Boat Projects

Browse through all posts about boat jobs and projects

Thursday morning was mass exodus day from Marina di Ragusa – the first calm weather day since Saturday. We were in the first batch of departees at 6am when the marineros came on duty and could help us and others without those new-fangled bowthruster gizmos to turn in the narrow […]

Sicily to Malta

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Whew! Doesn’t time fly when you’re working hard? April has zoomed by with lots of activity in the marina as boats prepare to leave for their summer cruising. We had a long list of get-gone jobs – transforming Emerald from her static winter state so that we can head off for our […]

A Frenzy of Get Gone Jobs

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Last summer we had to say farewell to Crazy Pony the dinghy whose glue had given up the ghost in the sun and heat. It was replaced by Crazy Horse, a slightly bigger model and this time made of hypalon fabric. Hypalon stands up much better to the sun than […]

Crazy Horse Has a New Coat

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The Headlining We were lucky last summer to not have too many breakages or things wearing out which meant when it came to winter jobs we could get on with the cosmetic jobs that are usually bumped down the never-ending job list. Back in the eons of time we decided […]

Tarting up Emerald

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We had to head back to Nidri to get some parts to try and fix the leak on our watermaker. Purity and volume were good but we had a bit of weepage out of the ends of the membrane housings. One of the retaining bands around the housings had split […]

We Are Sailing

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and we can now make some to drink! When we bought Emerald in America back in 2004, we got a bit over excited in the chandleries there as at the time the dollar to £ was almost 2 to 1. We ended up cramming Emerald with lots of goodies including […]

Water, Water Everywhere

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We’ve not had much luck with the dinghies we’ve owned. First off was the one that came with Emerald, a 3.1m Quicksilver inflatable with wooden floor. It weighed about 3 million tonnes making it a pain to haul up on beaches or onto the davits. After our 3 month trip […]

Crazy Horse and Pony Tales

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When we bought Emerald her deck and coachroof had previously been painted using Awlgrip paint. It weathered well but in the last few years had begun to look worn, scratched and faded. We have made a few epoxy repairs to the deck which had to be painted to protect the […]

Painted Lady

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The sea | the sea | the open sea | The blue, the fresh, the ever free | -”The Sea,” Bryan W. Procter. It is at last time to sit down and write Part II of the green Emerald series. This time I’ll go into detail of our solar panel […]

Emerald Green Series Part 2

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My Soul is full of longing For the secret of the sea, And the heart of the great ocean Sends a thrilling pulse through me. -”The Secret of the Sea,” Longfellow. Well hasn’t it been a while since my last blog. I do apologise, but thankfully my wonderful wife Nichola […]

Green Emerald Series Part 1

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