Recent content by johnphilip

Really agree with you over the anchor winch, up until 2005 our Westerly Fulmar (32ft) had a manual anchor winch. I cannot find pictures now but it looked like a sheet winch but lower with a chain gypsy where the winch drum would be and a socket for a winch handle in the top. Brilliant to use...

This humour went out with the end of Jim Davidson and the demise of similar comics. I do see a large residue of male chauvanism in yottie circles, how many here always take the helm to bring the yacht into a berth rather than let the spouse do it? Surely a better division of resources to let the...

Sorry, get new glasses

No what he said was "On a bright day of 29 July 2023 we done a silly thing and without planing sailed to Harwich from Burnham.on crouch, was such a nice sailing. We overlooked one thing, 30 July everything was against us to come back. " ie on 29th he sailed from Harwich to Burnham, on 30th...

Am I misreading the original post? The OP describes a strong SW wind but his track suggests he is competing against a North Easterly blow. No one else seems to have noticed so am I being daft? He does say he is returning from Burnham to Harwich!

Our Elan has a mainsail of about 28M2 and is relatively tender so it is important to be able to release the main quickly in a gust. The mainsheet track is bridgedeck mounted and a conventional 6 part sheet with a jammer on the bottom block. In a blow it is sometimes difficult to pull the sheet...

And is chlorination a practical solution for DIY boaters? If so how do I set about it?

No not so at all. I think the difference is that vessels travelling above set speeds transmit their position etc at more frequent intervals for quite logical reasons. All class B do transmit their details, which is why sometimes coming into a busy harbour your plotter screen is so cluttered...

Just upgrading from receive only to class B, TX and receive. Previously had AIS antenna on a pole clamped to the puspit but getting the Garmin 800 which has a built in splitter so copes with Tx as well. I now have the option to use splitter or stern mounted aerial and the latter is a good...

The installation instructions do refer to installing the separate GPS aerial, this link to it also has a pretty good wiring diagram which should help our new friend although it does seem to expect connection to a full network. https://static.garmin.com/pumac/GPSMAP_4000-5000_Install_EN.pdf

5-8 kw is too much for a 27ft boat. We have just 2kw on our 32footer and it is usually plenty. A smaller unit might also help address the exhaust smell / fumes issue

Went for the Rota foam rollers, no longer in stock at Toolstation or a few others I tried bur Amazon came up with a bundle with 20 sleeves, so I am now offering at cost to anyone around Ipswich or boat at Levington.

Fully agree, just had our mast down for the first time and replaced the VHF aerial which I suspected was reducing our radio range and used the opportunity to fit a tricolour light.

A single hole right through the spreader is hardly going to endanger the structural integrity of the spreader. Put a small eyebolt right through the section, easy to sleeve it to provide isolation. Either pass the lazyjack through the eye or shackle a mini block onto the bolt. For example...

You do it your way, but I will stick with my system,