I’ve been hard at it again today, well, at least after a lazy morning but it is Sunday, so I’ll let myself off.

Steve popped down to the boat yard to give me some books, then ended up being roped into helping me get the mast up. I’m glad that’s done now. I’ve got my cockpit back and I can start on fitting the new instruments now.

My new switch panel

The picture above is my new switch panel. I made the front cover out of GRP, and Steve gave me free use of his workshop (and wood) to make the frame. This will house all Kudu’s electrics, as well as the new Nasa battery monitor.

I’ve filled the hole where the old seacock was, and sanded it back, so it’s ready for a final gel coat tomorrow. The other day, Steve came down and fitted the new bow roller. What a pain in the backside that job was. I had to get into the anchor locker on Kudu, and that’s not a very nice place. There’s no ventilation, and it’s tiny, and very hot. I contorted and stretched until I could get my hand up to the forward most bolts on the roller, and get the washers and nuts on. I then clamped then with the mould grips and Steve screwed from the outside. Since I took this picture I have finished the bow off with a rather fetch “Rescue Orange”.

New bow roller

That is one substantial bit of kit! The whole metal work and engineering theory is fascinating, and I keep finding myself popping across town to the Kiss Works workshop, and pestering Steve with questions. How does that work? What’s that do? etc. He was making a pushpit today, and I couldn’t resist to opportunity to watch the welding, since I’ve never seen anything being welded before. I mean, I’ve been under cars with oxyacetylene torches before, but I’ve never seen a TIG welder in action. I grabbed a spare welders mask, and watched on, as the green screen turned to black as soon as it detected the piercing white light. You still can’t really see anything though, just a white light.

Nath the Welder... although, maybe not. I was just watching.

Kudu is coming back together though. Not long now, and when she’s finished I’ll be happy in the knowledge that she’s totally safe and ready for the rest of the trip. I’m not gong to be ever so happy about leaving Wells though. This place is beautiful. The sun has been shining this afternoon, with a sea fog hovering on the horizon, shrouded trees on the coast. The sandy creeks, and proper working boats all make it a tranquil place to be, but the people really set it apart from the rest. Everybody I speak to, from shop keepers to local fisherman and residents, are friendly and welcoming. It’s such a refreshing place to be.

I was on Rob’s boat on the quay the other day after we had fish and chips, and ended up showing the most pleasant and well behaved 7 year old girl on the boat rafted next to us, how to tie a spinner on the fishing rod she had. Small distractions like that seem to fill the day, and reduce life to a perfectly peaceful pace. I am the poorest I’ve ever been at the moment, but I don’t care. I’m far too content to let anything worry me.

Still, I hear Whitby is even nicer, so my time here must soon end. I will be back though, I’m certain of it.

What a lovely day. The sun has, and still is, shining down with a life slowing torrent of heat, and I’ve got lots more done on the boat. The new bow roller was fitted yesterday, and today I peeled off the excess sikaflex, and then painted a “rescue orange” nose on Kudu. I’ve got another layer to do yet though, but will post a picture of the finished job once done.

I have also almost finished my fabrication jobs. I’ve made a new GRP switch panel, which will house both the switches and the Nasa battery monitor, so I’ll have a one stop shop for all my energy needs. I somehow feel there should have been a fanfair after that sentence…

One thing I must tell you, is that whilst  finishing off the GRP work, I somehow, although have no idea how, managed to get resin in my hair. Well, not just resin, that would have been ok. This was annoyingly all mixed up with catalyst and chemically counting down to bonding with my curly locks. I didn’t notice for an hour of so, so it was well and truly glued. I’ve managed to get most of it out, but it’s time for another haircut I think.

That’s a problem in Wells though. Looking for a scissorsmith, I felt a bit like the fabled Joseph, looking for an inn. They all seem to be full up; for the rest of the week!

Jobs are started to get completed too. It;s nice to actually tick things off the list, because while I’ve done a LOT of work on the boat, some of the jobs are too or chemistry dependent to finish in one go. The masthead is back together, and ready for raising, which is great news since I get my cockpit space back!

Oh, as for the title of this post. I have indeed found some much needed work. It’s nothing major, but I’m quite happy  nonetheless. On Saturday I’ll be polishing a hull, and varnishing woodwork. My first employment in the marine industry!

Of course, it’s not the few hundred quid a day I would have wanted back in London, but I don’t care. I’m not in London anymore, and I’m more than happy to graft all day for a few quid, especially when boats are involved. That said, web work is not totally out of the window, so if anybody out there is considering having a website built, please speak to me first. I’ll thrash any quote you get, and run rings around the quality of their work (see my CV on nathanwhitworth.co.uk). It’s worth you sending an email, at least

I edited part 9 last night. I was going to do the episode from Lowestoft to Wells, but I ran out of time. I had got to over 10 minutes before getting to Sea Palling, so I went back, trimmed it a lot, and then terminated it at Sea Palling. Part 10 will be the Wells saga, I think. :p

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA0vizDT2Ts

I need some money. I mean REALLY need some money. I’ve just peered in to the massive space where the sea toilet used to be and pictured a sound system. :p

Alright, I jest, I have much better things to spend my diminishing overdraft on, but I wouldn’t even think twice about installing a stereo if I had the funds. I love music. No, you don’t understand, I mean, I really love it. From creations by the Doors and Frank Zappa, to Radiohead and the Smiths, to Larent Garnier, Noisia, Nathan Fake, and all that lovely “oldschool” from the early nineties. I am currently listening to “on a ragga tip” by SL2, for example.

When I turned 17 and, like all boys, got into cars, I used to make the first priority of car ownership, a good stereo. I started off small, but as I learned more about it all, ended up with a sound system that I built into an Escort that actually bent the roof, it was so loud! It sounded good too though. There’s no point having loud music unless you can hear everything from the hats to the drops, without a hint of speaker fart. My last run of cars had the single priority of being cheap and economical… how things change as you get a little older.

It’s not very seamanlike, I know, but when I’m out there in the middle of the sea, I’d love to be able to queue up a few classics to keep me motivated.

Now, you won’t get this unless of a certain age range, and by rights I should be too far on the young side of it, but nevertheless, indulge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivr57dcs9-E

Isn’t that the sweetest sound. Somewhere, in storage at my parents house, I have it on 12″.

Picture an old garden shed, filled to the point where the rickety door is an effort to close against the objection of that dusty lawnmower that wants to come out. Kudu is like that at the moment. The is turning into a major refit, a task that even the team on the bygone TV series, challenge Anneka, would have turned their nose at. There’s dust everwhere, and I have to shift loads of stuff into a pile somewhere, just to make room to sleep!

I’m making steady progress, but I seem to be creating yet more jobs as I go along. Steve has finished my bow roller, and a mighty substantial piece of engineering that has turned out to be. I reckon I’ll be able to lift the boat on it once it’s fitted tomorrow.  He’s also kindly added an extra fixing point for another forestay since I plan on making Kudu a slutter rig for the Jester Challenge. This will enable me to run another forestay without the roller furling gear in order to hank on a storm jib.

The hole where the seacock was is almost finished. I’ve got 6 layers of 400gm CSM on the inside of the hole now. I’ve got to grind the outside and fill it tomorrow.

Rob closed his shop early and came down to help me fir the new masthead antenna, and run the cable down the mast which we did by joining the new cable to the old coax with mousing wire, then pulling it through. The bad news was that whoever fitted the old antenna, didn’t drill very big holes for it in the mast, so we had to drill the rivets out of the masthead fitting and remove the cap to get at it all. I need to re-rivet that tomorrow too.

I’ve also fitted the new masthead wind instrument, so the mast side of things has only a few hours of work left. I can get the stick back up then, and have some more room to work on the boat. I’m currently having to crawl in and out of the cabin without opening the hatch. It’s a bit of a contortion exercise.

The next big thing on the list is the instrument displays. They had been glued in place so I’ve completely destroyed them while getting them off. Im now left with a load more holes in the boat which will need filling, sanding and painting before I can add the new displays, because, as you’d expect, the Nasa Clipper range doesn’t fit the “Target” holes. No problem though, I’ll have that done soon enough, perhaps tomorrow too. I’ve totally removed the switch panel since I’m going to finish that off properly and make sure the wiring is finished off to a more professional spec. I don’t like fudges.

I met a cracking chap today too. Carl. He was at the cafe I’ve been getting an afternoon refreshing cup of tea at. He got some charts of the east coast and pointed out loads of places to anchor along the Humber and up the coast to Whitby. It was a big help, so thank you Carl.

The state of the boat is quite disheartening at the moment. I know it will start coming together soon, but it’s days off, and long days at that. On the bright side, when Kudu goes back in the water, she will be a good way towards being ready for the atlantic, and of course, much safer in coastal waters.

Still, you live and learn, and over the past few days I’ve learned a lot. Steve, today, showed me various welding methods, so I now know the difference between TIG and MIG welding, and I’ve been given a great deal of advice about structural repairs to GRP. I’ve done a reasonable amount of fiber glass work before, but it’s been nice, and indeed important, to be told that doing x, y and z, will make a safe repair, as opposed to just a repair that “looks” fixed.

Anyway, I have a few pictures, so let me show you the state of Kudu as of today.

Kudu on the hard at Wells harbour.

Whoever fitted this, it's atrocious! 1mm aluminum taking the load of the entire rig, as well as the anchor.

Steve with the bow roller on the bench, ready for welding.

Here's where the switch panel and instruments were, and the wiring loom in my hand.

I finally got to repay some of the debt I owe to the good people of the British coast.

I’d been to get some food in town, and as I was walking home saw a fisherman on the quay. I went and had a chat with him, since I’d bought some bloodworm with the intention of trying it myself if I got the chance. I asked him what he was fishing on, and his reply was “you don’t want to know. I didn’t have any bait so my wife suggested sausage roll. I’ve been fishing since I was 5 years old, but thought I’d give it a go anyway out of desperation”. I laughed, carried on chatting for a while then said my goodbyes.

I walked a quarter mile back to Kudu in the boatyard, then thought, well, why not. I grabbed my bag of bloodworm, and walked the qaurter mile back down the road. I caught the chap just as he was about to cast some bacon (??), and gave him the bloodworm. He was as happy as they come.

I’m quite happy with myself. Only 6,003 favours left to repay!

Also, good news, I’ve done a shed load, or rather, boat load, of work on Kudu today. The removed sea cock has been filled with 6 layers of 400gm CSM, the mast came down, thanks to the help of Rob, the chandler, and his mate, who I think was called John. He actually got somebody to come into his shop and takeover for an hour just so he could come and help me!

Steve is making good progress with the new stainless bow roller after I removed that and gave it too him this morning, and my Nasa marine intruments arrived. Nasa Marine kindly offered my a hefty discount upon hearing what I was doing. not from me, I might, add, so a big thankyou to Michael for contacting them on my behalf, before ringing me up and telling me the grat news.

Oh, I also started work on finishing my stern locker lid. I had made a new one out of GRP while in St Kat’s, but never finished it. I gave it a good clean with a cup full of acetone that a nearby workman offered me, then laid up some fresh woven fibre. It’s now ready for finshing, tomorrow.

I’ve got to apply some west system epoxy to the cracks that were around the pushpit too. I have ground it out with a chisel, and then the drill with a grinding stone. I need to do the same to the crack in the stem.

Oh Kiss works Steve has also fixed my tiller stock. It was loose from wear over the years, but after a bit of machining, it’s as tight as you like.

In all, I’ve still got a lot of work to do, but it’s getting there, and when Kudu goes back in the water, she’ll be one of the most solid Corribee’s around.

EDIT: 7th March 2010. Sorry, these pictures were lost when the website was moved.

Here are some pictures of the current work.

I’ve cut a hole in the top of the keel encapsulation, to find what a good job Newbridge did when they built the boat. The stack of lead pig ballast (a substantial weight) is free to fall around about 3 to 4 inches. This was no doubt the source of the almighty noise at sea. It should be quite easy to fix.

The sea toilet has been removed (I now have a Royal Doulton sea toilet for sale, open to offers), and the black water sea cock has been taken out since it looked knackered anyway. I need to find out how to safely fill the hole.

In all, there’s lots to do!

There is an electricity supply here in the boat yard, but the socket are standard household plugs, and I didn’t have anyway of plugging in my shore power cable. I’ve made do for two nights now, but needed the power today to run tools. I was pondering on how to do it on the cheap, then remember that I still had a small tail of cable and the plug from the shore power lead I bought and butchered to fit the Marinco plug. I went to the local hardware shop and bought a plug for 99p, wired it to the tail that was sitting happily in my stern locker, and plugged it all in.

My new adaptor works perfectly, all for 99p.

Jobs a goodun. Right, now I have to do some scary things with a drill and my keel!

I had the boat lifted out of the water today. It was quite good fun. Bob, the harbour master, and his crew of able men, took control of everything, ran Kudu aground under power of man on a rope, then picked her up with the cradle towed behind a tractor. I was still on the boat as we were towed into the yard, then put down softly on some grass.

It’s nice to have the boat out of the water to be honest, because I can inspect under her. She’s surprisingly clean, and there’s no sign of anything untoward. Well, there wasn’t until I gave the stem a good looking at. There’s a crack running the whole way around the bow roller, which is where the forestay is fixed. The whole fitting flexes, opening the crack in the GRP. In short, I could have lost the mast had I not spotted this. It is serious!

I would have been more upset about it, but I am now resigned to the fact that these things are going to happen, and I just have to deal with them. Somebody please remind me I said that next time I’m struggling :p

I asked Bob, the HM, if he knew of anybody locally that can do stainless work. I was advised to look up Steve, of KISS engineering. KISS, of course, being that time honoured acronym, keep it simple, stupid. I liked the sound of this chap before I’d even met him.

I pottered off to see Rob, of Harbour Chandlery, who I was told would know how to get hold of Steve. When I arrived at the shop (slash local yacht club judging by the amount of people I saw drop in for a social today), I was introduced to a guy Rob was chatting to. As luck would have it, he turned out to be the very man I wanted to see.

Steve worked for a good while as chief engineer on super yachts, and after a few stories I was completely convinced that he was passionate about his work. You can just tell, it’s in their eyes when they talk about it, people who love their job are worth their weight in gold. You’re not going to get a half arsed effort because they wanted to be somewhere else when they did it. Whether you’re employing a plasterer, a chippy, an electronics engineer, or a marine engineer, look for that wide eyed passion, and you won’t go wrong. I have a friend like that, one of my oldest and best friends actually. He was a push bike mechanic, but he loved tinkering, and it showed. Anything he turned his hand to was done to an exceptional level, because he took his time over it. This Christmas, for example, his girlfriend asked him what he wanted as a present. His reply was not a standard one. “A big bore cylinder kit for my motorbike”. She, bless her, got it for him, and before the new year arrived he had totally rebuilt his motorbike engine, and without the tools everybody said he must have! He just figured out a way around it, and I might add, this was the first time he’d ever, ever, worked on an engine.

Steve reminded me of my mate. Even more so once I’d told him about my problem. He offered to come and take a look, and within moments he was pointing, and drawing imaginary lines around the problem area to explain the solution. He could fix it for now, but explained that the bow roller wasn’t ideal since it was aluminium and likely to suffer fatigue with the forestay constantly tugging at it, so ideally I should have an entirely new fitting made out of stainless steel. I knew that this sort of complicated fabrication work would be expensive, but with the Jester Challange in mind, I pressed for a quote, for future planning more than anything. I was quite surprised by his answer, and after pointing out some more little things that were bothering me on the boat, we agreed a figure. I decided to get the work done.

Now, this work is going to take a sizeable chunk out of my remaining budget, but for what he’s doing it is remarkebly good value, and ultimately, going to sea in a boat that’s not safe could cost me more than any amount of money I will ever see.

What started off as a failed trip to Grimsby has resulted in, in all likelyhood, saving my boat. What a fortunate set of unfortunate events!

Oh, by the way, check this out, it’s one of his creations, and well worth a click! http://www.kissworks.co.uk/specialprojects1.htm

I wonder what round Britain would be like in that!