Tides, keels and mud berths - the mathematics of mud

As we think ahead to Bigger Boat, one critical issue is draught - the depth of the keel below the waterline - and when, or indeed if, we'll be able to get in and out of our drying mud berth (which we're very happy with and would be loathe to give up)

So I sat down earlier and plugged the daytime high tides for 2016 into a spreadsheet and then used conditional formatting to highlight the tides which would give us access to the berth with our current 3' draught, with a draught of around 4'6 and again with a draught of 5'6 (which I reckon is the maximum we can realistically entertain)

This is based on our experience to date where we've found that we need a tide of 4.3m or better to comfortably get in and out of the berth with Erbas although we did scrape in last time with just 4.2m albeit leaving a groove in the mud with the starboard keel!

Here is the resulting table ...

2016

January

February

March

April

May

June

Fri 01

17:13

4.6

Mon 01

17:55

4.3

Tue 01

17:08

4.4

Fri 01

18:25

4.2

Sun 01

06:34

4.5

Wed 01

08:47

4.8

Sat 02

18:00

4.4

Tue 02

06:18

4.3

Wed 02

17:58

4.2

Sat 02

07:02

4.2

Mon 02

08:01

4.5

Thu 02

09:58

5.0

Sun 03

18:55

4.3

Wed 03

07:27

4.1

Thu 03

06:25

4.2

Sun 03

08:40

4.4

Tue 03

09:21

4.8

Fri 03

11:00

5.3

Mon 04

07:21

4.3

Thu 04

08:47

4.2

Fri 04

07:52

4.1

Mon 04

09:57

4.7

Wed 04

10:27

5.1

Sat 04

11:55

5.4

Tue 05

08:29

4.3

Fri 05

10:00

4.4

Sat 05

09:21

4.3

Tue 05

10:58

5.1

Thu 05

11:24

5.4

Sun 05

12:48

5.5

Wed 06

09:36

4.4

Sat 06

11:00

4.7

Sun 06

10:31

4.7

Wed 06

11:51

5.4

Fri 06

12:16

5.5

Mon 06

13:35

5.6

Thu 07

10:36

4.7

Sun 07

11:52

5.0

Mon 07

11:28

5.0

Thu 07

12:40

5.6

Sat 07

13:06

5.7

Tue 07

14:08

5.5

Fri 08

11:28

4.9

Mon 08

12:40

5.3

Tue 08

12:18

5.3

Fri 08

13:28

5.7

Sun 08

13:50

5.7

Wed 08

15:01

5.4

Sat 09

12:15

5.1

Tue 09

13:26

5.5

Wed 09

13:06

5.6

Sat 09

14:08

5.7

Mon 09

14:33

5.6

Thu 09

15:42

5.3

Sun 10

13:00

5.3

Wed 10

14:06

5.7

Thu 10

13:48

5.7

Sun 10

14:50

5.6

Tue 10

15:15

5.4

Fri 10

16:25

5.0

Mon 11

13:41

5.5

Thu 11

14:47

5.7

Fri 11

14:29

5.7

Mon 11

15:33

5.4

Wed 11

15:59

5.2

Sat 11

17:11

4.8

Tue 12

14:20

5.6

Fri 12

15:28

5.6

Sat 12

15:10

5.6

Tue 12

16:16

5.1

Thu 12

16:46

4.9

Sun 12

18:00

4.6

Wed 13

15:00

5.5

Sat 13

16:09

5.3

Sun 13

15:52

5.4

Wed 13

17:04

4.8

Fri 13

17:38

4.6

Mon 13

06:35

4.5

Thu 14

15:42

5.4

Sun 14

16:54

5.1

Mon 14

16:35

5.1

Thu 14

18:01

4.5

Sat 14

06:10

4.6

Tue 14

07:38

4.4

Fri 15

16:24

5.3

Mon 15

17:44

4.8

Tue 15

17:24

4.8

Fri 15

06:36

4.6

Sun 15

07:19

4.5

Wed 15

08:46

4.5

Sat 16

17:12

5.0

Tue 16

06:04

4.9

Wed 16

18:23

4.4

Sat 16

08:00

4.5

Mon 16

08:36

4.5

Thu 16

09:49

4.6

Sun 17

18:06

4.8

Wed 17

07:17

4.6

Thu 17

06:56

4.5

Sun 17

09:22

4.6

Tue 17

09:45

4.6

Fri 17

10:44

4.7

Mon 18

06:26

4.9

Thu 18

08:49

4.5

Fri 18

08:30

4.5

Mon 18

10:28

4.8

Wed 18

10:39

4.8

Sat 18

11:30

4.9

Tue 19

07:43

4.7

Fri 19

10:09

4.7

Sat 19

09:52

4.6

Tue 19

11:18

4.9

Thu 19

11:24

4.9

Sun 19

12:12

5.0

Wed 20

09:07

4.7

Sat 20

11:14

4.9

Sun 20

10:58

4.9

Wed 20

12:00

5.0

Fri 20

12:04

5.0

Mon 20

12:52

5.1

Thu 21

10:20

4.9

Sun 21

12:06

5.1

Mon 21

11:47

5.0

Thu 21

12:36

5.1

Sat 21

12:40

5.1

Tue 21

13:30

5.2

Fri 22

11:22

5.1

Mon 22

12:50

5.2

Tue 22

12:29

5.1

Fri 22

13:10

5.1

Sun 22

13:16

5.2

Wed 22

14:06

5.3

Sat 23

12:16

5.2

Tue 23

13:27

5.2

Wed 23

13:05

5.1

Sat 23

13:40

5.2

Mon 23

13:47

5.2

Thu 23

14:41

5.3

Sun 24

13:03

5.3

Wed 24

13:59

5.2

Thu 24

13:36

5.2

Sun 24

14:08

5.2

Tue 24

14:20

5.2

Fri 24

15:18

5.2

Mon 25

13:41

5.4

Thu 25

14:30

5.2

Fri 25

14:06

5.2

Mon 25

14:38

5.1

Wed 25

14:52

5.1

Sat 25

15:55

5.1

Tue 26

14:18

5.3

Fri 26

15:01

5.1

Sat 26

14:34

5.1

Tue 26

15:08

5.0

Thu 26

15:27

5.0

Sun 26

16:37

5.0

Wed 27

14:53

5.2

Sat 27

15:29

5.0

Sun 27

15:02

5.0

Wed 27

15:41

4.9

Fri 27

16:05

4.9

Mon 27

17:24

5.0

Thu 28

15:27

5.1

Sun 28

15:58

4.8

Mon 28

15:30

4.9

Thu 28

16:17

4.7

Sat 28

16:49

4.8

Tue 28

18:19

4.9

Fri 29

15:59

4.9

Mon 29

16:30

4.6

Tue 29

16:01

4.8

Fri 29

17:02

4.5

Sun 29

17:41

4.7

Wed 29

06:59

4.8

Sat 30

16:33

4.7

Wed 30

16:37

4.6

Sat 30

17:59

4.4

Mon 30

06:14

4.7

Thu 30

08:17

4.8

Sun 31

17:10

4.5

Thu 31

17:23

4.4

Tue 31

07:29

4.7

July

August

September

October

November

December

Fri 01

09:33

4.9

Mon 01

11:32

5.1

Thu 01

12:54

5.4

Sat 01

13:06

5.4

Tue 01

13:38

5.4

Thu 01

13:47

5.3

Sat 02

10:42

5.1

Tue 02

12:24

5.3

Fri 02

13:31

5.5

Sun 02

13:36

5.5

Wed 02

14:08

5.4

Fri 02

14:19

5.3

Sun 03

11:40

5.2

Wed 03

13:12

5.4

Sat 03

14:03

5.5

Mon 03

14:05

5.5

Thu 03

14:38

5.3

Sat 03

14:51

5.2

Mon 04

12:35

5.4

Thu 04

13:50

5.5

Sun 04

14:34

5.5

Tue 04

14:34

5.4

Fri 04

15:09

5.1

Sun 04

15:26

5.1

Tue 05

13:23

5.5

Fri 05

14:26

5.5

Mon 05

15:03

5.4

Wed 05

15:03

5.3

Sat 05

15:42

5.0

Mon 05

16:04

5.0

Wed 06

14:05

5.5

Sat 06

15:01

5.5

Tue 06

15:33

5.2

Thu 06

15:33

5.1

Sun 06

16:19

4.8

Tue 06

16:48

4.9

Thu 07

14:45

5.5

Sun 07

15:33

5.3

Wed 07

16:04

5.0

Fri 07

16:05

4.9

Mon 07

17:04

4.7

Wed 07

17:40

4.8

Fri 08

15:24

5.4

Mon 08

16:06

5.2

Thu 08

16:37

4.8

Sat 08

16:42

4.7

Tue 08

18:03

4.5

Thu 08

18:43

4.7

Sat 09

16:02

5.2

Tue 09

16:41

5.0

Fri 09

17:18

4.5

Sun 09

17:29

4.4

Wed 09

06:34

4.4

Fri 09

07:14

4.6

Sun 10

16:40

5.0

Wed 10

17:20

4.7

Sat 10

18:13

4.3

Mon 10

18:36

4.3

Thu 10

07:59

4.5

Sat 10

08:33

4.8

Mon 11

17:21

4.8

Thu 11

18:09

4.5

Sun 11

06:50

4.2

Tue 11

07:21

4.2

Fri 11

09:16

4.8

Sun 11

09:46

5.0

Tue 12

18:08

4.6

Fri 12

06:43

4.3

Mon 12

08:17

4.2

Wed 12

08:49

4.4

Sat 12

10:20

5.1

Mon 12

10:49

5.3

Wed 13

06:40

4.4

Sat 13

07:53

4.2

Tue 13

09:36

4.5

Thu 13

10:00

4.8

Sun 13

11:16

5.5

Tue 13

11:46

5.6

Thu 14

07:42

4.3

Sun 14

09:07

4.4

Wed 14

10:41

4.8

Fri 14

10:57

5.1

Mon 14

12:07

5.7

Wed 14

12:38

5.8

Fri 15

08:49

4.4

Mon 15

10:18

4.6

Thu 15

11:33

5.1

Sat 15

11:48

5.5

Tue 15

12:57

5.9

Thu 15

13:28

5.9

Sat 16

09:57

4.5

Tue 16

11:15

4.9

Fri 16

12:20

5.4

Sun 16

12:36

5.7

Wed 16

13:42

6.0

Fri 16

14:12

5.9

Sun 17

10:54

4.8

Wed 17

12:04

5.1

Sat 17

13:06

5.7

Mon 17

13:22

5.9

Thu 17

14:26

6.0

Sat 17

14:57

5.7

Mon 18

11:45

5.0

Thu 18

12:49

5.4

Sun 18

13:45

5.8

Tue 18

14:02

6.0

Fri 18

15:10

5.8

Sun 18

15:42

5.5

Tue 19

12:30

5.1

Fri 19

13:31

5.6

Mon 19

14:24

5.9

Wed 19

14:43

6.0

Sat 19

15:55

5.5

Mon 19

16:28

5.2

Wed 20

13:13

5.3

Sat 20

14:09

5.7

Tue 20

15:03

5.9

Thu 20

15:26

5.8

Sun 20

16:47

5.1

Tue 20

17:18

4.9

Thu 21

13:51

5.0

Sun 21

14:48

5.7

Wed 21

15:43

5.7

Fri 21

16:10

5.5

Mon 21

17:45

4.8

Wed 21

18:11

4.6

Fri 22

14:28

5.5

Mon 22

15:25

5.7

Thu 22

16:26

5.5

Sat 22

17:02

5.1

Tue 22

18:51

4.7

Thu 22

06:31

4.5

Sat 23

15:05

5.5

Tue 23

16:04

5.6

Fri 23

17:16

5.1

Sun 23

18:07

4.8

Wed 23

07:23

4.5

Fri 23

07:38

4.4

Sun 24

15:43

5.4

Wed 24

16:46

5.4

Sat 24

18:23

4.8

Mon 24

19:27

4.7

Thu 24

08:40

4.5

Sat 24

08:49

4.4

Mon 25

16:22

5.3

Thu 25

17:34

5.1

Sun 25

19:50

4.7

Tue 25

08:07

4.5

Fri 25

09:46

4.7

Sun 25

09:53

4.5

Tue 26

17:05

5.2

Fri 26

18:37

4.9

Mon 26

08:39

4.5

Wed 26

09:26

4.7

Sat 26

10:39

4.9

Mon 26

10:46

4.7

Wed 27

17:56

5.1

Sat 27

07:28

4.5

Tue 27

09:58

4.8

Thu 27

10:28

4.9

Sun 27

11:24

5.0

Tue 27

11:32

4.9

Thu 28

06:35

4.8

Sun 28

08:59

4.6

Wed 28

10:59

5.0

Fri 28

11:17

5.1

Mon 28

12:03

5.1

Wed 28

12:14

5.0

Fri 29

07:50

4.7

Mon 29

10:18

4.8

Thu 29

11:48

5.2

Sat 29

11:59

5.2

Tue 29

12:39

5.2

Thu 29

12:54

5.1

Sat 30

09:14

4.7

Tue 30

11:19

5.1

Fri 30

12:30

5.3

Sun 30

12:35

5.3

Wed 30

13:15

5.3

Fri 30

13:30

5.2

Sun 31

10:29

4.9

Wed 31

12:10

5.3

Mon 31

13:08

5.4

Sat 31

14:05

5.3

Highlighting bands are at 3'0", 4'6" and 5'6" draught and err on the side of caution

The lightest blue is the 3' band and as you can see Erbas, or a boat with similar draught, is rarely neaped (unable to get in or out of the berth). Some months we wouldn't be neaped at all and at worse it's only for two or three days a month

Move up to around 4'6", the medium blue band, and we inevitably get neaped a lot more often. Twice a month and for periods of up to a week in fact. That's tolerable as we are rarely if ever inclined to go out for a sail on a whim. If we know we want to go out or come back during the period that we'd be neaped we can move off the berth onto the river pontoon or a spare mooring or do the same in reverse coming back

At 5'6" the scenario gets somewhat worse. It knocks a day off either side of on week where we can access the berth but it's the other window of access during the lower of the two tide cycles each month that really takes a hammering. There are times in the spring especially when we would be unable to get on or off for ten or eleven days at a time and then we'd only have a narrow window of opportunity

And this of course presupposes that the tides weren't suppressed by high atmospheric pressure etc. It is not unknown for the tides to be considerably lower than predicted

It could be managed but it isn't ideal so we really need to consider the draught of Bigger Boat closely and anything over 4'6" has to be so perfect in every other respect as to outweigh the drawbacks of being neaped for nearly a fortnight at a time (or worse)

Fixing and fettling

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

Into the autumn

And actually the weather has, if anything, taken a bit of a turn for the better.

But not enough to get excited about!

This past week has seen me back aboard in work mode for most of the week. Three successive days in Limehouse was a bit wearing due to the long days what with the commute back and forwards each day. However, I deliberately wanted to see how good, bad or indifferent the commute is depending on departure times and I've now worked out a cunning plan which avoids the worst of the traffic.

That said, avoiding the 40 mile each way commute if I'm working in Limehouse on successive days is highly desirable and whilst I've got friends and customers who'll put me up it needs arranging and means my time is a bit less flexible if I've made those arrangements. With a lot of work coming up in Limehouse over the next few weeks and months, I decided to join the Cruising Association which, as well as the benefits of membership as a yachtsman, gives me access to their facilities at Limehouse which include a bar, overnight accommodation and car parking.

So having gone from being the members of no clubs at all, Jane and I are now the members of two clubs! (North Fambridge Yacht Club and The Cruising Association). Keep this up and we'll need a taller mast to fly all the burgees (which we haven't got, you have to buy those seperately!)

With the current Limehouse job on hold until the plumber has been in to do his stuff, I spent a couple of days dealing with some odds and ends jobs around Fambridge and catching up on some maintenance on Erbas

Saturday morning was greatly enlivened by a visit from the former owners of Erbas, Roger and Jude. They owned Erbas for some 16 years until they sold her to the couple we bought her from. It was a very pleasant couple of hours on board over coffee, learning a lot about the boats history in their ownership. The initial purpose of the visit, planned while Roger and Jude were away on their boat in Belgium, had been to bring down the original teak saloon table which Roger had thought was in their garage but it turned out to be nowhere to be found. It must have gone walkabout at some point but it was a minor disappointment

Both Roger and I remain curious about the correct date of build and commissioning of Erbas and Roger, prompted by reading my article on the subject hereabouts, has emailed the Register of Shipping to try and discover when she was first registered on the Part 1 register (Roger, sensibly, moved her onto the Part III Small Ships Register shortly after buying her thus avoiding the onerous paperwork involved in transferring a Part I registration). It will be interesting, if rather academic, to see what comes back on that.

Another little task completed was to remove the old mooring lines, which are about shot, and replace them with the new ones. I immediately regretted being miserly and wished I'd bought 14mm lines, or even possibly 16mm, instead of 12mm. There was quite a price difference but the 12mm lines look rather thin. However, they're rated and recommended for a boat the size of Erbas so I'm sure they'll be fine.

In the process, I fitted rubber snubbers to both bow lines and the stern line. Although this now allows her to slip a few inches away from the pontoon when she dries out, it means she's much more snug and there's much less strain on the deck fittings when the tide is in.

However, we are totally reliant on a single spring line preventing her moving forwards and into the main hammerhead. The hammerhead handrail is a particular concern as the pulpit rail could hit it or even get caught up under it. I'm considering securing a vertical plank to the handrail in the right place to prevent a hang up but the only way to double up the spring, short of fitting a whole lot of extra fairleads and cleats (which would not be simple) is to sort out the means of running a stern line out to a buoy or anchor

The buoys laid to sinkers that are out there in the mud are not in positions that are usable for our purposes and whilst I could get one moved I'm far from convinced of the effectiveness of the sinkers which, when you get right down to it, don't sink when the pull is continuously from one direction (when used for a swinging mooring, the change in direction of pull with each turn of the tide will work the sinker down into the mud)

However, I have a cunning plan. We've got a big plough type anchor that we were given by a friend some time ago which is too big for the bow roller on Erbas. However, it's perfect for the purposes of laying an anchor and chain off the end of the finger pontoon to which we can secure a stern line. All we need is a few metres of chain but I baulked at the price at the local chandlers given that I can buy what I need on-line for half the money! So that's a job to be completed on my or our next spare day on board.

It'll only be a few days and I'll be aboard yet again. The engine needs it's annual service, there's a lot of routine woodwork maintenance to catch up on and at some point in the not too distant future the decks need a fresh coat of paint. That job though, will likely wait until the spring.

Mud and ropes

No, it's not some new kinky fetish!

Had a day to spare today waiting for parts to arrive on the current job in Limehouse so it was back on with the waders this morning to tidy up a bit where we dug the berth out the other week

I particularly wanted to shift the paving slabs stacked under the finger pontoon on the uphill side to avoid the possibility of them sliding back into the hole and having to be dug out again!

That done, and after a wash down, I headed off to Tescos in Maldon in search of supplies. I went to Tescos as I could really do with a couple of pairs of trousers for work but, of course, they didn't have my size in stock. Hey ho. Whilst there I stocked up on tinned meals for one and partially replenished the No. Beer Hold.

A visit to the chandlers failed to procure a set of mooring lines of which more anon ...

Back aboard, I'd intended to do a bit more teak oiling this afternoon but the rain stopped play. I needed the hatch open for ventilation in order to put another coat of oil on the forecabin woodwork, which it could do with, and that wasn't happening after the sun did a disappearing act and the rain came hammering down

I generally pottered about below decks doing odds and sods and suddenly found it was tea time!

After dining upon a fine feast out of a tin (Mixed Grill Baked Beans if you must now, went down a treat) I set about deciding what to do about our increasingly decrepit mooring warps.

We lost one of the set of four within weeks of buying Erbas when she went walkabout and the warp went a.w.o.l. during the recovery of her off the mud. A second line has now lost its cover and a third is badly chaffed. Time for new lines but what to buy? In the end, I settled on a pre-spliced set of four 12mm 3 strand polyester lines from Jimmy Green Marine and a couple of extra rubber snubbers.

Funny old day really!

Not the Late Summer Cruise - catchup

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