Over the past few months I have not done an awful lot on New Morning mostly cleaning and maintenance work the usual general stuff not really a lot to write about. However I have done a couple of bits and pieces which I will include in one post.
I managed some sailing this year with a couple of trips across the Thames estuary, the first in July to the Colne and the Blackwater and in September to the Roach and then up the Crouch to Fambridge otherwise it has been a case of pottering in the Swale. The first job I carried out was as a result of the trip to the Colne, and after spending the night at anchor and then raising and stowing the said anchor I decided that the 35lb CQR anchor was going, I had already thought seriously about it on previous trips it was extremely awkward too deploy and recover especially through the gap between the forestay and the pulpit so after this trip I decided that it had definitely got to go, After some research looking at selection charts I decided that a 22lb Delta would be adequate which was duly obtained from Cactus Marine who had a special offer on them.
New Delta anchor
The anchor was duly shackled on and duly tested on the trip to the Roach where I spent a couple of nights at anchor, including one night with a friends boat rafted up alongside, without any problems. I also found that it was much easier to handle as well as being 13lbs lighter the shank is much shorter. When I bought New Morning she came with two anchors, a 35lb and a 25lb CQR, the 25lb would probably have been OK for most of my anchoring but the pivot was too heavily worn to be of any further use which left me with the 35lb anchor
The next job was a couple of pieces of woodwork, the first being a fiddle rail around the shelf over the steering gear compartment in the aft cabin. I used some 'L' section pieces of teak from the old cockpit gratings on my last boat I had to plug some old screw holes and butt three pieces together for the long side but I think that it all adds to the history as well as doing my bit for the environment
New fiddle rail
The butt joints can be seen especially as the grain doesn't match so I cut them at 45 degrees to make a feature of them. This has also covered an unsightly join between the laminate top and the moulding which had a rounded top edge.
The other piece was to make up a covering strip to hide the join between two pieces of laminate on the forward saloon bulkhead.
Join between laminate panels
I had run out of suitable pieces of the original trim that came with the boat but I came across an offcut of merenti which I had used for the heads door frames, it is not quite the right section but when coloured with Colron wood dye it matches the original trim quite well.
New covering strip
Reasonable match too adjacent vertical trim
The final job is to install an electric bilge pump in the engine space I have used a Whale Supersub Smart 650 auto. The pump is in position and has been wired to a control panel but is waiting for the installation of a skin fitting for the discharge.
Control panel installed adjacent to electrical switch panel
Pump in the engine space
This photograph is a reminder that I still have to do something with that horrible chocolate block connector for the engine wiring loom perhaps one of those multi pin plug and socket units.
