Monday, April 06, 2009

Seasons Turn and further preparations.

Only ten days now until the first leg of our big cruise and we've been converting Herbie from winter to summer. Today we dismantled and brought home the secondary double glazing, the pram hood thingy over the rear deck and the old cratch cover which is due for disposal.

We also got the roofbox back in place. I managed to rig up a trolley so that we could get it the 150 yards from car to boat without breaking our backs, and with the kind help of Saltysplash, we lifted the box over the roof of Lady Elgar and into place on Herbie's roof. It's hard now to imagine why I thought it would be so difficult - it all went so easily. Kath has made a fitted tarpaulin cover for the box but we still need to put some eyelets in for the securing elastics.

Still lots to do before we set off, including an engine oil change and a new fanbelt. I'm also going to knock up a steerers seat. The one Rick made last year is good for passengers, but because it hangs outwards over the side of the boat, its a bit far from the tiller. My new one will basically be a thick plywood plank . Having spent ten minutes trying to find words to describe it, I have given up and offer you this crude sketch knocked up in MS Paint!The plank is the grey bit. It looks really easy, but it ain't because will follow a curved boat edge and sit on a sloping curved surface, so I have some tailoring to do. Stay tuned.

3 comments:

Eric said...

Food for thought here Neil ?

Neil Corbett said...

Blimey Eric! Some real 3D thinking gone on there. I had thought of doing soemthing similar except mine is more difficult because there are no right angles.

Eric said...

First you make it with cardboard and gaffer tape a la Pierre Bleu ;-)