Seconds out ... spending round two

Actually, this was yesterday too but other things got in the way of blogging about it!

Having ordered the engine service bits when I got in from work, the next task was to order various items from the chandlers to go with several jobs on the "to do" list

One of the cheapest items I've ever bought is a hand crabbing line. Not that I particularly want to go crabbing, what I want is the spool! The line supplied will be removed and replaced with the line on the sounding lead which otherwise is virtually useless as it always manages to get itself into a tangle no matter how carefully it's stowed away.

Spreader caps

Item no. 2 was a pair of spreader boots. Having lost the starboard one at some point, Nick the previous owner had replaced it with a wheel type thingy pushed up the cap shroud with a length of shroud protector. The matching wheel type thingy is supposed to be on board somewhere but I've not found it yet! I'm not a fan of them anyway so one of the "send the monkey up the mast jobs" is to fit new matching spreader caps

The mast monkey

The other job I wanted to do on the rig which needed bits is to experiment with single line reefing. For that I want three lightweight plastic blocks with a lashing eye rather than a shackle eye e.g

These are not that easy to come by at a sensible price (the Harken version is silly money) but Force 4 do a Ronstan one at a less wallet smacking price and so I ordered three of them.

Unfortunately, they rang within minutes to advice they were out of stock so they've had to go on back order. Not the end of the world as it's a non-urgent job

One essential item for the servicing of the engine I still needed was 4 litres of premium grade oil. I could, of course, buy stock stuff off the shelf cheaper but for the sake of saving less than a tenner a year I'll pay the premium price for the premium marine grade stuff that's specifically formulated for seagoing engines

I added to the oil order a 1 litre bottle of Teak Oil - I don't intend to oil all the teak (and there are acres of the stuff when all's said and done) until the autumn but there are some small areas that want an oiling now

Now I moved on to buying some items to improve and enhance life on board ...

First up the first of, I suspect, a number of items from Blue Performance to wit a bag that mounts in the cockpit for putting stuff into ...

Large cockpit bag for ... stuff!

I rather suspect I'll be buying quite a few more items from their long list of useful thingys that nobody else makes. They're not cheap but they are good quality and made to last.

The next two items were to be a teak toilet roll holder for the heads and a matching teak kitchen roll holder for the galley. These too were out of stock and had to go on back-order. Ho hum.

And then it was on with my navigators hat to purchase Imray Chart C1 of the Thames Estuary. I've already got the C series charts covering from the Scottish Borders to just East of the Solent, this plugs the gap. Although we now have two complete sets of the Admiralty Leisure charts of the Estuary they are out of date and as my primary nav is the plotter with the laptop as backup and the smart phone as the backup to the backup, my need for paper charts is limited to being the backup to the backup for the backup and the C Series will get you to safety well enough whilst covering a large area in a single £18.00 chart

 And finally I indulged myself slightly with two items for my own use / amusement. The first was a Gill trifold wallet as I've been using the case for the Samsung Note as my wallet for the last couple of years but the new, slightly smaller, Sony Z1 doesn't give me that (not all that convenient anyway it has to be said) option.

The second item is entirely frivolous ..

Yep, I fancy trying a bit of trolling for mackerel, bass etc, as we go along. Of course, it does mean that if I catch it I'm gonna have to kill it and eat it but I like a bit of fresh fish!

If I get anywhere with it I may move up to something more sophisticated in due course!

I shall have to find a book on the Kindle about catching, preparing and cooking fishies ... I shall also have to convince the Purser that giving seafood a go is something she really ought to try!

And that was that for yesterday.

Today I have, between all too brief periods of sleep, been continuing my ongoing efforts to make sense of the terminal list and circuit diagrams. There's nothing wrong with them per-se, I'm redrawing it all to my own preferred format and standards and along the way really fixing what's what electrickerly in my head