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Welcome to my blog. Here you will find the journeys of Ti Gtu and information that I have researched and found useful for maintaining and servicing yachts and motorboats.

I post full information that I find on the Fay Marine information site, accessed through www.faymarine.com/ and I can be emailed at paul@faymarine.com.



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Happy sailing,



Paul Fay



Wednesday 21 September 2016

Dartmouth and East.


While in Plymouth a quick look at 'Bogey Knights' site on EBay showed that he was selling some epoxy exactly right to re paint the bottom of Ti Gitu so we went alongside the little quay near the store and it was delivered to us.

The only problem then was where to store two 20 litre drums and associated tins of hardener. It 'shoe horned' under the forward cabin berth.

The next day we left Plymouth for Dartmouth and had light winds which meant motor sailing all the way.

Dartmouth is like many of the South coast harbours and charges exorbitant amounts for visiting yachts. Amazing that just across the channel the prices are about half or less than what British harbours and marinas charge. Rip off Britain again.

We had a nice visit with Tom and Lorraine who are building a perfect motor boat. We take out hats off to them.

Spent just two nights in Dartmouth and then headed for Portland. Light winds but sailed most of the way. We anchored in the North of the harbour and as Ti Gitu's speed had been about 20% down started to look for somewhere to dry out and scrub the bottom.

We noticed there is a sand bar which totally dries out at the North end and on my birthday we put Ti Gitu on the sand and had an unpleasant time scrubbing. As it was my birthday I'd got a bottle of amber nectar which helped with the aches over the next couple of days.

Took the bus into Weymouth on the Monday but still think that it isn't somewhere we would want to stay. Much too 'kiss me quick' in the summer and dead in the winter.

A few days later made the move along to Poole harbour in light winds but Ti Gitu slipped along as designed with her freshly scrubbed bottom.

We anchored East of Brownsea Island. With the marinas wanting enormous amounts anchoring is a good option and we re found a hole in the mud flats where we could stay afloat.

We noticed some strange noises from the engine when we had motor sailed and traced them to the engine mounts. These were changed about seven years ago after the originals had done about seven years, so as soon as we are in for the winter these will be changed. For now we are just trying to be gentle with the engine.

Ti Gitu is nearly 15 years old and I have changed all the other plastic and rubber parts on the engine but didn't give the mountings or the flexible coupling a thought. This sort of thing, like the camshaft belt, need writing in the maintenance log, highlighting in advance when they need changing. This can save many problems when sailing.

2 comments:

  1. Why is it so expensive in the UK? With the strength of the British pound it really makes cruising the UK a rich mans destination.I imagine the further north you go the cheaper it gets?
    Cheers
    Drew

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Drew, I guess it is so expensive because the Brits have just put up with it and now local councils are seeing yachties as money cows. To answer your other question about bead blasting. When you purchase pre blasted steel it will probably have been through a blasting machine and these use beads rather than grit. If you want to discuss it further my email is paul @ faymarine.com (without the gaps.

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