MFV BF494 'Pansy', an old Motor Fifie Conversion

It's not often you get nice things from the postie these days

Postie knocks on the door the other day and hands me a big padded envelope. Inside were a couple of treasures and a little letter. Why don't people write letters any more? There's always something nice about a letter (rather than bills, offers of credit cards or rupert murdoch's latest wheezes to convince me sky isn't actually a waster of money)

so anyhoo, the couple of treasures inside were drawings from John Baird in Ireland, John is an artist who sketches most things but has a soft spot for old fishing boats, and takes a lot of comissions from people to draw their boats, so if you want a superb sketch of your vessel, give him a shout. He's also putting a fishing boat/trawler related site together as well at the minute under the guise of Irish Trawlers which is well worth a look.

Nowt much happening on the Pansy front, still keeping afloat (just!), I've been snowed under with work so haven't had chance to get anywhere near for a few weeks, but did almost get the old Ford Lehman Diesel spluttering into life after a year's festering in the engine room. Still no further forward with lift out arrangements, but watch this space.

Anyway, John's work:

Another great one to plan a restoration to

Absolutely thrilled with these. As much as anything else it gives me a nice target of what she should like one day

Oh dear, we've upset someone.

some considerable time ago, I made a post relating the desirability of a rare old boat being moored in a shiney modern marina, this post to be precise: Pikeys afloat

I didn't even mention the establishment by name, maybe they recognised themselves from the brief narrative, or maybe their reputation is merely going before them

Following on from the last post, we need a lift out to clean the old lady's bottom (as you do), and so, a phone call was made by No 2 to a marina on the Tyne with a travel hoist, a sort of "can we check costs and book a lift out please" type phone call

"do we know the boat?" they enquired? "Its called Pansy, moored in St Peter's Marina......" No 2 was cut short at this point with a robust "and WHO are you?"

Oh dear, think I might have touched nerve, to paraphrase, the upshot of the conversation was (as they say in these parts) "hadaway and shite". Well it wasn't really, but might as well of been. - "NO! not after what was wrote on your website" was the actual reply

Poor Grammar aside, it does look like someone has got the 'ump with us. Might actually be for the best though. last boat they lifted out for me they nearly dropped on my head, well they did as it happens, it was only my panther like reflexes that got me out from underneath it in time (no 2 was, as ever, watching from the sidelines on that occasion as well). Did leave a few of my flowing locks trapped beneath keel and trailer though. 'Elf n Safety would have had a field day with that one.

One though has occurred to me though. Unless they are an avid fan of these types of things and googled us (which is flattering to think) someone must have 'grassed us up' and pointed the offending post out!

oh well, guess thats another bridge well and truly burnt then

Nearly posted this a month ago but found it all too depressing! British Journalism really does need to take a leaf or 3 out of Hunter S's book, kick back, kick off and blow some stuff up. We might not be in the mess we're in if they did, but hey ho

Its been a while, stuff has been going on and also no going on, can't put it off any longer and stuff needs doing and someone's gotta do it

yeah, the deck got finished & caulked, the hull didn't, fact is its still half stripped. Least of my worries though. the old girl is sinking a bit... only the pumps keeping here afloat at present.

Leaky seam down the bilges amidships, pump was running once every 2 minutes at one point but managed to sort the seam out - for now. Caulking a leaking seam from the inside is a really fun thing to do. It has shades of testing a razor blade for sharpness by running your finger along it about it. The general theory is that you need to repack the seam from the inside. Cotton, being softer and a bit more squashy is preferable, some white lead paste, softened to a sticky mass with extra linseed oil is squeezed through the cotton and then its hammered into the seem, and this is where the fun starts. if you don't give it enough clout, it won't penetrate and the incoming water pressure will push it straight back out. If you hit it too hard you push it straight through the seam and out the other side, taking whatever is left in the outside of the plank with it and giving you an even bigger leak. My approach is (was) to gently press the cotton into the seem with a screwdriver first working along and back again before picking up a caulking iron and a very light mallet and gently starting to tap it home and harden it up till the water stops coming in, then push white lead paste in, bit more cotton and so on till it stops leaking, then more white lead on top for good measure. Tedious, frustrating and annoying in equal measure but it had to be done

She really needs to be lifted out of the water and recaulked properly from the outside, which means moving her 'somewhere' to do it. But as the hull above the waterline is still devoid of caulking (that didn't get finished either yet) I need to recaulk the rest of her topsides and get the seams filled before she can move, I reckon she'd get 500 yards without it being done.

Even then I've got an engine to put back together first. I was reliably informed by No 2 that the leak is definitely, definitely and absolutely under the engine so big metal bits and whirly round bits were dispensed with to get under the beast. The leak was found 8 foot away and not in the engine room at all. At least he got the right boat I guess

so lots and lots to do none of which will do itself, so this week I'm going to be forcing myself at gunpoint to do some stuff in order to get her out of the water asap. If any one fancies a non sinking type cruise down the river tyne to the boatyard in a few weeks to throw a rope etc let me know

Elsewhere, but still of a boaty disposition there's been some cracking stuff on the Beeb of late. All part of the 'Sea Fever' season, one highlight for me was the "Boats that Built Britain" episode featuring "Reaper" A big proud and fully restored Fifie. It was on iPlayer for a while too, but as the beeb restrict access to iPlayer to within the UK only, I though it would be nice to. ahem, 'archive' a copy for posterity and any of you international types that look in here from time to time, so will attach it under here shortly

On a slightly more tenuous boaty connection, its 70 years to the day today that my dear old dad, god rest his soul was captured fighting the rearguard on the Dunkirk perimeter, the next couple of months of his life being spent on a forced march to poland followed by nearly 5 years of some jawdroppingly pretty brutal shit in a german labour camp. I pulled his service records just after he died - the man to his credit never spoke a word of it in his life to anyone. Not sure which bit has affected me the most, the stuff he did in the last few days at dunkirk or the stuff he witnessed, endured and survived in the following 4 and a half years. Here's to you fella!

Normal service may well be resuming now!

anyhoo, video of the old Fifie 'Reaper'

Fame at last. It's a little know and well kept secret, that the whole idea buying an old scottish fishing boat, doing it up and so forth was born by a TV production company, there plan to to film the whole process in your standard "oh no - not more reality TV shite" format, warts and all. That sort of thing

So the secret cameras have been whirring away quietly and this week I was invited to see an early edit of the first program. Not sure what I think, suffice to say I'm not nearly that fat in real life, in fact I'm positively sylph like.

And I've more hair

And I don't have a 'tash either

It does sort of impart the general working atmosphere though, and I don't think No 2 even noticed the film crew around. So here you go.

the film starts with a bit of background into the 'why' and then moves onto to the doing up bit in all its glory, and really does give a really good flavour of how we seem to work together

enjoy!

*Oi Oi*

Will be sending the above record of achievement to the Historical Ship's Register people as proof of progress. It may have an impact on our claim! Stan dossed down in North Shields for a while dontcha know. I will be scratching my head on Pandora tomorrow wondering a. What can I do? b. How can I do it? c. Where's Olly?

I took the horn home, and got rid of the car under the scrappage scheme.

a couple more oldies. First the original Pansy, now lying at the bottom of loch ness:

Built for an owned by the same family as original owned our pansy. A big Zulu under full sail

and another whitehills one, Pansy lying inside lupin in the middle... There may be a lot more to say about Lupin in the coming months

Sometime in the 60's at a guess, Pansy against the wall and another Fifie, Lupin along side. Lupin is currently lying in an industrial estate in lancaster, in very good shape, although bare bones hull and engine, and for sale at a very very low price......

Pansy lying against the wall outside whitehills in the exact same spot we tied up on the trip back to the tyne

and finally, a wee PDF, that might be of interest, history of the Zulu, Fifie, scaffie and the moray firth herring fishery in general

The Zulu Herring Drifter

Big lumps of wood are great. Elm in this case. Brilliant stuff, won't rot under water, won't rot above water. might rot in between the 2 after many years if not looked after. So why not take a leaf out of the Airfix book and make some spare parts out of the stuff. I guess, with enough planks you could make a full kit form Pansy. Press the parts out and assemble. Only problem i can see with this plan is finding a big enough box to put the bits in.

new rudder, rubbing strake, beams for the coachroof and a few knees! I used to love Airfix models when I was a bairn!

Mind you drawing the pictures is the easy bit, cutting the buggers out will take months probably. This Elm is well seasoned and as hard as iron. so probably won't even happen!

Gonna get coverboards on t'other side done the morra, get the girl turned around to make it easier to do the replanking and rubbing strake. She might even get rid of the natty blue tarps for the first time in months

Its nice when you get emails that don't insinuate your either fat, depressed, have inherited 12 trillion dollars in nigeria or have a small penis with offers to cure all and make you rich. Had a nice email today from one of Pansy's former keepers, keeper as opposed to owner perhaps as old boats definitely have a life of their own and are usually their own masters, but any hoo, john had Pansy for a few years before us and was probably the man most responsible from saving her from certain death as a sunken wreck in scottish harbour. He had her hauled out spent oodles of cash on having the important bits put right in order to re-establish the general floaty type principals of boats.

So I got to see a few pictures I'd not seen before of her as she was when he got hold of her, and looking a bit rough around the edges.

Waiting for some TLC. Apparently I've read she was used as 'party boat' in Grimsby, not sure what that means though. I went to a Party in Grimsby once. Least said the better

up on the stocks looking tired

One photograph made me smile quite a bit though. As a general rule water coming out of a boat on dry land is a good indication something in the 'not good' category. The leaking seam here is curiously in the same sort of location than out recent leaking seam adventure

definitely what you would class as below the waterline!

It was at this point the shiny new engine went in, and at this point when she looked nearly as bad as the state we've got her in now

New engine beds going in. Would love to know where the old kelvin engine ended up (if anyone knows get in touch)

Will stick some more up at some point, but overall, nice to have a bit of continuity, the missing bits from the history I have are pretty much the 70's and 80's. Would be particularly keen to find out went went on in Grimsby!

It may have been noticed that No 2 has mentioned fire a few times when he's poked his head in here. Keeps mentioning something about 'the little people' telling him to burn things as well.

Had a toddle down there to day to discover him in full pyromanical flow. Safety goggles, kneed pads, overalls, safety gloves... I got 'im sussed out now though - if you dress vaguely like a workman people might think you are actually doing something! Although I had to decline his request for a full face safety visor - he was worried his visog might suffer a temporary aberration by 'stuff' landing on it

but doing summats he was, a new technique by all accounts for removing the remaining 'tarmac' from the deck - set fire to the boat. wait till its burning nicely, then scrape the pile of fire somewhere else..... can you get piles of fire?? (thats not a medical question btw)

the idea being the little bonfire has softened the asphalt enough to render it vulnerable to scraping type things

Known for his health and safety concerns, No 2 demonstrates his love of all things firey

the eagle eyed among you may spot something that is generally accepted to be in the 'bad thing' category when talking of wooden boats... yes we're growing our own 'shrooms on the coach roof. Well someone had to, and I bet no-one else has thought of it either

good news (for me) the sill on the marina is bust, so low tide today the marina completely emptied, everyone sitting in the mud, but giving me an unbelievable opportunity to recover the lost tools

Bad News...... Some git had beat me to it, and to make matters worse had taken the good stuff and left the cheap stuff! so there in the mud is a cheap argos cordless drill... right next to a perfect impression in the mud of a bosch cordlesss drill. A cheap B&Q tenon saw sat next a perfect impression of a lovely old japanese backsaw

plus other tools shaped dents of the dewalt drill and the router

so of all the stuff that went in, got a 3 quid tenon saw, a chisel, black and decker jigsaw and an argos cordless drill. at least the argos drill was the one that still had the forstner bit in I was using on the deck

very odd seeing the marina empty though, the mud & silt is so soft, the boat had settled about 4' into it. only hope the suction is not so strong that it holds it there as the tide comes in

Only had the phone with me to take pics so not the best. Did what you just have to do in these situations and lobbed a brick in, resulting a definate 'Gloop' rather than 'Splat' as it sank

Everyone's pontoon berths temporarily converted to a mud berth

Her current forlorn look sorta suits the mud really

Very soft mud though, there's another 4' of boat under it somewhere

Just when it was all going so well. the drizzle cleared away, it even warmed up a bit, the tarps were off, chance to get some more of the deck laid. Busy day down there today, lots of boaty comings and goings, and a few people dropped by to say howdy doody which was canny, so had the makes of a good general messing about in a boat sorta day, On me todd again, and cracking on with the deck, got a few more down, definitely into the groove with that now, but a major disaster right at the end. Got a few of those jobs that we put off for a few years to do back at HQ. The sort of little jobs that only take an hour and we really should of done a long time ago, and our nearests and dearests have indulged us by not having a go about them. So thought, right then sunday, finish a few things around the house. Need to take some of my tools home for that so, clambered around the deathtrap for a bit gathering things together, packs a tool box nice and neatly, and fills a plastic storage box with all the necessary power tools for the job......

so there I am struggling down the pontoon, big heavy toolbox and box full of power tools when disaster strikes, storage box gets dropped and power tools go swimming, so lurking somewhere in St peters there's now a router, a jigsaw, a bosch cordless drill, a dewalt cordless drill and several boxes of router bit, drill bits, screws etc - gutted

The good crew of 'Escort' lent a hand and had a fish about for a bit, but all that came back was a cheapo electric drill, thanks though lads, much appreciate the morale and physical support!

So might be a bit of a pause for a bit on the fixing front till till I finally find a magic money tree to replace some essentials

anyone wanna buy a boat??

and it was all going so well! At one point I even had a self indulgent jump up and down for a bit on the new deck - just because I can!

it even looks nice from underneath