Somehow the simplest of things seem to take a long time when working on a boat. I was only just starting to realise that with the discovery that almost all of the hull skin fittings were fitted with inadequate gate valves which seem to be conventional domestic plumbing versions so are likely to corrode and… Continue reading Safety first – Skin fittings, seacocks and roller reefing.
Taking a Vire 12 from “rusty lump” to ready to test. Part 1 General plan September and October 2016.
On initial inspection the engine appeared to be installed although not bolted down. There was an electrical panel in the boat with the engine ends of the cable labelled as to where everything needed to go but nothing actually connected and just for luck another electrical system as spares. Throttle and gear controls were in… Continue reading Taking a Vire 12 from “rusty lump” to ready to test. Part 1 General plan September and October 2016.
Boat cleaning and the start of task finding.
This all runs alongside the trailer fixing work but I thought we needed to keep them separate to avoid everything getting too confusing. Much of the boat restoration work also happened in parallel with working on two of Matthew’s projects – Restoration of a VW camper van that was living inside the gates of our… Continue reading Boat cleaning and the start of task finding.
Fixing the trailer.
In reality for the first month there were two lines of work going on in parallel but this post will summarize the upgrading of the trailer. Obviously that started as soon as the trailer was on our drive with an investigation into what was happening. By the start of day 3 it was clear that… Continue reading Fixing the trailer.
A boat owner again -25th August 2016.
Booked the day off work because Dave has finally managed to get the crane people organised enough to make it worth going to Hoo to look at the boat. Slight snag that it coincides with younger daughter Bethany being able to talk to the school about her AS results so we didn’t get started… Continue reading A boat owner again -25th August 2016.
Preamble – I buy a trailer and learn to weld.
This all started with an idea to buy a dingy again. Maybe another Mirror either ready built or as a kit. So these days you look on ebay, Gumtree and the like. My basic conclusion of that was that even a half way decent ready to use dingy costs about the same as a… Continue reading Preamble – I buy a trailer and learn to weld.
Thames Marine and Snapdragon sailing boats.
Hopefully you will appreciate that the following information was not the result of all that much detective work by me but I did find the owner’s association website (https://www.snapdragonmirage.org.uk). In 2019 the old website received a major makeover and you don’t have to be a member to see a potted history of the company and… Continue reading Thames Marine and Snapdragon sailing boats.
Who am I and how did this madness start.
I guess like everything I have to apportion responsibility for my love of boating to my parents for much the same reason that is the theme of any TV awards ceremony speech. I don’t remember my father as a person because he died of lung cancer when I was still too young to have learned… Continue reading Who am I and how did this madness start.