or even odd sods
There's a few of them around here I can tell you!
Anyway, there's a long list of jobs to be picked off as and when, some of them relatively small and cheap, others will need some planning. ...
The topsides paintwork is in a desperate state and really needs tackling this Spring. It's probably going to be a rub down and splash on a coat or two of enamel gloss for now but ideally I'd like to strip it back and do a proper job with two pack epoxy based paint. That might be a job for the future. And in that future, we might contemplate CopperCote and then we could forget antifouling for a decade or more. This year, I'll order up some Jotun Seaqueen, as recommended by the locals, which hopefully will last the season better than the cheap stuff.
There are some minor repairs needed to the cockpit coamings (both the woodwork and the GRP) and the washboards could do with replacing (probably with three sections in place of the current two). The fuel locker needs sealing from the bilges but that probably means moving the manual bilge pump from Port to Starboard which will be a nuisance.
We also urgently need to fit a decent radar reflector. It is now a legal requirement under SOLAS and the current piece of tat we've got is an unmitigated nuisance which just gets in the way whatever we do with it. So one key job this Spring is to fit an Echomax EM180 cylindrical reflector on mast brackets. Hopefully, we can sort this out with some ladder work and avoid dropping the mast.
As we're on the safety trail, I've already mentioned in an earlier post today the mods to allow the anchor to be deployed and recovered from the bow roller but I didn't get on to which anchor that might be. The venerable 20lb CQR that came with the boat has yet to let us down but it is twice as heavy as a modern pattern anchor of the same holding power. So we might either replace the CQR or retain it and add a 6kg Kobra at the bow. I'd be tempted to put a divider into the chain locker and fit a second chain pipe and run a new, lighter and longer, chain and warp rode for this anchor.
I'd also like to add a kedge anchor ready to deploy at the stern. Again, this is something of a safety issue plus a light (3kg to 4kg) Danforth style on a light but very long warp would be handy for waiting out the tide and, of course, being very light can be easily and safely deployed in a dinghy if you need to kedge off after running agound!
Talking of dinghys brings me on to the next short, medium and long term projects. A cheap small (and it would have to be small) inflatable stowed in the otherwise dead space under the cockpit floor would be a potential asset but would not, I suspect, get a massive amount of use so it isn't worth spending a fortune on it.
Our existing tender is more of a dingy than a dinghy (geddit?) and could do with some refurbishment but it serves its purpose and since it lives its life out in all weathers on the tender dock and gets bashed, battered, scratched and scraped by everybody getting their tenders on and off the dock it isn't worth fussing over it. I'm reluctant to take it away with us since leaving a hole on the dock is an invitation for somebody to pinch our spot (again) and we've got a damn good spot on the dock which I don't want to lose!
So eventually, I plan to buy or build a tidy little dinghy maybe 9' to 11' long which can be rowed, motored (with a Seagull 40 Featherweight if I ever manage to get my hands on a working one!) or sailed. I'd like to have it on a combi trailer so I can tow it home and then we can use it for excursions to local reservoirs, sheltered coastal locations beyond the range of Brigantia and, of course, as a larger and more versatile tender to Brigantia herself.
Then, when the occasion warranted, we could launch the sailing tender and tow her behind Brigantia to wherever we were going and use the little boat to explore the upper reaches and shallow bits where Brigantia cannot easily go.
Finally, I continue to keep my eyes peeled for a suitable road trailer for Brigantia. I'm not in a hurry on this one, and certainly a new trailer is right at the bottom of the shopping list, but it would be handy even if it was just used to recover and launch her into and out of the yard for winter storage (it would save us a significant amount of money and eventually pay for itself on that basis alone)
The ability to fetch her home for the winter might have its advantages (although I suspect by the time we've done spending on everything else and actually have the money for a trailer, there won't be the work to do that would justify the hassle and expense of fetching her home) but crucially it would allow us to relocate her by road for the major annual cruise.
OK, so I'd have to beg, steal, borrow or most likely (unfortunately) hire a suitable tow vehicle but that's not a show stopper. We could contemplate working our way around the UK coastline although it might take a bloomin' long time to complete a circumnavigation a fortnight at a time! More likely, we'd cherry pick the really nice bits and skip the long passages and dangerous headlands!
Well, that's about it for the long term plans. All sorted then.
Ah, well what about the coming season? Sorry, there's going to have to be a Part V!
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