Environmental
[Update] I have written a lot about Dyneema standing rigging so I now have a guide to it all in: Dyneema / Synthetic Rigging Summary[End Update] Until recently the answer would be: terrible. A "plastic" made with petrochemicals that can't be recycled. However, things are changing.
Plans
[Update] I have written a lot about Dyneema standing rigging so I now have a guide to it all in: Dyneema / Synthetic Rigging Summary[End Update] We know that our decision making process can seem strange to others. :-) For example why would we remove a working diesel engine to go
Plans
[Update] I have written a lot about Dyneema standing rigging so I now have a guide to it all in: Dyneema / Synthetic Rigging Summary[End Update] In my last post "Chainplate update, more challenges" I linked to a whole bunch of YouTube channels where people have switched their
Plans
Back in June I wrote "Chainplate update" which explored how we might solve the problems with our chainplates that we detailed in "Deck repair question". We are very comfortable with our solution to the backing plates / under deck reinforcement: replace the inadequate stainless steel plates that
Plans
Jane has been assembling photos to show the progress we have made in our first year of refitting Vida. As we looked at them we looked a bit more closely at the pictures of our fresh water tank (according to the survey around 400 litres). You can see a lot
Electric
During the COVID-19 pandemic there have been plenty of YouTube Sailing channels talking about living Off-Grid and talking about their Sustainable lifestyles. However, the two are not the same. Sustainable living is well suited to being able to live off-grid but not all off-grid living is
Motor
We are really enjoying watching the Vendee Globe (single handed, non stop, no outside assistance round the world race). Our key sources are the official website tracking and their YouTube Channel but we are also enjoying the content from Sea Wolves. The weather has clearly been unusual and fits with
Plans
Found a fantastic video of an incredible yacht refit which has an interior decor that we absolutely love. You can see the interior in this video. In this video you can see just what a huge project (in every sense of the word) it was to take a former Whitbread
Appliances
Two recent examples have in equal measures frustrated and amused me. In their plans for Ruby Rose 2 Nick and Terysa have oodles of calculations but they appear to be aimed at justifying fitting large diesel engines because an all electric boat isn't possible. They seem to have
Dinghy
So we have a holiday, it being half-term, however, as Manchester is in a tier 3 Lockdown and Wales in a Firebreak, we are at home. It does mean we can take time not just to do jobs and study (including propeller shaft and RYA Yachtmaster course) but also
Dinghy
So a quick update on where we are at. The situation for Manchester is still chaos without agreement between the national and local governments regarding the level of lockdown we should be in. However, we are expecting to be more restricted soon (bearing in mind that Manchester has had it&
Motor
So I've started the cleaning up of our propeller shaft. It had some brown gunk (like a dried muddy residue from corrosion) but no rust of itself. However, in a number of places it has uncovered pitting. This seems to be concentrated on the bits that were just