Spend, Spend, Spend!!!

This coming year provided we are blessed with good weather as we were last year, we intend on venturing beyond Dover.  Having the dogs on board we don't like each sea passage to exceed 4 or 5 hours, and we envisage to make the trip to Dover in 3 days. Beyond here we needed new charts, so the Admiralty Chichester to Ramsgate charts were purchased from Marine Superstore along with antifoul paint for our forthcoming lift out just after Easter. If things don't go to plan with the weather, then we always have our fall back plan...Norfolk Broads.

 

With our sea plans in mind we thought it prudent to assess the flares we carry on board.  The last flares we purchased were for Luro, and along with any we inherited with the purchase of Luro and now Moonshine these were all out of date.  These have now been taken home and will be safely disposed of when we have time to deal with them, however a new Coastal Flare Pack was purchased from http://www.safety-marine.co.uk/distress-flares/p3201s11/ikaros-coastal-distress-flare-pack.htm and with a shelf life of 3 years perhaps we should be mindful in future not to leave our safety equipment including our life jackets unchecked.

We have noticed a slight squeak from the starboard engine compressor belt tensioner, so we thought it prudent to replace this before it failed in service.  The old pulley was checked and rotated freely so it will be carried as an emergency spare as we have 4 of these over the 2 engines. 

A new set of duo prop anodes were also purchased ready for our annual lift out next month.

 

As Peter had some spare time this last week, he took the opportunity to go to HITEK in Scunthorpe to buy 10 litres of descaler for removing salt, calcium and any other blockages from the raw water cooling system. https://www.hitek-ltd.co.uk/dynamic_descaler  This product does the same job as Ridlyme, but this was available locally.

 

With nice Spring weather this weekend, we took a trip up the canal and moored at one of our favourite spots Sykehouse Lift Bridge and enjoyed our 1st bbq of the year.  After the rainfall of the previous week the River Went is still in flood and the expanse of flood water looking very impressive indeed.