Recent content by Mud Lark

It's a re-direct, not an ad. My ad-blocker doesn't stop it. It only happens on my android phone with chrome, doesn't happen on my laptop or PC. Only happens on the ybw forums.

We did the Rhone against the current in October 1999 without any trouble. There are a couple of short narrow stretches where it runs quickly but we didn't encounter anything like 4 knots. It would have been a long trip as we could only motor at just over 5. Keeping to the inside of the bends...

Had a similar problem with ours a couple of years ago. Somehow the settings had been changed and the unit was programmed to ignore echos shallower than 4 metres. Worked ok in deep water but just displayed nonsense the rest of the time.

Last time I checked it was ok to anchor in Isle of Man harbours, just don't go ashore. Portpatrick is lovely except in strong westerlies when the entrance is dangerous to the point where it's not safe to leave. A seasick inducing, topside wrecking swell also gets into the harbour in these...

That's not true. Non-essential retail premises were told to close, not all businesses. For the rest of us the instruction is home working where possible, otherwise observe social distancing guidelines at the factory/building site/boatyard etc. And travelling to work is regarded as essential travel.

I bought a secondhand Seago 4 man valise raft from eBay 10 years ago. Paid £200. It was nearly due it's first service at three years. It's passed every inspection since and I'd say it's been a bargain compared to buying new or hiring. Worth bearing in mind that at some point (I think 12 years?)...

A previous owner replaced our boat's 1973 mast in 1998 when holes were found behind most of the stainless fittings. It was a gold anodised Kemp mast. I guess it could have been repaired but then it might have put me off buying the boat....

If I'm seeing that right the photo is taken looking forward, up at the side deck with the rounding up into the coaming on the left? Where you've circled there should be a horizontal grp shelf bonded to the hull moulding, around 4" wide. The deck would have been dropped onto this shelf on wet...

There was a long running dispute with Bruce Roberts over rights to the Spray. Bruce Roberts' website at the time advised against buying Spray mouldings from Blaxton. Somewhere amongst all that junk will be the moulds for the Dawn 39 (Contessa38).

If you mean pouring 2-part expanding foam into the tanks I wouldn't recommend it unless you can isolate the foam from the structure of the boat. On one boat I saw treated this way the foam bonded incredibly well to the inside of the hull, and then over time (a couple of years) it started to...

Stuck in the Isle of Man with a failed raw water pump on my Perkins a few weeks ago. Phoned Parts for Engines, new pump arrived 9am the following morning. Great service, only bettered by Douglas Harbour Master delivering it to the boat!

There have been structural issues for decades. What struck me this year compared to 25 years ago was the condition of some of the lock gates. Whilst this lack of maintenance is obviously a concern, it didn't delay my transit or that of any of the other vessels over the 2 days we were there. We...

Not sure I'd equate a stop at Cairnbaan to look at the Cut Stones and enjoy a meal at the Cairnbaan Hotel with "dawdling". Incidentally the yacht we were asked to wait for on day 2 transited in less than 6 hours. The only problem they reported was with the sea lock at Ardrishaig. They entered at...

We had pretty much the same experience 4 weeks ago. The staff couldn't have been more helpful. Sure, some of the lock gates are in need of serious work but we got through without any issues. We overnighted at Cairnbaan and were asked to wait 30 minutes for a boat coming up behind us. As well as...

Preston Marina or Douglas Boatyard would be worth asking.