DON'T PANIC

 I have been reading that livaboards don't really document their day to day lives. And that living in a marina is not really being a livaboard. Many will be out there disagreeing with the last statement, including me. It doesnt matter whether you are living alongside a canal or living in a marina or many different marinas. As long as you are living on your boat full time then surely you are a livaboard. Living on Lal is so very different to the way we used to live. but in many ways still the same. Which is probably why many livaboards don't document  The boat is their house and not many people in houses document it either. I really still enjoy my boat life but i do some times miss the house. I miss having the space to have appliances like tumble dryers and washing machines and fridges.. I can still do my washing and machines are available , but remembering everything to take is a nightmare . Its not a case of  opening the cupboard under the sink.Hanging around till t

Blog 2 This is also part of the Mayflower heritage centre Now i tried to get the photo of the man responsible for this collection at the top of the page .But the site was not in a cooperating mood. Bob has collected this whole collection himself over many years and has now finally got a brilliant place to show it all of to the public. Harwich station. It was at one time a very busy station , bringing passengers from all over to go all over europe on the ferry. All these beautiful posters are the real thing and show beautiful pictures of beautiful places . With support from dedicated people . This exhibit will be brilliant when its ready. The whole station is a recreation of past times and it does feel like you are stepping in to a different time. Ash from the Mayflower project has been doing alot of work here . Using his carpentry skills to bring these exhibits together. Every item here is genuine and Bob has collected them over many years working on and with trains. I

 Hi everybody, hope you are all well. Two blogs tonight , been a nice day with lots to see. Petra has been for some time trying to sort out wood , so she can make new lee boards for her lovely dutch barge. Now nobody shout at me if i don't get this right, but lee boards are a bit like a drop keel.  There is one on each side of the boat and when sailing , the one on the lee side of the wind.[the side the wind is not coming from] is allowed to go down by means of a rope [ might be called sheet, still confused over the names of boaty bits] The lee board can be adjusted by this rope to the height /depth desired. They stop flat bottomed boats being pushed sideways by the wind.. Right thats all the techy stuff i am going to say about lee boards, before i dig myself in to a hole and i get the feeling i may be editing this bit [ and yes i did have to] in the future. What i will say i know to be true , is they are beautiful. They can tuck in tight with a lovely little bow wave of thei

Right got a project for you. I have shown this wee girl before . I just like her , she reminds me of a little porpoise. All eager and ready to play. Sea Dream is sitting at Westwater boat sales Titchmarsh.. They want rid and are willing to take a really silly offer , just so they don't have to cut it up. Lots of little problems i can see and needs attention on the varnish and paint. Volvo penta 10 hrse power inboard engine..  Somebody somewhere must want this boat so tell people , pass the info around. I don't have anywhere to keep her and i don't have the time or money to do her up . Or i would . Don't know what i would do with her then , but she is to good to let be cut up. Maybe there is an organisation out there that wants to teach kids about bigger boats. Westerly windrush 25ft beam 7ft 6. In so many other parts of our lives these days we are doing up stuff, so why not a boat. Lets be  enviromentally friendly. Let's get this back in the water do

 Hi as many of you may have noticed , i have been a bit sparse on the blogs of late. Well this is because we have not doing anything adventurous , but trying to find jobs and get the boat in order.. Considering this time last year i was doing an 8 to 5 job living in a country cottage with ducks and chickens .I feel my life still is abit adventurous even if its just a boat in a pond in Walton.. Made these to sell at carboots. These ones are artificial and i am used to making the real ones , but trying to organise moss, wires stabbing wires etc.while living on a boat was going to mean a messy wet run up to christmas. So this is better and we don't have the ecosystem of bugs and beasties that come with moss , taking up residence in the boat. I used to have a little friend back at Ardwell ,where we made the wreaths. A little robin  , i called stompy. He was my friend all year round but would pretty much stay in the shed with me , the whole time i made the wreaths. Funny wee thin

 Hello Hope everybody is ok after storm Ophelia. We were out of the worst of it , but still a bit rolly. Mark has had a busy cramped and long day, fitting a water tank in the locker in the cockpit. Really really glad he could fit. He also finished making an entrance and raised access in to a locker in the cockpit that was stupid. The previous owners had forsaken one of the berths internally , so they could put cupboards in. The feet side of this berth disappeared in to the cockpit. They had blocked it off and made it into a sail locker. However it was abit daft as they hadn't made any access to it , other than from the locker next to it. If we needed something it was always at the wrong end and sombody had to go in to get it. This is normally my job as i can fit in without taking everything out of it first. Mark with a advice from his guru, opened the top up and because water has to drain of the lids , copied the other one and using some half cut pipe bits of wood fo

 Hi everybody, First picture I had to drill , what felt like a million holes side by side to cut out the bit of wood so this Socket back would fit in, ready for Mark to fit the socket learned something though. Don't ask your husband for a spirit level. " On a boat don't be daft. Think about it , your on a boat. " followed by much laughter [ from him ] and shaking of head. " Just measure from something straight ". Half an hour  and i am chuntering. " Something straight , On a boat , are you daft " with much laughter [ from me] and shaking of head.. So it had to go there because its in a little recessed shelf on the otherside . much measuring around from the back and tutting and finally . I am almost , well maybe not 100% sure its straight , but its very close..Then i was sanding and sanding and thinking all the time , did we not buy something for this . LIGHT BULB, moment Finger file . Asked , got , did and spent a total of half an hour doing t