Shopping!

Online of course, perish the thought of actually doing it in person!

I actually did most of the shopping yesterday and the first of the orders has already been delivered this morning!

That's three selection sets comprising a bunch of stainless nuts, bolts and washers, a second compartment box of countersunk and round headed self tapping screws and a third box of assorted aluminium rivets

The stainless stuff is all A2 stainless which is readily available and reasonably cheap. Ideally, aboard a boat, we'd use A4 stainless which has better resistance to salt water corrosion. However, no prizes for guessing that A4 is significantly more expensive

Now below the waterline I wouldn't even consider using A2 and I'd prefer to avoid using it on deck as well. However, below decks A2 will do just fine. As the primary purpose of these selection boxes is a stock of stuff to deal with unexepected repairs, planned work can use nuts and bolts etc ordered up from the swindlers, sorry chandlers, specifically for the job

The same applies with the rivets. Monel rivets are preferred in marine applications and are definitely recommended if your rivetting stainless parts to aluminium spars but they're stonkingly expensive and only available from specialist suppliers. If we have to use ally rivets as a temporary repair and then replace them with Monel later so be it as we're talking £6.99 compared to £49.99!

That little lot came from Screwfix, the next order was to Seamark Nunn (whose prices are now back below the competition after a spell last year where my business crept away from them). The main part of the order is a sump pump for the sink drains. As I've previously mentioned the current setup involves a pump fitted under the head of the starboard v-berth which has to be manually operated using a button in the forward cabin. It's a pain in the bottom and no mistake.

This little beasty will be fitted below the cabin sole in the saloon and automatically pumps the water out of the sink drains overboard.

We think we can install it using the existing piping but just in case I've laid in a few metres of 3/4" and 1" hose plus some connectors

Also included in the order is a glass fibre kit for glassing in some mounts into the bilges which I think we'll need to do

The final part of the order had to be split between Seamark Nunn and Jimmy Green Marine. I want to make up a couple of anchor snubbers now that we'll be lying to an all chain rode more often than not. It's not a good idea to rely on the anchor windlass as the belay point for the anchor chain in anything other than calm conditions

This was never an issue on Brigantia because firstly we were always laying out at least some nylon warp as we only had 10m of chain and secondly we didn't have a windlass!

There is a chain hook aboard Erbas but it currently has about a metre of 8mm line tied to it which is rather inadequate. I plan to reuse the hook with around two to three metres of 12mm 3 strand nylon, which gives good shock absorbancy and is easy to splice, to make up a short single snubber for general purpose use in sheltered anchorages.

However, whilst I'm at it I figure I might as well sort out that aspect of the anchoring kit properly once and for all and also make up a bridle onto a chain shackle such as the widget to the right ...

Unlike the chain hook, which can fall off the chain if the tension comes off, the shackle is more secure albeit more fiddly to attach.

This I shall attach to a bridle along the lines of this setup albeit using the shackle rather than the illustrated hook.

This will also be rather longer than the single hook line as it's intended to introduce a significant degree of shock absorbancy into the anchor rode.

To that end, I needed a reasonable hank of 12mm 3 strand nylon rope and Seamarks don't stock it. It was off to Jimmy Green Marine for that and given the relative costs I decided to splash out on a 50m reel of the stuff.

What I haven't ordered is shackles and thimbles as I haven't decided what, if anything, I need in that line. There'll no doubt be a trip to the chandlers in due course

The final order, which I've been meaning to get around to for weeks, was for 24 bottles of bio-ethanol. That order will be split between our needs for the cooking stove on Erbas and the Bosun's spirit fire in his living room.

And as I type I've just recalled that I used the last of the lamp oil so I need to lay in a supply of paraffin for the cabin heater (which isn't burning that well on lamp oil it has to be said) and consider whether to buy the cleaner (and more expensive) lamp oil or just use the paraffin in the lamps.

Oh and the keen eyed reader might be wondering what's been happening with the Yachtmaster Theory course since the last update a couple of weeks ago. The answer is not a lot as I have been struggling to get enough sleep due to the disturbance caused by the several houses nearby being re-roofed. I must get back on it asap though before the momentum is totally lost!