JawsOrca

Thats her Janice. Alpha had two in the hire fleet, Wildcat (And another although they sold the other pretty quickly).. It was a shame when they sold wildcat as she was a cheap little cruiser but a good little one (we had about 4 seasons on theres).. I notice you have the swimdeck too which makes things easier .. Certainly try alpha, my parents own an alpha 29 flybridge and they have been brilliant helping them with bits this winter.

Hi Janice, you may want to try beaulieu boat jumble its in a couple of weekends time, you can find anything and everything there. Although if your boat is an alpha hull as silly as it sounds you may want to try them as they have a close affection to their boats and may be able to assist, either by making one up or perhaps they have simular (Is she a "Wildcat" (as alpha used to call her)? if so that was our favourite boat for many years!)

Back to work today for 9am! as we had a ebayer to come and collect two old tanks. We were both still tired from the last couple of days so we didn't get a whole lot done. Dave started installing the last timber frame in the cabin roof which will take the ceiling mounted curtain rail. This had to be be glassed in so he did this before it warmed up. He then moved onto cutting down some building acros (Another ebay purchase - £40 for 7!) which needed cutting as they are too big, these will be used as the supports when we move the boat. After lunch we finished off by replacing the wheelhouse flooring as it's a bit saggy and repairing a hole in the floor where it appears someone had cut to move the engine before. We also had to chop out one floor beam as I brought a new waste holding tank (ebay again but using the money we made selling the other tanks means it only cost £60!) but it didn't fit through the hatch as it had a floorbeam through the middle! This week we are down the yard from thursday to easter monday.. and the transport is booked for Easter monday to move the boat! . I want to certainly get the inside ready for sidelining and we need to work out how to move the old peugeot engine, plus we need fix the damaged port side (see earlier posts) as it may not be strong enough to lift. So my next post will hopefully show the boat in her new home!

Although not about orca, Jessica was our previous boat and selling Jessica is core to getting a new boat.. So I want to quickly tell Jessica's last day with us! (Hope everyone is ok with me posting this) The buyer wanted us to deliver her from our hardstanding spot to a mud berth in Queenborough (12 miles down stream). Unfortunately the rise and fall here means that we need two high waters to do this passage and therefore 12 hours at least! (We actually needed 3 tides). The first plan was to launch her from her hardstanding spot ashore to the clubs scrubbing docks (Last saturday), keep her there overnight and then make the passage over 12 hours on the sunday (we would have floated off at 6am and then entered her berth at 6pm), however as per my last post we gave up as the winds where a bit strong and it looked a bit wet plus we would have to sit at anchor for 10 hours as its only a 2 trip. Second plan was to put her on a club mooring and leave her a couple of weeks for the weather to improve, however right on high tide sunday evening the yacht clubs tender broke down (its a 10 min trip to the deep water moorings so the trot boat is a must) so the club kindly agreed that she can stay there all week! (Thankfully we can see the scrubbing docks from the houseboat!). The third plan was to float off yesterday night and go onto to deep water berth for the night and then beat the incomming tide this morning to queenborough, arriving into her berth at high water. And thats what happened! I was a tad worried if she would beat the tide (as they do run fast through the esturary) and we forgot to rig the gib but with her brand new prop and a clean bottom she achieved 6 knots through the tide and we arrived into her berth with no problems... It's been hard to let her go but having the new boat certainly helps and knowing she will be used more than we did. We had 8 years and only spent 3 weekends on her, but we both agree that the effort and planning to just go 12 miles downriver shows that a river cruiser on the broads would be a better plan as the tides are a nightmare here.. boating needs to be relaxing at the end of the day! (Back to orca tomorrow and we have a long easter too, not to mention orca is being moved over to here too!!) Some pictures attached. 1. Waiting for the tide on the yacht clubs scrubbing dock, 2 - 5 Pictures of the trip down. 5. Safely at her new home ready for her new owners.

Quick update.. (Floated Jessica, although I chickened out of the 12 hour delivery trip as the weather was nasty and a good day on the estuary here is like breydon on a bad day.. (We have had 5 feet sweals before) - Shes now neaped (stuck) on the sailing clubs dry dock until next weekend!.. She had no problems herself though.. very impressed considering shes been ashore for 2 years - But plan is now to make the trip next weekend.. another lost weekend .. I really can't wait to be in norfolk where we really don't have such tidal problems!). Forgot to mention.. Jessica is flying the NBN burgee (I'll get a good picture although its a long way up to the spreader). Orca is though all booked up and being delivered on easter sunday, we have more timber to support her on and brought a load of "acros" to help support her (and make life easy when the lorry lowers her). In the week a brand new waste tank arrived from ebay too (I love ebay) £100 for 240 litre!

Our cat Silvester has never been off the pontoon (except in a basket to the vets), we rescued him when the neighbour moved to another boatyard and he was too worried he wouldnt take to bankside mooring (and get run over by a nearby road). I always understood that cats are a must on (larger) boats as they are meant to keep rats at bay, although here they are probably the size of him plus he would probably would probably just play with them!

Hi Gracie, I think one reason the brinks one is there is so owners can keep an eye on the boat. My parents brought their boat last summer from brinks and we was all watching them prepping the the boat (not to mention chasing the surveyor (he was a friend!)) and my mum found it very reassuring. I'd be happy if there was a camera which I could control to keep an eye on the boat. We rarely stay aboard in the marina though as theres lots of lovely places to visit so I wouldn't be concerned in that sense. (Maybe you wouldn't want on on the medway though as when the rivers in flood you probably want to look away

Back to work today! I'm going to give up with the day count..! Keep reading why. So back to the boat after 3 weeks and we didn't do a whole lot this weekend. Although dave finished filling the hole in the transom for the volvo leg! (big hole though). He also glued up a bit of timber which I'll use to mount the curtain rails. Also we worked on the leg housing, removing the oil seals and an anode. We also tried to work out where the sillette/sonic transom mount should go, although no one is 100% certain so I've sent an email off to sillette asking them. However we also tidied up as I've booked a lorry to come and take move the boat over to the yacht club now Jessica has sold. This is pencilled in for easter. It's a hiab lorry so its a nice quick easy job (expensive but its worth while). I've had to carefully work out how to prop it this side as we have to do ourselves and we need to be positioned so we can move the boat on the clubs travel hoist.. This is still in progress and will take some thought but Orcas only a light thing.. We both can't wait to get the boat over here as its about 50 meters from home! and we can work 24/7 and the rest of the work will be done before we know it! (hence a day count on the blog would now be impossible - I'll try and do a weekly update though). Next weekend we are aiming on delivering Jessica so probably no Orca next week...

Our plan for Orca is to do a week around Easter next year on the Medway (Non tidal) then do two weeks on the Thames (You can motor around which is apparently an amazing trip and well worth doing if you are on the medway - If you are interested I may try and arrange a convoy with a couple of boat you are welcome to join in (we should oxford and back in 2 weeks.. it will feel a bit safer then) then we will take the boat to norfolk for the following year and keep her there. As you say the Medway is brill for weekends but too small for 2 weeks but certainly don't move if you are happy... just move about when you get bored of it. You can't really moor wildly, the only reason you can semi-safely do on the broads is because alot of boats do it and as such they have identified the safe spots/worn away underwater obstructions over use! You may notice too the bank sides on the medway haven't been worn out because no one does it.. Again no one does it because the medway is poorly maintained (the BA do, do a good job at marking underwater hazards). We hit a submerged tree at wateringbury and only we was only 2 feet water draft - (If you want to do this maybe install a fish finder as this gives you a idea of what the bottom is like) . The banks of the medway are also privately owned so you will see "No mooring" signs everywhere deterring you from doing it. Although there maybe the odd spot so maybe talk to other boaters based up there as they may know.. I think alot of them moor either at their home bases or on the lock landing platforms etc. As I say mooring on the Medway is a big negative. (when we was up there we just went back to the marina each day - We were based at Bow bridge or Yalding).

Pint certainly on us .. we can extend the visit to the yacht club (Hoo Ness) although your boat needs to take to the mud which isn't fun with a cruiser. It is well worth a visit pass allington though even if you come as far as Rochester. We had a couple of weekends up there in family boat and I found the locks to be something different and unusual (after being on the broads all the time)..it also braked up the day.. but yes I can't say I'd rather be there instead of the broads though.. the lack of public moorings are a big pain (unless you ignore the rule about mooring by the locks)..but its better than nothing Are you aiming on relocating the boat up to Norfolk?

Thanks Grace I hope you are using and enjoying your new purchase too. Parts of the upper medway are very pretty (although as I said its worth coming down to Rochester at least once (the landing there is very secure Best wishes,

I just want to update this as its been some time since I did. Basically we have been away from the boat for a bit as this boat (Orca) is a distance from the other boat (Jessica), and we started getting lots of interest in the other boat. So we thought its best to make ourselves available on the Jessica and just do some tidying up. So thankfully as you may have seen, this finally paid off and last weekend and we sold Jessica!!! Unfortunately though she is still sitting here and the buyers want us to deliver her to her new home in queenbourgh (1 1/2 hours sail away) which we will probably do a week on saturday (if its sunny... dead calm seas... no rain... perfect tides between 11-12pm lol!.. no we want Jessica to go to her new home asap really as they want to use her). In the meantime though we haven't abandoned poor Orca (well maybe a little!), we have done a few bits; We stripped the sterndrive down and all bearings and parts were unseized and it looks unused inside, which is good! We need some parts and we picked up a spares/repair unit on ebay to scavenge steering bits which where missing or damaged on our main unit. Plus we've brought a sand blaster (and given a air pressure machne to go with it) to use and clean up the unit which we will do in the coming weeks. We also brought some bits at the local boat jumble and went over to Essex looking for headlining but didn't find any (internet order!). We have also had a good chat with the yacht club mooring chaps and now have a bright shiny green light to bring Orca over (The yacht club is about 2 steps from our houseboat! so we will be able to work 24/7 (heaven forbid!)) We want Jessica's hard standing spot though as she's visible from the kitchen window (and I can hurl abuse at anyone who goes near!) Unfortunately though the clubs travel hoist will be maxed out by Orca though so it will take some careful planning! (The hoist is only 10.6 wide and so is Orca! so we need a big tide and a bit of luck!) We also sold the volvo sterndrive and spare tanks on ebay so now the boat (Orca's) fund is loaded up and ready for me to spend! Anyway back to Orca this weekend, I need to prepare the walls for side lining and get it ordered, Dave needs to finish the repaired transom and get the engine installed (I need to order remaining spares from Sillette, ASAP supplies, vetus, ebay, etc etc!)

Jessica sold today! After a couple of weeks painting! she sold to passers by who looked last summer! But we are a huge step forward now to having the cruiser in Norfolk!! (Mods please kindly lock this down).

Good to see you are Back Robin, I've been watching some of your videos during the winter and the have helped with the winter blues. Have a fun week!

Oh is it Loddon side? I was thinking it was Reedham side.. oh well.. but as others mention at least there's investment on the (Better) south side!

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Offers around £3500 now please! Please...

... is there anything nearby to walk to (I wont say pub but you catch my drift!)?!!

Welcome aboard! Perhaps we should have a Kentish satellite group!

Congrats Grace! Hope to see you afloat, either on the med(way) or up north!

Thanks Alan, Theres some good looking bits on there. Day 26. Not much happened today, we worked out the though that the wheelhouse will get very hot in the 18dc march heat so the aim is to fit some skylights at some point. In the cabin though with the little bits of insulation though it was cooler, which is already a good start. Dave worked on repairing the port aft gunwall/toerail/deck which has some serious damage, the crack is about 6feet long and I can't quite understand how the damaged happened.. I can only guess that at some point something hit it and rode over the toerail.. but its a straight cut.. Dave got a bit of glass on the outside and it will need glassing on the inside altohugh access is tight and it will take a bit of work to make strong and tidy. We also did some other hull repairs; more glass on the d shackle which was on the bow and dave added more glass on the hole on the transom. I tied up a bit in the cabin and did some minor prep work for the side lining. Kent boat jumble tomorrow.

we are working on the boat saturday but boat jumble for sunday and then hopefully have some viewings on the sailing boat after! Jealous though would rather be up on the broads! Have a lovely weekend everyone!

HI All, I've got a couple of questions which ars running round in my head at the moment and I wonder if anyone can answer for me 1. I'm looking at doing 6mm foam backed sidelined, Does anyone anyone recommend a good glue to glue the material onto the fiberglass (Obviously this will be heavy stuff and the last thing I want is it to peel off). 2. For the bulkhead walls I understand that if they are single layer they should be at least 12mm (we are going for oak faced.. should be lovely!). Does this sound correct and thick enough? Annoyingly though I don't like seeing cables running (and as we don't have height in the ceiling we need to mount lighting on the walls) therefore I'm going to need to have double walls with a battern gap in middle where the cables can be hidden. Do you think I therefore get away with 6mm walls (although the last thing I want to do is have wobberly walls!).. I'm thinking maybe come up to 10mm for these double walls? 3. Does anyone know what material I use in the shower-room/Loo (Sorry I don't like using the nautical words), Robbins timber do a laminate but I'm not sure if that's the best thing to use? Thanks in advance,

Hi Colin, I'd try and rattle Herberts door at 2pm.. You may find the boats ready. If not you can take a wonder around lathams (or the boat sales...!). Womack is a nice spot, the island there moorings are a good quiet spot. Thurne is ok too although we've only stopped there a couple of times, although last time we stopped there we saw a huge barn owl flying out of the mill (which I'm sure is the first and only time I've seen one in the wild. Have a lovely trip.

Lovely spot and Lovely little pub... Can't believe last year was the first time we made it up here after 8 years on the broads...