Stuck at Ilfracombe

[mattonthesea]

Good to know you'll be arriving on a rising tide; Swansea approach is a tad dry-ish at LW

 

[SaltyMoose]

I’ve just arrived at Mumbles, I’ve just cast anchor here quite far out mindful of the tide and depths here.

Just need to contact the lock master at Swansea and wait for the right time to enter the locks!

 

[Praxinoscope]

Good to hear that you are just waiting for access to Swansea, so you'll nice and comfy in the marina.
We have just cancelled lift-out of boats in Aberaeron as the the winds coming in are above the safety limit for the crane (20mph). A bit of a pain as the next suitable tides aren't until 20th October.

 

[SaltyMoose]

Looks like I'm waiting here until about 17:30 before I can get in with my draft, plenty of time to make some foods and a nice hot hot brew.

Good to hear that you are just waiting for access to Swansea, so you'll nice and comfy in the marina.
We have just cancelled lift-out of boats in Aberaeron as the the winds coming in are above the safety limit for the crane (20mph). A bit of a pain as the next suitable tides aren't until 20th October.

Very much looking forward to a nights sleep that doesn’t involve waking up to watch the boat sit on the sand and juggle fenders!

Weather looking better towards the weekend

 

[john_morris_uk]

Congratulations on escaping your enforced stay in Ilfracombe.

 

[Dellquay13]

Looks like I'm waiting here until about 17:30 before I can get in with my draft, plenty of time to make some foods and a nice hot hot brew.



Very much looking forward to a nights sleep that doesn’t involve waking up to watch the boat sit on the sand and juggle fenders!

Weather looking better towards the weekend

The weekend weather is shaping up to a ‘sporty’ trip around the end of Pembrokeshire, and fairly sheltered anchoring off Lower Fishguard

 

[TwoHooter]

Thanks for updating us SaltyMoose. Sometimes people start threads asking for advice and don't say what eventually happens, which can be very frustrating. I know you aren't in the Bristol Channel after Milford but I for one would like to know when you get to Aberystwyth. Pictures please!

 

[Birdseye]

There is a personal trade off between effort and cost, but on my last 3 boats I have had the hull blasted clean and its been well worth the money to do so. Sanding a hull back to a good cklean surface is a job for the young and poor with lots of time and strong arms. That might be you - it isnt me!

Last hull blasted clean in 3 hours.

Want impressed by Fishguard but there really isnt anywhere else to stop between Milford and Aber.

 

[john_morris_uk]

There is a personal trade off between effort and cost, but on my last 3 boats I have had the hull blasted clean and its been well worth the money to do so. Sanding a hull back to a good cklean surface is a job for the young and poor with lots of time and strong arms. That might be you - it isnt me!

Last hull blasted clean in 3 hours.

Want impressed by Fishguard but there really isnt anywhere else to stop between Milford and Aber.

I’m not averse to hard work but I’ve had two hulls blasted clean over the years and I agree that the results have been worth every penny.

 

[Bristolfashion]

I’ve been having to baby sit this boat and reset lines and fenders quite often, sometimes the spring lines would go under the fenders and lift them up and leave me bare against the wood on the wall.

A fisherman at Stonehouse saw me setting springs up against a harbour wall and very kindly suggested that just a long bow & long stern line was all that was required. It certainly worked there.

We did this at Tenby last night and it worked well. We tend to add a loose breast line attached to the ladder just to pull the boat in should it wander out a bit

Elsewhere, the locals did the same but put weights about half way along those lines which held the boat into the wall better.

It does keep the ropes & fenders separate. I'm sure you've considered a fender board.

Anyway, good luck.

 

[Bristolfashion]

Looks like I'm waiting here until about 17:30 before I can get in with my draft, plenty of time to make some foods and a nice hot hot brew.



Very much looking forward to a nights sleep that doesn’t involve waking up to watch the boat sit on the sand and juggle fenders!

Weather looking better towards the weekend

Ah, we saw you anchored as we came in. We couldn't see the entrance lights in the fog and no answer from Swansea Harbour radio. We just came in - carefully. Since we got down to 0.4 in the harbour, it was unlikely anything big was coming out - nothing showing on ais.

Anyway, good luck coming in. Both the barrage lock (ch 18) and marina (ch 80) are very easy and staff helpful.

If you fancy, come and say "hi" - we're on Bahari on R21 - very distinctive with a light blue hull with a bright red tender on top.

 

[john_morris_uk]

Ah, we saw you anchored as we came in. We couldn't see the entrance lights in the fog and no answer from Swansea Harbour radio. We just came in - carefully. Since we got down to 0.4 in the harbour, it was unlikely anything big was coming out - nothing showing on ais.

Anyway, good luck coming in. Both the barrage lock (ch 18) and marina (ch 80) are very easy and staff helpful.

If you fancy, come and say "hi" - we're on Bahari on R21 - very distinctive with a light blue hull with a bright red tender on top.

Golly, you float in 0.4 metres?

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Golly, you float in 0.4 metres?

Think he has a Sadler 29 even the bilge keel draws over 1M so perhaps he meant under the keel (s)

 

[SaltyMoose]

Made it to Swansea! The births here are very narrow, found it difficult to manoeuvre the boat in, almost couldn’t get in. Thankfully someone jumped out of their yacht to help out, deserves a pint!

Congratulations on escaping your enforced stay in Ilfracombe.

Yeah, absolutely locked in by bad weather, nice place and very nice and kind people at the harbour but glad to be one step closer to home.

The weekend weather is shaping up to a ‘sporty’ trip around the end of Pembrokeshire, and fairly sheltered anchoring off Lower Fishguard

Yeah, hoping windows open up and I’ll take them!

Thanks for updating us SaltyMoose. Sometimes people start threads asking for advice and don't say what eventually happens, which can be very frustrating. I know you aren't in the Bristol Channel after Milford but I for one would like to know when you get to Aberystwyth. Pictures please!

Absolutely, I’ll keep the thread updated, it’s definitely been an interesting journey. I’ll upload some more pics when I get chance.

There is a personal trade off between effort and cost, but on my last 3 boats I have had the hull blasted clean and its been well worth the money to do so. Sanding a hull back to a good cklean surface is a job for the young and poor with lots of time and strong arms. That might be you - it isnt me!

Last hull blasted clean in 3 hours.

Want impressed by Fishguard but there really isnt anywhere else to stop between Milford and Aber.

How much in general does it cost to get it sand blasted?

I’m not averse to hard work but I’ve had two hulls blasted clean over the years and I agree that the results have been worth every penny.

Yeah, I don’t mind putting the work in but I can put more work in faster with a blaster!

A fisherman at Stonehouse saw me setting springs up against a harbour wall and very kindly suggested that just a long bow & long stern line was all that was required. It certainly worked there.

We did this at Tenby last night and it worked well. We tend to add a loose breast line attached to the ladder just to pull the boat in should it wander out a bit

Elsewhere, the locals did the same but put weights about half way along those lines which held the boat into the wall better.

It does keep the ropes & fenders separate. I'm sure you've considered a fender board.

Anyway, good luck.

That was the first time I’ve ever tied on to a wall, took a lot of baby sitting, I’ll try that out next time it would have probably saved time and hassle.

Ah, we saw you anchored as we came in. We couldn't see the entrance lights in the fog and no answer from Swansea Harbour radio. We just came in - carefully. Since we got down to 0.4 in the harbour, it was unlikely anything big was coming out - nothing showing on ais.

Anyway, good luck coming in. Both the barrage lock (ch 18) and marina (ch 80) are very easy and staff helpful.

If you fancy, come and say "hi" - we're on Bahari on R21 - very distinctive with a light blue hull with a bright red tender on top.

Yeah that was me, anchored up making coffee and sausage sandwiches. The fog seemed to come in quick, by time I had set off it was difficult to see but managed to get there, couldn’t seem to get through on the radio to either the lock/marina so had to phone instead, wonder if the fog was blocking the radio signal? Probably too late now but I’ll come say hi tomorrow, I think I’ve learned more from just speaking to people at harbours/marinas than anywhere else

 

[SaltyMoose]

Leaving Ilfracombe:

Arriving at Mumbles:

The fog seem to appear from nowhere:
[

Leaving Tawe lock:

Waiting for marina lock:

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Good for you. Think this has been a great experience (and thread)

 

[SaltyMoose]

I’ve certainly had to learn a lot and learn it fast, literally threw myself in to the deep end with this.

The experience has certainly opened my eyes to many things and it’s helped build a lot of confidence with sailing and the boat, I fully trust this boat now!

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Been Impressed by how well you have managed to deal with the issues that this has thrown at you. Surely been a good learning experience!

 

[Tranona]

Blasting around £5-600,

 

[SaltyMoose]

Been Impressed by how well you have managed to deal with the issues that this has thrown at you. Surely been a good learning experience!

There’s plenty more issues to solve! The alternator popped and and it fried some of the electronics onboard after over volting the batteries.

It frazzled the VHF radio, no inline fuse so it cooked the radio.

I took it apart and realised there was a dry joint in there, guessing it got hot and dried out and the solder cracked…




I didn’t have a soldering iron or any solder so I used a thick sewing needle I bought for repairing the spray hood and heated it up to try and re solder the radio.

Thankfully it worked!



I need to replace the alternator but for now the batteries are being kept afloat using solar. But I think the batteries got damaged due to being over volted, they don’t seem to hold a charge properly and quickly deplete so I’m working on that right now.

Blasting around £5-600,

Seems like a good price for the labour too, I’ve been thinking about buying a compressor so I can use the air line to blow crap off of cracks and run other tools and a spray paint from it so might just invest in a sand blaster to go with it and sand blast it myself