Bling, Ker-Ching and Where To Go...

Whilst going tidal over the Easter period, we discovered the Eltrim Trim Tab controller wasn't working on the green button. After a bit of investigation, and finding out a new replacement unit would cost around £300, we opted instead for a £49.99 repair or refund of money paid if unfixable. After paying the fee upfront on mdsbattery.co.uk ebay's store, we posted the controller off to their works in Enfield last Monday via the post office using their special signed following day delivery. We advised that the green button wasn't working correctly, and that the two white buttons didn't seem as positive as the red (which was still working fine). The repaired controller was returned back to us on Wednesday via UPS, with all four buttons replaced and resoldered leds. The unit has now been refitted and tested, and is back to full working order. Money very well spent.

Apart from refitting the trim tabs controller, one small job which has been in the pipeline has been to make a nicer more aesthetically pleasing light switch surround. The old original surround was matching cream vinyl on a wooden mount, however the rounded corners always looked creased and a bit agriculturally finished off. From the bathroom worktop project we completed over the winter, we had plenty of black Staron left over, and thought a small offcut of this would be perfect for the job. This looks a lot tidier now, and matches the black perspex sliding entrance door with an added bit of sparkle/bling.


With Mayday bank holiday weekend upon us, we were very much undecided where to go. We didn't want to go back to Hull after only having visited there recently, and we had been debating whether to visit Barnby on the Marsh. However Saturdays forecasted blustery conditions and spring tides put paid to that idea, plus the fact it would be nicer to visit on a sunnier weekend. So instead we opted for a cheap weekend trundling up the canal to a very quiet Pollington, with plenty of dog walking and relaxation to look forward to, however Sundays quieter weather brought boats out in full force.


This weekend we have also noticed that our marine compass has been leaking and not working properly, and the starter batteries now need replacing....Ker-Ching! Not such a cheap weekend now it seems.

Not So Much Of A Safe Haven

We had a good week visiting Lincoln and Hull in the week leading up to the Easter weekend. Moonshine ran well and we had a very enjoyable break, until yet another yacht ran into us at Hull Marina, damaging our bow roller and bending the release pin. The weather was unbelievably calm, however the unseasoned skipper of yacht 'Swallow' decided to moor in his allocated berth opposite ours bows first, whilst not keeping a watchful eye on what his stern was doing! How wrong were we to assume we were in a safe haven. We immediately contacted the duty lock keeper for him to log the incident, and we followed this up with an email requesting Hull Marina confirm this had been done...however no email was returned to us...

Peter rectified the damage by returning to the boat on Easter Monday and successfully managed to straighten the bow roller out. However, rather disappointingly the yachtsman from Grimsby and Cleethorpes Yacht Club, has yet to contact us as promised one week on. I have told Peter to contact him requesting his insurance details to put the 'shitters' up him! It also begs the question had we not witnessed the impact, would he have admitted liability...we think NOT! Bloody infuriating with the inconvenience of it all, but it is sorted now, and it is probably a good job that it is quite soft metal to bear the brunt of any impact, as opposed to damaging the anchor, winch or glass fibre.
Prior to our holiday we did purchase a 24" LG tv (non smart) from Amazon, which fit perfectly on our bulkhead bracket. We haven't had much use from it yet, since it has been hooked up to the Xbox over Easter courtesy of a gaming mad teenager. Whilst in Lincoln, the tv signal was non existent due to the high rise university buildings, which in turn infuriated Peter as he does like both the national and local tv weather to compare everything tally's with the internet weather before either going out on  the river or to sea. After further investigation and recommendation, we purchased upon our return home an SLX Digidome outdoor digital aerial from Amazon for £29.99.


Saturday was mostly spent installing the mushroom aerial, with several hours spent with Peter in the 'bosom' of his engine room feeding coaxial wire through tight spaces.
It appears to give very good reception with a lot more channels being received than our old aerial, however it's real test will be when we return to a weak signal area.

'Flogging A Dead Horse'

Since Moonshine's saloon is looking nice and tidy with her new upholstery, we decided it was time to remove all the curtains for washing. We only got as far as removing one in the forward cabin, and realised we were 'flogging a dead horse' with this, as all the lining material was badly mildew stained. The existing curtains have been removed several times in our ownership for washing of which we are pretty sure they are original, and had been re-hung randomly with not realising that they had different drops. After measuring them all correctly, we decided that purchasing some ready made curtains from Dunelm for £55 to utilize the fabric would be the best and cheapest option, and with enough fabric left over for potential mishaps and for making additional tie-backs. In addition 10 meters of 1" white heading tape, 3 meters of 3 pass ivory thermal black out lining material and anti snag branded Velcro was purchased from eBay for approx £16 (the attached curtain lining of the new ready made curtains was a silky material which we didn't like as this was in my opinion too thin). Both the sewing machine and the overlocker have done sterling service over the last week, and the end result is pretty good. We may end up regretting using the thicker blackout material as this bulks the top of the curtains where they are gathered, but this will become more transparent once they have properly relaxed.

The forward cabin curtains have not yet been hung, as we are making a pair of curtain rail stand off's out of hardwood, which need multiple coats of paint. These will compensate for the flare of the hull sides to ensure they don't touch the port lights to minimise transfer of condensation.

We have also made some cardboard templates for both a 24" and 28" LG tv for the boat, to be sited on the heads bulkhead in the saloon to replace our existing dated 19" combi dvd/tv. These will be offered up next weekend to see which is the better size for the space available. Obviously Peter is protesting as he likes his old tv, and would rather put the money towards a new dingy or replace a turbo etc, but he has been given the hard line that he needs to keep his crew happy!

Easter is now fast approaching, and we are looking forward to less work and more play!

Short Cut

This weekend and with no work commitments we were looking forward to enjoying a full weekend aboard Moonshine with her new upholstery.
Since the weather was settled and unseasonably mild, we ventured up the canal to Pollington on Saturday morning. Passing no other craft we moored on the CRT moorings low side of the lock.
The dogs had a decent circular walk around the village upon our arrival, and we decided to work our way across to Sykehouse for our afternoon walk. This involved cutting across the lock and running back down the opposite side of the canal bank to Crowcroft Bridge, where we headed along the farm path in the direction of Sykehouse. You can then pick up the public footpath that cuts across the fields in a zigzag to Topham which is an annexe of Sykehouse village. This gave the dogs a really good walk, and we discovered on the return trip (we could see Moonshine was only a stones throw away) a short cut which brings you out opposite the moorings and swing bridge, making this dog walk a good option during fishing season, as it's a bit of a battle getting three unruly terriers past them and their tackle.

So the ongoing bathroom refurbishment is complete now. Peter visited Moonshine during the week, and fitted the new flooring piece which was left to bond weighted down for a few days. It is an excellent fit and looks really good and really completes the look.
We are now looking forward to Moonshine being lifted out for three weeks this Friday at Goole Boathouse. We have all the paint, bellows and anodes etc which have been recently ordered and delivered, and we hope there will be nothing untoward when lifted.

No More Bottoming Out

Since purchasing Moonshine, she has been dogged with pronounced brown staining on her forward coach roof and side decks which had gotten progressively worse over recent months. 
Numerous expensive (both marine and non marine) products have been used to eradicate this staining to little avail. However, after trolling through the internet for remedies we have discovered a 'miracle cure' in Oxalic Acid powder, purchased from Ebay for less than £10. The trick is to NOT follow the manufacturers instructions as this didn't work very well, but to mix a strong solution with wallpaper paste to a nice thick consistency which will not in turn evaporate, and apply with a paint brush on a nice calm cool day. The solution was left for a few hours, and then washed off. It is imperative this solution is NOT allowed to dry, as this would then become difficult to remove.

The staining lifts off into the glue solution, and Moonshine is once again a gleaming example of a Seawings 355.





We have now received our new saloon upholstery back from Marine and Industrial Covers Lincoln, in the requested Buff Ultra Leather. Apart from the colour contrast, the new foam in the base seat cushions makes the seating a lot more comfortable than the old, so no more bottoming out, and she looks pretty smart to.



In addition to the work already undertaken in the bathroom area (see previous blog) we decided to use some left over teak and holly laminate flooring (left over from the saloon a few years ago) for the very small floor area forward of the shower to improve the look further. This was templated up last week and we are just waiting for all the glue to set at home prior to installation next week. Being the sad cases that we are, whenever a Seawings comes on the sale market we always save the photos and sale description for future reference,thus enabling us to utilize ideas from different vessels as every boat built had slight differences. Some of which we have implemented such as adding a port light in the rear cabin for additional ventilation from the wheelhouse. We think most of the newer versions of the 355 had the teak and holly on the bathroom floor, but we were only able to track down one photo where the wide angled lens had gotton most of the small bathroom area in shot. From this we were able to judge how successful it would be to replicate this ourselves. Obviously it has to be done correctly whilst upholding our Seawings integrity, as once it is bonded to the fibreglass floor there is certainly no going back...

A Winter's Project

A small ish project we have had in mind for a while now, has been to 'lift' the appearance in Moonshine's bathroom. On the newer Seawings 355's Corian type worktop was fitted to both the galley and bathroom top surfaces, however the older models had removable wooden galley worktops (which still works well for us and our needs), but with plain white fibre glass in the bathroom area which often looks cold and clinical.


After much investigation and knowing supply was limited for a small offcut of Corian (manufacturers only want to supply authorized installers which makes DIY projects like ours difficult), Peter made contact with a chap in Dartford, Kent and made the return trip to purchase half a sheet of 'Staron' Metallic Gallaxy for £40, one dull cold Saturday between Christmas and the New Year.


After making cardboard templates to get the measurements correct, a wooden rigid template was then made to work from.


A nice product to work with, which has enhanced  the look and made the bathroom more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. A decent overhang and bevelled edge complements the finish perfectly.


To finish the bathroom off we are now thinking about using some Teak and Holly laminate offcut (left over from the saloon flooring project a few years ago), to cover the small non slip area on the floor in front of the wash basin. Again, the newer Seawings had this done, and would finish this area off nicely at very little cost.


After nearly three months of not being able to use Moonshine due to her saloon seating being sent away for reupholstery, we are looking forward to this being completed within the next few weeks. New curtains may have to be made in the spring, but this will be an 'in house' project so shouldn't cost too much.

'The Tow'

We had a good run from Goole to Hull Marina on Saturday morning. The river was fairly calm considering the NW f4, with the breeze blowing off the north shore.

Upon arriving at the visitors pontoon, it was a tight squeeze to get moored up as a vessel had moored inconsiderately and and was wandering about in the wind as it wasn't tied up properly. 

We had two evenings at Hull before heading for the Trent.



 We had a fantastic fast run from Hull to the Apex on Monday morning, where we slowed down to displacement speed to pass a Seamaster.
After passing this vessel, we followed a course of 152° to clear Island sand for the leading marks and intended to resume planing speed once again. It was then we heard said vessel put a mayday call out to VTS Humber, as he had lost power and had initially thought it was on fire. Fortunately it was just steam from an over heating engine. We promptly got him under tow, mindful of the coaster 'Dornum' which was entering the River Trent, so he wasn't a hazard. Once he was settled under tow, we contacted VTS to request assistance from Humber Rescue. We kept close to the west side while the coaster overtook, and then we rounded up and stemmed the tide whilst the coaster rounded up to moor at Grove Wharf. We ended up towing him to Keadby, where Humber Rescue arrived to resume the tow into Keadby Lock.
Once he was safe, we continued our passage to Torksey. At this stage we were at high water, so got very little help from the tide, but at least we had loads of depth.
We eventually made Torksey about an hour and a half after our estimated time of arrival. After a well earned dog walk for the hounds we continued onto Saxilby for the evening.





Tuesday morning we had a steady run into Lincoln, mooring on the new Brayford Trust visitor moorings for two nights. When visiting Lincoln we have always moored on the CRT visitor moorings, and use the generator to top up the batteries and water heating etc. However, to save us the hassle, noise and cost of petrol we thought £15 per night was a small price to pay to stay on nice new clean moorings with a lovely view of the pool. During busy periods it would be prudent to book ahead to secure a berth, however at this time of year the moorings were empty since half term has ended for Lincolnshire.

Wednesday morning after putting the reserved sign on our mooring, we had an early frosty start heading down to Burton Waters for our prearranged appointment with the resident upholsterer to discuss reupholstering the saloon seating which is on its last legs. Unfortunately, he wasn't around as planned, but we left with some Ultraleather fabric samples to offer up, and arranged to return the following day.  Neither of us are any good with colours, and obviously with high cost implications we didn't want to make a poor choice. After looking at other boats online of a similar era, and after already changing our mind several times on a colour we eventually decided on a contrasting buff colour against our existing ivory headlining.

On Thursday after a bit of food shopping, and after an especially noisy long night of Uni students celebrating Halloween, we set off once again to Burton Waters hoping to see the upholsterer. This time we were in luck, and he patterned the base cushions up to ensure a better fit than the existing cushions. After much debate we have chosen the buff colour and are certain this will suit the saloon and contrast nicely with the side linings.  The Ultraleather fabric we have chosen is a synthetic hard wearing fabric which mimics leather both in looks and texture. The existing cushions are still the original genuine leather, but have worn extremely thin and are scruffy with the foam very soft, so much so that they don't sit properly anymore. To say Moonshine was built in 1996, they haven't done too bad. Now we just have to wait for a quote, and if all is in order we will drop our cushions off at their work shop next week for work to commence.
After a constructive morning, we moved off back down to Torksey for our tidal trip back to Goole the following day.

We departed Torksey just after 9am on a frosty Friday morning and ran down river on the ebb hoping to meet the flood in the Keadby area at displacement speed.  We had to be very careful as the river was very low especially at Marton Bend, the lowest we have seen it in a long time. We also encountered a sunken boat at the downstream end of Knaith Rack, which must have been completely submerged on our way up earlier on in the week as we did not notice it, and it looks as if it has been there for some time. Clearly nobody is in any rush to remove this hazard. After meeting the flood at East Butterwick, we soon had enough water to commence planing.  The river was pretty clear of debris, and we arrived at Ocean Lock Goole in good time receiving good service from the dock master.

We have had a good week away and have been very lucky with the weather, despite the cold and wet weather last weekend. Moonshine has run well, with continuous use of the heater, and hopefully we will soon have the upholstery works in motion to tidy her up a bit more.