Had to move her today, the berth she'd been stuck in 'temporarily' while some giant floating gin palace was moved was needed for any potentiall visitors to the marina, as I I'm sure most people are aware that Walker is high on the agenda of the international cruising circuit! A delightful place for a visit and a gentle stroll along Byker Wall, its a bit like Hadrians wall but with less romans, although I swear I did once see 'romanes eunt domus' painted along it once, or something like that.

Any hoo, the old girl had to be coaxed back to life, engine not run in a year, and the engine room had been mouldering away in the damp and the dark with only occasional high bilge levels for excitement. Only a couple of things down there had suffered over the last year - the engine and the gearbox. The grease gun, hardened paint brushes, empty paint cans and (bizzarely) a bottle of washing up liquid and a grey sock (not mine, probably not grey originally) hadn't suffered a bit.

the nice shiny new starter motor I fitted was still nice and shiny (on the outside). The important whirry round bits inside it had seized solid. so that had to be stripped a few times. Engine Oil was checked, grey sludge on the stick being of sufficient quantity to qualify it as having at least some oil in it. I thought the mould on the drive belts would probably enjoy being made dizzy as they went around so I left them to there own sporish delights, connected up the batteries and turned the key. Yup bugger all happening, narry a click nor a whirr. Soggy wiring.

quick bypass of a few pseudo non essential bits of wire, and contact.... Amazingly, about 5 seconds of cranking and the old Ford Lehman started to splutter into life, so the I sniffed the unused can of easy start myself to celebrate

so one of the 2 things that has suffered is ok still (apart from desperately needing an oil change). So ropes off, into reverse (a bit stiff to be honest) and things started to move. Awesome. the feeling of euphoria was short lived though. Managed enough forwards and backwards type maneuvers to get her into a great postion just as all drive from the gearbox was lost and nice big gust of wind came to say hello and send 30 tons of boat scudding out of control towards some rather expensive looking yachts. Divine intervention came in the form of the marina manager in his rib who approached at ramming speed to divert the boat roughly in a direction where I wanted to go. At this point a couple of other boat owners fired there boats up and sensibly moved to the other side of the marina for the duration.

But she got to where she was going, didn't hit anything (much) and is now out of the way, rather disturbingly in suicide corner - every boat that goes there dies and sinks. luckily there's a queue at the moment, the one in front of us has maybe 9 months left!

Tied up and plugged in, thought it time to do some 'stuff' Shifted a a ton or so of ballast back to where it started, then started with a bit of caulking and sealing. A lot of the caulking had been done already, but the planks have opened up a lot so it needed hardening up a bit more first. Seams were primed with a bit of red lead, apparently its not very nice, luckily only got 'a bit' on me. then time to mix up the compound to pay the seams.

Lots and lots of debate out there on this subject. No single right answer to it either, lots of opinions and a fair bit of conflict of whats best and whats not. So for my recipe I thought for once, I'd go sheeplike with the majority (sort of)

So for filling the hull seams/planks above the water line the following concoction was created. Putty - the stuff folks used to use to put the windows in before all this uPVC malarkey came along, about, say, a grapefruit sized lump. To which is added a plum sized lump of White Lead, (really really not nice - got masses on me and probably in me) and a grape sized lump of grease (normal motor grease type stuff) this fruity mixture being garnished with a wee splash of raw linseed oil.

Now, all those nice people that recommend this mixture, there's 2 things they don't tell you, first is how to mix it together. There is only one way and thats to get your hands in. Forget gloves. I tried latex gloves, they got sucked into the sticky mess and have yet to surface. So It was bare hands. I'm still picking lumps of white lead out from under my nails now. Give some to the kids. tell them if they continue to bite their nails they will die, nice and simple!

So you squidge and you squeeze and eventually you have this sticky morass in your mits, perfect for sealing your freshly caulked seams. How the flip do you get it in, which is the second thing they don't tell you. I found poking loads in with my fingers worked, till I moved my fingers out of the way when half of it comes back out still attached me. But by the law of diminishing returns; keep working it in and eventually there will be a seam full, stuck nicely to the planks and the caulking cotton that was bashed in behind it, and smoothed off lovely with a putty knife

The Third thing of the 2 things they don't tell you is how long it takes to skin over so you can paint the damn stuff - I'll get back to you on that, hopeful we'll have an unseasonably warm december which might make painting a possibility

looks rough still but a long way to go!. Caulked seams and a couple with 'traditional' (pah!) seam sealant. I left the putty in the seams slightly concave. Figuring that when the planks take up again and it gets squeezed it might finish up flats

So there we go some 'stuff' has been done. More stuff to be done soon!

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

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

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'

got an email about tools earlier, and thought It might be useful to share a little wisdom about the necessary tools in the boat builders arsenal, and explain their use and functionality as I have found it over the last couple of years, so here goes

Tools Explained

Drill Press: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted project which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it. Also Highly recommended as the tool of choice for snapping the only drill bit of a certain size in your collection right at the time when thats the only size you can use

Grinder with Wire Wheel: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light . Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, 'Oh sh--!'

Wood chisel: mostly used for opening tins of paint and to scrape thin surface coatings away, particularly good for removing skin and small amounts of subcutaneous flesh

Angle Grinder/Cutting Disk: A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short, and for precision embedding of red hot iron filings in surrounding paintwork. Also use for destroying the blade of wood chisels

Pliers: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.

Belt Sander: An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.

Hacksaw: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle... It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.

Mole Grips: Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

blow torch: Used almost entirely for igniting various flammable objects around toyr boat/workshop. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub out of which you want to remove a bearing race, and setting fire to that huge pool of pitch which had been poured onto the rotten wood in order to hide it, thus converting it from a solid to a liquid whereby it drips through the rotten wood and sets fire to everything underneath

table saw: A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood projectiles for testing wall/hull integrity. and customising fingers

Hydraulic Jack: Used for lowering an extremely heavy objects to the ground trapping the handle and jack in the process.

Band saw: A large stationary power saw primarily used to cut good timber into smaller pieces that more easily fit into the bin after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the outside edge.

Circular Saw: Similar application to band saw but also good for cutting bits off your workbench and for slicing into the table you are resting on

Jig Saw: See circular Saw

Power Plane: Hand held tool for removing excess wood and converting slightly over large pieces of timber, to frustratingly too small for the job pieces. Also good for causing major skin abrasions and removing fingertips

2 Ton Engine Hoist: A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everything you forgot to disconnect.

Phillips Screwdriver: Normally used to open paint tins and stir contents prior to dripping paint on floor or for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads to render them unremovable requiring use of of pry bar (see below)

Cordless Drill: Universal High speed version of the above with 2 attachements, one for stripping the heads of screws entirely, the other for stripping the heads and then running across the surrounding area requiring remedial use of belt sander (see belt sander above)

Straight Screwdriver: A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws, butchering your palms, and damaging surround timber calling for use of belt sander (see belts sander above)

Pry Bar: A tool used to damage the timber surrounding that clip/bracket/nail you needed to remove, and thus calling for the use of belt sander (see belt sander above)

hose cutter: A tool used to make hoses too short.

Hammer: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit and break them, or to improve the damage causing potential of pry bar when trying to remove stripped screws (see screwdrivers above)

Stanley Knife: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, invoices, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use. Also good for scoring timber underneath the object you were trimming calling for further use of belt sander (see belt sander above)

Block Plane: mythical tool believed by some to be capable of shaving minute wafers of wood to create perfect scarfe joints. Scarfe joints for those that don't know are 2 irregularly shaped end pieces of wood which only have minimal contact with each other and have gaps filled with masses of epoxy resin

probably a few that have been missed there, but hopefully will set people on the straight and narrow

Thought now occurs that I really ought to follow this up with a glossary of terms for all the bits and pieces on a boat ie:-

Scuppers: narrow slits between deck and gunwale to allow the easy exit to the water of any screws or small tools that you drop

Carlines:Cross timbers between deck beams to remove skin and hair when the deck beams didn't get you

Bilges: Inaccessible container for tools, screws and house keys that were too big to go through the scuppers (see above)

get the idea? needs some thought, but I expect a full glossary of boat terms to be published shortly.

so perhaps a little little reading might be in order to keep you going. found a few interesting articles around about the place and have a few I might scan in from old copies of classic boat and the like. Background stuff on Fifies, Zulus, Herring Drifters, Scottish fishing boats in general, other mad people, that sort of thing

bit of Fifie & Zulu history and background type stuff

Also got a few plans and drawings I've squirreled away from various sources, and a few I've drawn myself, based on the sketches of Edgar J March in his book "Sailing Drifters". Well worth tracking down a copy. hard to come buy and some folks want silly money for a copy. Not quite destitute enough to sell mine just yet though, but have seen them with £250 price tags!

The plans are canny for any trawler model makers out there, so might upload them and post a link or several if any wants them

will probably add a few bits to this as time goes by

/**

Edgar J March - Herring Drifters

have been talking to a small publisher who can reprint this on demand for £25 or so a copy if any one is interested.....

**/

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.

well thats on hold, its snowed (a bit) and got a bit chilly, so my beloved planks of elm are a bit well, deep frozen:

anyone know what the effect of a bit of snow and ice are on rock elm??, maybe I just invented the worlds biggest snow board

as well as a bit of snow, its also been a bit chilly, causing the odd icicle or 2 form:

on the plus side, I won't run out of ice for my vodka for weeks

so while the rest of the country has been in the full panic mode that only home counties english media types are capable of when there's 2cm of snow on the ground, I've been snowed in at home since boxing day, with snow that is waist deep everywhere and drifts in excess of 15' and temperatures down to minus 17

I'm getting wood whittling withdrawal symptoms. even though I've got bits of wood to whittle here at HQ, some of it even ice free and toasty on account of me having hidden it under the bed. but alas I've nothing to whittle it with - all the tools are on the boat, so I've taken to inventing stuff instead. So far I've invented loads of things in my head.... gravity powered 3D glasses so when you are driving you can see the road ahead, trees and things like that in 3D, that sort of thing

but with the thing I am most proud of is actually real as well, Bovril with vodka, it's great and has become my 7th most favourite drink of all time

I really need to get out

*Wheeeeeeeee* Oops me pipe's frozen.

Skipper, you've lost it mate - for the gravity powered bins you'd need a gravity powered head. If it was gravy powered then I'm your Chuck Jaeger(?).

Add dried noodles to the Vodkril and away you go scrapper