Frosty winds are certainly making moan around home and apart from a quick trip by train to check security of covers and state of batteries Crunluath has had to cope with the weather alone. The Rutland Wind Generator, a 503 model, has done sterling work and batteries were fully topped up, saving on expensive marina power. Work to stop a bit of rot appeared to have worked with no further ingression of water and satisfactory drying of the worst areas affected. The anchor chain was run out onto a pallet to give the galvanising a bit of air, and fresh rain water, or snow.
Others have been more active than me in recent months, Corsair’s rebuild has progressed well with transom, planking and deck and cabin replacements complete, impressive.

Cautious 11′s voyage from the Tyne to the Thames was reported on in August. Apart from some engine and heads problems it all looked to go very smoothly. The reason for this became obvious when I received a Powerpoint presentation which the skipper had prepared for his crew. It detailed the complete passage plan, and alternatives; safety procedures, responsibilities of each crew member with tasks allocated, even berths allocated. Preparation is everything for a successful cruise and this was a prime example of how to bring the trip to a successful conclusion. Apparently the roughest part of the trip was up the Thames to the winter berth at Gallion Point in Docklands.
I have been fondling my lovely bit of bronze, a new stern bearing, custom made by T.J.Norris at a pretty reasonable cost, I really must stop fantasizing and get to work in the new year. Temperatures in Cumbria in recent weeks have been enough to freeze the bearings off a bronze stern gland and with a boiler failure it has been a bit like a chilly trip in the boat, wearing fleece and wooly hat in bed. Anchor does not appear to be dragging but boiling up the shaving water in the morning brings back a few memories.
Happy Christmas to all my readers, good sailing in 2011, Crunluath’s 46th season.

It is usually said that the most dangerous part of a voyage is when you approach the shore. I reckon the most dangerous part of my sailing year is when the boat is ashore.
My post breakfast lounge was interrupted last week by a call from the marina to tell me the mast was in danger of falling down.
With Crunluath ashore to fix the leaky stern bearing I had rigged two covers to keep off the worst of the weather. In a moment of less than lucid thinking I had disconnected both sets of lower shrouds to allow the covers to fit together better, not taking into account that even with main shrouds, fore stay and back stay secure there would still be enough flex in the mast to risk it jumping out of the deck plate. A wild south-easterly whistling down the Kelburn was enough to move the rig so violently that a dismasting was threatened. A temporary fix by marina staff saved the day despite my not leaving all the rigging screws accessible and a panic filled drive through foul weather conditions allowed me to do a permanent job.
A trawl through boating forums on the internet has revealed a wealth of information about stern bearings and stuffing boxes, and even more opinions on the effectiveness of various prop shaft seals. The most useful comments were perhaps from the American site Wooden Boat Forum with good sense, useful photographs and less ill informed comment than I tend to find on most other forums.
My research has led to the conclusion that a flexible rather than rigid traditional stuffing box is what I need. I suspect that the new more powerful engine with its’ more flexible mounts, installed a couple of years ago has caused the stern tube to leak. There is a Bullflex coupling on the gearbox which should take care of possible misalignment but maybe this was not enough to combat all the engine movement. T.Norris of Isleworth west London can supply stuffing boxes of various kinds but there are other suppliers. It’s out with the credit card time again.
“Worse things happen at sea”,  my granny always said; like most things your granny tells you, take it with a bucket of salt water.

The old wooden boat owner’s regular diet of disappointment is something you have to learn to live with. My season has come to a premature end with a steady drip from the propshaft turning into a regular flow so it’s get the boat on the lift before the batteries drain or the pump blows.
However it ended well with a wild and wet but exciting ride to Lamlash, (It’s always a blow one way or the other) and a couple of the sunniest days of the year introducing a friend to the pleasures of sailing and the deprivations of old boat ownership.
The trip to Lamlash was lively to say the least and I complicated the situation by trying to video the excitement of a force six gusting seven whilst broad reaching across the widest bit of the Clyde. Needless to say it nearly ended in tears but me, the boat and the camera survived, the camera unscathed, the boat a little battered and me well bruised. I should have remembered the definition of “later” in the met. forecaster’s parlance and I set off merrily after hearing it would be force three later forgetting that it could mean in six hours time. Only Crunluath and a wooden ketch were heading south of Cumbrae, the ketch was a hearty looking old timer which probably only breaks into a sweat at the top end of force seven, Crunluath was double reefed and down to the smallest practical amount of genoa. Reefing too late as always, I struggled to get the main into a reasonable shape after a lengthy stay at the mast getting the luff lines tight and the halyard retensioned. This effort was nothing compared to that needed to get the genoa rolled up a few more turns and I resorted to leading the furling line across the cockpit to the starboard side genoa winch to get it down to a manageable size. The resulting cross cockpit line made a nice hurdle to be jumped every time I needed to move forward from the helm.
Crunluath of course behaved immaculately, sailing itself once I had the sails balanced and needing little attention to the helm despite the bouncy ride from the seas coming down Loch Fyne on the North-West wind. About a mile out of Lamlash the bulk of Goat Fell blotted out the wind and there was a peaceful sail into the moorings.
In contrast the return trip was a lazy drift in light airs and I enjoyed sailing right up to the cliffs of Wee Cumbrae with 30 metres of water below the keel when 50 metres off the shore.
What has turned out to be the last trip of the season took place in glorious sunshine, with sparkling seas, a soundtrack of little bleatings coming from the Guillemot families rafting around Cumbrae and Gannets plummeting out of the sun like Stuker dive bombers in a war movie. At a picnic stop in Millport Bay thousands of sand eels pricked the surface of a glassy sea providing afternoon tea for a pair of Sandwich Terns flitting around the boat. A gentle breeze, calm seas, blue sky… what better conditions for demonstrating the joys of sailing. I mentioned this to the boss lady at the marina office whilst booking the lift-out. “She could get the wrong idea and think it’s always like that”, was the reply. I’ll have to study my meteorology carefully before the next trip!

Actually it turned out not to be the prop shaft packing but the inner bearing letting go of the stern tube, a nice little problem to ponder over and fix! It’ll be a bu***r to get at!

Whilst Crunluath was rolling round Bute Cautious ll has been rolling round the UK powered by a Parasail(above), a slightly scary looking bit of kit but obviously effective. Cautious is a Queen Bee, the five berth version of a Honeybee, same dimensions on the outside but more packed into the inside. They appear to have only been made by Dixon Kerly at Maldon but I would be interested to hear if anyone knows of another builder.
Cautious made her way from the Tyne to the Thames estuary via the Caledonian and Crinan Canals during June and early July, supporting the Newcastle General Hospital Motor Neurone Disease Service.
You can read about the trip and see a slide show of pictures here.
The show runs automatically by clicking the bottom arrow or you can click the right or left arrows to see individual pictures.
Meanwhile elsewhere in Scotland Crunluath was making more mundane short sails around the Clyde.
There are some things in life a man can never have too much of; money, chocolate digestives, malt whisky and trips around the Kyles of Bute. There may be other desirable things of course but this is a family friendly blog!
The Kyles are always the same and forever different no matter which way you choose to travel, given the frequent south-westerlies a beat to Garroch Head then a blast up the Kerry Kyles to Caladth Harbour or the Burnt Isles is usually the choice.
So it was with my last trip, motor sailing to the Tann between the Cumbraes, then dodging the outgoing RFA Wave Knight, one of the navy auxilliary service fast at sea refuelling vessels, recently back from the Arabian Gulf. A liesurely sail towards Tignabruich tempted me to drop into St.Ninian’s bay on the east shore of Inchmarnock Sound. At anchor were two very smart yachts, a canoe sterned sloop and Saboo, a Holman and Pye 42 ft. yawl, the latter being owned by a yacht surveyor is of course immaculate in a new coat of white on the hull instead of its’ former green. Both gleamed and I anchored some distance away in order not to be dazzled by the multiple coats of varnish.
After a pleasant couple of hours rest and recuperation I headed north again. Off Tighnabruich a white motor yacht of impressive dimensions was at anchor. The following morning she motored quietly through the southern Burnt Isles channel, I read the port of registration on the stern, Georgetown, CI (That’s Cayman not Channel islands!). Her considerate progress was a contrast to the fisherman who had ploughed up a bow wave high enough to spill my whisky the previous night, I was tempted to look up his number and send a bill!
The morning was gloomy with low cloud and steady rain so I used the time to investgate one of my leaks, this was from the forward starboard chainplate, a long time leak by the looks of it. A temporary repair is planned to stem the problem then it will have to be off with the chainplate next time the boat is out of the water which I optimistically hope will be winter 2011.
A morning of slightly depressing action was counteracted by a sparkling afternoon sail back to Largs.
Do take the time to look at Cautious’s pictures, it might inspire you to similar action, perhaps I’ll just have another whisky before I decide.