it great to know you are still looking in on us.)

Used the EBay page the other day and ordered my new water filter.  It arrived yesterday and so did a few pennies, into the Webmasters account!  So the damage to the page is repaired and all is working fine again.  We lost 3 months income, about £150.00.  Peter is busy upgrading the forum pages to insert extra security and a nice touch, a compulsory field, your location.  Seems some are shy of telling us they live in Cumbria or Wales or Sussex, no idea why.  Well from now on you will have a clue where a member comes from, unless they lie of course and as we can look in and figure that out, any who deceive will be... 

Whilst on about the forum we think this can be a great place for members to meet others either with similar boats or in the same sailing area. Come on do not be shy, join up.  We have over 1,300 members and few so far on the forum pages.  It really is not too difficult to join, after all if I can do it, you can!

Off to the Post office now with today's sack of Seagull parts then down to boat to measure up for new voltmeter.

John

Thursday 5th January 2012.

The weather has really given us a pasting for the last 3 days, winds of 100mph have been recorded at the local marina and we have had damage as a result.

As you may know we have a WildDuck abandoned in our garden, that was a casualty of the storm.  We had hoped to be able to pass it on to someone who would give it the care it needs, not any more as the port side is distorted where it fell, so suspect frames have been damaged, so it is now even more worthless than it was.

Difficult to quite make out  what you are looking at with all the debris, but she is now laid on her port side on the ground, but in falling had trapped an Ali ladder under her, cannot see if that has punctured the hull as yet, too much splintered timber from the legs of the cover frame.  (Of course had the cover been erected, that would have taken the brunt and the boat would probably have survived!)

Even more damage was done, financially, to a boat in a nearby marina, here the 2010 boat show exibit Elan crashed over and had 3 holes through the hull plus impact damage, value £105,000!

Ouch, but unlike Tarka, bet this one is insured!

At the moment the Dartford River Crossing is closed again and there is chaos in Essex with fallen trees everywhere.  My wind speed indicator on the roof has gone off the scale and jammed!

Roll on Spring.

John

Wishing all our members and 'Friends' a Happy New Year,

and Good Sailing in 2012.

Sunday 1st January 2012.

The rain is tipping it down but the thermometer is still hovering round the 11 degree mark.  Blackbird in the hedge outside the study window is building a nest!  What is going on!

We realised yesterday that the ex-webmaster had purposely fouled up the eBay page as another bit of his parting gift. Repaired today by Peter, and I have been spending a few pennies on it to test it.  I bought a new filter for our on board drinking water filter, (Jabsco).  Cheaper than driving to the nearest chandlery and we get a few pence in the kitty for the webmaster, all donated by EBay!!  Also bought filters for the daughters fridge/icemaker and spare vacuum cleaner bags!  All fun here! To search for  anything on the EBay Page you just change the text in the window from 'Maurice Griffiths' to whatever you are looking for! Simple.

Did not get to Marina Bar yesterday, they were closed, never mind, we will drop in to see Mike and Anita shortly and set up a date for late March, a Sunday lunchtime, for our Annual Meeting.

Antifouling....  I will be trying to get the same deal as last year, hopefully..  and will advertise it ASAP.

We are looking for a new web editing program to replace the rather dated FrontPage we use at the moment.  If anyone has any ideas or experience swapping over from FP please share it with us. The site as you know is huge, 1.5Gb plus and sometimes it takes a little while to download and upload when editing large sections.  I have been doing edits for 2 days now...  and have just about caught up.!

New edition of the Newsletter coming soon.....

Hope a few of you will be joining me and crew Phil for a weeks cruise around the silver Jubilee week...  put the dates on the calendar.   June 2nd to the 9th.

All for now.

John