Does My Bum Look Big in This?

End of May 2008

Arriving by road in Eyemouth this time was a welcome break - we had been summoned by the yard to make some decisions, so we knew some kind of progress had been made.

Heroine was back on the slip, but more importantly, in the shed. Almost in the shed, a bit like a larger sized lady-shopper trying to get into a changing room at Top Shop her bum does rather stick out.

Heroine's skin has taken a bit of a battering through the years, as we all have, and as this picture shows, there is a bit of work to be done to tidy up the starn; all that cellulite is not going to be banished with one treatment of organic strawberry dermabrasion, and, like the author the creases could do with a bit of filler. They damage is caused by the otter boards - the big door sized steel things on either side of the net designed to hold the mouth of it open. When the trawl is hauled back on-board, there is inevitably contact as the steel "doors" run up the outside of the hull.

Another thing that needs attention is the stern post; this damage might be gribble, but we don't know, we'll see what the boat-builders can find out. There is so much wood here that even with this wear we are not concerned about Heroine's strength.

Fortunately she was built to last, and having her out of the water gives us a chance to look at every part of her hull in detail, mend where it needs it, so we can set off in full confidence that we know what state her hull is in. After all, the superstructure is a mere detail in comparison with the bit that actually sits in the water, trying to save some money here is the sort of decision that leads to a sort of immortality in the pages of the government's MCA "Accidents At Sea" Reports, which are always scary and sobering reads.

The inside of the hull is much improved - nearly all the concrete has gone from the fish-room, although it is a bit worrying to see daylight where the caulking has fallen out from between the planks, in precisely the area which would normally be wet.

We spent a happy couple of hours in the chilly engine room working out how much wee and poo we would make in two weeks, a surprisingly large amount, in order to calculate the volume of a black-water tank.

We are much encouraged that the "starn" unit of the steering might be okay - with a bit of an overhaul, it's a thing of wonder, made by Tenfjord, now owned by Rolls Royce, and used to be the best there is, and the engineer's inital opintion is that our system has nothing essentially wrong with it, great if a bit of a saving falls into our laps.

Climbing out of the hull and down the huge ladder back to the ground, it is a relief to be in the open air - somehow the hull holds its temperature, and it's been very cold this winter in Eyemouth.

That's a very long way up, a view of the stem post with the rusted shoe that, when whole, makes sure we come out better when other boats get in our way.

A strange thing -the shoe on the stem is much more corroded above the water-line, something to do with Galvanism, I could of course expand on this but my brain is too full of kittens and embroidery.