2013 update

2013 was spent on three main projects:

- getting our third grandchild through peritonitus.
- planned arrival of a new grandchild in the Xmas / New Year period
- practicing with "Simply Grey" for our charity concert for Cancer Research in November

Laura is now fully recovered, minus her appendix, but it gave us all a big shock at the time/ The Sick Children's hospital in Edinburgh were simply the best. Many thanks to them for pulling her through.

In the summer, we holidayed in Alicante for the Festival de Focs with Rob, Janet and Jon.

Then we were off to the island of Eigg with the Camerons for another week.

The concert in November, was a great success, featuring and eclectic mix of Rock and Roll, Blues, Jazz, Pop and Folk. Made over £700 for charity.


Dorothy Lois Owen arrived thru a sizeable cut in her mommy's tummy on 2nd January 2014 and was a spritley 4lbs 12ozs !! Both mother and Dot doing great. Photo is of her at 7months and getting ready to crawl.

See Youtube video

Boat launch 2011

My wife, Isobel, kindly took these great photos of the launch of our boat yesterday so I thought I'd post them on my blog.

Refurbishing the boat's windows

I'm a member of the Halberdiers Group on Yahoo and one of the other members, Henrik from Holland, wrote up a "how to" on taking out the Halberdier's windows. I thought I'd tackle the job of refurbishing my boat windows and with Henrik's guide I took out one of the sliding windows from my boat Negresco. Following Henrik's guide I managed to get the window apart into its constituent parts without resorting to drilling out old screws as Henrik needed to do with his. At the crucial point where I came to remove the jointing pieces of steel I soaked them in penetrating oil and very carefully managed to remove the screws without damaging the frames or the steel screw and jointing filet.

Next step was to get rid of all the corrosion on the aluminium frames. I removed most of it using a sharp pointed knife then steeped the frames in caustic soda solution for several minutes. The caustic soda attacked the corroded parts with gusto and I found that when I removed the frames from the solution and washed them down I could then remove the residue of corroded aluminium quite easily.

Having cleaned them up I then brazed on replacement bits of aluminium where required and brazed over any corrosion holes in the frames. I used special Aluminium brazing rods which I found on the internet from Durafix. These melt around 750C which is about 250C below where aluminium melts. I used a Butane/Propane mix but I still need to be careful as 250C is not a big margin.

The brazing worked quite well but you do need the stainless steel tinning brushes from Durafix even though they burn in the process of tinning the aluminium to be brazed. I then ground off the excess and polished up the frames.

I ordered new rubber seals off the internet from Seals+ Direct.

The came the hard part :- re-fitting new seals and re-assembling the frames at the same time. TIP : Use plenty of washing up liquid as a lubricant and a wooden mallet to hammer home the glass with new seals into the frames. From the photos below you will see that the fixed pane of glass has an indent on the bottom edge and the frameside edge. I needed to be careful to refit these in the correct place as the bottom indent corresponds to the drain hole in the frame and the side indent to the steel jointing filet. I re-used the old steel jointing filets and screws but I used plenty of Duralac anti-corrosion paste mixed with Lanolin for any steel to aluminium contact points. I also made holes in the flock lined rubber in the sliding window channel to correspond with the drain holes in the frame. The seals I used were :

US53 Rubber Square U Channel Section (Panel Thickness:4.5 mm, Height:8 mm, Wall Thickness:1.6 mm) £2.40 X metre : fixed window
FWR846 Flocked Lined Window Rubber (Glass Thickness/Width:4.75mm, Height/Thickness:10mm, Width:10mm) £3.45 X metre : sliding window channel
SN29 Solid Neoprene Rubber Strip (Size:25 x 1.5 mm) £4.05 X metre : re-fitting sliding window handle onto glass.
OWS782 Opening/Sliding Window Seals And Door Seals (Description:Blade with bead (0738), Size:19mm, Keyway:3 mm bead) : seal between fixed and sliding window panes fitted into slot on sliding window handle.

I then used Texflex PU, which I obtained from my local motor parts Factor, to stick a new u-shaped face rubber onto the non-sliding glass piece and Texflex to seal any aluminium to aluminium joints.

I then made an aluminium window lock to replace the long-gone original brass affair and riveted it onto the inner face piece.

To finish off I painted over the Texflex and brazed parts with Aluminium high temperature engine paint. I refitted the windows using closed cell neoprene between the coachroof and the flange of the window frames and roof and gutter sealant between the inserted part of the frame and the sides of the window recess. Gutter sealant is a butyl rubber based sealant which remains in a semi-dry paste like condition. This will make for easier removal of the windows if they need to come out in the future. It is similar to the window sealant originally used on the Halberdiers.

The following slideshow shows how much of an improvement I made. Of course I should have tackled the windows BEFORE I re-painted the deck and coamings!!

Woodworking and wood turning

I've put together a slide show of some of my creations since I started working with wood back in 2005. Round work all done on a Record CL3 lathe.

Redesign of inside of house

Not much to do on the boat in January and February so I started on the re-design of the downstairs part of the house. We bought the house with a lounge which had double sliding door access into the dining room. I changed this in the early nineties into a single hinged door access. This door was rarely closed and we found that the loounge was used as a thoroughfare from the hall to the dining room and conservatory. Eventually we got fed up with this arrangement and hence this project to close off the access door.

4 x 2's, three layers of giprock plaster board, rockwool and three coats of plaster each side later we had a solid wall instead of a wall with a door. This only left removing the dark brown painted dado rail,replacing the old brown painted pine skirting with new light oak skirting, replacing the window sill to match the new skirting and building an oak fire surround to finish the look. Oak skirting and sill was provided by MGM and Jewson (neither had enough good quality stuff to do the whole job) and I bought some kiln-dried brown oak from Fairlie sawmill.

Jim and Kenny are great guys at Fairlie sawmill and after a quick search through their kiln-dried stock we found the ideal piece for my new fire surround. When I got it home I cleaned it up a bit and sawed it into the 4 parts required to complete my design for the new fire surround.

This sawing process was a bit smoky and smelly because when I put a new band on my bandsaw to do the job I didn't notice that the band was coiled inside out. This meant that when I fitted it the teeth were pointing up and not down !! How it managed to cut 60mm brown oak like this I'll never know but it was a pretty slow job and I remember thinking that this sure is hard oak !! Stupid me - you live and learn as they say. I guess when I put a new blade on I will always remember to check the direction of the teeth. I only realised the problem at the end of the cutting process when I went to cut up one of the old bits of pine skirting and it started smoking too!!
Anyway, my thicknesser cleaned up the blackened edges of the "sawn" oak pieces easily and I proceeded to dowel the pieces of the fire surround together to make up my design. Installed it in place and gave it three coats of Tung oil to seal it and bring out the beauty of the wood.

Removing the old sill was a bit of a pain as I think the guy who installed it had a freebie that day on 2.5inch nails!

See the following slide show to view the finished rooms - sorry didn't remember to photo the build up of the wall and the making of the surround - the smoky sawing would have made an impressive photo!!

The oak skirting had to be drilled and nailed on as the modern "no more nails" products wouldn't stick it in place although I did use some to augment the drilling/nailing process. (Tip - don't try nailing oak without drilling as it will split).

Walking sticks project

I finally got round to straightening some walkng stick shafts I had cut a couple of years back and turning them into walking sticks.
The first one I made was the cherrywood handle with hawthorn shaft.
Next came the thumb stick on ash shaft.
The third was a lady's walking stick with a deer antler/teak handle on a thin hawthorn shaft.
Fourth came the deerantler/cherry handle on a hazel shaft and last , but not least, was the deer antler/teak handle on the stripped ash shaft with pyrography decor - my favourite.

I can make similar at a cost to the buyer of approx. £40 depending on availability and quality of materials.

Summer sailing in the Mediterranean on Explosion

On the 10th of June 2010 I flew from Prestwick to Alicante to join the crew of Explosion on its summer sailing trip from Cadiz to Marseilles via the Balearic islands. Bonno Hylkema is the owner/skipper and I met Bonnno on the yacht delivery I documented at Orust's trip.

The embedded slideshow below is of the photos I took on my trip from Alicante to Ibiza and then Mallorca. The photos of the girls in local costumes were taken at the Fogueres Fiesta in Alicante.

Explosion is a Dynamic 37, built in Denmark and a fast cruiser/racer. Her speciality is closehauled upwind sailing where she excels. The running backstays took getting used to when we tacked but she took us safely through an electric storm on the way to Ibiza and tuna trawlers on the way to Palma. The AIS intergrated with the chart plotter was very useful for the overnight sails to Ibiza and Palma.

The crew comprised Bonno, Folkert, Jaap (to Altea), Robert who were all Dutch and myself - the only Scotsman.
Places we visited after leaving Alicante we sailed past Benidorm and stayed overnight at Altea on the Costa Blanca where we were hosted by Astrid and Folkert for a tapas supper then a tour of the old town and a beer. We left Altea next morning and sailed up the coast to Cabo de la Nao then across to Ibiza where we stayed at the "expensive- €240 per night" Ibiza Marina. We toured the island next day on motobike lunching at Cala d'en Serra. The following morning we headed up the coast to Santa Eularia where we topped up the diesel tanks before heading across to Palma on Mallorca. While in Palma we met Angel Juncosa, who owns a Moody Halberdier like myself, and had an excellent lunch with Angel at the Real Club Nautico de Palma.

I flew home from Palma on the 19th direct to Prestwick.

A wee break in the Highlands

It was my wife's 60th birthday in March so we booked a house at Coylumbridge to take the family and friends away for a week-long party. The house was fabulous with 7 - yes 7 - bathrooms/shower rooms. It also had a sauna for 10 people and log fires in all three lounges. I'd recommend this house for parties of 10 or 12 especially in the skiing season as the house is almost the last house on the road to the Cairngorm ski centre. Have a look at the photos to see some of the pictures I took. We had wonderful day with our grandchildren at the Landmak centre at Carrbridge - there's one of Helen and Rowan on the waterslide. Another photo is of me and Rob on the climbing wall.

Orust en Voyage - June 2009

Delivery of the Malö 36 - ORUST - from Holland to the South of France in June of 2009.
See the following link for the web site I created from the voyage.

Tanking and re-tiling my daughter's shower.

Back in November of 2009 I volunteered to re-do my daughter Helen's shower. Her architect husband spec'd the job and bought the materials and I implemented the design. Here's the photos of the tanking and tiling job I did. The ceramic "floor" tiles Ewan pick for the wall were a pig to cut on my tile cutter. One tile took half a hour to cut. Thanks goodness there was not too many cuts.

Start of 2009 Rolex Middle Sea Race , Malta

I happened to be in Valetta, Malta for the start of the 2009 RMSR. Here are some photos I took at the start. Because I was taking photos from next to the start gun - a full size cannon - I am now deaf in one ear! Enjoy.

The Prince's Rainforests Project

The Prince's Rainforests Project

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Kitchen renovation

7/03/2009

Started on the kitchen renovation. Removed all cupboard contents and packed them away in p

lastic/cardboard boxes. Took down wooden shelves, pine cladding on ceiling and wall cabinets and fitted one double wall unit in laundry room to help convert this room into a temporary kitchen. 

11/03/2009

Alno kitchen workmen arrived to remove the remainder of kitchen and replace ceiling which was damaged when

 I originally put up pine cladding. They also altered plumbing and electrics to suit new kitchen. 

13/03/2009

Plasterer arrived today to plaster new Giprock plasterboard ceiling and make good walls.

16/03/2009

Plaster dry enough 

to paint so gave walls and ceiling two coats of white emulsion and Bob , my son, prepared and put one coat of gloss on the woodwork. 

Yacht upgrade

Started this project in spring of 2006. Found Moody Halberdier for sale and decided to go for it. Sold my own Trapper 500 (Rhionnagh) within three weeks of putting her up for sale. Following winter/spring I decided to repaint deck and coamings. Took all winter using high pressure washer to peel existing paint from deck and coamings then luckily we had 5 weeks dry sunny weather in April/May 2007 when I was able to prepare the boat and re-paint the decks, coamings and cockpit. I used International base coat * 2 and Toplac (med white) then Interdeck for the non-slip areas.

During the winter of 2007 the boat took a battering in Troon marina during a storm where her Ampair was ripped off and it took out my radar dome, sprayhood and dented the deck. Took the rest of the off season to effect repairs and install replacement equipment. I also added a new fridge, installed a Webasto heater and replaced the manual windlass with a Lofrans electric windlass and new 10mm calibrated chain.

This spring I've had her topsides resprayed professionally in 2 part acrylic and repainted her wheelhouse roof myself with International Toplac.

16/03/2009

I ordered new boat names in navy vinyl and they arrived last week but since I'm in the middle of renovating the kitchen (see above) I haven't been able to get to the boat to fit them plus the weather has been too wet or cold for me to fit the names on the boat. Just before I started the kitchen last week I managed to spend a day servicing the seacocks on Negresco - there are eight blakes seacocks requiring a yearly clean and grease plus a clean up of the log impellor.

I also tried to set the rigging using a rigging tension measuring device but the mizzen seems to be too far back and with the boat on the hard having a slight aft rake I'm going to have to wait until she's back in the water before I can correct it.

Also I've sold the last of four boat items ( Autohelm radar instrument, clipper wind, Navico radio and Moyle windalss and 60m of 3/8" chain) on Ebay - great fun better than going to the racing at Ayr.

29/3/2009

Re-discovered another three sea cocks to be serviced !! Applied boat names and cove line but I should have waited for a calmer day. The wind wrapped the stern name around my fist as I was applying it and it took 30mins to unwrap it without breaking the vinyl letters !!

I now have Monday and Tues to anti-foul, fit new anodes and polish hull ready for launch on the 1st April - more fool me !

1/4/2009

Decided to augment the bow thruster anode with some extra zinc so took along my optimus stove and a propane/butane torch to melt some pieces of zinc and pour into a sand mould with the old anode in the middle. Seemed to work and now there should be enough zinc to last one or two seasons. Finished just in time before the yard men came to launch the boat.

Rocking horse for granddaughters Christmas

Finished making large rocking horse for granddaughters Christmas on the 19th December. Purchased a plan for rocking horse from The rocking horse shop in August 2008 and finally got round to beginnning the project at the beginning of November 2008. Horse completed by week before Christmas. Bought mane and tail, bridle and stirrup leathers from rocking horse shop - everything else I made (including the eyes). I used an ash tree which I combed from Prestwick beach and topped this up with kiln dried ash from Fairlie sawmill. Hence the title of the associated photo.