Hey all, well we've been busy and trying to get the work load complete before we leave the marina in a week or so's time.

The Hatch is now complete and we've adopted a 'helmut' approach to ensuring it closes properly. A new hatch dog would have cost us 130 pounds sterling. However I cut a thread into the bar, and bought an M12 wing nut, polished up an old bronze bushing that was on the boat and we have a very secure hatch lock now. Total cost: 8 pounds including spares! This is the essence of the verb 'to helmut' in that we think about how we can do things on Emerald with what we already have. Here is the story of the real Helmut, we salute you!

The Story of Helmut

Nichola has been busy today making a canvas cover for the hatch, which is looking good. Tomorrow I'll be heading up the mast to check it over and move our strong track a little lower.
Excitement is mounting for our escape to the seas again.
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Or in my case measure six times cut and keep your fingers crossed! Have you seen the price of teak!
We've had a a good weather window, so have begun to install the new 'old' hatch. The old Atkins and Hoyle hatch and leaky surround have gone and we are now in the midst of building the new surround. This is pushing my woodworking skills again but so far so good.



Tomorrow I'll finish off prepping the hatch base and get that sanded and ready to bed down and bolt through the deck.

The main photo is a shot of the hatch set in place. The unvarnished piece is the base I've been working on.

In the mean time Nichola has been busy making new fender socks, of a new and patented design! More to follow on this.

Slainte skip

Well hello all,

Nichola has been busy in her alter ego as Head Brewer on Emerald, and completed the 2011 vintage wine. We have both a full bodied Shiraz and a light and fruity Sauvigon Blanc this year, after the success of the Merlot last year. They'll be left in the bottles for a month or two to settle a bit then should be ready for evening sunsets over the Outer Hebrides.

On the winter work list things are slowly progressing. The good news is that the Galley is finished, hurrah! The new staysail tracks are in, Hurrah! The mast has been adjusted, and no longer resembles a banana, Hurrah! The freezer appears to be working correctly, Hurrah! I've at last finished Nichola's mosaic and stained glass work table for the forepeak (a christmas present, rather late!) Hurrah! and I've tested the gas fitting sent to us from Rick on SV Godspeed (thanks Rick) and it works, so we can now fill our propane tanks properly, Hurrah!

We have a few things left to do, the main one being installing our new to us hatch over the saloon, moving the mainsail track lower to stop it chaffing the halyard, and a few plumbing alterations, and repairing a fitting for one of our flexible tanks.

Then we have to stock up on food and supplies top off the gas tanks and fuel tanks before leaving Falmouth Marina on 1st April to head up the river Fal for a month or so.

Then we'll swing our bows Northward and head towards the Irish sea and the West coast of Scotland.
Slainte
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Well here ends a successful week. Yesterday Nichola and I went for a walk across a little bit of the South west coast path, on a glorious day. So glorious an ice cream didn't seem out of place, and after all that strenuous exercise several pints of local Skinners brew were consumed in the Chain Locker on the way home. It was a great day and good to take a break away from the winter job list.

So how is the list, well the battery box is complete and the safety fuses all installed and working. Really pleased with this outcome as it will help us monitor our power usage and help us live the green lifestyle we aspire to.

On power consumption our increased insulation on the freezer is working however now that we've spotted and solved the refrigerant gas leak, trying to get the compressor to work correctly is proving more difficult.

We 'think' currently we've either got too much gas in the system or some air. Presently the expansion valve is icing up at around 10deg f so that the box heats up to about 35 deg f before cooling down again for the cycle to repeat. We've been letting a little gas out each time and have got this cycle down to 7 deg f with another attempt today, we'll see how low it goes.

The photo is of my lovely wife looking like she is attending an early 1990's rave but is actually stripping and sanding the bottom half of our new hatch. A plan is sloooowly coming together about how to install it.

Nichola has also been busy soldering a protection circuit into our LED lights (eight of them) to cut out RF noise given by the bulbs and also to protect the expensive bulbs from power spike damage (such as when starting up the diesel engine.)

I've managed to complete all the woodwork for the galley which now has to be stained and varnished and another part painted. Next week's job I think, as well as a few other indoor things. (as always ;-) )

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Well, been a while; again not found my blog mojo.

Some friends of friends were selling this beautiful hatch, and we thought it would look great on Emerald. Bit of a job to install I'm thinking but will be worth it when complete. Should set the boat off handsomely.

We've been busy still trying to get through the job list. We've completed the new battery box, with only one cable to install to ensure our house bank is properly protected with fuses and busbars at last. (only taken us 6 years to get around to it!) We've got a step by step photo record so I'll get that uploaded this week if I can.

Also our re-laying of the new longer staysail tracks has moved on a little with the port side completed, which means we can rebuild the galley deckhead. However the starboard side is proving more complicated, but if the weather holds we'll try and get that fitted tomorrow. That means we can start to get the boat more together ready for the escape from the marina on 1st April.
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