Happy New Year!

Chris and I would like to thank all our readers for taking the time to read our mutterings and would like to thank you all for your comments and support.

To those of you we have met and are yet to meet

May the new year bring health, wealth and happiness to you and yours

Merry Chrismas one and all

Condensation Cure and Santa's new job

Hi all.
         We have been pottering around on the mooring over the last few weeks only slipping the lines to Diesel up and pumping out since our last post.  We've  kept our routine of work during the week and chillaxing at weekends as the weather has closed in.

Like others we have been keeping warm with the little Hobbit stove working well to keep us warm and snug on board.  My Eucalyptus logs are burning a treat and I've also manage to source a very cheap supply of offcuts from a local builder's merchant who is only too keen to let myself and others have his waste for a modest fee.   We both win.  £18 got me a one ton sand bag full of timber of all sizes.  Should keep us warm for a while and bonus, they will store it in their warehouse for me too so I can take what I need when I need it.

Also like others we have been dealing with condensation on the Houdini hatches and port holes that was getting a real problem but I've found a very effective and reasonably cheap solution.  For £10 per port hole I have purchased custom cut 3mm sheets of perspex with a 3mm hole drilled.  I surrounded this with 10mm "U" channel rubber and this assembly slips neatly into the porthole liner creating an effective secondary glazing unit.  I only made one to start with but the difference was amazing even in very cold weather. I soon ordered and made up more for the other portholes.

This porthole does not have the DIY secondary glazing and on a fairly mild
night condensation can be see running down the glass

This one does and is perfectly clear apart from my finger prints when
I put it in for the photo

 What is nice about these units is they can barely be seen as you can see from the photo above.  Only the rubber around the edge shows.

We also wanted to add the secondary glazing to the bedroom portholes but this meant that the porthole bungs would not stay in place as the space would now be too thin to take them.  Fortunately the perspex supplier,  theplasticman(Click), provides the perspex in different opaque colours as well so we opted for white.  This meant the porthole bungs would not be needed until the warmer weather arrives.  By the way the rubber I sourced from Seals direct (Click) and fits perfectly.  I joined it end to end to make a ring with a dab of Chryanolite super glue, also available from the same supplier.

Bedroom glazing unit in place and doubles as a bung too. 

The reason for the 3mm hole drilled in the perspex is t0 allow a small cord to be fixed so the units can be pulled out of the liner as they are a snug fit.  You can just make this out in the photo above.  Another advantage of the white perspex is even on a dull cloudy day a soft diffused light is allowed in whilst modesty is preserved.

So far these units have kept condensation to a bare minimum only misting very slightly when Chris is cooking.  It does mean we cannot open the portholes when they are in but as they are easily removed we just take them out and open the porthole if needed.

Our other problem was the Houdini hatches that poured condensation every evening to such an extent it was beginning to turn the wood black.  After reading about Tom's solution on b Waiouru (Click) with foam I decided to give it a go myself.  I bought 50mm thick blocks and although ours are not as elegant looking as Tom's our condensation troubles have also been cured here too.

Not as professional looking as Tom's but does the job

Finally, do you get the Boater's Update emails from C&RT?  If not have a look at the latest edition (Click).  We got a mention in T'other highlights!

Oh I nearly forgot, Santa has found himself another job at the marina in the lead up to Christmas...

Santa Wind sock at the marina