Start of the final push.

The second water tank is now installed and has had several hundred litres of water pumped through it. The engine has had a full service, along with the Eberspacher diesel heater, but I think that the engine start battery may be coming to the end of it's life ( it is 5 years old though ), the Bimini is also fully installed now. I have been promised the cleaned sails & canvas, dinghy davits and replacement gas hoses next week, so we are going to spend a few relaxing days on the boat this weekend, with only a few small jobs to keep me amused. We watched Timothy Spall ( Somewhere at Sea : Tuesday 20-30 : BBC4 ) on the TV last night - quite amusing as he was passing through our 'patch', stopping at Eyemouth & Amble ( our favorite places to visit ! ) and then to Hartlepool, next weeks episode takes him to Whitby and on to the Humber, so that should be interesting. I picked up a DVD containing all 800+ UKHO charts from visitmyharbour.com for the princely sum of £29, coupled with a cheap ( £26 ) printer from Morrisons, we now have the capability to print off A4 chartlets of anywhere in UK waters, including port plans - BARGAIN ! Once we have the last bits & pieces I will start to plan the final push to get the boat ready for action, and a few sea trials prior to our departure.

Getting Ready : Update

Many of the jobs are now done; just 'small things' like a new second water tank and dinghy davits ! The original sails have been sent away for cleaning along with the spray hood and stack pack, and a new mainsail, and smaller genoa sourced from North Sails, along with a massive G2 genneker for downwind duties. Just waiting for it to get a bit warmer, then I will service the engine and diesel heater. Looks like 'D' day will be towards the end of April - at least the nights will be getting shorter, and hopefully, the days getting warmer. The plan is to see what the weather is doing when we are ready to leave, then decide which way round to go ( i.e. there is no plan ! ).