Recent content by Evadne

I have been painting around the letters on the transom with Toplac every 3-5 years or so. Mostly due to laziness in not wanting to take the name off and reapply. It still looks OK from the sort of distance it's normally viewed from.

Things like PAP PAP buoy data page have jacketed steel wire or sometimes jacketed dyneema that rises to the sub surface instrument package. That has its own buoyancy and a f-off big chain to a surface buoy. There will be some other sub surface buoyancy further down the wire as well. The water...

I've always found it amazing that any float at all. I think the stats are that many, if not tens of thousands are washed overboard each year, so only a very few can float for more than a few hours, as the air escapes and water comes in. Otherwise we'd be awash with them. They weigh several tons...

Well if you're not going to use it very often you could consider the Torqueedo electric motor: 2-4 hours of range, charges from 12V, never spills petrol into the boot of the car or the bilges, can be stowed in any orientation. The larger one will drive a dinghy at 3-4kts for 2 hours or 5kts for...

I've just had to do a day in a rather rough conditions in a workboat, after a bit of a long layoff. My american colleague offered ee dramamine, and I took one. It worked, no sleepiness or trippiness, mild but effective, I can recommend it.

If I upset another cruising boat, one or both will usually apologise for their mistakes, with a wave or verbally if close enough. Life's too short to get upset about other people's errors. Many racers also do the same, but I've also been sworn at by dinghy sailors, very pointedly and uncouthly...

Only in one hemisphere....

Little chef not so cheap these days either, 4 quid for a bowl of soup. Doesn't say how big :) http://www.littlechef.co.uk/images/menu.pdf#page=4 Re. the East Cowes comments, I agree that the Lifeboat is fine these days, does reasonable quality pub food, and beer, and is big enough that you get...

We will be getting a dog, once SWMBO finishes work but I'm afraid that web site wasn't a good recommendation for me: "Wheatens dig, and if left alone for too long in the backyard, they will tear up flower beds or dig under the fence in search of new adventure. Fences should be stuck deep into...

The new showers at HYC (chichester harbour) are a distinct imoprovement over the older stone age (i.e. cold concrete floored) ones. When you have to motor or row up a drying creek with steep muddy banks, you are glad to know they are available if needed. I never have yet, but the image of a...

Have you tried a kitchen shop, as in the chaps who install a whole suite of cabinets and sinks for a small fortune. If it is used for installing your sink, it may be used for the same purpose elsewhere. The other thing that springs to mind is half a G-clamp, or a bench clamp for a vice (be...

I think you've got it. Pour the contents of tin B into tin A and it will fill up in the correct ratio; stir, and apply to the wood. Then go and buy another tin for the second coat. :D Or buy a graduated jug from a cheapie shop and mix as much as you need at a time by volume. Do NOT use the one...

Just googled it, I think you are right, Tintin had one too.

In my yoof I used to go across it regularly at HW+/- 3 hours, i.e. half tide but always south of the dolphin. Evadne draws 4' 2". Then one day I was passing through the dolphin passage (oo-er!) near low water and saw concrete blocks awash to the north. Ever since then I've used the marked...

I agree, I wouldn't want to go to a marina having been on a swinging mooring for so long. Given the choice of views (big white boats or mudflats) and sound track (frapping halliards vs waders) I have no desire to move. We bought a larger pram dinghy and an electric outboard. The outboard comes...