Recent content by escapism

So just to be really clear: the AIS feature only works on a tablet or phone with an active subscription. A subscription allows 2 devices.

I'm sure my wife appreciates this log entry from a few years ago: 0345 Unmoored. Ruth surpassingly ratty. Put kettle on.

Chemico grinding paste. How are they still in business? I inherited mine, and there will be plenty left in the tin to pass on to the next generation.

A good replacement to look out for secondhand (not made anymore) would be an Eton E5, also badged as Grundig G5. Would be a bit of an upgrade as it also has SSB and a line out facility to interface with a laptop.

Brunsbuttel - excellent place for a good kip if you're knackered before/after the Kiel Canal, but truly horrible sanitary facilities and the locale has probably never ever appeared on a tourist itinerary. Mohammedia ( Morocco) - visited to avoid poor Atlantic weather as an alternative to...

A squall, you say. Was the main reefed at the time? If so, I would think any excessive loads would be taken by the reefing line.

Don't do it! Wind (B5) over tide down the Swin nearly caused my wife to give up sailing. On that occasion, we were so slowed by bashing into waves that we had used most of the S-going tide by the time we were nearing Blacktail Spit, and decided to head off to Harty Ferry. We had no pressure to...

Leaving from Benfleet for the Blackwater, you'll probably be crossing the Swatchway around LW and be approaching either Bradwell or Brightlingsea at HW -5 or -4, in the dark. I wouldn't find either an attractive prospect with our 4'6" draught, you might be more sanguine. Why not consider picking...

Was a bit surprised to see that their 'diplomatic presence' is 3min walk away, behind the Morrisons Local, in Leigh on Sea!

"Good, straightforward bit of kit that did what it was supposed to without trying to be too clever." Exactly. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only fan of this bit of useful kit. However, I'm not at the level of the super-fan on currently advertising on Ebay who thinks a well-used 128 is worth...

Bought the boat in the late 90's, and through maintenance and updating, almost all the equipment that came with it has been replaced, except the GPS128. I happened to notice today, the healthy growth of lichen on the GPS antenna, and realised that the antenna and cockpit mounted 128 were the...

Many thanks for all the contributions. My conclusion is that continuous solar charging CAN damage batteries: A lot of users in Greece have wrecked their batteries by leaving solar panels connected over winter with the boat unoccupied. One or two have narrowly escaped fires. Our own domestic...

At this time of year the solar panels (40W) and controller are keeping the batteries at a nominal 14.1V. With the boat currently out of use, there are no loads on the system except the memory of the audio unit and self discharge of the (newish) batteries. Is excess energy being generated by...

Although the stuffing box adjustment and lock nuts are so big, they only need a small torque. I made a spanner using two bits of ally sheet pop-riveted together. Started by making a cardboard template. So much better than trying to use a pipe wrench.

This fairly astonishing piece of work has just been published on the Benfleet Yacht Club website: Charts of Benfleet Creek and Hadleigh Ray Clearly Phil Bostock made better use of 'lockdown time' than most of us. I have some idea about the ingenuity involved to collect and process the data...