save your batteries

We all want our batteries to last longer as they are so expensive to buy in the first place. I have decided to change all the boats lights to LED and contacted http://www.triton-marine.co.uk/ to get the lights required. Thinking of the power my anchor light uses over night I bought one of their LED anchor lights a lovely bit of kit. On test I could see the LEDs from a fraction over 2 miles. I have fitted mine into an old dioptic lensed light I had and now can be seen from about 3 miles so I am well pleased a light that could last 100,000 hours and no more battery drain

Safety First very important

As a marine consultant I see many products hitting the market hoping you will part with your hard earned cash and most of them are not realy up to the job. I have just tried a product called SPEEDSEAL in our boat. To change the impeller in our raw water pump in a marina berth took me 1hr 45 mins as I only have 100mm in front of the pump because of a water tight bulkhead. I bought a SPEEDSEAL and fitted it in 3 mins. I then took the boat to sea in a F5 and tried to change the impeller. From the time I opened the engine room hatch to the time I closed it after changing the impeller took me 5 mins and 12 secs and this was while the boat was rolling through 48degs and the engine was hot. As you will see from this test to have a SPEEDSEAL is a major saving in time spent in the engine room at sea and a considerable safety factor in the lesser down time for the motor. If you are interested in the SPEEDSEAL contact them at http://www.speedseal.com/ and talk to Alex a most helpfull man.

Friends Arrive

Well on Sat 5/4/2008 We had the lovely suprise of seeing our friends Clive & Jenny Smith on their old scottish MFV arrive here in Morlaix. We arranged a berth for them as the cost of keeping her in the Isle of Wight is now silly. I think the marina owners in the UK think they can just keep putting up the price and people will keep paying but as Clive & Jen said people are starting to vote with their feet or boats by moving to Europe. They arrived in good weather to a lovely trip up the river from the river entrance 6 miles away. Now they can relax and get on with the few jobs Clive wants to do on her before they head back to the Isle of Wight were Clive is a Marine Surveyor and Jenny is a Nurse. We have started the usual jobs polishing and varnishing in the hope of a good season. As we have a dark green hull the sun plays havoc with it so 3 years ago we tried a new product called Polytrol on the hull and she looks as good now as when we did her. If anyone is interested in what to do just drop us a line and I will be happy to give all the info. It saved us about £3000 on a paint job.

washing machine and spin dryer

We have had so many enquiries about the washing machine we use and the spin dryer I thought it would be a good idea to put the address for them on the blog.
We save about £1000 a year on the washing as the laundries are so expensive. With ours we put 12 litrs of hot water then 2 caps full of liquid soap in the machine and then set the timer for 10 mins and this gets even the worst dirt out. when the machine stops Sal puts the load in a bucket and I put it in the spinner, spin out the soapy water and give that back to sal. Then I add some softner and about 3 litres of cold water from the hose and spin that. One more rinse with the hose and then on the line. If there is a bit of wind even in the winter we can have them dry in a couple of hours not bad 5 loads washed and dry for pence in 3 hrs instead of waiting at the laundry for 1 hr for 1 load. The washing machine is a MW100 without spinner but smaller motor 450watts and all HI plastic. The Spinner is a Zanussi gravity spindryer about 240 watts total cost £200 so in the first year you can save £800. The dimentions of the machine are 530mmHx460mmWx420D
http://www.hermeselectronics.nl/groep-139/wasmach-bovenladers/