MFV BF494 'Pansy', an old Motor Fifie Conversion

yes, I know, its been ages. Been doing my bestest ostrich impression and hoping everything will just magic itself back together again.

Well, that obviously ain't gonna happen, so, new year, time to get my finger out, fabricate a device to make time stand still in order to cram a few extra hours worth of stuff into a day.

To recap then, after a couple of weeks suffering the ups and downs of the tide, the mud and daily drying out, the world's most expensive speak your weight machine lifted the old girl, from A to B. The speak your weight machine declared 24 tons if any one is interested.

It also declared, that the jib reach for that weight indicated the crane operating at 118% safe working load! Nothing for it but a frantic dive down into the bilges and in 15 minutes 1.5 tons of ballast was hurled over the side, getting the safe working load down to a tad over 100%, enough for a 'what the hell, lets give it a go' declaration. so up and across she went to her new resting place.

So I thought I could at last sleep at night and generally stop fretting about the thing. Alas not. The Sly old Girl had yet another little wheeze lined up. Late one night, the message filters through - the bank where she is resting is subsiding and the boat is listing over. FFS! - a boat that sinks on dry land!

As an added (maybe final) test of my resolve to put her to rights, this happened 2 days before bonfire night (Nov 5th). Initial reaction?? gallon of diesel and a box of matches.

Anyhoo, a quick trip to the yard confirms yet another one of Pansy's little practical jokes. Not sinking at all. the tiny little list to one side, is the same tiny little list she had when she was lifted and set down. Some bright spark, obviously an 'expert' in these things had put 2 and 2 together, made 643, and alerted the club's committee to the impending disaster. So she ain't sinking on dry land.

So what now?? In boat terms, its been a long while since I got my hands dirty, severed an artery, stabbed myself with something pointy, stotted my head off of something hard etc. So - new year, new beginning and all that.

One of the reasons for the lack of progress, has been me starting a new business 6 months ago and working 12 hours plus every day, 7 days a week, for months on end. Soooo tempted to dust off my soap box here and enter political rant mode but I'll try and hold off (although the next public sector employee that whinges at me about their pension is liable to get a caulking iron inserted somewhere deeply unpleasant)

Recognised I need to get something done boat wise very soon though, so have spent the 2 days off I got over christmas doing a bit of plotting and planning. Drawing up lists, stuff of that order.

so, first things to address, will be to get all the caulking raked out. If (when) I get bored with that, a good clear out of the crap lying everywhere and a start made on rebuilding the coach roof - or weather proofing it at least until spring

Happy new year folks

where she eventually lay, awaiting the arrival of the big lifty machine

up, up and away!

just a quick peek at how sexy those lines are - yes she is now very very clear of the water courtesy of the world's most expensive speak your weight machine - hire a sleak 100 ton crane and shout at the driver "how heavy is she" and he shouts back the answer!
quick pic, full details to follow when I have drank (a lot) more

How can you not love something that gorgeous. them scottish fellas certainly knew a thing or 3 about beauty - I take my hat off to em. find me a modern built boat with such beautiful lines

to be continued

Or was it J'accuse? Its been a stressful week. Where we left her drying was not a kind place to leave a boat, so she picked up a few scars.

High water today was high enough to shift her a few yards to somewhere much more suitable for a few more days till we can get some craneage organised. Anyhoo, got there while she was still high and dry and had a good poke about. timbers are all rock solid, so no nasty plank surprises and the culprit that caused all this commotion was easy to spot.

whatever was in the seams - and iy feels like concrete fell out a while ago. stuffed it from the inside out with white lead and cotton to stem the flow last week

So the plan, carried out flawlessly and in a very relaxed manner which even included and interval for sausage and chips in the clubhouse, was to move the barge and rope Pansy over to the gantry where she will hopefully be a bit less stressed

not a nice place to lean, there's a drop off on the slip and a dog leg on the wall so a very uncomfortable twisty place to lie

Next part of the plan, will hopefully come together this week. Big crane and lift her clear of the water and onto the hard properly for the first time in years - time/tides are not in our favour this week, so gonna have to keep fingers and toes crossed and see what we can achieve

Oh Dear - its been a long time!

I'm convinced Pansy read my last blog post, the one where I declared her door sale to any insane person with a big heart, that is preferably already divorced, and has a huge pair of rose tinted spectacles

Convinced because the old girl must have had her feelings so badly hurt she decided to end it all and go submarine. Sunday morning - the call every boat owner dreads - 'Pansy has sunk'

Yes, 'tis true, she committed hari kiri over night saturday. Combination of factors. Pneumatic float switch on the bilge pumps full of shit so didn't trip the bilges, monster rainstorm wiped the mains out on the pontoons so the standmains pumps were useless, still a big void where the coach roof used to be and the starboard side is mostly uncaulked which don't help. So the inevitable happened.

All hands to the pumps on sunday. At least the gods gave us a nice low tide on sunday afternoon. low enough for the deck to just about show above water. The high tide mark we now have is at the top of the wheelhouse!

Big pump and lots of little pumps got her up a couple of feet, but the uncaulked planks were pissing water in as fast as all 5 pumps could take it back out. So there was nothing for it. up to my tits in water/oil/diesel and sludge, wading through a sea of things floating about and attempt to caulk the planks from the inside out to stem enough of the flow to give the pumps a chance to get ahead of the game. One positive is the caulking on the new planks port side was tight as a drum! No2 to give him credit was considering going for a swim and attempting the same from the outside. Still regret that I didn't let him. That would have cheered me up no end - until he dropped my precious caulking irons in the oggin obviously. I imposed a strict no pictures policy throughout... Although Lenny on Captain Carlsen opposite was having a blast snapping away - just waiting for the black mail letter to arrive!

At one point I ended up with my foot in the toilet, although the bog still being 3 foot under water that was no big deal. At one point the table floated past which was a handy place to stick the mallet irons and a bail of cotton.

Getting some cotton hammered home in just a few feet of plank was enough for the pumps to get a grip and she fair flew up the last 4 or 5 feet. Although I do wonder wether my muttered promise of getting her a shiny new Gardner or a restored Kelvin encourage the grumpy old cow to stop be silly and behave. Still a big puzzle though as once up and empty there's no obvious leaks.

definitely boaty suicide me thinks.

so that was sunday in a nutshell. power tools all written off, still got 500 gallons of fuel tanks with whatever is in them to deal with. So over tea and biscuits aboard 'Coral Diver' with brian (hereafter to be refered to as nice Brian) a plan was hatched. Monday morning, high tide 12ish tow her down river to the slip and get her dried out and get this soggy seam dealt with once and for all.

So monday. No3 was also called in to lend a hand. The plan was simple. Nice Brian and his lovely big Mitchell 31 would tow us the short way over the river to Friars Goose, arriving bang on high tide, dump us on the slip where we can lean against the wall dry out and get to work - what could possibly go wrong??

so, ropes were thrown, bridles rigged and Pansy hand balled into position for Nice Brian to take up the tow. Enter Brian number 2 - Marina owner, all round good good guy, but with a penchant for being a bit shouty under pressure (hereafter to be referred to as Shouty Brian)

Shouty Brian was initially aboard the marina rib as a back up and to do a bit of pushing and shoving by way of steerage as and when needed. Wasn't long before Shouty Brian took the initiative and lept aboard Nice Brian's boat intent on taking the helm and directing proceeding from that point forward

I swear at one point I heard someone shouting 'thats an act of piracy' but I was other wise occupied keeping a running total of the amount of potential damage that a 30 ton Pansy could inflict on lots of shiny plastic things that were showing off by being generally boaty (and afloat)

We did however avoid all of them and make it out into the river without hitting a single thing. Where upon the next task of loosing the tow and bridle to replace it with for/aft springers as Shouty Brian, aboard Nice Brians boat with Nice Brian as crew, can alongside Pansy stern quarter to take us into the slip. Confusion reigned for a while, No2 public admitting he did not understand a word that was being said to him when words like fore, aft, springer, take in etc were being issued by Shouty Brian.

I suspect a sentence like 'make fast a forward springer using the white rope' fell on no2's ears as 'blah blah blah blah blah rope'

Eventually everything was as it should be and a gentle bit of powered applied to get us over to the slip. This is where things went a bit more wonky. The slip, which from phonecalls the previous evening had I had been assured was empty and ready for us was now occupied. 2 russians had appeared from nowhere overnight, ran their boat up the slip dried it out and managed to whip the legs off while nobody notice - stealthy buggers these ruskies. This of course did nothing whatsoever for Shouty Brians temperament. So what to do? nothing for it but to tie pansy up on the waiting pontoon mid river and hope for the best overnight. If she had gone down again there overnight I would have changed my name by deed pole, possibly changed my gender as well and emigrated.

So monday night she had to be left there. I went home, drank my own body weight in Vodka, smoked 37Kgs of tobacco and kicked the cat repeatedly for the duration.

So Tuesday then. Me, No2 and No3, nobly assisted by the services of Steve from the marina - another great bloke, who has recently bought a rotten old wooden boat and might possibly just have been interested in seeing what he has really let himself in for! No3's better half was also in attendance. A true force to be reckoned with, and possibly only there to make sure that if I did kill her husband, I did it thoroughly so there could be no arguements when she got the life insurance claims in.

So, tuesdays plan, was, just as slack water was approaching to handball pansy down the waiting pontoon, negotiate a trot of chain moorings, over tot he quayside then around the corner and into the slip.

A great plan except..... the ruskies were still there. Shouty Brain was not in attendance. I therefore took on his role and did my bit for anglo soviet diplomatic relations. I may have even said a few bad words. This was the point at which ruskie number 1 had his shirt off and No2 spotted his tattoos which he still maintains meant that ruskie number 1 was special forces and capable of invading a small country armed only with drawing pins ad a fruit knife.

They ruskies were actually dead canny about it and have been subsequently apologised to. The stuff the holes where the recently removed legs were on the stern of there boat and set about trying to move it out of our way. As a brief aside to any potential boat owners thinking of buying a boat with outdrives - walk around any marina in any country anywhere on the planet and see how many boats you can spot with the legs in bits - I say no more!

Anyhoo. in order to complete the above set of maneuvers there was a point in the proceedings where I needed to get my self off the pontoon and onto pansy. timing her was critical as a big flying jump was needed. The time for this leap came and went unfortunately. There was nothing for it though but to just go for and attempt to walk on water. Which I kid yee not, for any observers watching the debacle unfold from the safety of terra firma I not only attempted to do, but succeeded.

The small trot of chain moorings have a securing line on the pontoon, by attaching a rope to this and letting the chain roll downstream a bit gave us room to sneak through. letting the chain run back pulled the very first buoy under water by a couple of inches. I could see this. no-one else could. and 8 foot leap from pontoon, one foot on buoy then another leap and I'm aboard - anyone that has watched total wipeout on tv and the big red balls will have some idea. So my brief moment of divinity aside, I gets aboard and starts barking instructions to No2. I had arranged ropes this time so he had control of 2 of different colours. thinking its going to be much easier to shout white rope there blue rope there. With white in one hand and blue in the other there was the obvious moment though when he looked at his hands and shouted back 'which one is the blue rope'!! but the boy done good. gently as you like 30 tons of pansy was slow roped over, not a thing was even grazed against and there she was ready to slip. HW had been and gone so the poor russians that had tried to make their boat water tight and shift needn't have bothered, so we shifted them back to were they were and muttered some apologies

So there you have it. Pansy sank, Pansy got raised, moved and is sat against the wall at the slip waiting for this weekends big tides to drag her higher up to dry out while the tides neap. Next springs a crane is being organised to lift her proper clear of the water, sat on the hard over winter so stuff can get properly finished and sorted for the first time in donkeys years. The ford Lehman is in a bad was as you expect from an engine thats been on the bottom for a tide, so there may well be a full how to rebuild a ford lehman marine engine type blog post at some point as well. Probably things I've forgotten so may add some more when the sedatives have worn off a bit.

Mucho Muchos thanks to Nick and (shouty!) Brian from St Peter's Marina (best marina on the Tyne IMHO), Steve (Nice) Brian, Coral Diver, Steve from Plessey and for Lenny from Captain Carlsen for not gratuitously taking the piss all day on sunday - although revving your engines to emphasis that yours work and you hadn't sunk didn't go un-noticed!! And in the spirit of Glasnost more humble apologies to the Russians - if you need to shoot someone as revenge shoot number 2 - he's fatter and it will hurt less

No Brians were injured during the making of this post by the way

remiss of me not to have stuck my head in here for a bit - apologies

yup, I'm still alive, have regained my sight but have been suffering an extra large portion of 'Life' recently so have done bugger all boat wise.

Started another business, which, along with the existing one is eating up 16-18 hours a day at least 6 days a week, often 7 so a hard decision is being made. If any one out there has a big heart and fancies buying old scottish fishing boat, then Pansy is most likely up for sale!

decision being made as much on the fact that the likelihood of me having enough spare time to get things properly sorted before another winter descends are remote to say the least, and the old girl deserves better.

So this venerable old fishing boat. trawler, MFV, call her what you will is half heartedly for sale. In case you've lost the will to live by reading from the very beginning... She is in a much more viable state than the last time she was for sale.

all the forwards deck beams and knees replaced with scottish oak, several frame heads, all of the deck with douglas fir,cover boards, wire rail, lots of new planks above the water line, and lord alone knows what else. lots of kit to go back in Sailor radio equipment -RT144 plus hf mf gear, ICOM vhf and ICOM DSC Controller, koden Radar, Garmin Fishfinder, Raytheon big screen colour sounder, charplotter, pc navigation system with maxsea and heaps more all thrown in as well as a fair few bits of stuff that were bought for the rebuild and refit but not yet used.

she cost 14 grand, I've got invoices for many times that from over the last few years too as well as loads of history, but to get back the £12,000 or thereabouts that she initially cost would be great.

In the meantime, I'm gonna be trying to escape from worky things one day this week at least to finish off where I was last time, which if memory serves is a small section of top plank from the rear quarter and the last length of rubbing strake.

If I get there expect a progress report and pics later this week!

When and if my sight returns, I'll add some more

The Census man tried to test me... so I ate his liver with some fava beans and nice chianti..

Anyone else had a visit for not filling it in? Sort of feel a bit sorry for the poor sod, schlepping around the houses on minimum wage hassling people. Told him that if he could give me a good reason why i should hand over personal information to a US arms company then I'd fill it in!

that stumped him - poor sod didn't even know he was working for Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed martin, in case anyone doesn't know are the worlds largest arms and defence contractor, but also the biggest data processor for the CIA and the FBI

they are also the supplier of 'private interrogators" at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and were the company with the contract to perform extraordinary rendition on anyone the US government they decided they wanted to abduct and torture regardless of where they were in the world

So all in all a really nice bunch of guys to hand over a complete list of everyone in the UK, what they do, where they work, religion etc

so after what seemed like an eternity of him being able to say nothing other than "I'm just gathering census data for the office of national statistics" I told him I'd fill it in online.

So my house is now offically occupied by several dead people and a few unknowns

Elvis was first, thought the american's would like that, he's in a same sex civil partnership with Fred West. Their adopted children include Osama Bin laden (religion - Jedi), Janette Crankie (religion also Jedi) and Austin Powers (religion - sheep worrying)

I encourage others to do the same!

No 3's house I have been informed is now officially occupied by itinerant travellers/Gypsies

Suspect I'll be getting another visit soon, or perhaps may be invited on a free flight to the Caribbean to model an nice orange boiler suit. Wonder if they'll be as keen on waterboarding if I tell them I've got a fetish for auto erotic asphyxiation??

All in all another glorious waste of public money courtesy of the last shower of shit that tried to run the country, which brings me nicely to the public spending cuts. Stop the cuts they yell. I for one am a bit sick of hearing it now. had a day Pansying last week, and as often happens, someone wondered past and said hello. Conversation went hither and thither and strangely ended up on the subject of public spending cuts. So I asked him the same question that I've asked everyone thats been bleating about the cuts = "where's the money going to come from to stop the cuts then?"

and the answer I've heard more than once "from the Government"... and where the feck do you think they are going to get it from?

"err... what do you mean?"

Fact it we've spent 15 years wasting billions on complete and utter shite in the name of 'public spending' and have got nowt to show for it except a very big overdraft

they want to come and try get a proper job in the private sector for a while instead of living on handouts under the pretense of doing something useful. No-one is going to give me a free fat pension when I retire

Anyhoo... what's all this got to do wit all things boaty? Well I had another interesting wee chat at a different end of public sector spending courtesy of the A&E department at the Royal Victoria Infirmary. Pansy bit me a bit, the ungrateful old sod.

All the kings horses and all the kings men are otherwise engaged polishing things because they have a wedding to go too soon apparently, so I submitted myself to the tender care of a nice nurse instead. From her perspective, having been a nurse for 25 years, there's now more 'managers' and 'line managers' in the hospital than there are nurses. Targets have to be met you know so apparently thats what they do for their wage (which tends to be at least double what the nurses get). The X-ray department for example gets penalised for not meeting the appointment times given out to patients - easy, get a manager, to employ some consultants, give them a couple of hundred thousand pounds when they come back with a report which says don't give out any appointments - that way you can't fail to meet them. let people just turn up on spec and wait - that's progress for you

Apparently thats one of the things that 'Managers' do. then next year when it is shown that there was not a single missed appointment they can pay themselves a big fat 'productivity' bonus

And what in god's name actually is a line manager?? someone who manages lines?? I use a ruler to do that - 45p in Smiths'

Public sector my arse - sack the lot of em and make em do a proper job in the real world

So poorly noggin a la Pansy...

Trying to fix/bend/drill/nail a plank, I came up with a cunning plan which works a treat. Sadly it has taken until the very last plank to come up with idea.

Ratchet straps. Inside the boat, a block of wood across the frames, ratchet strap around it and out through the hole in the hull where a plank should be and around a plank. Wind the ratchets strap up, it pulls and bends the plank in to the hole. Once in the right position nail the plank in place, release the straps then thread the strap webbing back out through the seam.

So something useful for anyone who hasn't lost the will to live reading this far

So I gets the plank sort of where I want it and spend the next half hour running up and down the companionway steps and off the boat to check from the outside, before legging it back inside to wind it up a bit more

Tearing up the steps a bit hastily I cracked the top of my nut on the bottom of the wheelhouse, which is nice and raggy edged with rusty nails poking out for added menace.

Quite a nice hole in my head, and a fair bit of blood left on the wheelhouse floor as decoration. Nice to see the NHS are diversifying, as I got free haircut as well as the stitches. Not sure about the friar tuck look though!

I had hoped this would be the last plank to repair, but as I removed the the rest of the rubbing strake aft, another 'fell off' think it was only held on by moss

When its a power tool - obviously.

Making the most of the nice spring weather, I had another day of 'doing'. Now the delicate nature of the residents around the marina is such that the use of power tools is strictly verboten on sunday.

So being the considerate soul I am, anything with a switch and finger removing potential was left in its pile.

Instead, a bit of caulking to get the day going, the constant rhythm of hammer on iron as I knocked a mass of oakum in had a few curtains twitching. This was merely the overture though. Feeling a bit devilish I wondered if anyone would complain if I fastened a few more bits that needed fastening. I wasn't going to be using power tools after all, just hand tools - a 4lb mash hammer to drive some 8" iron spikes into solid oak!

Didn't take long before someone took the huff though and came along to inform me that the 'Use of power tools isn't allowed on a Sunday'. They didn't say "look its Sunday, can you take it a bit easy please and thank you" just a blunt statement of the rules. (I bet he's the captain of a golf club!)

Did make me smile though as I looked at the chap and his hangover then looked at the hammer in my hand then back at him and said with a smile "power Tools???"

He was not amused though, some folks just have no sense of humour I guess.

So I got a paint brush out instead and stuck some paint on the gunnel tops. The day wasn't completely without pleasant surprises however, it was low tide and my (not so) furry friend in the not very long at all skirt lent on the rails to say hello again!

Oh I do hope the warm weather keeps up

Like all Scientific experiments, in order to hold true, you must be able to recreate the experiment. So what the hell, time for some more of the groovy plank dance.

This time though, its was a case of one plank off and 2 planks on! Whipped the last one back off again and set to, this time added a couple of big clamps to my juggling arsenal of drills, hammers, nails and wood.

Must have been something not right last time, as this time I managed to get the plank on without even saying any bad words.

In fact, it went so well I did it again just for good measure, so another couple of bits of wood nailed on, just another soft one to come off, and the beltings and rubbing strake and it'll be time to get the caulking irons out again. Might even do another one tomorrow.

Probably worth mentioning that shoes and socks not only stayed on, but both feet (and all toes) returned home still dry as well!

Will maybe share my boat soup recipe at some point. I'm determined these ones ain't gonna rot within a few years like the last ones someone put on did

new planks looking all lovely and woody with their good soaking of boat soup

Another day another plank. To be precise 2 planks forwards one plank back. Gonna take one of the planks back off I did today and start again. I said lots and lots of bad words

One or 2 of the passers by were amused, the one I threw the hammer at for stating the bleeding obvious was less so!

But I can at least confirm, and believe I have now scientifically proven, that it is not possible for a single man to hold both ends of an 18' length of 6"x2" Larch at the same time, whilst also trying to lift, bend, twist and press said plank into shape, hold a large drill, 4lb mash hammer and fistful of nails... AND hammer the fecking things in at the same time.

It cannot be done. At one point I almost convinced myself that if Christy Brown could do stuff so could I and was nearly whipping me shoes and socks off in some dis-illusioned belief that I really could hold a 5" boat spike between my toes and drive it home and still expect to not only be walking afterwards but still also still be able to wear flip flops.

As Jim Morrison once said, "I am the lizard king and I can do anything" (except avoid cardiac arrest & pulmonary edema obviously)

looks alright from a distance, about half a mile should be about right

Ho Hum

Now, where did I put that boat for sale sign??

Blimey, its been ages!

Finally a dry day, somewhere above freezing, so time to get back to it. Although it nearly didn't happen. I was away with the fairies this morning and happily pumped 50 quids worth of unleaded into the Land Rover before I remembered its a diesel!! topped it off with 70 quids worth of diesel and hoped for the best - amazingly seems to be running ok on the strange mixture. Any hoo, need to try get this side sorted in the next few weeks for an impending trip to dry land to attend to her nether regions, and have also got to try and bring the other one I've bought down from Scotland as soon as poss too - may soon be into outstaying your welcome territory, and I'm quite looking forward to that wee adventure (and am deliberately holding back on pics and the like till she's back here!)

Anyway, Pansy is still afloat, which is apparently a good sign where boats are concerned. Time for a wee bit more oil and paint here and there, and to rip off some planks and start sticking some new ones back on. Spent the first hour or two practicing various versions of 'where'd I leave the big hammer?' and 'Where's the big wooden driving wedges gone' but eventually rounded enough destructive weapons up to let rip. Rubbing strake and 3(ish) planks off, and one(ish) back on which is not bad for a man doing monkey impressions clinging onto the gunnels whilst swinging a 4lb mash hammer.

Surprisingly, given the weather, the green larch is not so green any more. In fact it has dried out and seasoned a lot, despite being left in the open through the winter, so cold bending was a bit(!) trickier than last time, but I only hit my hand with the hammer 3 times and only nearly fell in once (left leg ankle deep).

Plan is to get the top 2 planks done before ripping anymore off. A section of the top belting is also going and the first plank underneath, which should then mean she's pretty much rot free above the water line.

The dead bits are currently keeping the house toasty on the rayburn, but the boat looks as rough as arseholes to anyone passing by!

Not really a pretty sight! Repairing the planks on a wooden hull using only a big hammer and swear words. Apologies to the neighbours!

Not a lot been happening. Weather has been less than good. So going to have a wander down this week, and maybe get the engine serviced, least that job will be 'indoors' and out of the rain, but may involved a little paddling

In the meantime, something old, a few bits of video of these old girls in action, have a few more bits to convert and upload soon as well

the above video does tie in nicely with the one below in many ways. If anyone isn't aware, the world's greatest (and much needed) thorn in the side of Tesco's - Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall is trying to get something done about the appaling state of the UK fishing industry with regard to discards. - thats some euro-numpties dictat that fisherman have to throw a huge amount of what they catch, back overboard, dead.

You can visit Hugh's Fishfight site by clicking on the link below. Get your self signed up in support if you haven't already

Fish Fight campaign to stop discards

I'm working on something borrowed and something blue

Who do folks think I am WikiLeaks, (thats a rhetorical question by the way)

Anyone that looked in earlier might have been a bit puzzled and confused.  The blog suffered a wee DDoS attack this afternoon and it all went a bit pair shaped.

In the words of Father Jack Hackett "Arse Biscuits"

Big Big thanks to Bill K for emailing me to say  "cor blimey, thats a right barrel o monkeys going on there govnor" or words to that effect and alerting me to the ongoing wierdness.

Luckily, Bill's mail got to me in plenty of time to to get the thing pumped out, recaulked and floating again without losing any data (well I hope not, haven't check under the bed or  behind the cooker yet)

There should be a normal update about stuff later this week, and some cool video from 30' 40's and 50's too!

Just on the off chance that anyone out there is looking for a boat, here's a rare opportunity to a acquire a historic boat that is up for sale and is still pretty original. Lots of History and was built 1934 by Millers (eligible to go on the register of historic ships), good Gardner 6LB & yanmar powered generator in her and already converted to live aboard. She was out of the water not long ago and antifouled and the stem re-nailed. She was also fully coded till a few years ago and has all the safety gear and electronics fitted and is ready to steam pretty much anywhere. Sadly the owner passed away not so long ago, and the family are needing to find her a new owner as soon as possible. The family are willing to let her go for a very sensible price too - boats of this age and condition are very hard to find these days and most of the old scottish MFV and trawler conversions are anything but sympathetic to the beauty of the original boat

If anyone is interested contact me and I'll will pass on the details to you

/**

UPDATE

just a note to say Hyperion is no longer for sale. She sold for the princely sum of £1000.

A real bargain for some one I'd say!

**/

Hyperion - 49' Scottish Seine and Ring Netter built by Millers at St Monans in Fife and up for sale

Up for sale and ready to steam anywhere

Deal done!

so, somewhere, lurking in a small forgotten harbour on the east coast of Scotland is a wee 106 year old fifie with my name on it. Well, in the literal sense, it's got someone else's name on it to be truthful. A boat called 'Mark' would be just plain daft, although its actual name: 'Richie's' has an irony about I suppose. Maybe a message on another site to say I've bought Richie's boat might have comedy potential (we know someone with a boat called Richie - obviously)

Born to sail, this one will be re-built as a lugger from the off, nice and simple.

Its likely to be sat there for a good while yet though, although, there is great potential in the hull shape to make a very big sledge, and with a decent lug sail, might make it down the A9 before the thaw