Harvey Eastwood 37

[floydraser]

Well the deadline for giving notice to the marina has come and gone so I have decided to keep the boat for another season. The priority is going to be getting rid of the big blue cover, or at least to retire it to winter use only. That means making the topsides completely waterproof and for this I have recruited a helper. There's only really two main areas of work to do anyway, the rest being endless minor jobs. The target will be to get it done by June (Ha!) but we'll see.

But come October it'll definitely be up for sale so if anyone fancies it, they have the whole summer to come and have a look.

[floydraser]

Forgot to mention:

New years eve I was reminded of my boat's history by some of the stuff on TV. Early evening Talking Pictures had Edward Woodward presenting In Suspicious Circumstances, which is an interesting watch. Just into the new year the same channel also showed Robin Askwith in Confessions From a Holiday Camp. I didn't watch it as I find it a bit intellectually challenging for my brain cell. 

That's TV have recently been showing Warren Mitchell in Till Death and In Sickness recently too. I didn't notice anything with Nigel Davenport in it which is a shame as the above quartet dined on board the Denham Owl in St Katherines Dock at the time of filming Stand Up Virgin Soldiers in 1976.

[floydraser]

Well I managed to get over and start work on 14th June and then things got a bit busy at home so once again progress halted.

I just nipped over on Wednesday and fitted the last of the new side panels so now all the rotten side panels have been replaced. I even managed a to get some undercoat on so a few more trips and she should be ready for a hose down test for water leaks.

Goods news: no details as I don't want to put the kiss of death on it - I have been approached by potential buyer.

[floydraser]

From June:

From last Monday 30.10.23:

I would now like to declare this deck waterproof!

The caulking will be tidied up next time when it'll be nice and hard. Trying to use the best materials, the Sikaflex 290 cost me £28 and after small usage did it's job - turning into hard rubber - in the nozzle and the end of the tube. Being a dedicated cheapskate, I punched a hole in the side of the tube to use the fresh stuff and applied it with a couple of spatulas, hence the mess.

I'm happy now that if the cover gets destroyed in one of these storms the water can't in too much. It'll always find a way in I suppose, but not too much. 

No major surgery left to do! 

Just need to plug the hole from the gas water heater stack, apply resin to soft bits and paint the three roofs, but that can all wait. Just going to order the seals for the Houdini hatches, thanks to Karizma.

The potentail buyer hasn't actually pulled out, just done the modern thing and stopped communicating which I take to mean the same thing. They were yet another in the string of people who hope I'm a kindly old romantic gent who'll succumb to their sob story. Nope, this is the real world not the chuffing Repair Shop!

[floydraser]

Potentail? Who wrote that? 

[BroadAmbition]

A 'Potent tail? - Don't go there 

Griff

[floydraser]

Well it's finally happened, I am moving the Denham Owl away from BGM.

Last year Clive Ricko said there were vacancies at Cove and I was almost going to move back then. Unfortunately, as I may have mentioned elsewhere, MIL was starting to need more and more of our time and it was difficult to get out of the county let alone over to Brundall. It was just easier and less stressful to leave it at BGM until things settled down.

I haven't advertised it for sale for over a year but the potential buyer mentioned in my last report was the Granddaughter of a previous owner from it's time on the Thames. She went searching for the boat and found it here on the forum. She said she wanted to buy it for her Granddad, live on it in the summer and airbnb it at other times.

But now, having got it waterproof and therefore more usable, the jobs are now small ones, we are both retired, and we are free to travel, we are going to give it another summer. Why don't I just admit that I'm going to have this boat forever?

We visited BGM in October and after lunch at the White Heron we went on to Cove to meet Clive, where the girls (Mrs Raser and her sister) chose the mooring. We didn't walk it but my best guess using Google is that the mooring is 4 ½ minutes walk from the White Heron.

Looking forward to next summer...

 

[ExSurveyor]

Me moving to the berth next to you was the final straw to drive you out of BGM 😂

Enjoy Cove.

[floydraser]

8 hours ago, ExSurveyor said:

Me moving to the berth next to you was the final straw to drive you out of BGM 😂

Enjoy Cove.

Well, no-one wants the boss breathing down their neck do they? 

Thank you.

[FairTmiddlin]

6 hours ago, floydraser said:

Well, no-one wants the boss breathing down their neck do they? 

Thank you.

Yes. I suppose face-to-face Moderation, would be a bit awkward

[floydraser]

Look, she's naked!

I nipped over today to prepare for the move to Cove and it felt really weird leaving the boat with no cover. I wonder how long it's been since it was fully exposed to the elements? Some of the spiders living in the cover had grown quite large and I couldn't drown them, so I flicked them onto that little Shetland next door. 

Engine battery check, weed filter check, cooling water tap check. Engine start first time, nice tick over, bit of blue smoke for a start and nice to see a bit of water coming through too. So that bit's ready. 

I refitted some of the trims and the starboard cleat, which is now screwed to solid wood and not foam. 

Finally got to take down my structures for supporting the cover: a Black & Decker Workmate with upholstery to protect the cover, a step stool similarly upholstered, and a 3 wheeler walking aid! The latter being a left over from an auction lot of walking aids I got for my mother in law a few years ago. The community charity shop in Brundall were very pleased to receive it on my way round to the White Heron for lunch. 

I managed to get most of the rubbish into the Corsa so I just have the cover and that small wooden pallet you can see on the front deck to get rid of. Although I suppose I should keep the cover in case the next owner wants it as a pattern. It also means that when the time comes all I need to do is give the boat a good clean and tie the mudweight to a bit of rope; they say it's more effective that way...

Oh, and I have to erect the six foot pointless mast too.

[ExSurveyor]

42 minutes ago, floydraser said:

I flicked them onto that little Shetland next door. 

It's a Sheerline 😂

 

So that is what you have been hiding all these years, looks a nice boat. 👍

 

[BroadAmbition]

She’s looking good 

Griff

[floydraser]

8 hours ago, ExSurveyor said:

It's a Sheerline 😂

 

It's a Sheerline with spiders. 

[floydraser]

The move:

Firstly, why move at all? Well this was my first venture onto the Broads and Brundall Gardens was the nearest to home, and they had availability. After that, it was an adventure into the unknown! That was around October 2018. It's a good marina but I began to feel vulnerable due to the way the business operates; I didn't feel they were always on my side as it were.

At this point I will point out that Brundall Gardens Marina management take a dim view of negative comments on social media so there'll be none here. I will assume they monitor the forum and hold Mark (ExSurveyor) responsible for it's content.

On the other hand I feel a loyalty towards other boaters so if anyone is thinking of mooring at BGM and wants a fair and constructive review, they can PM me and get it away from the forum. Don't ask for gossip though; I have no axe to grind.

Continued..............

[floydraser]

The move continued....

Clive (C. Ricko) had advertised available moorings towards the end of 2022 but in the end Mother in law was deteriorating and time seemed to vanish into thin air. It was just easier to leave it another 12 months. I needed to have a few days to finish off making the topsides completely waterproof because the cover was also deteriorating! That never happened either.

So I went for it this year and thankfully there was a mooring available at Clive's Cove Marina. The advice from the Chairman was slack water so slack water it was. Then it was a matter of choosing the weather and trying to muster a crew. My son's best mate is a qualified sea captain, up to 4,000 tons, so he would have been alright but he was unavailable. There was a very useful Facebook group for BGM boat owners but this has recently been shut down. Via that group we could keep an eye on each other's boats, top up electricity card etc. and report security issues. Luckily I have contact details for a couple of ex members and these came up trumps along with this forum.

Why a crew? Mrs Raser is not confident moving around the boat. Her sister and husband who live near Dereham usually come over when I'm at the boat, but they are in Florida soaking up plenty of sun.

I also had concerns over the fuel filter so I wanted someone at least on standby in case it blocked again on the way. I have changed the filter with the help of several members of this forum and thanked them via one of the videos I made. Unfortunately I deleted all the videos after derogatory comments so here's the clip:

 I'm relatively inexperienced so it's a fine line between going it alone and risk being an irresponsible idiot, or waiting and being an over cautious idiot. I'm used to the label idiot; the only way to avoid it is to sit on your a*se and do nothing.

Kev (Old Berkshire Boy) offered to be First Mate. The weather and it's forecast were as usual, all over the place and other folk could only help at the weekend so I chose Saturday 23rd March, slack water being between 11.40 and 13.40. But the usually unreliable weather forecast said gentle winds on Wednesday and increasing towards the weekend. Aagh!

Then a bit of luck: an ex-member of the defunct Facebook group was dead keen to help. He was working around Surlingham and his boat is moored at Coldham Hall. Perfect; he was the emergency cover so I could go for it on Friday. Kev was available so I arranged to get over Friday morning and go at slack water, 11.30 to 13.30. When I got there the boat was covered in small brown seed things from the trees. These were usually caught in the cover and easily ejected but not this time. I swept them into a heap and shovelled them on the Sheerline next door, to feed the spiders which are now massive. Then it was time to fetch OBB but I couldn't find the car key! There it is, hanging on a sky hook. So I found OBB and we took his van to Cove in case it rained, then back to BGM.

Engine fired up ok and we were away. Because of an extra long boat on one of the berths I had to take a shunt to get around the first turn and this is where I first encountered the breeze. We drifted a bit but managed to get out of the marina without touching anything. Five mph comes up at 1,000rpm and the engine is very quiet. The trundle down the dyke to Cove was as pleasant as I remember it 4 ½ years ago going the other way. Engine ran like a dream and I needn't have worried. The problem came when I tried to reverse into the mooring and the breeze took over and pinned us to the boats opposite. Thankfully Clive was there to rescue the situation and shouted for a rope. He caught it with a boat hook and pulled us in. RELIEF!

Right, back to BGM to get the Corsa and hand in my electric card and gate passes. Lost the car key again in OBB's van for which he called me a muppet. Not mutiny as he had resigned his commission by then and besides, it was an accurate description. Back to the White Heron to feed the now redundant crew, then back to the boat. I managed to clean the back of the boat and the port side but then the head fell off my brush and that was the end of that!

The only other main achievement was to sterilise the water tanks ready for summer use.

The only downside was the discovery of three water leaks: one in the main bedroom where it had soaked the bedding, one in the kitchen where it made a puddle in the top of the cooker and another in a cubby hole. So I need to budget in a couple of days for resin and painting but only after a dry spell. No more major surgery though.

Sunset looking off the rear of the boat:

Then swing round and this is the view to the front at the same time:

So we'll be getting the sun all day. I think we're going to like it here! 

[grendel]

I suggest a lanyard and hang the keys around your neck, or are you one of those people who loudly complain about your lost glasses that are usually pushed up and on your forehead?

My ex's grandad would always lose his walking stick, it was painted white to be more visible, but it was invariably found in one of the ridges of the greenhouse roof or on the shed roof where he had put it for safe keeping.

[ExSurveyor]

51 minutes ago, floydraser said:

I swept them into a heap and shovelled them on the Sheerline next door, to feed the spiders which are now massive.

[floydraser]

It looks like Argos are helping us keep things clean. I looked around for a new extending brush and thought £40 at The Range for a kit containing brushes I would never use was a bit much, but Argos had this on offer for £12:

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/3632671?clickSR=slp:term:extending brush:1:588:1

I have looked on Ebay and places and decided they all come from the same factory for around £15 delivered. Argos isn't out of my way much and I don't have to wait.

Then on Griff's thread he mentioned a window vac just as we were going near Sainsbury's again so I've just been and picked up this: https://www.argos.co.uk/product/3374788?clickSR=slp:term:window vac:3:119:1

It has a 3 year guarantee and I've just tested it. Fine, but I would use a bit more water next time. I would also use a solution of washing up liquid with a squirt of vinegar next time. I use a bit of paper kitchen roll to finish off.

[MargeandParge]

Old Parge used to laugh at the thought of a window vac. Now we have one and it is really good have got the hang of using it and even upside down as long as you hold it upright to clear the tube before it comes through the motor 

At certain times of the year it moves loads of water inside and out and the soft square leaves you with clean windows. 

Enjoy as the old way was very smeary and time consuming 

Kindest Regards Marge and Parge