Am I fixing the boat, or is the boat fixing me?

Lifting out for varnishing

I discovered a great Youtube sailing channel recently, by Christian Williams, and the title of this post is a quote from him.

Marelle has just been lifted out for varnishing and antifouling before we go on another sailing trip - we have 4 months this time and no particular place to go, but will most likely be heading towards Falmouth and then back along the French coast.

We are getting a radar fitted by Greenham Regis, and a place to put the chart plotter inside the boat rather than just at the helm, also a remote station VHF so we can use the VHF in the cockpit.

I am also making a new set of bow cushions, using a Sailrite LSZ1 sewing machine.  I finally got one of these after persevering with a heavy duty Singer for a few years, and breaking needles and losing tension all the time.  It has been great, really easy to use and I probably should have got one years ago, it would have saved a lot of frustration!

Windlass cover with chain extension

I made a windlass cover complete with an extension for the chain, as we got some water coming through the chain hole when waves came over the deck on our last trip.  I used a "Pres'n'Snap" tool to install snaps on the chain part, I thought this would be really easy watching the videos on Youtube, but my hands aren't very strong and it was more like a torture machine!  I went through about 10 practise snaps.  The finished cover has turned out really well though.

I am really looking forward to going sailing this year.  Martin started to teach me how to sail last year, and this makes me feel a bit more confident being on the boat.