Environmental
So despite Storm Dennis we have arrived at Vida for a few days work during Jane's half term holiday. The electricity cards had run out after 16 days but clearly the heating has done a great job. Last visit we discovered the leaks from the old dorade ventilation
Progress
So we have gone all fancy with a new basin for our heads compartment. Yes it was on sale, yes it was the cheapest at B&Q. But it doesn't look it 😂
Appliances
The biggest difference is availability. With an electric motor instead of a diesel in your boat you can achieve the same/similar performance in power/speed. At the same time you can get better reliability and lower maintenance. However, the biggest difference is that you have to manage availability. With
Electric
Among sailors, diesel engines have become so ubiquitous that few seem to be able to imagine any alternative. Yet, of course, that hasn't always been the case. However, during my lifetime we have seen them steadily increasing in power and boats becoming more dependent on them, not just
Electric
Last weekend we have placed the first set of orders for what will become a complete Electric Motor system on Vida. We are going fully fossil fuel free as we just couldn't face the thought of spending money on an existing diesel system that is so against our
Cooking
No Friday working on Vida this week as I'm working. But we have been making progress spending money, some bits take quite a while to work out and source so very happy with these.
Environmental
This is worth watching. Sailors willing to turn their plans upside-down and venture into danger to support change and stand tall for responding to the Climate Emergency. Watch and cheer them on (knowing that they did succeed and Greta Thunberg was able to challenge world leaders at COP in
Appliances
Now that we are confident that our multi-cooker is going to be part of our galley it opens some extra options. So in December we joined a group making bulk purchases from a co-operative, vegetarian wholesaler. Our best bargain was a 10kg (paper) bag of dried chickpeas. We&
Electric
The sailing channels are full of amazing boats. What used to be the sailing magazines that my Dad would buy have been replaced by YouTube channels like Yachting World. Consistently they present, as if it were normal  a world view that everyone will be buying a brand new boat and
Progress
Today hasn't been quite what we expected. But then when you start taking very old bits of boat apart exposing areas that have been hidden since 1977 you never know quite what to expect. The main cabin roof area turned out to have a mesh backed foam behind
Progress
Was a pretty noisy night and gusts of upto 49mph this afternoon, fortunately coming at us head on so doesn't blow straight in. Warm and dry inside so nearly finished clearing the main saloon ready to take the headlining off.
Plans
While we absolutely love our aft cabin there are a few things we have realised could be improved. * Access into the heads compartment is very very tight when the double bed is made (and we keep it made because we only use it as our bed). * It is a high