Roach's Adventures

The New Roach Bog Roll Trophey

2011-06-03T12:52:00.003+01:00

Made from part of an Honduran Mahogany Plank and her old keel bolt.

Mystery Instrument

2011-04-30T07:42:00.001+01:00

Does anybody know what this instrument is or what it does?

New Engine Installation Notes

2011-03-30T20:22:00.003+01:00

When installing the new engine it was wise building the cockpit around engine first in order to get the correct clearance and servcing space. This worked well. Too many restorers build the cockpit first and exepct the engine to shoehorn in place. The engine can still be lifted clear now the cockpit is in place, but it was worth doing a trial fit first - not the battery shelves deep in the bilges keeping the weight low. The grey tube off the exhaust is what is called a "dry riser" - this stops water syphoning back into the engine - this was fitted as the waterlock is not placed very deep in the bilges.

An encounter with Humphrey Barton

2011-03-10T19:26:00.003Z

I quite like this quote showing the opinions of one of Britain's best sailors - an all inboard rig,
large ballast ratio and a decent engine. Pretty modern stuff for the times. If I ever upgrade a boat it will be to something with these wise words in mind.

Seraffyn’s Mediterranean Adventure
By Lin and Larry Pardey
Pg 230
“[but] almost half of the yachtsmen in Malta stayed onboard that Winter, including an international collection of some of the most interesting sailors we have come to know. Humphrey Barton and Mary Barton, an English couple, were spending their seventh winter here. Rose Rambler, their thirty-five-foot Giles designed wooden cruising sloop was vastly different to Seraffyn. We spent many boisterous evenings comparing these differences over rum and lime juice in the Barton’s warm cabin. Humphrey had crossed the Atlantic twenty-one times in yachts under forty feet. He had written a lovely book about one of these voyages-the story of Vertue 35, a twenty five footer he sailed to New York- and founded the Ocean Cruising Club of voyaging sailors. Humphrey had expounded the idea of taking all-female crews: for comfort, for a well run ship, and amiable company. His wife Mary was one of those crews. He proposed to her after an Atlantic crossing and they were married at a real cruising man’s wedding ceremony in Antigua. Now she was a veteran of several Atlantic crossings and thousands of miles of Mediterranean cruising. On Humphrey’s Birthday a dozen or so cruising friends planned a surprise party at Sally’s restaurant. It worked wonderfully and the hit of the evening came after Humphrey again told Larry he should give up bowsprits, sculling oars and beamy boats in exchange for an in-board rig, a fifty percent ballast ratio, and a diesel engine. As their discussion reaches its usual end, Humphrey, who had just turned 70 years old, waited for a moment’s silence. Then he stated in a firm voice, “ Larry Pardy, all that is wrong with you is your are old-fashioned.”

Classic Boat

2011-03-08T11:54:00.002Z

In 2008, Classic Boat Magazine shortlisted Roach for her restoration. Unfortuntaley they got most of her details wrong. She is 22ft and 7ft beam and the yard that helped me in the final srages was Everson's and Robertsons - also Jerry Hearle - a first rate boat builder from Roberstsons helped a A LOT with steaming timbers, keel bolts making the cockpit and the interior bunks to waterline level so I had something to work from.

At Ramsholt three summers ago...

2011-03-05T05:28:00.002Z

Drinks in the cockpit after a storming sail from Pin Mill. Not a bad view from the cockpit! Note that the seatbacks are not in yet.

Under Engine Deadwood keel bolts

2011-03-01T14:22:00.003Z

Current Project: This bolt is not one of the ballast keel bolts, but on that was weeping under the engine - so it was engine out and have a look. Well this is my biggest risk to launching this year as the bolt is well and truly stuck or even sheared maybe. You can see I have managed to get it out by about a inch and half. So the next step is trying to pull a section out and hopefully the whole thing will come out in one whole bit. Watch this space.... More news as I wrestle with this bolt!

The Ballast Keel Bolts

2011-03-01T13:54:00.002Z

I though I would show shots of the ballast keel bolts being replaced in 2000. This was done by Jerry Hearle of Roberston's boatyard in Woodbridge. They were certainly the original bolts, and not too bad after 47 years! New ones were made up and three new oak floors made to take the bolts. One under the mast step, one in the central section of the keel, and one aft. The keel was re-set using pitch and then tightended. There was some damage to the deadwood which was replaced as well. The current problem is the deadwood bolt under the engine - and this is causing me problems.

Photos of the cockpit old and new

2011-03-01T12:48:00.003Z

I have been told that I have not put any before and after pictures on this site, so I have dug out some old photos. This one shows the old cockpit being ripped-out and a new to Dallimore's original design to go in.

Here we can see a new floor under the engine (the last ballast keel bolt) and also a new floor going in under the mast step.

All the seat tops are solid Brazilian Mahogany but the sides are Tiger Ply from Robbins Timber.

All around hand-rails

2011-02-25T19:27:00.003Z

One of the problem with Roach is that she does has slick slippy decks. They might look good, but they do get very slippy. Luckily, with the Merriman gear on her working jib, there is hardly ever a reason to go forward. Occasionally one must though, as the Merriman (the American Version of Wickham Martin gear) is only a furler and not a reefer. There are, therefore, occasions when must go forward to change up to a genoa or too a smaller jib. It is here that a hand-hold would be very much appreciated by the crew.

I have seen the toe rail on her sister ship Athena. They are raised on pyramids and they are every effective – so I am unashamedly rippling them off. As I can’t afford teak I am making them from Iroko and they will be varnished ( as I believe that fits in with the rest of the deck). They will also be more substantial – mainly in order to be more proud than the existing toe rail. One will just be able to get a the toe of a boot under one which will add a lot to her safety going forward.

Here is a trail one to check for aesthetic pleasantness. Not as nice as Athena’s, but hey ho.

Bridging a small gap in her history

2011-02-25T15:12:00.003Z

I thought I would do a little re-cap on Roach’s History as there are a few gaps which have been kindly filled with people that have copies of Lloyds registers.

Firstly, Roach was built in 1953 at Stebbings yard. In 1964 she is registered owned by Blackwater Yacht Charters. Her first engine was a Coventry Victor 2 cyl, 6 BHP, dated 1950. This was then a Stuart Turner 1 cyl, 4 BHP, of 1962. She currently sports a BETA 13.5HP which was fitted in 2007.

She is listed as being in Lloyds of 1959,61,64 and 1966.

In 1966 her owner changed to a Mr. M D Clarke. After that we hit a blank.
There are rumours of her being owned by Mr. Debbage and others, but this has to be confirmed. There was a time that she was called Heron, but she reverted back to her original name at some stage.

The picture above shows her at the farm in the early spring of 1997 after I bought here the year before. Nothing was done that year except stripping out of the old plywood interior. You can see that she was based in Cowes at some stage from the writing on her stern. I bought her in April 1996 from Mr. Kevin Piper of Ipswich. I am not sure how long he was her owner.

If anybody has any old photos or parts of her history I am not aware of, please let me know.

Roach's Birth River

2011-02-24T12:36:00.002Z

Maybe I will make it with her this summer?

The Burnham Sloop

2011-02-11T10:53:00.004Z

The Burnham sloop was designed by Dallimore in 1938, but no boat were built until after the war. Recently I have heard of the existence of Roach’s younger sister Truant – she requires restoration was recently sold in the West Country as a project. I trust the new owner can get her in the water soon.

Truant is an interesting yacht as she was built a Prior’s in 1951. She was built to the original 1938 Burnham Sloop design. The windows and dog house you see are not original, but what one can see is that there is clearly no cut-away forefoot as on Roach. This is because Dallimore re-worked the design in 1948 to provide more ballast and a smaller sail plan. He introduced the cut-away forefoot which was a very novel innovation for 1948.

Stebbing's Yard Archive

2011-02-11T10:49:00.002Z

http://www.stebbings-archive.net/?page_id=66

Roach was built in at Stebbings yard in 1953 – this site is really good as it catalogues every yacht built by them and provides a great history of the yard. Apparently they were very well known for their wooden spars. I have to agree. Roach has her original elipical Douglas Fir spar; the only eliptical wooden mast I have ever seen. If you think about it, it is the best shape for a mast.

Roach alongside some pretty yawls in 2007

2011-01-27T20:55:00.000Z

Rowing Rosebud

2011-01-10T21:19:00.004Z

Well no sailing on this trip but I did managed to get Rosebud out for a row. She is a very good rower as she tracks very well. Her deep V construction does not make her very stable, but the tracking when rowing such a wide beam dinghy is superb. As with all rowing it comes down to the oars – my old 5ft two-part Avon oars are not really up to proper rowing, but taken steady I rowed around 4km. Last year I noticed that the oars jumped from the locks a lot – making me catch a few crabs. So this year I brought out some totally round lock which seemed to do the job, although thicker oars or even collars would have helped. It is all good learning for the new dinghy build.

Dinghy build moving slowly forward

2011-01-03T02:29:00.004Z

Well a quick update. This boat is expected to take 180 hours of work, but I have upped that to 200 hours, to give time for prepping, sourcing, and reading through and understanding the plans. I knocked 4 hours off today reading through the plans and hand cutting the transom from the plans (no power tools). This will be a very small dinghy indeed as you can see from my foot size. The transom will need another board on top – it was cut down in order to fit in my suitcase
I have decided to sell Rosebud, the dinghy I built last year (2009) as I it lives abroad, and I don’t really use it. So I will keep the Acorn sail, which is in great shape and make a plastic sail for Rosebud from light tarpaulin – around here people are used to improvisation and don’t really know the difference between sail material and plastic. Anyway tomorrow it is off to hand make 30 wedge clamps from the leftover ply I had from Rosebud construction. I have ordered the plywood from Robbins in the UK, and when I am back the first priority will be to make the building frame.
Tally
Time 195/200 hours.
Cost £200 plywood (Transom and sail were leftovers from previous build)

New Year = New dinghy

2010-12-20T18:10:00.002Z

Well I have decided that another dinghy will be the project for the New Year. There is nothing like the feeling of accomplishment when creating something tangible and it will be an excuse to get me away from the endless hours on a laptop. Before anybody asks, I am building this at my own pace whenever I have a free moment, so there is no schedule. There may be long gaps between posts

The design I have chosen is Oughtred’s Auklet. This is a diminutive Auk which has been acclaimed as one of his best tender designs. A pram, like his “Feather” would sit more comfortably on Roach’s deck but a stem tender swung it for me in the end. I feel a stem tender will be easier to row heavily loaded (which it will be with juts me alone in it!), and is much safer than a pram. Prams are notoriously bad at being able to reboard them from the water without them flooding – a case I can prove myself by trying this with ‘Rosebud’ which I built a couple of years ago. Lastly, stem tenders are far more beautiful that a pram. At 22 kilos she should be easily lifted aboard with the stem going one side of the mast. A couple of handrail bilge runners will add to safety when moving around onboard – this tweak is not in the standard Oughtred plans.

The dinghy has a simple lug sail plan, but can be built with or without a centreboard case. I have opted for the design without the case and will use a leeboard system instead. This leaves more room in the dinghy and also makes her lighter. I only foresee the occasional sail, so could do without the complications of building a centreboard case.

The build is 180 hours (or so Oughtred says). Let’s say 200 hours by adding twenty hours with all the logistics required to study the plans, buy the wood and make the building jig.
The picture if of the transom, which will be solid Western Red Ceder. There are two options in the plan, solid or ply. From experience the transom gets quite a hammering if using an outboard or sculling, so I have opted for the extra weight (and expense) and have a solid one.

So here we are with 199 hours to go....

Sloe progress

2010-08-31T13:13:00.001+01:00

Well I have missed the season and have started to plan for the next one instead. This means having her out of the water till April next year and I have decided that it is this cost that is the most expensive. Currently I am renting a cradle for the whole year, so I decided to get an old one, refurbish it and remove that cost from my storage bills.

I have also decided that this is the year where I will make Sloe gin. I think it is a most appropriate tipple for the ships decanter and I will let you know how I get on as it will be the tipple that I will use when launching her in the New Year. Hopefully it will taste OK.

Weekend in the Backwaters

2010-08-11T22:02:00.004+01:00

As I have not been sailing this year on Roach yet, I thought I would post a few pictures of a weekend cruise to the Walton Backwaters on a friends yacht here.

Ever tried gybing under a lampost and submerged wall?

2010-01-05T21:37:00.001Z

New Avatar

2009-12-30T16:34:00.000Z

Rosebud goes for her trail sail!

2009-12-29T02:53:00.003Z

Rosebud being rowed away to negotiate an submurged marina and shoreline (see lamp posts)

Going to windward in F4

Becalmed. Rowing back in for lunch.

Those rocks behind me are the "quemados" or burnt ones. They are approx 3km from where I am and bang in the middle of the lake - this is the latest submurged corona of the volcano; last erupted 1910!

After capsizing into a particularly dirty bit of the lake (where loads of ex-hurricane detritus was still lying around) I managed to get a quite nasty infection which has prevented me from going boating at all.

On the 27th I did managed to get Rosebud out again for a proper test. In the morning the lake is like a mill pond, and then the “Mistral” starts at 2pm on the dot and finishes around 5pm. So I did a potter in the morning to see how she performed in light airs and then the plan was a bash at sailing her in the afternoon.

The morning session proved a lot more successful than last time. The first thing I did not capsize!

I was already aware of her tippyness and was extra-careful. Her lack of wetted area makes her a good rower though; she pulls through the water effortlessly. Shame she is not more stable as she would make a great tender on that basis alone. Setting sail, in almost a dead calm, I was too surprised. Once I raised the dagger board and rudder to reduce drag, I could get a fair bit of speed even in a F1/2 or so downwind – certainly faster than a swimmer. Handy thing a fast dinghy in light winds; I suspect that maybe the rather large sail was going to be handful in a blow.

I did a test tow behind the inflatable and she towed like a dream; I was very impressed. Hardly any wake and very buoyant. Tracked well.

This was tested later on in the afternoon. Going out in a F4/5 she was nightmare to row to windward. Waves hitting the front transom stopped the boat instantly: I suspect that this a problem with any pram dinghy though. I needed to row though as I could not sail off the makeshift pontoon as there were too many underwater instructions to content with. The rowlocks were also too big so my oars kept jumping out of them; I already have closed ring type on order. I was very impressed that even in F4/5 that no water slopped though the dagger board case!

Anyway, sailing to windward is not her strong point. She can go to windward a bit, but I don’t seem to have managed to set the sprit right, and consequently it sagged giving me no leading edge. Downhill she is tremendously good fun; I bet she could overtake similar sized prams. Very tippy that is true – but that does test the sailor. By sitting aft she surfs well and the only real problem is following seas entering the semi-circular transom cut-away or aft quarters.
All in all for $1,000 in materials, a bit of dedication and hard work, she really is worth the effort. My one day sailing really got me going again and I look forward to her next outing at Easter maybe. With the rig issues sorted, an icebox loaded with a good picnic, she provide me a great days exploring – something to look forward to.

Tips/Things I learnt:

1. Drilling holes into bamboo does not work – lashings slip too. Setting lashings in rough sawn grooves and coating in epoxy seem to work.
2. Attach everything to the boat –during a capsize everything will float off. Have a bailer onboard ALWAYS!
3. Need some sort of waterproof kit bag.
4. The transom cut-away is too low. The tiller would have been designed to go over the top of the transom. Also, a sculling notch would have been very handy (as I lost one oar twice).
5. Would be good to have drains to buoyancy tanks as they do condense and water gets in.
6. Need to add hardwood trim to tops of transoms as there is significant wear where stored upside down
7. She does need floor boards that are level – with hinged section to allow bailer to get it.

Next update oon RoseBud at Easter time I hope.

Rosebud gets launched

2009-12-24T08:15:00.003Z

Well, after a day’s delay because the dog munched the drain plug, I was all set. A bathplug had to do. Once tied on top of a borrowed pick-up, we were all set to take her down to the lake. Since I was unsure of the "slipway" route, I left the car in the car park and carried dinghy, and all her sailing accoutrements, down over 100 steps (local labour enlisted).

The water level since the hurricane was very high, above the level of the old pumice beach, so Rosebud was already wet when setting up the rig. This involved the not-so-easy task of setting-up the gunter rig. I decided on a boom as the sail is for an Oughtred Acorn which is a couple of feet longer, so the boom would allow a little more control at the foot. It took ages trying to work out where the sprit should be attached to the halyard and how much tension there should be in the downhaul to flatten out creases. Eventually I got to the stage when the sail set OK and decided to go for it.

The first thing I noticed when getting in is that this is certainly a very tippy design; I have been in pond prams that are more stable. I was surprised, as much of the write up about a Prameke 78 was very complimentary on the stability front. I guess this is an entry build boat, and most users first ever boat; I suspect the reviews were written with rose-tinted glasses and few people talk-down a boat they have just built.

No bother, she is tippy, I'll be careful, I’ll learn her ways. Off I went.

She rows rather nicely. Her "V" hull making her track well. Sitting on the central thwart (where the centreboard case is) distributed my weight well, and the front transom was well out of the water when rowing into the nasty chop. I was pleased not to get too many jets of water in my nether parts.

There seems to be a considerable amount of weed a couple of hundred yards offshore that needed negotiation. I really wanted to get the centreboard down, mainly to help the rolling I was anticipating when hoisting the sail. The weed is nasty though, and although from the photos it looks like a think band, much of it is a foot under the water, making rowing or sailing rather difficult inshore. Once I had got out beyond the weed, I was quite far out, I thought.

Anyway, there was a decent onshore wind, and I needed to work quickly if I wanted to avoid being blow back onto the weed. So with eager anticipation and a child's excitement, I stood up and pulled hard on the halyard. Up went the sprit and I bent down to cleat-off when, with the sudden transfer of weight, the dinghy rolled alarmingly to Starboard.....then to Port. The next few moments felt very long, but I am sure they were seconds. A desperate attempt to equilibrate my (considerable) weight involved holding onto the mast for dear life. From this position I could clearly see a non-inserted dagger-board on the floor, together with a large torrent of water entering the boat from the Port aft quarter. The next thing I knew was that I have taken a rather large gulp of water and the sky seemed a weird, but rather comforting tan colour. There was then a very loud "POP" and all sorts of nasty wooden things started poking me in the ribs.

When I got out from under the sail I could see that this was not going to be an easy capsize to rectify. Two oars were already yards from the scene and moving sailing away from me at speed. My lifejacket which was on the floor had fully inflated - I assume this must have been the "pop" I heard. In a way I rather pleased about seeing it there as I thought it was a manual one, but evidently not; the chandlers must have posted me the wrong model inadvertently. I then started to consider how fortunate I was for their careless error, when a wave slopped over me and brought me to my senses; I had a capsize to recover from. (The £15 replacement cost for a new canister was in the back of my mind though).

The boat was still on it's side, and had it not been for the two buoyancy tanks built in either end, it would probably now be on the bottom. I then proceeded to swim after the dagger board, which was also sailing away fast. I was towing a lifejacket, mainly as it is impossible to don an inflated lifejacket when already in the water, and secondly I knew it would sail to the shore faster than both dagger board and oars; in a third-world country anything that washes up on a shore is "finders’ keepers". After retrieving the dagger board, without considerable ordeal, I managed to shove it into the slot; I could then get a purchase and right her. This I duly did, and found myself swimming around what appeared to be the scene of somebody launching a rather less0-than-ergonomic, but overflowing bathtub, into a lake. Off to the get the oars then. One had already drifted out of sight, the other was a considerable swim away, so, logically, I decided to tow all my detritus with me: never leave the boat I was taught. So off I went: panting, painter in mouth, one oar under one arm, one lifejacket in the hand that was attempting to propel me forward, and quite a lot of splashing.....

By this time the inshore lifeboat had been launched. In El Salvador this consists of a willowy man in flippers and a mask. It might not have been the reassurance of a bright orange RIB, even so, I was pleased to see him; having another human in the water next to me was strangely comforting, it was somehow nice to know that this was now a "community" rescue.

"Oh, you Can swim!" He said on his approach
"Of course!"
"Why do you have a lifejacket then?"
"In case I need it"
"Yes, but you don't!”
“But I might – in the future”
“But you don’t, as you can swim! Everybody knows that only people that can't swim wear lifejackets"
"I am not wearing it though"
"Mhhh..."
"Would you mind passing me that oar?"
" ...Yes, but from the shore it looked like you were wearing it and that is why I came to rescue you! Now I can see you can swim, you don't need rescuing – this is a false alarm!"
"umm, what is your name?.... Ok Carlos, you see, in my dry clothes back in the car I have a crisp $10 note, well I thought that if you...."

Preparing for Rosebud Launch

2009-12-20T14:56:00.003Z

Tueday is the day I have set for the launch of the dinghy. The trouble, as you can see from above, is the havoc still left over from the Hurricane on the 9th November this year. This is the route down to the slipway!

This give you the idea of the amount of damage that can be done by a hurricane and this is not even the sea. This lake Ilopango, a crater lake 40km inland from the Pacific coast. Although I will drive down in a 4x4, there is a chance we wont be able to get too close to the water and some heavy lugging will be required.

I brought out Roach's inflatable tender which will be a married up to a rather (overpowered) outboard to act as a satefy boat. Thinking of spending Christmas down by the lake, so a couple of decent days sailing maybe?

Dinghy Done!

2009-09-02T11:50:00.002+01:00

Well I have managed to complete the dinghy, but sadly there has been to time to test her on the water.

One can't underestimate the time it takes to make the finishing touches. Painting and varnishing took over a week to build the coats up. In the end, there where two coats of epoxy paint (nomally used to seal concrete went on); over that normal household enamel. As I love wood I had to leave some wood showing and decided the rubbing strake would bring out the sheer of what is essentially a rather boxy dinghy.

There are a few "improvements" to the original design. The seats are larger by about 20%. I did this in order to provide more strengh where the seats taper into the hull sides. The original plans called for weak concave curves here; I made the curves convex which are just as pretty and stronger.

I brought the centre-board forward to allow for a larger sail from an Acorn dinghy. As it rains daily out here I did not see any point in improving the design further by making the centre-board case independent of the main thwart. This arrangment makes for a wet bum, but in given the daily downpours one would get wet anyway.

New Hatch Covers

2009-08-09T23:43:00.004+01:00

Whilst I have been based in Central America I decided to have some new covers made for the hatches. The one you see in the picture to the left is for the butterfly hatch. I hope enough light gets though the white in order to let some light in below. I dont have the dimensions for the glazed section in order to insert a transparent window. I suppose I can do that back in the UK. The top looks a bit floppy; the reason for this is that I am generally increasing the on-deck safety on Roach and one of the improvements is adding hand-rail everywhere. I have decided to take a tip from a Laurent Giles and add a mahogany hand-rail to the top of the butterfly hatch.

I also took the opportunity to have a cover for the tiller pilot too, as they dont seem to be made for sea, so hopefully the cover will prevent the worst.

PS cheapest quote for a hatch cover in the UK was £100 per hatch! Her is it $10.....

Roasting Hot!

2009-08-09T23:25:00.003+01:00

One thing I have always missed on Roach is an oven. Oven's are such great things on boats as you can make so many lovelt dishes - and in safety whilts you get on with other things!

Well there are two reasons I have no oven on Roach. The first is the lack of space, and the second is the fact that I don't believe in gas (Roach has a Taylors) and a new Taylor's parraffin stove WITH an oven costs around £1,500 - I kid you not! So there we go, I have to make do with this oven which I have yet to test. But at 1% of the cost of Taylo'rs with an oven, I am willing to give the thing the benefit of the doubt!

Dinghy Painting Stage

2009-08-09T23:13:00.004+01:00

Well it has been a long time since I posted any progress and the reason is that I stalled because I have run out of epoxy. As the plywood here is of very poor quality (strange - as the mahogany is of very good quality) I am need to cover the whole boat in epoxy if it is to last any time. Once I finished encapsulating the outside of the hull I realised I was running low; I held off any more jobs requiring epoxy unitil I could find a local source.

I have not found epoxy per se, but I have found an epoxied paint that is used locally to paint the inside of cistern tanks holding potable water. Now, if this paint can hold water in, logic dictates that it must keep water out?

Above is a picture of the latest progress. I have painted the inside of the buoyancy tanks before the lids go on. The inside is really the important thing so have done a test paint on the bare ply, and it seems to be going on well. I will ofcourse need to coat the boat in normal exterior enamel as this epoxy paint as no UV filters in it and it will go chalky in time. I have enough for one coat of the outside too, so here is one side painted before I flip her over. The next three days will be usy painting I think, but we are looking at a launch day of sometime next week I would say.

Dinghy Day Six

2009-07-13T19:24:00.003+01:00

Well, I can it day 6, but I have not really done a days work since the last post. The fact is that I have been having terrible problems with the West tropical slow hardener. It seems to take weeks to cure, and clearly something was wrong. I did not bring pumps out with me so that could have contributed to the problem, but not in a huge way as I am mixing the resin using measuring spoons and this is fairly accurate. So after having wasted a litre of epoxy on encapsulating the outside of the hull in something that resembled honey (with the associated flies and insects attracted to the thing), I have decided to recoat it with a stronger mixture. This time by doubling the hardner quantities I am getting results. I only have one litre of epoxy left to finish an entire boat though.

Anyway, here are a few shots. The sheerline is coming to life after I added a rubbing strake. I will do the same on the inside of the boat too. I think it will give more deifinition to the shape, and is something nice to hold onto. You can see the rather natty clamps I made from half PVC tubing.

The oar is there as I am trying to figure out a way of storing the oars inside the boat when sailing - the problem is not dealt with in the plans. Quite a lot more work to do - its these little things that take the time. Will keep you posted though...

Buy rather than Build?

2009-07-08T03:06:00.006+01:00

Apologies for not including some text to explain the pcitures of a rather delapidated GRP boat above - most of you will think I have gone bananas and maybe you are all right.

The reason is that I am not in the UK for the Summer and am looking for a cheap local project to get me out on the water. The dinghy you read about in previous posts is part of that plan, but I also thought it would be nice to have something that I could cruise and sleep in - the yellow peril above has been rulled out - but there may be other lurking around awaiting some tender care....

Pillars of Support

2009-07-07T01:06:00.003+01:00

Well I have to say that I am not so fond of stanchions, but as these bronze bases came up second hand, I decided to get them. It means that I have period bronze bases giving me the option of stanchions later on if I think they will be helpful. I only got two of each, so my idea would be have that extra security from the mast base back to the cockpit. This is the real danger area on Roach - and next season she will be complete with non-slip along the caulking and small non-slip bare teak battons upto the mast. That, with an all-around grab handle, and I think she is getting ocean ready.

PS. It's quite nice being able to dry ones clothes when on an extended cruise and stanchions come in useful for that too.

PPS. They should polish up nicely, but as with Roach's brightwork policy, the only thing that is shiny is the wood. The rest I let go to verdigris - for aesthetic reasons, you undertand?

Trying to prepare for storms

2009-06-26T20:37:00.002+01:00

Sorry, but not much has happened with the dinghy recently. The main reason is that I have not been well and work has also been getting in the way. We will be on the case very shortly!

In the meantime I would like to thank a friend Andy, who very kindly collected a Storm Trysail in my absence. I bought second-hand for Roach. It is made out of cotton, and is circa 1950’s, but it is in very good condition and looks like it has hardly been used. Not something I would use very often, but a nice thing to have in the sail locker. As I don’t want to add a second track and gate to the mast, I was thinking of adding strong loops with toggles – a well known simple, if old-fashioned, way of attaching a trysail.

Another addition has been the purchase of 4 bronze stanchion bases. I am not fond of stanchions, but I think that if I do make a channel crossing or venture further afield, they will provide some added security. The idea is to have two either side of the cockpit and two more where the shroud plates are. That should protect me getting swept off deck when I am going to reef down the main. I rarely venture forward of the mast, so I don’t really see the point of stanchions further forward.

Dinghy Day Five

2009-06-08T03:20:00.004+01:00

Well have not been doing much on the old dinghy of late as I have been quite busy. Well very busy infact. Anyway I managed to get some time on her today, Sunday and I have taped the seams of about half the underside of the hull. There was quite a bit of planing and manual sanding involved! Just thought I would let you know where she is at. Note my cheap peel-ply made from plastic grocery bags!

Tip: always pre-cut your fibreglass tape!

Today was around 4 hours work, so I reckon the total build time of 20 hours is not so far out of you do in stages like me and have everything set-up (total spent is 16 hours so far). I am sure there will be many more hours spent sorting the sil plan and rig, so the 20 hours I think refers to making something that floats and one can row rather than a whole sailing dinghy.

Dinghy Day Four

2009-06-02T03:26:00.003+01:00

Well today I managed to get the dinghy stitched and taped. If working alone, then stitching is the only way to hold the thing together, but it is more work in the end as the stitches will need to be removed. I would recommend just taping the thing together with the aid of a few well placed screws; this requires a second person though. It will produce less work in the end as filleting around stitches is a pain.

I managed to finish filleting and taping half the boat with the help of a very interested 23 year old gardner. He wanted me to show him this new stitching technique and I let him muck in. The result are rather messy fillets, but hey, this is designed to get me sailing and not a work of art. If I can show locals a few new skills on the way so much the better.

The slow tropical hardner is not that slow. Three mixed pots exothermed in just a few minutes. I suppose over 30 degree heat and 100% humidity is not condusive to epoxy work. So managed to tape half the inside of the boat. Tomorrow the other half of the inside after work I hope. Then we flip it and start taping the outside.

Day Three Dinghy

2009-05-28T04:18:00.003+01:00

Well it is the end of day three. The plans say that I would have spent three hours on the build till now and I am on three days. I am busy with other stuff though; Honest! Remember I have very few tools, so what resembles a flat pack boat above, is the culmination of lots of hand sanding as the jigsaw I used produced very wobbly lines!

Apart from having most of the sections sanded and marked out, I am making the daggerboard case. This is crucial before assembly of the boat as I will need to cut out a central sections from the middle thwart. In order to retain the sahpe of the hull this is done by partly cutting a space leaving tabs that can be cut at a later stage when installing the centreboard case.

Top photo shows the storm drain I am suring as a cutting surface; this is a very basic build and as I am not here for long, don't want to invest in tools.

Day Two of Dinghy Build

2009-05-27T16:01:00.003+01:00

All the panels are cut out now, but as I have no power tools I am hand sanding all the edges and this will take me a day. The times in the plans are highly ambtious. 1 hour to cut out all the shapes is seriosuly ambitious. Anyway, we are forging ahead.

My only realy worry is that a friend donated an Acorn dinghy lug sail for the build as there are no sail makers in El Salvador. This sail is aroudn 50% larger in size than the design spec and as result I have worked out the the COE will be too far forward with this sail. The foot is 7ft long and the dinghy is only 7' 8" long! So trying to work whether I should build the daggerboard case a little bit more forward of its design position. Maybe add a bumpkin. I have decided on a deeper daggerboard and a deeper skeg too - the skeg is really small on the plans anyway. All these things should help her stand-up to her sail better.

Last Voyage of Lucette

2009-05-26T18:42:00.003+01:00

Just finished reading the “The Last Voyage of Lucette”.
I have always been interested in reading this books it chronicles the voyages of Norman Dallimore’s first gaff schooner design. Designed in 1920 Lucette was cruised to the Baltic and her Amercian Skipper wrote a book about the voyage. It was quite a pioneering voyage for the times; up there with Falcon, Dusmarie and Recundra.

She was found by the Robertson Family in Malta in 1970 and brought back to the UK specifically to fit out for an around the world Cruise which started in 1971.

Lucette, under her Robertson stewardship, sails across the Atlantic via Lisbon and the Canaries, Caribbean, Panama and then Galapagos. On day three of there departure from the Galapagos they were hole after an attack by a pod of killer whales and the 45ft schooner went down in under a minute. They managed to launch the life raft and the dinghy, which is just as well as after 17 days in the life raft they needed to abandon it. The floor came away from the edges. The six of them transferred to a 9ft cockleshell fibreglass dinghy and lives aboard that for a further 21 days. They were picked up 300 south of Costa Rica on the shipping track to the Panama canal from North America. Quite an amazing feat of survival. All the more poignant for me as I know the coastline and weather well around these parts, and the fact that they managed to survive the sun alone beggars belief.

It is a good book, but I can’t really distinguish who has written it. Although the Author is said to be Douglas Robertson, the text appears to be very much from the perspective of Dougal (the father). He has written a previous book called “Survive the Savage Sea” and some of the text from this is used in Douglas’ book, although how much it is hard to tell. The fact is that the family dynamic is very interesting. A very authoritarian father and skipper, who has spouts of violent rage on quiet a regular basis. The sort of skipper that I would imagine could endanger a ship in his own right! Interesting to read just to get a feel of how other sailing families work.
As far as the sinking is concerned, it is clear that their life raft was really not upto the job (It would be interesting to see what make it was). The fact remains, that the best way of surviving in remote parts of the world are to have means to sailing to shipping lane, some cover from the sun, a fishing kit, a means of collecting and storing water, some flares and a knife (not the life raft sort – one needs an open blade). Quite sobering really. I would also say that they would have fared better with a pre-prepared grab bag containing some essentials. Also, In this case a Claude Worth recommendation: a pre-prepared wooden frame over which some canvas is stretched, with copper nails readily attached, would have helped them quite a bit in stemming the ingress of water I would imagine. An abandon ship routine should have been practiced – and they recommend that themselves.

I don’t have space for a decent rigid dinghy aboard Roach, but I have to say that reading this book has made me really think what I would do in such a disaster. I will certainly make a grab bag of things I think necessary, and will also make a Claude Worth canvas frame just in case. Can’t afford a liferaft at present, but for longer passages I think it is worth getting one! If I had a bigger yacht, I would certainly get a rigid dinghy that had sailing rig, some sort of cover, compass, all ready stowed to go incase of emergency.

Day One of New Dinghy

2009-05-25T16:54:00.005+01:00

Interpreting the plans

Lofting the dinghy on the floor. I managed to survive a sustained attack from mosquitos.

Look how damp the paper is! Here I am roughly marking out the nesting of the shapes to make best use of the plywood.

Well have started on my little pram dinghy here in ES. Day one of the build was spent running around town looking for the plywood. In the end, I found some Cedar ply, which is much better than the shuttering ply, but at $35 a sheet it ait cheap specially as it aint WBP – the hull will be encapsulated anyway so I am not worried. The dinghy should be made from 3 and ½ sheets of ply, but as they don’t do half sheets here we are talking 4 sheets.

Yesterday I managed to loft ¾ of the build onto the plywood. Well the plans don’t call it lofting, it is more like tracing, but as it is very damp in the rainy season here, and the fact that paper can expand by as much a 2% I decided I would loft the larger sections to avoid dimensional problems.

Having had a look at the lofted plywood sheets carefully I have decided against moving the dagger board case. The boat is simply too small to start making changes like that. I will make a simple false seat in mahogany that will hinge over the top the of the existing thwart, thus allowing a dry bum. Other modifications will include a wheel on the base of the skeg for moving it around, and I quite like the idea of making two holes in the bow in order to slot the oars in to make it a bit of a barrowboat. I will also redesign the daggerboard to make it much deeper given the extra 20sq ft of sail area of an acorn lug sail that I brought out with me.

The 20 hours suggested build time looks very ambitious to me. I already spent 3 hours lofting when the plans suggested only 1 hour. I am not worried though, we should speed up as soon as we have something resembling a boat.

Costs are slowly creeping up. Even on a budget, it is hard building a budget boat. The epoxy was $160, the ply $100, fittings and stuff brought from the UK a further $100. The plans were $50 and another $50 to make a set of copies on a architectural plotter. So we are at about $500 already – and have nothing the resembles a boat yet. The $1,000 Walker Bay dinghy that was for sale in Guatemala looks like a very good deal now – nevermind. It does not have the same sense of satisfaction as building ones own!

The CQR - a Great British Design Classic

2009-05-21T21:23:00.004+01:00

I have to admit that until now Roach has only had an poor imitation CQR anchor - I have been scouring the country for a 20lb second hand one for ages; eventually one came up for sale and I snapped it up. I am very happy!

Many people were saying that I should have gone for one of these new fangled anchors with roll bars, sharpened tips and day-glow yellow reflector stickers on them; I rightly and strongly resisted.

The CQR is a Great British Classic Design, designed in 1933 by Sir Geoffrey Ingram Taylor who tested it at the Felixtsowe Flying Boat station. The design was so innovative in under halving the weight per power ratio of traditional anchors that it was widley adpoted by yachts; small ones in particular, due to its hinged shank and therefore ease of stowage. Flying boats adopted the used the anchor becuase of its small pack size and low weight. But it was effective in larger sizes too, and was the anchor used to secure the Mulberry floating harbour during the D-Day landings. I strongly believe that all "new age" anchor designers are very much endebted to the CQR design.

So I have a 1948 yacht with a 1930's anchor. A combination I am proud of. I am also proud of using the enchor in the same cruising grounds that Sir Geoffrey sailed. I have never dragged even on the imitation, so my original one should perform better, and if it does not, well there is the famous lifetime service guarantee, which few "new age" anchor manufacturers dare to offer.

A Few Pictures of El Salvador

2009-05-11T07:50:00.002+01:00

Boats are really expensive in this part the world. This one was up for sale for $10,000 and has not been used in ten years!

A friend has kindly donated a lug sail to the dinghy project. This has been a huge relief as there are NO sail makers in El Salvador. A really nice sail designed for an Acorn dinghy; but now I have the sail I can make the spars to match. This is reverse boat-building!

A Mahogony table top for a table I am making for my Mum. Not the best Mahog, but at 3" thick and at $60 negotiated final price, I am not complaining.

Lake Ilopango, where I hope to sail my new dinghy is a lovely lake around 30mins drive from the capital. These yachts are the ONLY two yachts in the whole lake. Poeple prefer power boats.

The J-24 some chap wanted to sell to me for $14,000. I would have been tempted had it been a cruiser, as a dream of mine is to sail to the Galapagos. It is around a week's sailing due South from here. I dont think a J-24 is an ideal single-handed cruiser though, and at $14,000 with no engine she is very dear. Atleast I know what 24' of plastic looks like, and I would prefer to be in Roach in bad weather anyday!

A new dinghy in order to go mangrove sailing

2009-05-08T17:41:00.002+01:00

Well due to a family medical emergency I will be based in El Salvador in Central America for the next few months. I very much doubt that Roach will get launched this year but in an attempt to get some sailing in, I have decided to take the rather challenging step of building a dinghy whilst I am out there. At least I can get afloat.

There are two areas I would like to explore. The bay of Jiquilisco, which is a massive river system with mangroved banks and islands. The only marina in Salvador is based there. Then there is the Golfo de Fonseca, which is a lovely bay toward the South of the island where the Rio Lempa has an estuary. There are several islands in the bay, and I might add, where Honduras, El Salvador and Niquaragua have claims. Lastly there is also the Ilopango crater lake which I would like to sail on.

Anyway, the dinghy will be simple as it needs to be built quickly. The plans I eventually chose are the P7/8 in http://www.bateau.com/ the pciture above gives an idea.

The advantage of the this dinghy is that it is car toppable on my own, can be made from single sheets of 8x4 ply (with no butt joints), has a simple unstayed lug rig and is small enough to encapsulate in epoxy completely to make up for poorer quality plywood. It also means that with the plans I can make another one back in the UK as tender and sell the one I am making as tender in ES too.

So for the next few months, you will hopefully see some progress on the challenges and rewards of making a dinghy in developing country. If you’re lucky there might be a few adventure to recount too!

All-around grab handle before all-around maintenance?

2009-04-20T02:54:00.004+01:00

Again there has been a blip in Roach’s schedule of improvements and just general maintenance. Family commitments have meant that I have had to halt any work on her for the time being. But here is at least an idea of something that I have started and that that I am thinking of making an all-around grab handle that will go on the inside of the toe rail. Athena, a cousin ship to Roach has such grab handle and they really work well on flush-decked yachts. Not only is it a last resort if one slips on those rather shiny decks, but they are handy for tying springs and fenders too; not to mention a flogging foresail.

So in this picture you can see the nice plank of Iroko I intend to fashion the handrail out of. I will also make some little oblong wooden pyramids that the handrail will sit on. At present it looks like I will need to laminate the handle in two. I would steam it, but Iroko has a nasty habit of splitting. All varnish up in Skipper’s Varnish, the whole thing will look a treat.

Preparation for the deadwood bolts

2009-03-31T19:16:00.002+01:00

Well I have started to attack another one of the big jobs. This is that two of the deadwood bolts that needs replacing. There is quite a lot to prep for a job like this. For starters I managed to mark the wrong bolts, and one of them is under a railway sleeper that is propping the boat up, so I cant use that. The next problem is making sure that the bolt has as much assistance as possible in getting loose. I have been advised that Coca-Cola is the best freeing oil for such jobs so I have periodically being emptying coke into the bilges. I have also has a look under keel to see what the bolt looks like there. It looks pretty jammed in, is I reckon I might try to heat it up and chisel a bit around it. I need to make sure that when I bang this bolt through with a lump hammer, that it does not sheer half way through.

The metal pin is the drift that I will use. Actually it is an old mooring pin, but it is exactly the same size as the bolt which is the important bit.

The other picture is of a mahogany saloon table that I am building – many thanks from Ben for that one. After much cleaning off contact glue with scrapers and petrol, I have got these solid mahogany Victorian stair treads looking OK.

Rubbed effect was getting rubbed too much!

2009-03-31T14:39:00.001+01:00

After my little pensive spell aboard the yacht, I have decided that the rubbed effect varnish is really not appropriate for a small yacht like Roach. The interior needs constant attention on a small yacht as it get a lot more abuse than the interior on a larger yacht. There is more movement is a seaway and consequently much more contact below with feet, hands and other bodily extremities. The cabinets can also get wet from an open companionway hatch and when that salt water dries, it is not easy to clean off. So I decided that all the rubbed effect is now going all gloss – this should help wiping down the interior, although it is a bit too shiny for my taste, it is miles more practical.

Is she too small a fish?

2009-03-30T23:44:00.002+01:00

Recently I have been a bit confused about Roach. My brother now has a family, and so has my sister. So I was thinking whether I should upgrade to something larger so that we can go holidaying together in comfort. I even started thinking about going plastic. Yup, I looked at Nicholson 32 mk1, but when I went below I was thoroughly disappointed. Acres of Formica and a sweet plastic smell greeted me. I felt uncomfortable: sensible material yes, maintenance free yes, but appealing, warm and tactile – NO. It was clear from that moment that I was a wooden boat guy through and through. A plastic interior would really affect the quality of my sailing – I guess I am one of those people with an aesthetic leaning that get their kicks visually.

I think I developed this plastic idea because I have been so busy at the start of this year, that I have not been to the boat for about two and half months. So it was a great relief when I was onboard after all that time to find myself having a coffee in the tiny saloon contemplating her sale. I could not do it. The warmth, the smell of mahogany, the feel of the handrail. My eyes glanced all the way around her interior. All those lovely nooks and crannies ; the porcelain sink, the oil lamps, the leaded glass drinks cabinet. Then all the presents people had given me; a Finnspray pump, the copper anchor light, a framed etching of Roach on the mud. I was taking it all in and all feelings of disloyalty evaporated without a trace.

Roach has a long history, but now I was feeling that I was being included in her history. I finished my coffee and decided that in future, we will have cramped holidays aboard her with my brother’s of sister’s family, but it will be packed full of memories, history and legacy.

PS. Later I found this very good article by Moray of Classic Marine who gives a more pragmatic approach to owning a small yacht. I really could not agree more:

http://www.classicmarine.co.uk/Articles/small.htm

2009-02-09T10:38:00.000Z

Check your Mooring warps!

2009-01-29T15:24:00.002Z

Well, a bit off topic, but I thought I would warn of the danger of not having a safety line on one’s mooring. This particular boat was swept up on the beach in Jervis Bay on Christmas day . A nasty Nor’Easter sprung up and this chaps nylon warp chaffed through at the buoy. She was very lucky not to hit any other boats on the way to the beach. Anyway, it is a lesson: I will be making sure I keep a safety line attached to a different part of the boat and buoy in future.

In the end the boat was very lucky and she suffered no damage even though she was pounded by the surf. It took 2 days to get the coast guard to tow her off – basically a brute force operation!

The New Tomato Jib arrives!

2009-01-22T16:12:00.002Z

Well the Jeckells tan spitfire sail arrived. Tan is not exactly red, so I wonder whether i can get away with calling it a Tomato Jib!

I am very happy with the heavy material and excellent build quality though – all made in Norfolk. I asked for a wire luff and hanks but asked them not to rope it all the way around to save on money. The only things that slightly worries me is that it is only single stitched. That said the zig-zags each have three stitches per leg on them whereas my mainsail, made in Hong Kong, sports triple stitching but only one stitch per zigzag – worth noting if you are ordering a new sail. I am not too worried though, as I can always make improvements on the sail myself and add stitching in my own time. For the price, I really can’t complain: The great thing is that I have eventually got a spitfire sail and if the Summer is going to be like last summer, it will be used !

Any adventures for 2009?

2009-01-21T18:48:00.003Z

leaving Woolvertsone Fuel Berth Augsut 2008

Well this is my first proper New Year’s Post. Roach has been in the water for two seasons now and I still have not made any adventures in her – and look at the title of this blog. Adventure – I want adventure!

Well to be honest the 2007 season was a massive shake-down. When launching a classic boat there are always things that will go wrong and need improvements- specially with the rig systems.

I had high expectations for adventure in 2008, but those plans were scuppered, mainly due to the ghastly weather.

The plan this season is to take Roach to Amsterdam. A good friend has made a New Year’s resolution to have more dinners at home 9as he is so busy in his work) so I decided my New Year’s resolution will be to take Roach to Amsterdam and accept his offer of dinner! It seems a long way to sail for dinner, but hey - its an incentive. It also fulfils an ambition of sailing a runnaway yacht to Flushing retracing the steps of the voyage of Goblin in Ransome’s "We did not mean to go to sea!" So there we go – those are the plans!

Before I do this there is quite a large list of improvements, or even repairs that need to be made. The first one is that the alternator seized last year. Luckily I don’t use the engine much, as I was never aware last season that the engine was not charging at all! So I have to replace it with a new alternator.

The second most important thing that needs to be done is that the engine needs to come out altogether so I can access two deadwood bolts that need replacing as they weep. It is silly that I did not replace these during the restoration, but I was being slack. So I will let you know how I get on with that as it is a big job.

There are several other things that are not as important but nevertheless I would like to get done. Let’s see how we get along as the list is long.

1. Get the Taylor’s stove working (re-siting the paraffin tank lower in the bilge to make more galley space)
1. Add a Hand rail all around the raised deck area (those deck can be slippy)
2. Re-organise sheet leads for a new genoa, chute and furler.
3. New heavy duty cockpit grate (old one broke under my weight)
4. Make some dedicated chart stowage
5. Make a new folding saloon table.
6. Beaching legs
7. Make a boarding ladder

Apart from this there is the yearly varnishing and painting and quite a few little repair jobs that all really add up.

Watch this space to see if I get them all done.

New Sails for 2009!

2009-01-06T10:33:00.006Z

Well it is about time for a New Year’s Post. When I look back on 2008, I have to say it was not the best season for Roach. The weather was really the main enemy, especially on a boat that needs re-varnishing each season. Although lunched in mid May, I could only get the varnish on early June, one fine weekend. Hopefully I will get better varnishing weather this year, as I would like her to be launched so that I can have a cruise at Easter.

Me sanding Roach at Ipswich Haven last June

Several things came up from last year’s experiences.

The first is that in light winds, I really don’t have any useful sails. So I have ordered a lilac cruising chute from Lonton and Gray in Burnham-on-Crouch. They do a lot of sails for the Royal Burnham One Designs (also designed by Dallimore) so I think I am in good hands. I chose Lilac as Athena , Roach's cousin ship, looks very good under a lilac spinnaker.

Saying that I also have managed to get a second-hand Genoa and a spinnaker. The spinnaker is from a friend’s Stella, but it seems to fit Roach OK. So I have to make a few modifications in order to get the spinnaker to work. This includes a new spinnaker pole, some aft quarter blocks, a topping lift and an extra spinnaker halyard. Not a small amount to consider, and certainly a lot more string on the mast.

As well as more light wind sails, it is clear that I need a smaller headsail for stormy conditions. I was caught out in a F7 last summer going to the Walton Backwaters, and it was clear that small jib was needed. So I have ordered a Spitfire Jib from Jeckells which should be ready soon. I asked for it to me made in tan material, mainly as that is harder wearing material for a sail that will be at the bottom of the sail locker much of the time, but also because I rather like the idea of calling it the “Tomato Jib” as Adlard Coles did on “Cooee”

A few of my links

2009-01-04T17:07:00.003Z

Seeing as my computer crashed last year, and I lost all my boating web links, I thought I would upload all my links here. That way, I have them if I ever drop my laptop again and also people might find them useful.

Boats for Sale
http://www.classic-yachts.de/
http://www.yachtworld.com/leaving_yw.cgi?url=http://www.descheepszaak.nl/
http://www.easternyachts.com/sailingboatsforsale.htm
http://www.cppyacht.com/
http://www.yachtsnet.co.uk/
http://www.boat-list.com/462-listing.asp
http://www.woodenships.co.uk/

Engine and Electrical
http://www.boatpartsandspares.co.uk/beta-21-c.asp
http://www.barden-uk.com/index.html
http://www.jgtech.com/page3.htm

Traditional Chandlery
http://www.tradline.co.uk/
http://www.jimmygreen.co.uk/
http://www.tradboats.com/index.html
http://www.eyecochain.com/about.asp

Other Equipment
http://www.fiera.co.uk/product/1-5-ltr-budget-cooker.aspx

Clothing/Canvas/Sails
http://www.guycotten.co.uk/catalog/index.php
http://www.sailandcover.co.uk/BBY_Contacts.htm
http://www.midatlanticsail.com/sail_area_calculator.htm

Forecasts
http://www.stronge.org.uk/marine.html
http://www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/FREE/today.asp?zipcode=ip13
http://www.xcweather.co.uk/
http://www.shotleymarina.co.uk/weather/

Navigation
http://www.itu.int/cgi-bin/htsh/mars/ship_search.sh#start
http://www.eastcoastrivers.com/

Clubs and Associations
http://www.eastcoastclassics.co.uk/
http://www.royalharwichyachtclub.co.uk/
http://www.vksj.nl/
http://www.broads-society.org.uk/
http://www.riverstourtrust.org/lorc.html
http://www.broadsnet.co.uk/html/tour.htm
http://www.classicboatmuseum.org/collection.html

Moorings
http://www.frankhalls.com/about.html
http://www.debyacht.co.uk/

Articles and Miscellaneous
http://www.oarclub.org/page40.html
http://shoal-waters.moonfruit.com/#
http://www.mcallen.lib.tx.us/books/circumna/ci_table.htm
http://www.inthepresentsea.com/introduction.html

Classic Boat Restoration Awards

2009-01-02T13:37:00.002Z

It was very nice to see that Roach was a contender in the restoration awards in this month’s Classic Boat. Not because I feel her restoration should be mentioned, as I don’t; I am just an amateur who has taken a few years and a modest budget to get Roach waterborne. I welcome the mention as I feel that Norman Dallimore was one of Britain’s most talented yacht designers of the time but is sadly very under-rated today. Having him mentioned in the yachting press now and again is a good thing.

There are a couple of things that I need to correct from the entry in Classic Boat though. The first is that the yard which has helped me tremendously is Everson’s and not Roberston’s. There have been too many people that have helped to accredit here but I will mention Jerry Hearle (ex Robo’s) and John Krazja (ex Whisstocks) have both helped out enormously on the boatbuilding front.

Roach is unusual in the sense that she is a modified Burnham Sloop design. The original Burnham Sloops being designed in 1938. She was re-drawn by Dallimore in 1948 for Priors of Burnham. Dallimore changed the lines to widen the beam to 7ft from 6’8”, deepen the draft from 3.9ft to 4ft, and increase the length by 1ft to 22ft overall but leaving L.W.L the same at 18ft. “Roach” was built over the Winter of 1952/3 by Stebbings of Burnham and not Priors as originally intended. The sail plan was also reduced from 265sq ft to 225sq ft. Suggesting that the original Dallimore design was too tender. I am glad of this modification as the original plans sport a long overhanging boom with runners. The modified design sports a permanent backstay on a mini offset bumpkin, which suits my single-handed sailing much better.

I can say that she is now a very stiff boat for a 22fter and really a pleasure to sail in a blow. She really likes to be driven. In under a F4 she does tend to be a bit sluggish, but a few new light air sails this season, I think, might help with light wind river sailing. More soon on my sailing and maintenance plans for 2009!

Winter Blues Jobs

2008-11-07T19:42:00.000Z

My first ever sail patch - good learning

Tensioning the luff line along a corridor!

Yes, my sewing needs some work, but white thread might have helped!

It is when the clocks go back and that I start to procrastinate the job that need to be done onboard. And they are numerous, and that is probably why I shy away from them. That list is really very depressing to look at. Without boring you with the whole list though, I do have some priorities that I need to attend to.
The first thing that this needs attacking are the small weeps that make me take on around a pint a day. Although not serious, it is enough to allow me to worry when I am away from the boat for long periods. I strongly suspect that this is due to two centre-line bolts under the engine. I never replaced these (I am not sure why but I suppose it was laziness) and now they are giving me a headache.
I was hoping to remove them without taking the engine out, but alas no, so the engine will have to lifted out, and the bolts driven out (I hope). Once this has been done, I will feel much happier and then can get on with other small jobs.
I have managed to finish one small job though, and that is to sew a few repairs and a luff line into the main sail. My cheap Hong Kong sail, was just that! I would not say it was a false economy though, mainly because it was cheap enough to play with that has meant that I now know all the idiosyncrasies of a 60 year old rig, and I have learnt how to sew with a left-handed palm (yes, I am right-handed).

Roach gets a new sweep

2008-10-11T10:09:00.000+01:00

Roach was moved last week to a rented cradle so that I could get her two feet of the ground so that I could drop two deadwood bolts under the engine. The yard have done a great job. I have about 30cm above each bolt before I reach the engine. So I really hope I can drive the bolt out with that little amount of space, if not it means taking the engine out which I would prefer not to do.

Leaving the mast up this Winter, so that I can play with the spinnaker track, a attachment point for a saloon table and also to make some lightboards to go on the shrouds. The current Bi-colour on the bow often get burried in heavy seas, and I would prefer to be seen at night. Having the mast up meant tht the cover needed to be adapted to take the shoruds. Thank you Baz of Brackenbury's, who made Roach's original cover over 10 years ago and is still going strong!

Lastly, Roach got a present. A 14ft French made sweep. The company I met at Brest sent me the sweep via their UK distributers in Wroxham. I am really happy with it - al I have to do is copper the end and leather the collar and maybe a few more coats of varnish.

Roach comes out for the Winter boo-hoo

2008-09-21T13:05:00.001+01:00

Well that is it. Roach has come to the end of the 2008 sailing season. I decided that it was unlikely that I would use her that much over the Winter and hauling her out would give me piece of mind. So it was a dawn start to get round to the Deben for a haul-out at Midday.
Everything went without a hitch and in a way I am pleased she is out even though the weather has been fabulous. I have so many projects that I would like to complete this Winter, and so I think it is for the best.

There is a weeping keel bolt that needs attention – and as this is under the engine, quite a project. There is also a weeping stern gland that needs some investigation too. That is the urgent stuff – other than that I would like to get an all-around gab handle for her. When I was sailing in heavy weather this season I really missed the security of a grab handle – so this will be another major project. A sprayhood, or something of that ilk would also be very useful. Many more projects in the back of my mind, and will try and update you on the progress of these.

August Bank Holiday Weekend

2008-09-21T12:57:00.001+01:00

Again, novice sailors, and also Spaniards. Well one Spaniard and one Turk to be exact.
The weekend started at around 11am when I came alongside RHYC to pick up my guests. It was warm but misty. After taking on some diesel we headed tacking downstream – my idea was to Lunch at Mistley Quay. Due to a late start I missed the tide and by the time we were rounding Shtley spit it was tumbling out of the Stour. Although running, we are making good 1 knot over ground, and hull-speed in the water. This was quite frustrating but managed to claw our way to Ewarton Bay and anchored there for a late lunch. The yacht was rolling and pitching all over the place, but it did nothing to dampen our appetite. My Spanish friend lives in Paris, so she brought over a Nuits San George and some Foie which was very well received addition to our cheeseboard.
Up anchor and a very good reach across Harwich Harbour, although I must admit I almost put her on the mud over Shotley Spit. It is so annoying that little spit, one day it will catch me out, but as I had friends aboard I retreated and went round the mini yellow cardinal.
The sea breeze died down by now and then we switched the engine on and motored all the way to Ipswich were my friends has booked the Salt House Hotel. I put here into Neptune Marina and went for a nice dinner in the Hotel’s restaurant. I would say that the food was a bit too pretentious. Regional trying to be London if you get my drift – but they were inviting so I did not complain. I retired to Roach and they to their luxury room.
Next day late start (they were making use of the room) but I was happy as I managed to get some provisions in town, and do a few boat jobs, such as clean all the covers from Bird Pooh that seems to a perennial problem on my mooring. When they were ready to depart there was not a breath of air and we ghosted to the mooring, a few Thames barges going down on the tide with us and the Lovely Jolie Brise, that was setting all canvas including top sail and flying top jib – they had a full crew though!
Back on my mooring we decided to call sailing a day and broke out the Pimms. The fist this season. What a treat. The Temperature in the cabin was 28 degrees; this was more like it. I cooked a Paella for lunch and the heat was so intense down below that I decided to go for a swim. The other joined too – it was delightfully refreshing and not that cold either. I really need to finish the boarding ladder though! We came out and had a fresh water shower from the Solar Shower thingy – they really work! By then lunch was ready and we accompanied the Paella with Bon Ventos Ribeiro del Duero 2006 – a real Portuguese belter. Sadly we did not have Bon Ventos, but all in all a Bon Weekend!

August Weekend - Roach almost in Collision

2008-09-21T12:05:00.000+01:00

It has not been a great season but I have managed to get a couple of lovely weekends sailing in before Roach is hauled out for the end of the season and a myriad of Winter works.

The second weekend in August was a superb weekend. A friend from Barcelona came over (he is Spanish) for his first ever weekend of sailing EVER. I knew I had to make it a good one. The forecast was not brilliant, but even so, we headed out mid-afternoon on the ebb out past Harwich and I decided to anchor at Stone Point. After beating down to the Pye End bouy we ran into the Backwater juts as the sun was setting – most magnificent. A huge copper disc in the sky rolled out a red carpet for us to come in by, the only problem being that I could not see any channel markers! As we were still fighting the ebb, it took rather longer getting in than I had anticipated and all of a sudden we were sailing in complete darkness and not all the buoys are lit! I went quickly below to my a pilotage plan with bearings to each lit buoy, but in hindsight I should have been prepared and done this already. Even so I almost put her in the mud, as the buoys are not all lit, and I missed one in my rush reading the chart, but I averted disaster by taking my time over the chart. Lesson learnt – don’t assume you will arrive in daylight all the time.

Luckily there was what I thought my usual place to anchor in, and over went the CQR. We held, and after switching off the engine started on making dinner. Said friend brought over some very good Rioja vintages, so the starter of Pate and Cornichons was washed down with that. Very nice. Then I noticed that she was on the bottom, but did not take much notice; it has happened to me before and the keel would only dig in a foot or so – it would be fine. On preparing the Steak and salad I notice her lurch more towards the channel. We were truly on the bottom, and as I was cooking, and the galley is on the Starboard Side and my friend was also sitting in the cockpit on that side we lurched again and again until we were leaning at quite an acute angle. Slowly but surely we tipped more and more till we settled at the rather alarming angle of 45 degrees – my port windows in mud!

I tried to reassure my friend that this was entirely normal and she would come up again, but deep down I was worried. She was leaning into the channel after all. I have grounded her badly before, but usually I had take the precaution of leaning her into the bank. That was she is still comfortable enough to sleep on and she comes up again without any problems. This time though I was not sure; there was a real chance the cockpit could be swamped when she came up again. So after dinner, which was very good I must add, I set about lashing the inflatable to the Starborad shorus in an attempt to give her more “lift” when the tide came back in. I also re-set the anchor and took the opportunity to scrape and brush of the port hull which was covered in slime. The prop was completely covered in barnacles, and I set to work on that too. By the time we were having our manchego and quince jelly she was starting to lift again. The water was over the gunwales, but lurch after lurch she lifted clear. By the time the bunks were made up we were level and non the worse off.

It was a close call, and I am exceedingly grateful to Mr. Dallimore that has designed such a good little yacht for this part of the world. My friend thought it all very amusing, with no real understanding of how differently things could have ended up.

The next day Neptune had give us a very favourable tide. We set sail at 11am after a nice lie-in bound for the Deben. With a soldiers wind behind us we goose-winged all the way at 5knots – almost Roach’s hull speed. Arriving early I, and given the last nights antics, I actually made a secondary port calculation to see if we could get over the bar (I hardly ever do this as I normally arrive much later). It was only LW+1 so it was going to be tight. I got friend to double check the maths, and yes, we had 30cm under keel. In half an hour we would have 50cm under. As there was not much sea running, I decided to risk it.

So I tightened the sheets and we sped past West Knoll at over 7 knots – and was chuffed to see our depth under the keel at 50cm as predicted. At mid knoll we eased off and resumed goose-winging a northerly course towards the Deben PHB – speed now 9 knots over ground. At this point I noticed a blue hulled mobo, half on the plane, approaching us. I held my course on a looser NNE to avoid a gybe, taking a line say 10ft from the buoy expecting him to give way. No, not a bit of it. Mobo altered course to my starboard and decided to pass me between the buoy and myself – which he duly did! I could not do anything. I did not even have time to grab the fog horn and 5 blast him; my hands were full of mainsheet and tiller trying to avoid a collision. Within seconds I was yelling to friend to duck down, the huge wash hit us, we span ontop of it, the boom crashed gybed across and the jib backed on the other tack. Hi missed me by about a foot I would say – I almost lost the boat. We were left dumfounded, and in shock. I tacked the ship through 360 and got her back on course, but my palms were sweating, it was a very close call, and luckily nothing carried away with the gybe. I looked behind to see him open the throttle and plane away.

Sunseeker Predator 45 “EagleHawk” – you’re a bloody idiot, and do us all a favour and learn your rules of the road, and maybe some seamanship too!

My friend was left a little flustered and proceeded to open another excellent Rioja he had brought. A Muga 2004. This calmed the nerves and is if my magic the skies opened and we were sailing down the Deben in glorious sunshine. We then had a glorious lunch on a bouy at Waldringfield. It was wonderful - and after coffee and mini pot au chocolats, we sailed to Woodbridge. The wind had veered so we reached all the way. Went past Eversons and the Tide Mill marina under sail and tacked around on the bend before Robo’s yard; this was real sailing. We could not get enough of it, so we sailed back down the River, and copper sunset again, and moored by Ramsholt in twighlight.

Dinner was at the Ramsholt Arms. Whitebait for starters (great) and the fishcakes (they look like cricket balls) for main. I would not order the fishcakes again, but the whitebait never lets me down there – or the Broadside for that matter! Back to the boat for a Calvados nightcap and toast to Roach, who survived two mishaps in one weekend!

Anti-Bird Preventer

2008-07-26T21:59:00.001+01:00

My new mooring seems to have a huge bird pooh problem. All the nearby yachts have some sort of anti-bird prevention technique, and they are all different. I wonder which is the best? Please leave a comment is you know of a proven method to dissaude the things from landing on my deck and messing up the varnish!

Back From the Pirate weekend

2008-07-23T21:13:00.000+01:00

Looks like a close shave here, but it was not really (20ft) and I was stand-on vessel which is what I did.

Roach at Levington Marina for the night.

Well it was 6am and I was not in the mood to sail back

Brest 2008

2008-07-18T09:48:00.001+01:00

Here are a few pics of the final day at Brest. I have to say that the French really know how to put on a show. My only real complaint is that since I did not come in a boat, I did not get a pontoon crew pass – and there where some very interesting yachts in the mole, but as everybody was rafted several deep, it was really very hard to appreciate the visiting yachts as a shore-side spectator. For example, Pen Duick – Tabarlay’s Fife – probably the most iconic yacht in France, was so far away, and rafted about 5 deep, that one could not really appreciate her. Did I spot Gile’s Sopranino there too? Could she have sailed all the way over?

Some Huitre and Champagne anyone?

A French Destroyer with some anti-sub sub gizmo
A few oversized ensigns around.
Some Croatians trying to set their boat alight. I could see it happening, but they got it under control.

The lovely Smack Iris with proper sized code flags (unlike mine)
Some very competent scullers around

The Sail past
The smallest Colin Archer (allegedly)
Earl of Pembroke

Never seen sush a large table over a whole deckspace!

Roach goes to Secret Water in a Yachtsman's Gale!

2008-07-08T22:31:00.000+01:00

Roach well heeled but well reefed. These beautiful decks are death traps at sea when wet.
Decks Awash!
A message for a friend!

I had week of sitting at the computer, so I was really eager to get some fresh air and that I did. Fresh air at force 6 gusting 8!

Yup, after a later start waiting for a squall to pass, I pointed Roachy’s bow Eastwards towards to the Walton Backwaters where I was going to meet up with PyroJames and others from the YBW East Coast Forum at their annual Pirate Weekend! I was apprehensive to say the least as I was about to take a 60 year old, recently restored and untested in big seas, 22fter, single-handed, into the North Sea on ghastly forecast. OK, so it the backwaters and there were only 4 miles at sea, but where I was going millions of gallons of water in Harwich harbour were spilling out and mounting in the SE near gale. I was expecting nasty conditions, and I got it.

As soon as I was out of the harbour, I quickly realised that there was no way I could make my course motor sailing. The yacht was pitching violently, maybe 60 degrees at times. My bows were buried on several occasions. I soon realised that to fight the tide I needed to sail. The pitching was so violent that my prop had very little grip, so with trepidation, I unrolled the working jib, as it was far too risky going forward on those varnished decks to hank on the number 2 jib. I should not have worried, as the yacht’s motion immediately eased and the log started to show 4.5 knots on a close reach – but I was getting drenched. A LOT of SOLID green water was sweeping along the deck and hitting me. I changed course to a broad reach, and this settled the yacht, but now I was doing 7knots with the seas on my beam. I must have gone out to sea 3 or 4 miles and then tacked for the reach into the backwaters. This was no easy fete with non-self tailing winched in that wind. I got her stuck in stays on my first attempt. I soon realised that I needed to be brutal and get some way on her and then go for it. Taking so quickly is hard when single-handed – but with the aid of my foot on the tiller I managed to tail the sheet. By now I had lost sight of the Pye End SW marker as the waves, spume and whitecaps completely hid it, and a quick scan through the binocs almost made me instantly puke – so I won’t be doing that again! Time to switch on the handheld GPS pull up the waypoint – but it was craving for a chart plotter now – the tide was ebbing fast and I knew I was in danger of sailing accidentally back to Harwich. Anyway, a lucky glance and I found the buoy, but as the water was shallowing the waves steepened and the crests were breaking beam on.

There was very little I could do except make run back to the Orwell, which might have been a good idea as the next thing I knew was that yacht crashed down on her side, awash to the skylight. I had been hit beam on by a breaker and she has fallen off the crest. I landed on the leeward cockpit lockers, stoving one in. A quick glance in the cabin and I could see water pouring through the traditional skylight. They are never 100% leakproof, but mine was letting in a cascade of water over my bunk! Looking through the grating in the cabin sole I could see that the water from the cockpit had settled in the bilges – and the locker with the bilge pump in it was jammed as I had just broken it! All through this an alarm was squeeling to let me know that water was above the cabin sole level and I should do something about it.

Just then, on the Radio, a PAN PAN ; Yacht dismasted, drifting, position Languard bearing 345 degrees, 2 miles. Well that is roughly were I was, and soon I saw the yacht in trouble. There was very little I could do – I had my own issues to sort out and my decks are varnished – really the worse deck coating for any sort of rescue boat. So I decided to press on and soon I was romping into the Walton Channel at quite a pace. “Maybe time to get the jib rolled up?” I think to myself. Uhh? Where is the furling line? I look forward, and the jib unrolled so violently, that for some reason it took ALL my furling line and spewed it overboard. I cursed myself for not making a figure of eight, or better still and oyster stopper. Now I was well and truly screwed as there was no way I could start the engine with that line trailing. There was only one thing for it, and that was to crawl forward and retrieve the line on a deck that was heeling and pitching violently and was as slippy as an ice-rink. Well I managed to stay onboard, through just sheer terror I think. By the time I was back at the helm I could see that we had sailed WELL out of the channel and the water was ebbing fast now. The beach was not far away, and I was expecting a high speed thumb grounding any second, but steering by foot, furling the jib and scandalising the main simultaneously slowed the yacht sufficiently for me to get everything back into control. Not long after this I was sitting in my wet bunk, safely at anchor, with a huge jug of Pimms next to me. That is one of the best Pimms I have ever had.

Some Considerations

Roach needs more Hand holds. Maybe I should consider stanchions even though I don’t like them. She does have jackstays, but they were off at the time as I had just varnished the deck the weekend before and had bothered replacing them!

Stow for sea properly- even if you are on a river. It is clear from the mess below that I really need to work on dedicated stowage for everything!

A spray hood would be nice.
Chart plotter would have made me worry less about leeway and cross track error
Tiller pilot would have helped tremendously too – maybe I can get a away with a longer tiller.

Get the spitfire jib set in stops so that I can change sails even in extreme wind.

Next Installment - the return journey!

Roach moves onto her new mooring!

2008-06-30T16:12:00.000+01:00

Roach ready to get warped around so I can get out of the marina - Roach does not go astern in straight line!

The lovely walk along the riverside path from Pin Mill to RHYC

Last weekend can’t really be described as a sailing weekend. The boat needed to be moved from Pin Mill to her new mooring closer to the Orwell Bridge. The reason I have not put the boat on the mooring until now is that the mooring has not been used for two years and therefore needed servicing. And servicing it did need, I can assure you of that. The chain was perilously thin in places, maybe down to 4mm and the swivel at the bottom had a very small calibre shackle on it. The whole lot was replaced with new 14mm chain from EYE and oversized shackles. It should be OK for a couple of years!

Well on arrival I found that there was a lot of water in the bilges, the weeping bolt under the engine really giving me grief. There is not much I can do except deal with the problem and this means a haul-out which would be a pain. This would really mean no more sailing this season, so I have decided to go down the bilge pump and solar panel route. I hope that can sort it. Next weekend I will dive under the boat and put some lead putty in the bolt recess. It is clear I will have a lot of work to do in the Autumn though.

I did managed to get a few jobs done though. Some skirting board has gone in along the bunk sides, and the cabin sole has been shaped to fit. All this done alongside at RHYC where I was put in quite a challenging spot to get out of. And I needed to get out of there fast on Saturday AM as there where 45 Albin Vegas coming in for a rally. Anyway, I warped Roach around herself, and this the first time I have warped her. I reckon that next time, given longer lines, I can do all myself onboard. It makes me feel happier being onboard when doing these things – you never know what could go wrong!

Anyway, all went well and I managed to put Roach on her new mooring and motored back to Pin Mill. I then had the pleasure of the lovely walk from Pin Mill to RHYC to collect the car - Wow, I really like England on a Summer's day like that.

Roach goes to check-out Royal Harwich

2008-06-23T11:43:00.000+01:00

These photos are courtesy of PyroJames who we went past - thanks as there was not that much time as we were creaming along.
Next year I will have the wooden pram restored. That flubber spoils the picture.
Reaching at 7 knots here - we were with the ebb admitedly - not bad though considering I have a 20%wrap on the jib!
You may not notice - but we were having freshly brewed El Salvadorian Coffee at the time with home made summer pudding!

The Tall ship "Stavros" through the rigging of "Croix de Gardes" Roach nestled in at the Roayl Harwich Yacht Club
A West Solent One Design beating up the Orwell - nicely colour matched tender. I hope to do the same!

Well this weekend was dedicated to checking out the Royal Harwich Yacht Club. On Friday I made a very nasty single-handed beat down to the Orwell from the Deben. It was the first time I did the bar on the ebb, and even with the relatively shallow draft of 4ft, I was considerably nervous as I rushed into breakers doing 8knots over ground with 2 metres reading on the depth! The passage was very slow and tedious and I arrived at Harwich almost 7 hours later!

Friday night was spend getting the cabin shipshape again – I still need many more fiddle rails and storage ideas to stop things jumping shelves. Small boats move about A LOT, and I have decided that the only way forward is to make dedicated stowage for everything. I have already made a log book holder, but what she really needs is a bookcase. I quite enjoy having a glass of wine in the cabin whilst thinking of future improvements.

Although I slept well I was awoken by a very eager race crew next door to me at 6am! They were bending on some laminate sails and dropping the anchor and chain in order to loose weight. All to keen for my liking. The day was meant to be spent varnishing the cockpit, but constant drizzle put paid to that – so the day was spent in the cabin fitting cupboard latches and knobs and making a cable run for the solar panel. In the evening I was invited over to Criox de Gardes, a lovely 1947 French Cutter which a friend owns. It was really very nice having a meal on a boat at a table! I have not done that in yonks, and have decided that Roach really needs a table now. One is in the design phase, I just need some time!

Sunday was spend tidying up ready to take my sister and boyfriend sailing. They are very novice sailors, so when we started reaching down the Orwell at 7knots, they got quite frightened! Roach really likes a good blow and on the way back we were beating very well, with the decks awash! First time ever. The new roller furling requires some attention, and so do the sheeting angles. It was too windy for the working jib though and we should have changes down to the number 2 jib, but nobody was in a fit state to go forward in that wind.

Roll on weekend after next!

Sailing at Last

2008-06-12T09:19:00.000+01:00

Roach nestled in between two West Solent One Designs - Roach had more headroom that those!

Roach looking resplendent in Ipswich Haven. Notice all the oil lamps are on in order to avoid the varnish blooming with the dropping temperature.

Isn't it strange that when I type in "sailing" on my mobile phone, the predictive texting interprets "raining"; when I type "varnishing" it selects "tarnishing" - well tarnished was what the varnished looked like, and raining it was all week so there was nothing I could about it. Luckily on Sunday the rain clouds scudded away I motored Roach down to Ipswich from Woodbridge. This trip was mainly to give my non-saily sister a flavour of the rivers, but I had an alterior motive; get a coat of varnish on - and for this I needed a marina and a power point.

My first time to Ipswich Yacht Haven through the wet lock. I have to say that it was a very painless experience and we were lucky with the pontoons at the marina, as we had a vacant spot either side of us; allowing us to work on each side of the topsides by warping her across and back again. Monday morning was a scorcher and by 4pm we had a coat of varnish on. We had started work at 9am and there were two of us; wooden boats are hard work. I still have the cockpit to do too, but as it is in use all the time I really don't know when it will ever be done. We had a week deserved beer in the SaltHouse Hotel afterwards and I cooked Chorizo and Lentil caserol for dinner on board.

Next day it was my Birthday, so we set off down the Orwell to Levighton were we put in for a few hours to have a lovely dinner at the Ship Inn there. What a lovely pub - and the food is truly excellent. Then we zoomed off afterwards to get a head start on the tide. A very bumby night at half-penny pier (I think I will anchor at Shotley next time I wait for the tide). At dawn Roach was under full sail romping up the East Coast at 6 knots on a cloud of foam - what great sailing. Even though I was tired, this was the best sailing Roach has seen in my ownership. With the sails trimmed I managed to get her sailing herself and I just stood in the companionway watching the tankers go by whilst I made coffee.

All in all a great weekend's sailing. There are still many jobs to be done though. The new roller furling plays up and needs attention. The cockpit looks terrible. The hatches need attention. Also in the interior, the backrests need another sand and a coat of varnish. She also needs a bookcase as the books jump the shelves when well heeled - Oh well, atleast I she is sailing, so I suspect many jobs wwill be delayed till the winter!

Afloat!

2008-06-05T23:25:00.000+01:00

Well Roach was very well behaved during launch – mast was stepped in record time, much to the boatyard’s surprise. The launch itself was fine too. Stern gland needed a couple of turns, but then we were off. I would like to thanks the team at Everson’s that are always ever so helpful, and never at all judgemental. They sorted my shaft issues after a I ran into a net last Summer – in the end this quite a lot more work than I had expected and I needed to hand it over to the pros. Then I managed to fit some new teak cabin sole in the forepeak which I am quite proud of – and even though the list of improvements for this season is endless, I still am a bit annoyed she looks so grubby and that there is not more to show for the amount of work I have put in. Remaining projects afloat will be anew galley, varnishing the new cabinet work, new mast cleats, some interior paint, and some mahogany trim on the stern. We will see how far I get – I just want to go sailing now, however grubby she is.

Blimmin Drizzle!

2008-06-04T09:02:00.000+01:00

Although the work shcedule is going pretty much to plan - even though some late nights have been needed to keep on-track, I seem to be ambushed by the weather everytime I want to launch. All the varnish work needs urgent attention, and it is simply impossible in drizzle. This is a really quite a pain as it is a difficult job to do afloat - I have taken the hatches home in order to try and get them done in the warmth of the kitchen.

Apart from that the new backrests are almost complete. It was a challenge making them fit exactly and also adding fiddel rails to the tops, that also double as hand rails. The time taken to do this has meant that the galley has been left behind, but I might be able to get the initial workings on this done this evening. Hopefully we will have a working galley by the weekend.

Lots of other mini little jobs have been completed, including sanding of the mast and two coats of epifanes. The mast is starting to look good. Next is the boom if I get a chance!

Launch tomorrow at HW 14:18 - and a couple of days in the marina loading the cushions, gear and sails - and possibly a bit of varnish!

7 days to launch - Yikes!!!

2008-05-28T05:07:00.000+01:00

This year has flown by and really I have not had the time to the amount of work on Roach as I had originally anticipated - and now I have 7 days to go before her launch day! So I have decided to spend 7 days in Suffolk living in her and really trying to sort out the most important jobs. This is mainly the rig change, that will allow for some Wykham Martin fulring gear on the working jib. This means new tangs on the mast and a furling line along the deck somewhere. The galley is the next most important thing - I am have to fit the new taylors and make it swing in the most confined of galleys and this requires ballasting the cooker in order to lower the swinging angle.
Lastly there is the Simrad tillerpilot that I need to fit - a present from my father at Christmas, and very much needed when I am sailing alone.

Of course there are a million other things to attempt to do in between all these jobs, but with hard work, and lucky weather, I reckon she might be ready for the water in a week- it will be a close call though; experience tells me that many small jobs can really vacuum-up time.

I will leave all the varnishing till next year when I will try and store her in a barn over the winter. This is the only decent way of getting good coverage.

Backrests Almost Fitted!

2008-05-08T21:55:00.000+01:00

Well I thought I wouldn show you what I have been upto and what has been really taking my time recently. It is fitting the backrests! A whole bank holiday was spent triming, shaving, and getting back-ache whilst trying to fit these. They are now ready to be screwed into place and fiddle rails will go in place over the tops to make handy little shelves when sailing. Notice the original cellerette which I am trying to incorporate into the starboard side.

Staining was a nightmare as International dont stock Interstain which is what I first used on the lift up panels. Trying to match the new work to the old colour has been hard - but have found a new product. Sikkens cetol mahogany stain is almost the same colour, and after a some experimenting I think you will agree that you can hardly tell.

Next steps: The galley, a bent shaft, a weeping keel bolt and if I have time a saloon table!

A few memories from last Summer!

2008-05-01T17:50:00.000+01:00

Roach getting ready to sail from Butley Creek

Roach showing off her Skid-pan decks. Not sure what to do about them, but I might run some teak battons along key areas or maybe put non-slip granules along the caulking lines; maybe both.

Your friendly skipper looking happy - notice galley not complete on the starboard side.

What I planned her to look like (not far off hey?) and true to Dallimore's original design

A few weeps

2008-05-01T12:50:00.000+01:00

Well one thing that I need to attend to before launch is the weeps under the engine bay in the deadwood. They make around a gallon a week, but they really annoy me. Next weekend I will get back to wood on either side and pour ethanol in the bilges to understand exatley where the leaks come from. Then after the ethanol dries I can start pumping in white lead paste into the affected areas. After that I can get on with anit-fouling her and raising the boot-top by a couple of inches.

Ps. Note the reclaimed mahogany stair treads that I will use to make a saloon table - thank you Ben for that- Much appreciated!

Sails

2008-05-01T12:11:00.000+01:00

Last weekend I got the sails down from an old grain silo where they where hung for the winter. All nicely flakes and ready for launch apart from the main that needs some adjustment (and new luff rope) and the working jib that is presently getting a wire luff insterted to use in the Merrimen Furler which Roach will be fitted with this season.

Backrests and Galley Improvements

2008-05-01T11:07:00.000+01:00

Note the new teak washboards and fiddle rails that I need to fit to almots every flat surface. Also a couple of chocks for the new spinnaker pole.

Sheraton Marine cabinet sorted out a huge mess I made from the brackrests using odd bits of mahogany. Note the reclaimed mahogany on the top to make another fiddle rail.

The two biggest incomplete items on Roach are the backrests and the galley. Although strictly not essential for sailing, they really bother as the interior looks unfinished, and I am fed up of cleaning up the mess after things have jumped temporary shelves.
The backrests are also essential for comfort as, at present, one can not lean back on anything when seated in the saloon – so I have made the priority. My attempts at making a large mahogany framework fialed last summer when the framework broke, so I sent all the broken bits of mahogany off to Sheraton Marine Cabinet in Oxfordshire, to see whether they can re-work my mess. I wait with eager expectation at the results and whether they will fit.
The galley I can do myself, and there is quite a lot of reworking to be done here as I have converted from gas to a Taylor’s Ideal K paraffin stove. I think this is one of the best improvements to Roach. If you like isolation, the East Coast’s creeks are great, but not when you run out of gas! So far I have built a new brass heat shield over the cooker under the deckhead, and I am currently working on a flip-up counter unit that will encase the cooker when in port. This will provide an additional sideboard/chart table. You can’t have too many flat surfaces on a small yacht!

Vinyl Covers

2008-05-01T11:02:00.001+01:00

There is one thing I hate about yachts and that is sleeping on vinyl covered mattresses. They are sticky, sweaty, and really uncomfortable. As a result Roach is upholstered in the finest Egyptain cotton. The problem with this, and anybody who sails small yachts will agree, is that when it get wet it is impossible to keep everything from getting wet below. So I have succumb to vinyl for these occasions, but instead of enveloping the mattresses in the stuff I have made some vinyl covers which I can just slip over when the going looks like it might get tough.

Stebbing Builder's Plaque

2008-04-04T01:04:00.000+01:00

I wonder if anybody that reads it would have a Stebbing's builder's plaque? This is one thing that Roach never had when I started to restore her and it would be a welcome addition. I saw this one on another boat and if anybody comes across a wreck made by Stebbing's and it still has the plaque, I will be very interested!

Brest is off - I'm too busy!

2008-04-04T00:59:00.000+01:00

Sadly my trip to Brest in little Roachy is off as I have had a lot of commitments this year that have sapped my time. Infact, I was considering upgrading to a larger yacht last year until I realised how much work a titchy 22fter gives me. So I will stick with Roachy - but I will do some East Coast pottering this season and go to Brest via a low-cost airline!

I am not too sad though, as Roach has only been launched for one season, and she has a huge amount of remaining loose ends that need tyding-up, and to be honest, she was not going to be ready for a trip down-channel without some serious hours put into her.

I have been a bit slack on this blog, but I have been getting on with some projects, even though they are small. I will update you as and when I can.

Roach is Registered for Brest 2008

2007-12-14T11:35:00.000Z

Well I have decided that I will take Roach down to Brest 2008 http://www.brest2008.fr/en/ for the festival between 11-17 July next year. I seem to have lost a bit of focus regarding outstanding work on Roach, but by registering on the web site I have realised I have some new found enthusiasm for boat DIY! Getting down to Brest in a tiny 22fter will be quite an adventure. I will try and post as mush as I can regarding the preparations and the trip on here. At last I might be posting stuff that actually relates to the title of this blog!

Another little Dallimore will be travelling down. Athena is the same tonnage as Roach, but has a counter, centre-board, larger rig and longer waterline length http://athena1950.blogspot.com/ I bet she flies.

Earl's Court Boat Show

2007-12-06T18:01:00.000Z

I like these nav lights!

A nice selection of varnish!

Shall I add a pocket to a pocket yacht?

The metre Fifes lookes stunning, but shame there was not a raised paltform to see them properly. You can't really fully appreciate them without looking at them at deck-level.

GM's Self-steering gear.

The Classic Sailing Club had their SCOD there - and a very nice one she is too. Showing off her new cockpit.

Nothing better to do on a wet December afternoon, so a mozied on down to the Earl's Court boat show. A couple of historic vessels!

Roach to get a drinks cabinet! (maybe

2007-12-05T12:59:00.000Z

The first is a boarding ladder. Yup, I have dedided I need one. I like this design, but will attempt to make it from left over plywood I have remaining from the restoration. I like using off-cuts - something to do with price, although it does have environmantal advantages.

The Second is a drinks cabinet. I saw this one and I think it is a really good design. I know it would be nice to have leaded glass, but this one actually has the glasses stowed inside the doors - which means you can popur yourself a medicinal brandy without going near the galley - well the galley is not that far away to be fair - but it means that the cook ven be left in peace whilst the skipper sits back and commands the ship from his tipple!

Speak to me in 2009 to see if I get them done!

A bit more of Roach's history

2007-12-04T20:19:00.000Z

Roach's Current Sail Wardrobe

Recently I put a post on the YWB.COM yachting forum to see whether Roach was listed in the Lloyd's Register. Some very kind people looked through their bookshelves and fount out that in 1959, 1961 & 1964 Roach was registered under Blackwater Charter Company Ltd. In 1966 she changed ownership to a M D Clarke. She was built in 1953, of Stebbing's yard in Burnham-on-Crouch.

Her sails were are Taylor, 1958 & 1961. Now she sports a mainsail by Hong Kong sailmakers. No. 1 (heavy cloth - high cut) by BM sails (2002 - never used) No. 2 running sail light cloth by Jeckels (date unknown). No. 2 (on furler) by JM sails (2000) and Genoa by Lucas.

Her first engine was a Coventry Victor 2 cyl, 6 BHP, dated 1950, then a Stuart Turner 1 cyl, 4 BHP, of 1962, this is the one I must have removed from the yacht. That has now been replaced by a 2001 BETA BZ482 13.5 HP running through a Halyard aquadrive unit.

Single-handed Passage

2007-11-29T09:44:00.000Z

Just finished reading Edward Allcards account of his first single-handed crossing of the Atlantic in 1948/49. The year Roach was concieved.

He has some handy tips that are still very valid for offshore sailing today - I think I am going the right way:

Advice to “Dreamers”

Have your working sails of heavy canvas - I think this refers to canvas and not dacron which is much stronger.
Have your sail made with vertical cut, clothes running parallel to the leech, in order that the stretch of the sail will be along the cloths, rather than on the seams - actually he is right and high cut number 1 jib is cut this way.
If Marconi rig, fit mast hoops up to the spreaders and jackstay above. All tracks tend to jam when the boat is off the wind. - yes, I have had this problem. By crimping the slides in mole grips you can get them to run up and down without jamming.
If you can afford roller reefing – fit it; but use the heavy pattern
Treat your sails with anti-mildew solution
Lash sails to spars with separate stops not continuous lacing.
Have at least 60 fathoms of stout anchor chain, and mark it. - Difficult in a small yacht
Don’t use yachty fittings – they are only good for the Solent
Don’t have a wood rudder stock. If it is, slide a steel tube over it and weld steel flats to the cutaway bottom of the tube, extending right across the rudder blade each side and riveting through. - Luckily Roach's rudder is transom hung
Have extra stout rigging screws on the shrouds - yes, and carry spares. I had a failure last Summer
The mast and rudder should never fail
Make the auxiliary engine very reliable and fit to run in any sea. It’s the best insurance.
Splice a length of chain at the end of rope halyards and outhauls at the “nip”
Use metal to metal connections – lashings part.
Don’t have a big cockpit - deck it.
Have sound hatches and deck layout to prevent submergence being permanent. - I need to sort out some hatch covers
Have two non-choking bilge-pumps. One to be worked at the
helm, and one from below.
Twin deep sinks are best of the galley, but fit non-choke waste pumps. Gravity outlets are no use on a heeled sailing boat.
Fit a sea-water pump in the galley and use it.
Position the galley aft where there is least motion.
Have a swung table in the saloon.
Have no equipment that cannot be used both at sea and in port.
Wherever the ballast is see that it stays there.
Assume that one day the boat will be upside down, and bolt things down accordingly.
Don’t have electric plugs an sockets on deck.
All deck-fittings should be bolted down not screwed.
Rattle down the ship.
Fit adequate lifelines
Make and fit baggywrinkles.
Keep the deck tight. Canvas for thin decks is best.
Don’t catch gadgetitis. Simplicity is best.
Don’t buy a boat without a professional survey
Do all the work on the boat yourself, if not get a written estimate
Check the compass for deviation, and take a spare. - Roach is getting a below decks compass this Winter
Never make fast to a cleat of belaying pin with a half-hitch.
Fit a wind vane that lasts – either the sock variety or the patent metal type.
Gas for stoves or light is a danger. - changing to Paraffin
So is petrol – so beware. - changed to diesel already
A ship is not complete without and vice clamped to a workbench, a sharp axe handy to the deck, and a coal stove below. - amazingly Roach ticks all three of these boxes
Finally, trust all men. Yea, even princes. Then cut the cards yourself. Caveat emptor.

The Small Boat Club Burgee is raised!

2007-11-18T19:50:00.000Z

Roach is a member of the SBC !

http://smallboatclub.org.uk/

Woodbridge back to Ramsholt

2007-11-18T19:06:00.000Z

So the next day it was enough of victualling the yacht and oing repairs, I was eager to set off. So at HW-2 I cast off and went over the sill at the TideMill marina to take on some fuel. After that I was away down the River in glorious sunshine as if no gale ever occurred.

At Ramsholt I met with Crystal and after a couple of pints at the Arms, we decided to have a BBQ dinner on Felixstowe Ferry Beach. It was a clear and cold night, but I brought some of Roach’s old off-cuts in order to have a fire afterwards.

The next day Crystal and Roach parted ways. I went North to the Ore entrance and Crystal went South.

With a stiff F4 blowing from the West the GPS was showing 9 knots over the bar and I sailed all the way to Aldeburgh at speed, all canvas set. The three visitors buoys were taken so I anchored of the Martello tower. There is good holding here. A launch went round all the visitors bouys in the morning, so I suspect I saved myself a fee there, but here was no mention of fees in the pilot book.

I would not recommend staying here as there is considerable works going on defending the spit. Dumper trucks zoom past every 2 or 3 minutes making a racket and sending lots of dust in the air. My the time I was ready to weigh anchor the decks were covered in a fine film of sea defence aggregate!

Woodbridge

2007-11-18T18:36:00.001Z

The holes left at Bass Dock after the festival

Note: When approaching you must do so from the right of the picture as it is considerably shallower on the left-hand-side. The daigonal scar mark in the mud here is left by Roach!

The Wall outside the Tide Mill. When not busy one can lie alongside here and there is a very nice café right next door.

An abandoned wooden wreck.

Mel Skeets at LW

The upper stretches of the Deben near Mel Skeet's yard

Ramsholt back to Woodbridge

2007-11-18T18:09:00.000Z

My new dinghy wheels

Roach alongside at Mel Skeets

A Sea King investigates

Ramsholt back to Woodbridge

I was woken by an RAF Sea King doing an exercise up the Deben, and it few very close over Roach. Anyway, I made myself a nice espresso and decided to plan the rest of the week. I would leave tomorrow early on the last of the flood so that I could get in over the Orford bar with plenty under my keel.

I missed the inshore forecast on the VHF and rather stupidly decided not to wait up for the Shipping Forecast and turned in. This was a bad decision as I was awoken with the little ship rolling heavily. A gale was blowing from the West and there was enough Fetch on the Ramsholt Reach to make some nasty little waves. Although only around two feet high, they were breaking and moving the yacht disproportionately to their size. The wind was around F8 and annoyingly was strong enough to suck my lovely canvas bucket from the cockpit floor. I stupidly left my towel to dry over the boom too, so that was probably beached somewhere.

I knew that it would be sensible to abort the Ore trip and maybe I should head for shelter in Woodbridge. I could do with some diesel anyway.

So I rang up Mel Skeets yard (it is a fraction of the cost of the Tide Mill at £8 per night for Roach). I secured a berth for the night. As I motored back on the flood (I could not be arsed to deep reef and beat all the way back to town) I passed all the Albert Stranges running under foresails.

I have never been this far up the River and I had no pilotage chart for the upper reaches of the Deben, but Mel has buoyed it very well so long as you trust the acute meanders a yacht of under 5ft draft will have plenty of water at HWN. I moored up Roach, and decided to do a bit of maintenance. A new mainsheet block from Classic Marine and fit wheel to the back of my tender. The wheels were a present from my brother who lives in Australia – where incidentally they are very cheap as they are unaware of the concept of Mud and Tides!

After the tasks were done, I took a walk along the sea wall to the Wyford Bridge Pub. A lovely walk at dusk, but do take a torch for the return trip, as I could not see a damn thing!

Roach gets 1970's Wind Vane Steering

2007-11-11T20:47:00.001Z

Just a quickie pots about a new acquisition that Roach has got: 1970’s self-steering gear.

I am not sure how well it will perform, but we will see. I am quite lucky as it was not expensive and I think it being wooden, will not be so outrageously ugly on a classic boat (it is also removable). As I have to varnish the whole yacht anyway, I can just carry on going over the vane!

Another winter project I am adding to the List - the others: Saloon table, the backrests and also roller furling on the jib. I am also planning a Spitfire Jib and Ghoster for next season together with setting up her now-restored Spinnaker Gear. So watch this space to see how I get along with these rather ambitious projects!

Some changes to my Mainsail

2007-10-22T17:10:00.000+01:00

Showing the luff hem with a slide

The Headboard

The tack

Over the Winter I have decided tht I need to modify the mainsail by adding a luff rope to the sail as there is no rope at present and the sail vibrates annoyingly when going to winward. So I post these pictures here so that people with more experience of doing such a modification can give some advice. My idea is to run the luff rope (around 6mm 3 -strand) up the Luff tape hem. Sewing it in at the head and tack and at each slide.

A Strange Selection of Yachts

2007-10-16T10:39:00.000+01:00

Shiela

Firefly

and Charm.

The Strange Yawls that I was privaleged to moor next to at Maritime Woodbridge

Engine Problems - but not mine

2007-10-13T18:45:00.000+01:00

And interesting it was.

As dusk was coming, on the sweeping bed from the Rocks, Crystal makes hand signals to indicate total engine failure. I had to act fast, and without to much fretting Crystal was under tow before long. Roach found it hard fighting the current and towing a 7ton yacht at the same time. The only thing to do was to anchor for the night. The Rocks is a perfect anchorage. So the next step was do maneouvre Crystal into a position where she could drop anchor.

By the time I found my space it was dark. Sods law my anchor dragged too, but on second attempt I was secure. The corned beef hash that Crystal cooked up that evening was very well received.

Getting to Maritime Woodbridge

2007-10-13T18:37:00.000+01:00

Well I had not used Roach in a while, so I was quite excited about being invited up to the maritime Festival in Woodbridge. The plan, as with most of my boating plans, means leaving London late, and then doing the whole palaver of inflating a dinghy and loading in the dead of dark. Stowe everything, then eat something, and then go to bed.

On this occasion I am grateful to a friend who was giving me a lift to Pin Mill. He who owns a Frederick Shepherd yawl “Crystal” and we were both going to cruise to Woodbridge in company.

So off we went and by the time we had collected gear, inflated and loaded the dinghies it was well past midnight. It was not helped by the fact that my outboard seemed to be very unreliable on this occasion (usually it is not), but thankfully it started and I managed to get to Roach.

It’s amazing how long it takes to load a yacht from a dinghy. I knew I was doing a week’s cruise after the festival in Roach, so there was much stuff victual.

Atlast I was ready, and moved Roach alongside Crystal where we had dinner together. It was now 4am and almost time to depart for in order to catch the tide on the Deben bar. Everything went well and by Lunchtime we were at the Ramsholt Arms having a snooze before catching the next tide up to Woodbridge in fading light. This would be interesting!

Up to Butley and then Home to Pin Mill

2007-10-13T16:38:00.001+01:00

A Thames Barge on the Orwell

The week was almost up and I wanted to spend at least one night up the Butley river which I have heard to much about. So it was off on the rising flood again and off my mud patch. I encountered quite a few yachts attempting to get to Snape on my exiting Iken and I am sure they were confused as to how I managed to get up so far – not realising I spent the night!

As soon I was beyond Iken all canvas was raised and on a freshening wind Roach was running at 5 knots. At Aldeburgh the river turns South and the apparent wind was then felt. A freshening 5/6 I reckon. Roach was scuppers under and powered down stream. I was amazed at this Eventide that left its mooring when I past it at Aldeburgh and it was gaining on me. I tweaked the sails and Roach kept her at bay, but I am sure that Roach should have outrun her well and truly. I think that towing an inflatable tender does not in anyway help and juts pulling on the painter by hand made me realise how much drag the dinghy was giving. Soon we were both overtake by a 18’ Cornish Shrimper – I had no hope. She was really moving and had a topsail set. Well, three cheers for the gaff rig!

My contest with the Eventide was not over yet, and when the River turned towards Orford, beat hard-pressed through the moorings. I decided it was time to shake-off Mr. Eventide and gain some confidence in Roach. Well, all I can say is that Roach behaved admirably. The small cockpit is good fo a single-hander and the new Tufnol ratchet block I got from Classic Marine was working a treat. I could hold the tiller in one hand and sheet-in with the other. Roach was heeling considerably, but she stayed balanced and tracked very well once through a tack. It requires some nerve doing this, as being a classic long keeler, she does make good leeway on the tack itself, but once the sails are drawing she hits the groove once again and you can once again steer confidently. Mr. Eventide, with his cutter rig, was making slow progress and Roach was soon beyond the next turn in the River reaching towards the Butley tributary.

Once anchored off the ruined wharf, I took the dinghy ashore to try and find a pub in the nearest village, Boyton. But there was nothing there but after a long walk to Hollesley I managed to get some bangers and mash and well deserved pint.

The following morning I decided to explore the upper reaches of this very pretty river in the dinghy. But it is very shallow and I aborted. My time was up. I had to be in Pin Mill by tomorrow evening. So I weighed anchor and motored at 1knot on the flood over the bar. The sail down to Pin Mill was non-eventful and I was on my mooring at dusk. A lovely week's cruise!

Aldeburgh and onto Snape

2007-10-13T16:13:00.000+01:00

Approaching Snape

BBC World Service Monstrosity

Black Heath House with its own private marina!

Roach now stuck, looking towards Iken Church

Roach from the dinghy. By leabing her into the bank, I managed to get her pretty upright for a decent nights sleep.

Sunset on Iken Reach.

So then it was time to head off to Snape. What a lovely stretch of River. After the moorings a large expanse of water greets you, but bewared, it is very shallow and you must stick to the withies which are sometimes hard to decipher.

The channel starts to meander back on itself at the aptly names Troublesome Reach, and I ran Roach aground here only a few yards outside the channel. I was on the flood though, so it was a good excuse to lower sail and look like a deliberately ran aground when the tourist launch from Snape came by. After a cup of tea I kedged her off and continued the torturous twists under engine. I would advise anybody attempting to get to Snape to have the kedge ready in the dinghy already and motor. Sailing is a non option after Iken – the channel is only around 20ft wide at most.

Several larger yachts were aground ahead of me, so that reassured me and I continued onto Snape, to see if I could lie against the wall for the evening. I decided to turn around though as I could not get a patch of wall next to a ladder and I had already been a museum exhibit at Woodbridge, and was not in the mood to gawped at, so I turned back in order to find a “hole” which the pilot book described as being 2 metres at LWN. Well this hole simply does not exist as the deepest hole I could find (I sounded with a lead from the dinghy) was only 3ft at LW. So with water running out of the river fast, I rammed Roach into the bank so she remained relatively upright for the night. Roach behaved and I was rewarded a spectacular sunset in a most beautiful setting. I celebrated this by using the remaining ice for a proper G&T!

Woodbridge to the Ramsholt Arms

2007-10-13T16:06:00.000+01:00

Roach amoung the Albert Stranges

My trying to slip the warps from the dinghy. A right spider's web of lines!

By popular demand I have been asked to recount last Summer’s inaugural cruise on Roach. So now on a wet and windy November night I have decided that there is not time better to reminisce Roach’s first real adventure in over a decade.

Well, on Sunday morning I decided to take my London friends to Ramsholt to have lunch at the Arms. I knew they would enjoy a lazy lunch out on the terrace, and the forecast was set to be scorcher, even in September. High tide was at 11am or so, and we decided to breakfast onboard before I got ready to slip the lines. Some sausages and bacon from the now Five Winds butchers in Melton really got us set. My single-flame camping stove (the galley is not a completed project yet) was a little over-pressed doing breakfast for four (I invited the next door yacht’s crew), and I look forward to getting the two -burner Taylors installed. You can do the eggs and the bacon at the same time then.

Anyway, after breakfast Roach “popped” out of her hole and we slipped her line. The wind was a very light SW and we ghosted down leisurely to the pub. All in all a lovely day out and the Scampi at the Arms was lovely. My friends left by taxi later in the afternoon and I went back to Roach to sleep off all the Adnams.

A few before and after shots

2007-10-13T15:55:00.000+01:00

Gosh, as I was mentioned in this months Classic Boat mag, I thought I'd better put something in this blog to tell you how far Roach has come from when I first got her. Here are a selection of photos to give you an idea of the amount of work she needed.

by taking photos and drawing on them I could visualise the interior better - even though I was doing the interior to Dallimore's plans, I wanted to makes sure I agreed with him.

In the end the sideboards by the companionway were raised by 6 inches, allowing for more storage room under.

Here you can see the fairing process has started after .......

burning her paint back to bare wood. This was to check all the splines (a few needed repair) and to check the fastenings too. The keel was dropped and bolts replaced at the same time.

The decks and how they started to come up after a good sanding. Note the lovely skylight made to the original design by Sheraton Marine Cabinet.

The decks needed re-caulking and the main bulkhead with those really ugly windows in them had to go (it was rotten anyway).

The new cockpit, made with mainly solid mahogany, but some plywood too.

The old cockpit was shot. There where no gutters so the there was rot everywhere. The whole thing needed replacing and so did the engine and beds.

Maritime Woodbridge

2007-09-17T00:05:00.000+01:00

Roach - woodworking afloat at dawn

2007-08-30T09:45:00.000+01:00

Is she finished?

2007-08-23T10:40:00.000+01:00

Many of my friend have asked why I still working on Roach. Now she is launched is she not finished yet?

Well, I think, the answer I think is in the nature of the beast: A wooden yacht is never finished.

Roach really is not finished though, and I have quite a few things on my list to get done before my workload cuts back to just yearly mainetance issues. Much of the work to be done is in the interior though. There is still some cabinetry to be done, but I am very glad I did not complete this before launch, as there have been a few revelations that have made me instigate a few design changes.

For starters her bunks are narrow, and with a broad guy like myself I could do with a few extra inches of sleeping width. But a after an evening aboard a friend’s 1927 Fred Shepherd yawl, I realised that there was a clever way of making her bunks wider. Instead of Dallimore’s design of the bunk backs folding down over the berth, why not fold them up? If there is not baton at the bottom edge, I have the possibility to extend the mattress to the hull sides beyond the lifting portion of the backrest panel. This also has the advantage, that when lashed up in the “sleep” position, the panel provides a secure place to dump ones clothes.

There is also the questions of sail storage. Currently the whole forepeak is awash with kit and it really makes the boat feel stuffy and small. As you can see from the photo, it really is a delightful forepeak, and Dallimore’s open plan arrangement really works, giving this 22 footer a real sense of space – If only I could have some sort of sail bin. So I have decided that I will build a mahogany sail shelf, to starboard, behind the clothes cupboard. That way the sails will be out of sight and jammed in between the deckhead and the shelf, leaving room under for other things if required.

Other than that there is the galley is half built. The original 1950’s gas stove needs to be plumbed in by a specialist "Corgi" gas person. But having used the galley with just a camping stove up till now, so I know were everything needs to go, so the design can be pinned down. But the galley is a priority as the current temporary set-up means that there are no fiddle rails and stuff tends to fly about the cabin.

Other than that, she needs a good rub down a several coats of Epifannes satin varnish below. The white needs enamelling and the bilges painted in Danboline. Oh yes, and there is my new Douglas fir cabin sole that I am making!

A few wooden boat quotes

2007-08-15T16:26:00.000+01:00

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever: its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness."
Keates

"Houses are but badly built boats so firmly aground that you cannot think of moving them. They are definitely inferior things, belonging to the vegetable not the animal world, rooted and stationary, incapable of gay transition. I admit, doubtfully, as exceptions, snail-shells and caravans. The desire to build a house is the tired wish of a man content thenceforward with a single anchorage. The desire to build a boat is the desire of youth, unwilling yet to accept the idea of a final resting-place. "

Arthur Ransome

Drying Out on Posts!

2007-08-15T16:07:00.001+01:00

I needed to Roach on the posts last weekend as I needed to sort out a weeping log impeller that dripped enough to make her take around a pint an hour or water. It was a sleep depriver let us say, as the auto bilge pump was could run the battery dry and then what. Apart from that I needed to inspect her under the waterline. How were the ferrous hangings doing, how was the antifouling performing?

All in all it was quite an experience putting her on posts single-handed. She behave very well and we “landed” just as I had wanted. No problems at all. I was not impressed with the SeaJet Coastal 037 antifouling that I had been recommended. Weed was growing fast. So much so that a couple of swans came over to peck at it. It was obviously fresh and lush!

The hangings looked fine. The only real problem was that the log impeller tube’s thread had gone so although I fixed the leak with loads of polysulphide sealer, this is only temporary till I get a new tube. I took the opportunity to screw on her name plaques on either side of the bow too.

Pin Mill to Wrabness

2007-08-07T12:41:00.001+01:00

Well this was my first mini adventure on Roach. At last the title of this blog has started to make sense I thought. But the first day with my crew was spend victualing the yacht, and making a run to Classic Marine and Foxes to get the reefing lines sorted. The original wooden cleats were quite unsatisfactory, and some new larger ones from Classic Marine solved the problem.

So as crew read the tabloids on the foredeck, I drilled and screwed and tried to get Roach’s reefing gear sorted.

On the way back from Foxes, we dinghied back via Brhyer, a lovely 30’s cutter to invite the owner and partner for drinks on Roach later on. At I really owed them a drink as they were then ones that recommended Pin Mill with such aplomb. They duly popped round and we went to work exhausting Roach’s cellar – one of the few bits of cabinetry actually finished on the interior.

The next morning after a lazy start, we hoisted the main and set sail for Secret Water. I was worried about towing the dinghy, but as I ordered one with a keel it towed much better than I had expected. It is an Excel 230 – made in Korea. I am very pleased with apart from the valves that tend to leak.

Roach, being fractionally rigged , is not a great at running. The jib gets blanketed and then collapses. Goose-winging up the Orwell, my homemade boat hook worked a treat. Without the pole the sail would have collapsed. As crew was down below with Mal de Mer (well I reckon it is called a hangover) I single-handed until we were out past Languard, where I needed help. The wind had veered and now it was no the nose to Pye End. Roach was on a beat up, handling well when the topping lift parted at the entrance to the Walton Channel. Crew did a miraculous job of retrieving it in very lumpy conditions as we were now quite shallow.

The idea was to find a quite anchorage, but there was too much traffic for our liking, so we decided to head back on a glorious run and anchor under the cliffs at Wrabness. This was much more like it as we were the only yacht on the Stour, and by sunset we were on the beach, cooking a BBQ, Roach swinging on the only mooring left. The

An early start the next morning left us enough time at the Butt and Oyster for a good lunch and a pint. All in all, a great weekend’s sailing!