I like Hammocks.

[No Idea]

I sorted out the wife and her boyfriend and took them home, and then went home and sorted out the kids.

It wasnt until about 3am, while I was still coughing out water that it finally occurred to me, that I had just been unbelievably lucky

 

[No Idea]

It was nearly a fortnight before my lungs finally settled down from my near drowning.

The hypothermia didnt take so long.

The mental damage....

That was something else.

I ended up terrified of boats for a long time.

I didnt even look at it again for weeks.

I ended up owing Mr Captain for saving my boat,

and the man in theyacht, whose name I didnt get - not even the name of his boat...I owe him for saving my life.

 

[No Idea]

Thats pretty much where I had been sailing after dropping the boyfriend and the route where I drifted and was towed to land, and where I dragged it along the beach.

Mr Captain tipped his over in the bay at the top right of the image.

 

[Robbi]

ever though about taking up a gentle pass time ......like bunji jumping or something ? ...gotta be safer !!

 

[No Idea]

Lol

I hate heights nearly as much as I do boating.

...between the lines....

There is a strong line of epilepsy running through SWMBA's....

I love the freedom of just being able to jump in the car and clear off for a while when things get to me.

Other, people, my well not have that option.

With Aspergers too. learning how to do things can be a bit of a nightmare. Most teachers give up.

However, if I can learn, I can share that knowledge and give a potential freedom that requires no licences or health checks...

...So long as I manage not to share my fear of water, boats, wind, drowning, etc with it lol

 

[No Idea]

Well....

The kids have spent the whole day gorging on chocolate and are now killing things on the new gadget box thing...

The boyfriend finished throwing up after heroically saving us all fromall the lager - on his own...

The Stepkid cooked a superb dinner for us all, which the dog is still retching up in the garden...

The Wife managed the whole day without starting a fight, I am so impressed with her...

She did look ill.

Ive dropped the three of them off at their place, and now Ive got the computer off You Tube and Clarksons Island.....

....so....

Happy Xmas everyone

 

[No Idea]

....so...

The boat towed home weird.

It had its nose up and was trying to get off the trailer.

I got home and culred up for about a fortnight, just surfacing when I needed to deal with the kids.

It took that long for my lungs to sort themselves out.

Not sure I want to do that again in a hurry.

I finally had a good long look at the boat.

Found out why it had towed so badly. the rear tank was completely full of water.

I drained it out. Wasnt sure how it had got there.

Noticed I had cracked the floor in the boat.

Put some water in it with a hose pipe and watched it run out through the bottom again.

Not good.

Noticed that the side wire mounts that the mast fixes to were cracking out too.

The nose had stayed put.

Spent some more time looking and sorted out what had happened.

When I was in the water and yanked on the rope to stop the boat, I had pulled th eboom down and forced the mast back.

Either the boat had to be strong enough to take that sort of load, or something had to give.

As it was, the top of the boat cracked off the hull.

I thought about it for a while and decided I probably shouldnt sail it until it was fixed.

I decided to leave Stupid Idea for a while and fix it.

 

[No Idea]

I squirted water into my side tanks....

 

[No Idea]

..and watch it run out again.

Found I had beaten a hole in the bottom where I had beached it full of water, and scratched it everywhere.

Oh dear....

It had also cracked in lots of places.

This was going to take a while to fix.

It had even cracked out at the back again.

THe white seal along the edge where the hull joins the top moulding had actually parted in some areas and only had about 1 ft in its entire length where it wasnt leaking.

Thats bad.

Heres the crack.

and the other side...

I just want to go lie in my hammock and get the kids to fix it.

Trouble was it was winter and the kids were at school.

I had to actually do it myself.

I used a dremmel and groung out the whole length of the joint, so I had a good clean area to fill.

Then I mixed some resin with microfibre to make a filler - something like body filler for cars, and er....filled it.

I had to clamp it to close the slot, so it had a better chance of holding

As the filler kept running into the gap, it took a while to get it filled.

Good job I have lots of clamps

When biggest arrived back from school.....

 

[No Idea]

I ground back the outside edges and then resin and taped the joint, several times.

While I was at it, I ground out the damage under the mast step - the thing the mast stands on inside the boat, and filled that too.

 

[No Idea]

Mr Captain checking the back tank had stopped leaking.

Almost.

He found a crack here and er....

Thats some crack!

Cleaned out and primed with resin...

Its filled with several layers of fibreglass tape.

Im using a long board with sandpaper on it to rub down the high spots.

Hate this job.

Noticed this was cracked too, so I cut it back...

I just gave this another coat and it rained.

Its rained on this too.

I managed to dry out both with a heat gun paint stripper..

Just discoverd the front deck had cracked again too...

It also cracked here...

and here....

And here on the floor

And here....

The tanks started to crack out too

And here....

and alongside the centreboard box

 

[No Idea]

Then it started raining.

I was getting a bit irritated.

I know it was winter, but the weather could have given me a break.

BIggest asked why we didnt just build a lean to...

Why didnt I think of that?

Smart kid.

Little one decided that he would use his own Idea of boating to make sure i didnt sink it again.

He filled up all the tanks with bottles.

He asked the manager of the greasy spoon cafe to save them all for him.

Hundreds of them.

Thats when he found the deck supports had cracked off.

Took ages to fix them again.

I finished repairing the front deck

and painted it again

 

[No Idea]

Happy with that.

I dont know why, but several months went by without me managing to get the courage to go put it back in the water again.

 

[No Idea]

Mr Captain arrived and sort of demanded I go take pics of him on his boat.

I dont know where he gets the Idea I would like to take a load of pics from.

Anyhow.....

When I got there, he had a lifejacket and his boat in the water....

Frightened me half silly, but I was ready to go again.

 

[No Idea]

I dont like to give up on things, too easily, and this one hasnt beaten me yet.

The boats parked outside, all fixed.

It needs some hiking straps so I dont fall off again, but other than that..

Its ready to take us to the trees!

Cant wait to take my Hobo Stove there too!

 

[No Idea]

While I had the boat in bits, I decided I should do something to make it easier to pull the front sail in when driving.

Step kid is sitting on the left of the pic, the blue thing going across the middle of the boat is called a thwart - No Idea why, but the rope that pulls the front sail is the thick black one coming from the right onto the thwart

This pic was taken a bit later when the boat was on the trailer. The thick black plastic is the trailer light wire, under it is the front sail rope, or sheet. Again, No Idea why a rope is called a sheet.

Anyhow, I put the wooden bit on with the spring loaded black things on top. They are called cam cleats. You pull the black rope up through them and pull enoug to tighten the sail. The cleat hangs on to the sheet until you flick the rope out again. Saves you hanging onto it for hours.

If you turn it this way, you can reach it from the back.

This is the rope cleated, as it would be when sailing.

Hang on...

Found one with it in use...

 

[No Idea]

The next problem was actually giving me nightmares.

On my last disaster, I discovered that even if I managed to pull the boat upright, I couldnt get back on it.

If there are two or more of you in the boat, you can get one to lay along the inside, so when the other pulls the boat back up, hes sort of scooped up in it.

This wont work if Im on my own.

When you try to climb out of a swimming pool, you sort of bounce and stick your forearm on the edge of the pool and push yourself over the edge, using the side of the pool to keep yourself straight.

I discovered if I tried that with the boat, I just go under it.

So....

I got this piece of rope and put some inch pipe on it - long enough that I can get my foot in the loop even if Im wearing sandals, or trainers as I will sail in pretty much anything.

I tied the other end to this cleat thing. The blue loop goes up from the top and round a pulley, before coming back down and through the cleated side. You can pull the rope down through the cleat, but it wont slide back up unless you release it.

Here is the pulley at the top.

Ive set it up in my stairwell so I can take pics.

I tie the pulley to the blue bar thwart in the middle of the boat.

If I tip it over, I swim round and throw the pipe over the top so it hangs down the back of the hull.

I stick my foot in it and pull to pull the boat back up, and then keep my foot in it to get a leg up over the side.

Ive now had 7 or 8 goes to make sure it works.

Im a lot more confident I can get back in if I tip it over again.

Havent put the foot straps in yet though. Last time I was out, not having them made me a bit jumpy.

 

[No Idea]

Last time we took it out, I tipped it over several times indep water until I was sure I could do it, then Big Idea took some film with Little Ideas camera.

It took some serious grunt to tip the boat over deliberately.

[video=youtube;98XfCGRPR_w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98XfCGRPR_w[/video]

You can see the rope and pipe I had in the stairwell hanging down over the side of the hull.

 

[No Idea]

In this one, you can see how small the hull is compared to how long the mast is when its laying flat.

To stand it up, you need to literally lift that 26 foot mast out of the water with about 4 ft leverage, with the boom and the soaking wet sails.

Those who know what they are doing - and arnt bobbin shaped, make it look soooo easy.

[video=youtube;I1eHmSMfyLc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1eHmSMfyLc[/video]

Irritating.

 

[No Idea]

I really must find a camera that makes my rear look smaller.

[video=youtube;4WVwBd2BrjU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WVwBd2BrjU[/video]

Definitely more confident that I can recover on my own now - so long as I dont manage to drown, or knock myself out or pack up through hyperthermia first.

A lot happier. lol