The Kettle is Dead

Despite my best efforts to repair it the stainless steel kettle's whistle stopped working again.  After being distracted doing jobs on deck to get BV ready to sail I found that climbing down into the saloon was like stepping into a Turkish steam bath.  The poor old kettle had been ignored because the floppy whistle was not whistling and so it was merrily churning out clouds of steam.  With that I finally accepted that the old kettle was not repairable and that it was time for a new kettle.  The new kettle looks very smart in its blue livery and seems to be large enough to keep an Englishman (and woman) suitably awash with tea as they potter around the world.

Thursday afternoon last week was spent digitally mapping the cockpit.  I got a telephone call telling me that the new sprayhood has been cut out, is ready to be stitched together and should be ready to be fitted during the next couple of weeks.  Also, he told me that the chap who will make the stainless steel frame for the bimini sunscreen was ready to measure up the cockpit.  I was expecting this to be done in the traditional way with tape-measures, some lengths of copper pipe bent into the desired shape and an experienced eye judging the requirements.  Not a bit of it.  The designer from the company making the bimini turned up with a high tech box containing a computer which he placed on the companionway hatch.  He then pulled from it a sensor and a remote control.  Working around the whole of the cockpit area he placed the sensor on all of the surfaces, fixtures and fittings and, with a beep from the remote control, logged that point on the computer.  At the end of his visit the computer screen showed a recognisable 3D image of the cockpit made up from small dots.  By Friday morning, with the help of a CAD programme, the dot picture had been turned into a 3D design for the bimini; even the winch handles could be turned on it to make sure that the design left enough space for them to be operated properly.  After a few minor questions I have now approved the design and so the stainless steel frame and canvas work will be cut out and made up from the CAD drawings.  I'm told that the sprayhood and bimini will be fitted on the same day later this month, well before the deadline I gave them.  BV should look very smart when we set off in August for our summer holiday.

The larger new dinghy and outboard has meant a bit of a rethink on stowage.  The new dinghy is too large and heavy to store below in the machinery room so it will lashed on deck and padlocked to a suitable strong point.  The outboard is easy and will fit on the bracket on the pushpit.  It does, however, have a large separate fuel tank so one of the cockpit lockers was emptied and re-organised to make space for the new, extra large fuel tank.

The bonus from freeing up the space in the machinery room is that we now have room to store the sewing machine (in case of emergency sail repairs) and a few boxes of reading books.  The downside is that I will have to fix some lashing points onto the deck and make beige covers for the dinghy and outboard.  Another few jobs added to the seemingly never ending list!