My apologies dear reader, I have been remiss in keeping the blog up to date.
In fact, it seems to be becoming a bit of a habit this year and to be honest, when we're not actually getting to do very much sailing, I'm drifting towards a tendency to update a little less frequently than before by writing longer posts that cover several days activity, or sometimes inactivity, in one fell swoop
Anyway, here's how the rest of our five day mini-break panned out ...
You'll recall that on Saturday we backed out of the drying finger berth and moved back onto the river pontoon for a day or two. This was so that we could improve the berth by digging out the remains of an old pre-WW1 hard from beneath the keels
James, of the barge Jan Steen, had kindly offered to help and I donned my never yet used cheap Aldi waders and into the mud we went armed with a spade and a pickaxe.
The spade proved ineffective at shifting the mud and the pickaxe handle broke! James went on a foraging mission and liberated an old shovel from somewhere in the yard and a crowbar from the long grass!
With these more effective tools we were able to dig down to the surface of the old hard and remove the stone slabs that formed its surface. Beneath the stone was a layer of compacted clunch (a chalky soft limestone) laid over the bed clay which had been corduroyed with branches of hazel.
Possibly to stop the whole construction sliding down the bank during construction, occasional vertical planks had been driven into the clay and then cut off flush with the paving slabs. Unfortunately, one of these planks was right under where our starboard keel would land. It had the potential to punch through the bottom of the boat and therefore had to be removed.
No amount of digging would shift it without excavating a dangerously deep hole in the mud.
I resorted to drilling a hole through the plank and attaching a line to attempt to pull it vertically from the mud but that was unsuccessful too. James came up with the cunning wheeze of tying the line off to the nearest cleat on the finger pontoon and letting the rising tide do the work. It took three tide cycles with the line being shortened up each time but eventually the plank gave up the unequal struggle and emerged from the mud.
Nice piece of mahogany it is too! It's been put to one side to dry out and something might be made of it.
The end result of our labours may not look that impressive but it was hard work shifting those slabs from under nearly three feet of mud!
It is interesting to consider than when the hard was built, somewhat more than a century ago by the original Fambridge Yacht Club, there must have been a lot less silting on the river than today.
(Fambridge Yacht Club became moribund during the First World War. Many years later, a timber jetty was constructed on top of the old hard, suggesting that silting had by then rendered the hard itself unusable. That, in turn, was replaced by the current floating hammerhead to which our finger berth is attached)
By the time I'd finished, it had started to rain and I'd had enough fun for one day! After a rest and a shower to clean off the mud, Jane and I toddled off up to the pub for a meal and a drink.
Monday dawned pleasantly enough but windy. And windy and occasionally rainy it was set to stay until at least mid-week. We therefore set about a job that's needed doing for a while, cleaning and oiling the woodwork in the forward cabin.
Nearly a day of scrubbing, rinsing, drying and oiling improved the look of things greatly (although within a few days it became clear that more oil would be needed
The main cabin woodwork will also need oiling this season but it shouldn't need the drastic cleaning treatment
Tony and Shelagh arrived for their summer holiday later in the day and joined us aboard Erbas for dinner
And thus did Monday pass.
Tuesday involved an emergency call-out to Limehouse. Given that the weather was pants it was no great hardship to go and earn some pennies even though technically we were supposed to be on holiday. Back aboard by mid-afternoon we just chilled out, ate on board and had an early night.
With the day lost to work, it was now essential that we got back onto the berth on the Wednesday morning high tide. This we did albeit only just! The starboard keel carved a spectacular groove in the mud as the strong breeze got hold of the boat and blew her further up the bank than I'd intended.
It also confirmed my guesstimate that anything less than a 4.5m tide would be too little for us to reliably get on and off the mooring. As there are only a handful of tides lower than that a month it isn't a problem. However, with an almost inevitably deeper draught boat in the future, we'll be more restricted
I was a little concerned that, with the excavations to try and remove the plank, she'd now heel over to starboard and lean on the finger however she happily settled with just a trace of a list to port still. More importantly, she was now sitting down on the mud rather than resting on her keels and the difference in height between floating and dried out relative to the pontoon was much reduced.
Over the next couple of tides, she settled even more upright and there I think matters can lie until Bigger Boat makes an appearance. It's quite likely that we'll need to carry out further improvements at that time but we now know it can be done.
Jane then had a muddy time of filling the water tanks. She's never done it herself before and expressed a sensible desire to learn how in case she needs to do it when I'm not about. The muddy bit came from managing to drop the hose over the side of the pontoon! To be fair, it's a bit of a nuisance at the moment and I need to organise the hoses better - we have to use an extension as the reel hose isn't quite long enough.
The crew of Pleinair returned the compliment of Monday by providing dinner followed by drinks and annoying Shelagh by the boys beating the girls 2-0 at cribbage (she plays for a Crib team too!!!)
Thursday involved the trek back to Kettering to drop Jane off and pick up the Peckett Marine trailer and then the trek all the way back to Fambridge again. I need the trailer down there next week and it means I can go straight from home to Limehouse on Tuesday morning without a time wasting diversion to Fambridge on the way.
Back at Fambridge, with the berth now satisfactory, I grabbed the chance of a lift round to the marina with Tony and made the arrangement a permanent one.
Tomorrow would be Toby's last day at work at Fambridge and arrangements had been made for a bunch of us to meet up in the pub to wish the Ironsides crew farewell and good luck with their new life in Faversham. The evening duly passed in beer and, after I'd foolishly been persuaded (not that I ever take much persuading) to go and fetch the guitar, song
And then Friday involved me sorting out on board to leave Erbas for a few days and making the trek, once again, all the way back to Kettering due to a change of plans for the weekend. It was a dire journey with an accident on the A12 causing tailbacks on the A130 and then traffic at a standstill when I arrived at the M11
With diversions through Chelmsford and a cross-country route from Bishops Stortford to St. Neots and thence via the back lanes to the A14 ten miles from home I made it in just under four hours but avoided all of the chaos on the motorways and dual carriageway
Next week I begin what is shaping up to be a working marathon which will probably last until mid to late October. Whether we get to do any more sailing this season is looking doubtful although Jane has put a marker down that she wants to make it to the ECF Laying Down Supper this year as she's fed up with missing out on the social side as she so often does due to work
In fact, it seems to be becoming a bit of a habit this year and to be honest, when we're not actually getting to do very much sailing, I'm drifting towards a tendency to update a little less frequently than before by writing longer posts that cover several days activity, or sometimes inactivity, in one fell swoop
Anyway, here's how the rest of our five day mini-break panned out ...
You'll recall that on Saturday we backed out of the drying finger berth and moved back onto the river pontoon for a day or two. This was so that we could improve the berth by digging out the remains of an old pre-WW1 hard from beneath the keels
James, of the barge Jan Steen, had kindly offered to help and I donned my never yet used cheap Aldi waders and into the mud we went armed with a spade and a pickaxe.The spade proved ineffective at shifting the mud and the pickaxe handle broke! James went on a foraging mission and liberated an old shovel from somewhere in the yard and a crowbar from the long grass!
With these more effective tools we were able to dig down to the surface of the old hard and remove the stone slabs that formed its surface. Beneath the stone was a layer of compacted clunch (a chalky soft limestone) laid over the bed clay which had been corduroyed with branches of hazel.
Possibly to stop the whole construction sliding down the bank during construction, occasional vertical planks had been driven into the clay and then cut off flush with the paving slabs. Unfortunately, one of these planks was right under where our starboard keel would land. It had the potential to punch through the bottom of the boat and therefore had to be removed.No amount of digging would shift it without excavating a dangerously deep hole in the mud.
I resorted to drilling a hole through the plank and attaching a line to attempt to pull it vertically from the mud but that was unsuccessful too. James came up with the cunning wheeze of tying the line off to the nearest cleat on the finger pontoon and letting the rising tide do the work. It took three tide cycles with the line being shortened up each time but eventually the plank gave up the unequal struggle and emerged from the mud.
Nice piece of mahogany it is too! It's been put to one side to dry out and something might be made of it.
The end result of our labours may not look that impressive but it was hard work shifting those slabs from under nearly three feet of mud!It is interesting to consider than when the hard was built, somewhat more than a century ago by the original Fambridge Yacht Club, there must have been a lot less silting on the river than today.
(Fambridge Yacht Club became moribund during the First World War. Many years later, a timber jetty was constructed on top of the old hard, suggesting that silting had by then rendered the hard itself unusable. That, in turn, was replaced by the current floating hammerhead to which our finger berth is attached)
By the time I'd finished, it had started to rain and I'd had enough fun for one day! After a rest and a shower to clean off the mud, Jane and I toddled off up to the pub for a meal and a drink.
Monday dawned pleasantly enough but windy. And windy and occasionally rainy it was set to stay until at least mid-week. We therefore set about a job that's needed doing for a while, cleaning and oiling the woodwork in the forward cabin.
Nearly a day of scrubbing, rinsing, drying and oiling improved the look of things greatly (although within a few days it became clear that more oil would be needed
The main cabin woodwork will also need oiling this season but it shouldn't need the drastic cleaning treatment
Tony and Shelagh arrived for their summer holiday later in the day and joined us aboard Erbas for dinner
And thus did Monday pass.
Tuesday involved an emergency call-out to Limehouse. Given that the weather was pants it was no great hardship to go and earn some pennies even though technically we were supposed to be on holiday. Back aboard by mid-afternoon we just chilled out, ate on board and had an early night.
With the day lost to work, it was now essential that we got back onto the berth on the Wednesday morning high tide. This we did albeit only just! The starboard keel carved a spectacular groove in the mud as the strong breeze got hold of the boat and blew her further up the bank than I'd intended.
It also confirmed my guesstimate that anything less than a 4.5m tide would be too little for us to reliably get on and off the mooring. As there are only a handful of tides lower than that a month it isn't a problem. However, with an almost inevitably deeper draught boat in the future, we'll be more restricted
Over the next couple of tides, she settled even more upright and there I think matters can lie until Bigger Boat makes an appearance. It's quite likely that we'll need to carry out further improvements at that time but we now know it can be done.
Jane then had a muddy time of filling the water tanks. She's never done it herself before and expressed a sensible desire to learn how in case she needs to do it when I'm not about. The muddy bit came from managing to drop the hose over the side of the pontoon! To be fair, it's a bit of a nuisance at the moment and I need to organise the hoses better - we have to use an extension as the reel hose isn't quite long enough.
The crew of Pleinair returned the compliment of Monday by providing dinner followed by drinks and annoying Shelagh by the boys beating the girls 2-0 at cribbage (she plays for a Crib team too!!!)
Thursday involved the trek back to Kettering to drop Jane off and pick up the Peckett Marine trailer and then the trek all the way back to Fambridge again. I need the trailer down there next week and it means I can go straight from home to Limehouse on Tuesday morning without a time wasting diversion to Fambridge on the way.
Back at Fambridge, with the berth now satisfactory, I grabbed the chance of a lift round to the marina with Tony and made the arrangement a permanent one.
Tomorrow would be Toby's last day at work at Fambridge and arrangements had been made for a bunch of us to meet up in the pub to wish the Ironsides crew farewell and good luck with their new life in Faversham. The evening duly passed in beer and, after I'd foolishly been persuaded (not that I ever take much persuading) to go and fetch the guitar, song
And then Friday involved me sorting out on board to leave Erbas for a few days and making the trek, once again, all the way back to Kettering due to a change of plans for the weekend. It was a dire journey with an accident on the A12 causing tailbacks on the A130 and then traffic at a standstill when I arrived at the M11
With diversions through Chelmsford and a cross-country route from Bishops Stortford to St. Neots and thence via the back lanes to the A14 ten miles from home I made it in just under four hours but avoided all of the chaos on the motorways and dual carriageway
Next week I begin what is shaping up to be a working marathon which will probably last until mid to late October. Whether we get to do any more sailing this season is looking doubtful although Jane has put a marker down that she wants to make it to the ECF Laying Down Supper this year as she's fed up with missing out on the social side as she so often does due to work
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