Recent content by srm

There is a saying that the two best days in a boat owners life are the day he buys and the day he sells. True of all my boats except the last, probably because I knew it was my last boat. In fact I started feeling down when I realised the guy was serious. He and his girlfriend invited me to...

Never had that problem with my Lavacs. However, you have reminded me of the charter yacht I went on having finished my degree. Did not notice what type of WC as it was as only the second cruising yacht I had spent time on, but do remember the skipper filling the bowl to the brim via buckets to...

How old is the Lavac? Very old ones had an alloy bowl powder coated, once the coating got damage the alloy corroded underneath it giving an uneven surface. If not too bad pressing the seat/lid down firmly while pumping would solve the problem. If a ceramic bowl I find it surprising that you...

Yes, it had its highlights: Having my diving gear flown out to the Persian Gulf and being paid to use it. A portable RDF set being sent to me in Shetland and instructed to charter an aircraft to hunt a lost Waverider buoy. Client's rep monitoring the largest hydrographic contract in Europe that...

Only "such a boat"? No doubt there are lots of reasons to own a boat for personal use, but are any of them really rational? (And yet I have owned at least one sailing yacht for a few month shy of the last fifty years)

Once the system is bled there should not be a problem. If you are worried add an electric fuel pump with its own switch while moving the filters. You then have the choice of using the electric pump or not. Did this on my last boat, engine starts and runs without it, but it helps with bleeding...

A typical day out between the islands crossing The Falls of Warness in Orkney

Yes, but I don't know how much finds its way to UKHO as there are also concerns about commercial confidentiality. The data belongs to the businesses that pay for it. However, its many years since I did any hydrographic work as I moved on into education and retired a while back. Met data, wave...

In order to give live tidal streams you need to deploy current meters with a live data feed. That's a lot of hardware to source and maintain to meet the OP's requirements. Tidal diamonds and other stream data were at best obtained by deploying a string of self recording instruments over a month...

An improvement on the shorter suggestions, its length will help it get over the waves better. I remember a day sailing on a friend's Vertue. A very nice boat that sailed well in calmer water but I could not help thinking that it needed a few feet more in length to help it along when we got in a...

Sorry no recent experience of Wick. The last time I was there all berths were against the harbour wall. Once I moved to Stromness if going east I would spend a night on a mooring at the east end of Scapa Flow so as to time the tide right to cross the Pentland Firth then head off south past Wick...

Depends how quickly you want to do it. If time is no constraint then wait somewhere comfortable for suitable winds. Also, does it have to be completed in one season, especially given the OP's expected size/speed of boat? For comparison the full Round Britain will give most, if not all, of the...

On my last boat I put an electric fuel pump with its own switch in the line before the engine. Under normal circumstances and to bleed the primary filters it is not needed, but it helps with bleeding the engine filter (and injectors if required). This was after the manual pump on the engine...

As I have already admitted, I have never set out to sail "Round Britain". I have however bought a number of boats in the south of England and sailed them home to either Shetland or Orkney, along with similar passages in either direction made for other reasons. The passages were made both with...

I hope that you are still with us and that somewhere amongst all our ramblings and diversions you can find some encouragement. Go for it in your own way, as we have all done. There is no one "right answer", we all find our own.