Just about to cut the second, main bulkhead too!
Construction begins…
February 11th, 2010 by natmobile No comments »
I’ve finished ripping the boat to bits, so it’s finally time to put it back together. Wahey!
Kudu STILL for sale
February 7th, 2010 by admin 4 comments »Kudu has been on brokerage since Christmas week and still not sold, and I can’t understand why. At £3,650 she is an awful lot of boat for the money, and priced well below other comparable boats of lesser spec. I have since removed the shore power system from Kudu (everything else remains) and reduced the price to £3,250.
I have also got the rig back up so she looks like a sailing boat, and the broken goose neck is being repaired, so she’ll be ready to sail straight away.
The sails are like new, the modern Suzuki 4-stroke engine has only seen a single season of use since buy it in late 2008, the instruments are all new, and the deck gear (Harken/Spinlock) is new too. She’s not some ancient day sailor that has been sat on a mooring buoy most of it’s life. This is a proper sea going boat set up for single handed sailing. If you want a starter boat for the family, she’d be well suited to that too. Heck, she’s proven herself in far worse conditions than you would ever consider taking the kids out in.
Please, if you know somebody who’s looking for a boat, can you send them this way. £3,250 is not a messing about price, it’s silly money for Kudu, but I can barely afford to keep one boat. I currently have two to pay for and it’s killing me. The old girl needs to be sold soon.
Picture overload
February 6th, 2010 by natmobile 3 comments »
Sorry about the torrent of puctures here, but it’s so easy now that i can’t resist.
Here i am, now, on saturday night, bored. I have no more jobs to do on the boat until i can afford a sheet of plywood, and there’s currently nowhere to sit, so i’ve perched myself on the hull.
I don’t get to go home when i’ve finished this evening. This is it. As i crouch here in a ghostly still and foggy boat yard, having eaten a tray of sausage rolls fom asda for my dinner, i’m wondering; is it all worth it? I hope so, because this is one hell of a struggle if there’s nothing at the end.
I always love spending time on my own, it gives you space to dream and plan, but right now, at this very moment, i just want some company.
P.s. This hull is freezing my ass off.
Angle grinder fun
February 6th, 2010 by natmobile 2 comments »
The bulkhead is fully out now. I got dust everywhere, i’m itchy, and it’s not very nice on here. Note to self: cover bed area next time.
Got pictures back :)
February 6th, 2010 by natmobile 3 comments »
When i moved the website on to my own hosting, i managed to break the interaction between itself and flickr, the photo sharing service. Flickr allows me to email pictures to it, and it then posts them to the onkudu site automatically. This means that a snap i take on my mobile can be on here in seconds.
The celebrate, here’s a picture of what i’m in bed looking at. Time to get up and continue with it, i think.
Vreli, the new boat
February 4th, 2010 by admin 8 comments »I suppose I am once again long overdue an update. I just haven’t found myself the right mood to do one for a long time, but alas there is much to tell and so I must.
As I mentioned elsewhere, on Boxing day last year I travelled to Honiton in Devon to look at a new boat, a Tyler Boats Cinder. It’s a 22 foot long keel sloop, or in layman’s terms, it’s both slightly bigger and slightly better at sailing than Kudu. I bought the boat on the spot since there’s no point in biding your time with these decisions. Jump in feet first and grab the bull by the horns as middle management folk seem fond of saying. Just go for it. A donf!
There was no chance I could arrange to have the boat towed during the Christmas week, so I delayed it until after new years. That’s when the country was attacked by a brutal cold spell along with a generous helping of that frozen white water that grinds us softy Brits to a halt. Preston marina, in fact the entire dock, froze over solid with at least an inch of ice. In places it was 3″ thick. The boats, including Kudu, were frozen solid. My little fan heater struggled to keep me warm, but worse than my suffering was the delay. My transport man wouldn’t attempt to tow the boat from Devon to Lancashire while there were snow drifts around.
A couple of weeks ago, however, the weather settled for a while and myself and Nick Lancaster made a quick dash down to Honiton to pick Vreli up. Once back in Preston, I finally examined what I had bought, and felt disheartened.
She had been sat in a field for quite some time, and inside she was damp, and smelly. Her engine had long since been removed, and there was the pungent odour of diesel where it had leaked ever so slightly from the bunged fuel pipes. Since I had no shore power in her, she had no heat and was cold. She didn’t have the homely welcoming feel that Kudu had.
When I picked Kudu up I fell in love with her instantly. Maybe because it was the summer, maybe for some other reason, who knows, but I do know that Kudu made an instant impression upon me. She lit a spark that eventually led me to every blog post before this one. Vreli did not have that effect, and I felt disheartened by it. I wanted to love her, but I just didn’t.
Nevertheless, she was now mine and I would have to live with her, so I set about the first job; shore power. My intention was to fit entirely new equipment, and lacking that I jury rigged shore power by butchering the Marinco cable from Kudu and connecting a double socket from Homebase. It was in no way a long term solution, but at least it allowed to to get some heat on the boat.
Vreli is an old boat, and she’s almost totally original. There was an old gas hob and grill fitted in to a disgusting looking galley from the 1970’s. That was removed on the first day. I intended to spend a night on her, but the smell and dampness eventually forced me to give up and seek refuge at a friends house.
A day later I was determined to complete my first night on board. I had to anyway since Kudu now had no heating. The smell had cleared up a lot, and the dampness almost entirely dry, but still she wasn’t ever so homely. Armed with a finest example of vin de table, I parked myself on the port quarter berth and poured a glass. Actually, that’s a romanticised lie. I don’t have glass on the boat, so I took a slug out of the bottle. Dead classy, I am.
I spent hours, quite literally, just staring at bits of the boat. To the onlooker, if there were any, I must have seemed quite strange and vacant, but my mind was flat out making plans. This is my boat and I need to make it suitable for my needs. I need a heater, where can it go? Hmm, what about the galley?
I was slowly painting a picture of what Vreli will look like when I’ve finished with her, and by doing that, I was growing quite fond of my new boat. She wasn’t that bad after all, there was almost standing headroom, and the vee berth with a fill-in up front was like having a double bed. That’s shear luxury in my world, I can tell you. Once I’d completed my plans, she would be a fine boat, and with the hull shape (my primary reason for buying her) I would be able to take her anywhere. Maybe we have a future together after all.
Unfortunately, there was a development in my professional life between buying the boat and taking delivery of it. My one and only client had to cut my hours down to 2 days per week. This means that where once I could have fitted out the entire galley in a weeks fee’s, I would now have to save for an entire month. Not to worry, these things never run to plan, do they.
So, here we are two weeks later, and I’ve totally removed the port quarter berth, ripped out the entire galley, and generally removed an awful lot of woodwork. The plan is to extend the wet locker bulkhead to create a space for a diesel or solid fuel heater, then use the space under the port cockpit seat as the new wet locker. The space between the two will make room for a proper seat and chart table, which is an exciting development I can tell you. To have a proper desk to work from will be bliss. Then there’s the engine, an inboard will allow me better power production to keep laptops running, and if I can get a suitable engine then I can run a calorifier for hot water. I just need to find a Yanmar GM10 now.
The galley is being totally rebuilt with the intention of having hot and cold running water (at least cold), and an oven. I don’t want gas on the boat so it will need to be either a Taylors parafin oven, or an Origo 6000. Unfortunately they are not cheap, so will have to wait. In the meantime, until I can find further progress, I’m staying on a yacht that is entirely stripped out apart from the forward vee berth, surrounded by tools and saw dust, and with no cooking facilities. The path to the perfect boat on a budget is not a comfortable one, I can assure you.
The laptop I’m typing this on doesn’t have the facility for me to transfer pictures from my phone, but as soon as I can, I’ll post some pics.
I met Sir Robin Knox-Johnston
January 18th, 2010 by admin 5 comments »
On Wednesday last week I trotted off down to London to the Boat Show.
I’m a proud member of the Little Ship Club, and they have awarded me the Suhaili trophy for my endeavours last summer. As happy as I was to receive the trophy, it didn’t compare to the chance to meet Sir Robin. This man commands so much respect for what he has achieved on many occasions that I simply couldn’t believe he was going to be presenting a trophy to me, an unknown and inexperienced adventurist.
I was asked to take part in a radio interview, and just as I was asked who was going to be presenting me with the trophy, I caught a smiling Sir Robin out of the corner of my eye, and managed to shake hands while continuing the interview seamlessly. More to do with nerves than talent, I assure you.
This is one of the all time great moments in my life so far, and I did try and upload it on the day, but it failed.
Still, here it is for all to see, the day I met my hero. 
Kudu is FOR SALE
December 28th, 2009 by admin 9 comments »After much thinking, drinking, and tenuous linking (see), I’ve decided to sell Kudu.
Well, more like been forced to, because I can’t afford to keep two boats. Yes, two boats. On boxing day I had a pleasant drive from Christchurch to Honiton in Devon to take a look at a potential purchase. I then drove from Honiton to Preston with a smile on my face, and a bank balance a few quid down on contents.
The new vessel, Vreli, is a 22 foot Tyler Boats Cinder. She is more suited to my intentions with an inboard engine, long keel, and at the joy of my back bones, standing headroom (for short arses like myself at least). A new project is about to begin, and who knows where it will take me. I guess this blog will be, for a time, a repeat of the first posts I made back in 2008. Fixing, modifying, and waiting to see what happens (I promise it will be something even more silly that sailing around Britain. I’ve got a long keel now, and I’ve always fancied visiting Palmer Ice station :p). I jest, don’t worry.
Anyway, down to business.
The Corribee for sale advert
I’m putting Kudu up for sale via Preston Marina brokerage.
Kudu is a 1976 Mk1 bilge keel Newbridge Corribee with an extensive array of kit. She comes complete and ready to go… anywhere!
Details:
- Harken winches (x2)
- Plastimo roller furling
- ALL lines led aft to the cockpit with Spinlock mini jammers (including single line reefing)
- Main and Genoa, both in very good condition.
- Mounts for the auto pilot (although the AP itself is not included)
- Origo 1500 gimballed meths stove.
- Suzuki DF5 4 stroke outboard (2008, but not used until 2009) + external tank
- 40w (20w x2) solar panels with charge controller
- 2x 85ah domestic batteries
- Sterling sh0re power battery charger
- Marinco shore power inlet, with standard 230v onboard socket (plug the shore power in, and you’ve got instant battery charging and mains supply in the boat). The mains socket and charger are on separate breakers.
- 150w inverter so you have mains power when at sea
- Audio system; plug your laptop/mp3 player in to the on board amplifier and you have a very impressive cinema system.
- 2009 Nasa Clipper instrument (depth,log, wind)
- Nasa BM-1 battery monitor so you can see the state of the batteries and what current is going in or out.
- CQR anchor + chain and warp.
- Spare shrouds & forestay + anchor ball land motoring cone.
Points to note:
- The chart plotter is NOT included.
Kudu has had a lot of work done to her, and this summer was well testing in some relatively extreme conditions. I’ve ironed out all the teething troubles that you just would not find normally unless you really pushed it. She is now a very solid boat and ready to take somebody else on a life changing adventure.
There are a few pictures of the boat as I was refitting her back in Summer 2008 here but obviously a lot has been added since then.
Please contact Preston Marina if you’re interested > 01772 733595
A dusting of snow
December 17th, 2009 by admin 6 comments »It’s been a while, too long by far, since I’ve sat down and just written something. I’m probably a bit rusty by now, but I was inspired to a bit of finger work, and so I begin…
I haven’t been on Kudu for a while now, I was graciously lent an entire house for a few weeks, and before that I seemed to be couch surfing a little too much. I’ve been missing Kudu though. I’m not sure what specifically, just a collective of things. The tiny bed, the smell of boat, the movement, and the peace and quiet, so I decided I was going to stay on her tonight. She’s probably in need of some company anyway.
The drive to the marina was fun. As I am sure most people in England are currently aware, there’s a decent amount of snow making its way earthward tonight, along with an expected chill in the air.
I arrived to a sleeping boat sat still in the marina, and dusted with snow. I opened the lock, slid the hatch back, removed the washboards and stepped into the pitch black cabin, clunking a bag of shopping against the bulkhead as I went. Even in darkness I know where everything is, so with a sharp click the cabin light was on. Yikes, I can see my breath. I glanced at the weather station and saw a balmy 0.7 degrees (Celsius).
There was soon the sound of another click as the dormant fan heater whirled in to life. “Aah, home”.
I promised my client (sharemyplaylists.com) that I’d finish off some work, so the first job was to set up the laptop on my old desk, the chart table. Something was amiss though, it was too quiet. I took the radio to my parents the last time I did a stores drop, so I’m missing radio 4 this evening. Oh, how I need a fix of radio 4. My car doesn’t have an aerial so it’s been far too long since I’ve heard any sense on the airwaves.
With the work out of the way, I set about dinner.
The Origo stove was dry, so I popped back out in to the bitter cold to fetch the meths from the stern locker. A couple of glugs into this fantastic Swedish machine and we’re off.
A splash of olive oil, and only a splash since it had mostly solidified in the cold, and then some sliced garlic. Fry that in a pan for a little while, and then add some jumbo prawns. I would have got normal prawns, but these were on special offer at the supermarket. Give them a few minutes, and in true single burner cooking fashion, stick them on a plate somewhere while I cook the next bit.
In with the water, and bring to the boil. Open the gnocci and throw it in. As soon as it begins to float, kill the heat and drain the pan down the sink under the companionway steps. Ah, I remember doing this in Brightlingsea creek. Just. Utter bliss, and I feel that is an understatement. Sailing your self contained home into a remote water channel, cooking your own meal, and then falling asleep to the sound of lapping water and and whispering wildlife is…. well, you’ll just have to do it.
Add a couple of teaspoons of green pesto into the pan, then tip the jumbo prawns back in. Slice up a bit of blue cheese and throw that in for good measure. Eat a bit off the knife while you’re at it, go on, nobody’s looking. Turn the heat back on gently and warm it all up. No need to bother with a plate, just eat it out of the pan. Delicious!
I miss this. The freedom a boat gives you. I can’t go anywhere of course, I have to work, and Kudu is currently lacking a rig, but if the proverbial really hit the fan and I needed to escape from it, then 1 day of rigging the boat is all it would take me. I find that comforting. I get depressed when I don’t have a car because I can’t travel anywhere. Even though I may not intend to go anywhere, it’s just comforting to know that I can, and at the drop of a hat.
Talking of going places, I shall be in London quite a lot in January. I’m extraordinarily excited, but damn well nervous at the same time.
On the 13th January, at the London Boat Show, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston will be presenting me with a cup on behalf of the Little Ship Club (of which I am a member) , in recognition for my suicidal spirit. They’re branding it as adventurous, but that’s because they didn’t see Fife Ness… yet, because on Tuesday the 19th January, I’m presenting a 45 minute talk at the LSC open evening with questions and perhaps answers at the end.
I’m not used to public speaking. I’ve never done it before. I’m quite happy sat here telling a story in text, but acting it out on stage is another matter entirely. Like sailing, I suppose there’s only one way I’ll find out if I can do it, and that’s to try. As the rotten tomatoes start flying, I’ll be trying to work out how to reef the heckling, and my queue cards will be GPS waypoints. I’ll be fine, what’s the worst that can happen? Gulp!
I do hope it goes well, because on the 30th and 31st January I’m on stage again at the adventuretravellive.com expo in Victoria, London. Two more 45 minute session on the National Geographic stage in front of an audience that probably has no interest in sailing, although I’m hoping they have a thirst for adventure otherwise I’ll have to resort to humour, and that’s where it’ll certainly go wrong.
Still, I’m going to get to meet Sir Robin, and I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to that. He is my absolute hero, not just because of the awesome things he has done, but because of the way he did them; a boat full of booze and a relentless distaste for letting the French win! What better way to do one of the greatest things man has ever done.
Kudu, out.