I'd got a job on today so hit the road to Essex yesterday after a visit to Maplin looking for a decent solution to broadcast TV on board.
We've tended to avoid having telly on the boat cos it's too easy to get into the habit of watching TV instead of doing more interesting and fun things (like going to the pub and, er, sailing).
When we have wanted to watch a film or a drama series we've downloaded it over the marina WiFi or our 3 MiFi.
However, we're now spending a great deal of time aboard in "floating cottage" mode and I'm aboard getting on for half the time. With the rugby world cup over the next few weeks I figured I'd be spending a lot of money either buying extra data allowance or drinking in the pub!
Maplin had an ideal solution...
This little widget, not much bigger than a credit card, is a full Freeview DTV receiver coupled with a WiFi hot-spot and, with the addition of a micro-SD card, a PVR too.
Apps to watch TV via WiFi are available for android, i-pad and windows devices.
Foolishly, as we'll discover, I added a cheap Maplin directional outdoor aerial.
The beast works very well. The apps are, perhaps a bit clunky but effective. Using the tiny little 3" built in telescopic aerial with the device on the cabin top under the sprayhood it delivers a very good picture.
Annoyingly, the Maplin amplified aerial packed up within hours (and I think had been playing up from the start). It's a minor issue as it only means I can't use the PVR function because obviously the receiver can't be left outside when I'm not here.
A decent omnidirectional aerial is needed (and it's what I should have bought in the first place)
The job I'd planned to do today fell through at the last minute, at least temporarily, and the traffic queues showing on the sat nav made a trip into London today an unattractive proposition. So I decided to defer the needed visit to Limehouse to tomorrow and tackle further improvements to our mooring
On the way down yesterday I'd called in to Dauntless Boatyard and bought 30 feet of 8mm chain, a swivel and the necegssary shackles to lay the 15kg plough anchor our friend Jim gave us last year to hold us off the hammerhead in bad weather.
Putting everything together on the finger pontoon was the easy bit...
Then it was back on with the waders to lay it out in the mud before the tide came in. I could have dropped it from the dinghy but by laying out out this way I could get it set exactly as I wanted
It was a mucky job but somebody had to do it!
With the anchor laid and a line from the chain to the pontoon (which is permanent so that we can pick up the chain after we've berthed) I set about a job I've been planning to do for ages
Erbas came with a reasonably long anchor snubber complete with chain hook but I'd always felt the line was a bit on the thin side and it had no stretch in it at all.
So I'd bought a hefty length of 12mm 3 strand nylon line and also a chain shackle with the aim of making up two snubbers, a short one for routine use and a long one with a bridle for use when anchoring in poor weather.
I'd tried to make the splice onto the chain shackle several times and made a right mess of it and the project had been put to one side and forgotten about.
This time, I put in some practice on an old length of ordinary three strand rope I'd rescued from the marina sdkip (quite why it was discarded I don't know, with an eye splice in it it'll make a very good long mooring line or tow line)
Then I set about splicing the nylon line to the chain shackle using a chain splice...
With care, to prevent the strands unraveling I had to tape them at frequent intervals and remove the tape as I worked the splice, I got a result I'm happy with.
So then it was same again on a shorter length of line with an eye splice at the other end to make up the short snubber in order to use it on the stern anchor...
With that made up and deployed there was a hiatus in the splicing department whilst I used the genoa winch to set the stern anchor and adjusted the other mooring lines to suit.
Then it was back to the splicing to splice the bridle into the line and make the two soft eyes to go over the samson post...
I'm pretty pleased with the end result. The short snubber is only 3m however the long one is a full 10m and with the natural give in the nylon line, selected for that reason, it will not only relieve the strain from the anchor capstan, it will also greatly reduce the snatch load on the anchor and reduce the risk of dragging
By now it was nearly seven in the evening so it was time to tidy up and get some dinner on. Off to Limehouse in the morning and then I'll see what the time is and check the traffic before deciding whether to head straight back to Kettering or come back to the boat for the night and head home on Saturday
We've tended to avoid having telly on the boat cos it's too easy to get into the habit of watching TV instead of doing more interesting and fun things (like going to the pub and, er, sailing).
When we have wanted to watch a film or a drama series we've downloaded it over the marina WiFi or our 3 MiFi.
However, we're now spending a great deal of time aboard in "floating cottage" mode and I'm aboard getting on for half the time. With the rugby world cup over the next few weeks I figured I'd be spending a lot of money either buying extra data allowance or drinking in the pub!
Maplin had an ideal solution...
This little widget, not much bigger than a credit card, is a full Freeview DTV receiver coupled with a WiFi hot-spot and, with the addition of a micro-SD card, a PVR too.
Apps to watch TV via WiFi are available for android, i-pad and windows devices.
Foolishly, as we'll discover, I added a cheap Maplin directional outdoor aerial.
The beast works very well. The apps are, perhaps a bit clunky but effective. Using the tiny little 3" built in telescopic aerial with the device on the cabin top under the sprayhood it delivers a very good picture.
Annoyingly, the Maplin amplified aerial packed up within hours (and I think had been playing up from the start). It's a minor issue as it only means I can't use the PVR function because obviously the receiver can't be left outside when I'm not here.
A decent omnidirectional aerial is needed (and it's what I should have bought in the first place)
The job I'd planned to do today fell through at the last minute, at least temporarily, and the traffic queues showing on the sat nav made a trip into London today an unattractive proposition. So I decided to defer the needed visit to Limehouse to tomorrow and tackle further improvements to our mooring
On the way down yesterday I'd called in to Dauntless Boatyard and bought 30 feet of 8mm chain, a swivel and the necegssary shackles to lay the 15kg plough anchor our friend Jim gave us last year to hold us off the hammerhead in bad weather.
Putting everything together on the finger pontoon was the easy bit...
Then it was back on with the waders to lay it out in the mud before the tide came in. I could have dropped it from the dinghy but by laying out out this way I could get it set exactly as I wanted
It was a mucky job but somebody had to do it!
With the anchor laid and a line from the chain to the pontoon (which is permanent so that we can pick up the chain after we've berthed) I set about a job I've been planning to do for ages
Erbas came with a reasonably long anchor snubber complete with chain hook but I'd always felt the line was a bit on the thin side and it had no stretch in it at all.
So I'd bought a hefty length of 12mm 3 strand nylon line and also a chain shackle with the aim of making up two snubbers, a short one for routine use and a long one with a bridle for use when anchoring in poor weather.
I'd tried to make the splice onto the chain shackle several times and made a right mess of it and the project had been put to one side and forgotten about.
This time, I put in some practice on an old length of ordinary three strand rope I'd rescued from the marina sdkip (quite why it was discarded I don't know, with an eye splice in it it'll make a very good long mooring line or tow line)
Then I set about splicing the nylon line to the chain shackle using a chain splice...
With care, to prevent the strands unraveling I had to tape them at frequent intervals and remove the tape as I worked the splice, I got a result I'm happy with.
So then it was same again on a shorter length of line with an eye splice at the other end to make up the short snubber in order to use it on the stern anchor...
With that made up and deployed there was a hiatus in the splicing department whilst I used the genoa winch to set the stern anchor and adjusted the other mooring lines to suit.
Then it was back to the splicing to splice the bridle into the line and make the two soft eyes to go over the samson post...
I'm pretty pleased with the end result. The short snubber is only 3m however the long one is a full 10m and with the natural give in the nylon line, selected for that reason, it will not only relieve the strain from the anchor capstan, it will also greatly reduce the snatch load on the anchor and reduce the risk of dragging
By now it was nearly seven in the evening so it was time to tidy up and get some dinner on. Off to Limehouse in the morning and then I'll see what the time is and check the traffic before deciding whether to head straight back to Kettering or come back to the boat for the night and head home on Saturday
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