Appliances
We have made a few key decisions and ordered a few parts. Worktop, sinks and plumbing Worktop First up was to decide what to build the new worktop from. We were attracted by the Solid Surface worktops. However, we realised that we were going to be talking well over £500
Safety
I really enjoy the videos like this from Erik Aanderaa, his equipment choices are well thought out. He can appear crazy for choosing to go sailing in storms. But his videos are brilliant in demonstrating that with the right equipment, attitude and skills it is safe and achievable. We want
Environmental
Had a gentle day as we were both pretty worn out by the work on the windows over the previous 5 days. Still we have managed to fully clear the forward heads compartment including headliner. We have found 3 common types of backing. One is a black with netting. It
Environmental
So we hadn't planned to remove the headlining and we certainly hadn't planned to replace it yet (the memories of doing this on our old Hirondelle Catamaran still haunt us). However, as we have been replacing the windows (days 1, 2 and 3) we have had
Environmental
So I've written loads on seacocks already: * Refurbish or replace: Seacocks? * Our seacock plan: tending towards zero * Turkey changes seacock plans But these have mostly been written from the negative side (why we think seacocks are bad and the problems we have with ours). Here I want to
Cooking
So we have been disconnecting the old switch panel (replacement will be in a different place). Behind it we now have full access to the steering rods so the parts that have been inaccessible for 42 years can be checked. This will allow us to create more storage and a
Progress
We stayed over into Saturday this week. Had a very comfy sleep in our aft cabin on the new mattresses. Saturday morning was a working party at the North West Venturers Yacht Club, we are new members so joined in clearing the car park, hedges, beach of litter and overgrown
Progress
I've written a massive post on seacocks already "Refurbish or replace: Seacocks?" Plus I made a video looking at the underwater features of Vida, in particular all the seacocks. As you may have seen in "Friday progress #5" we have now removed all 3
Electric
In my previous "The Electric Plan" I haven't mentioned "Shore Power" (ie plugging your boat into a mains power supply when in a marina). The reason is simple. We don't plan to have a shore power connection. There are several, fairly obvious
Environmental
So here is a video of where we got up to last weekend with the aft heads. The Natures Head composting loo needs a bit more space than the original Lavac pump out loo, in particular it is quite a bit taller. However, the seacock under the floor is no
Environmental
There are a couple of boat items that our Rival 38 has in abundance. Windows and Seacocks. Both are really important as means of blocking holes in the boat and so very helpful in staying on top of the water and not under it. Most of us are pretty familiar
Cooking
In my post "Vida: A 1977 Rival 38 Centre Cockpit Yacht" I mentioned that the gas installation had been condemned. We removed everything about that from the boat on our first weekend. However, we have always been concerned about the hot air heating system. We were told it