I am about to get on the cat for the trip to the mainland. It is not that I am excited about getting there, or about starting work again... but my brain was working overtime last night thinking about the order I needed to accomplish things. Needless to say I only got a couple of hours of sleep. On the bright side I am really getting through the episodes of Red Dwarf I downloaded.
The cat leaves the harbour – I am already asleep. The dulcet tones of Simon Jones reading Douglas Adam’s posthumous book ‘The Salmon of Doubt’ are playing through my headphones. So remarkably funny! So remarkably funny that I still find it funny even though I have passed out! There are a few people on the cat that I know – they all leave me well alone. Perhaps it’s the snoring.
My rucksack is laden with as much as I can carry for the trip. My computer of course, some tools, Pringles can antenna for Wi-Fi, 2 pairs of socks and 2 pairs of boxers (this is not going to be a long trip). However light I travel it weighs a ton! By the time I have walked to Praktiker to procure more distilled water, a heat gun, a re-conditioning battery charger and some other pieces I would guess that I am probably carrying about 40Kg. Only a 2 mile trek to the boatyard.
It is about mid afternoon by the time I arrive. There are no groceries on the boat so have already decided to trek back into town this evening. I turn the electrics on (by talking dirty to them) and find that the potential drain over the last few weeks has not been as bad as I feared. Some lights are working and the fridge buzzes into life.
What next...
I take the opportunity to remove the gang-plank. It was damaged when the previous owner was caught in a storm and Natasha was washed backward onto some rocks. It is much too heavy for the boat, so heavy in fact that the davits are coming away from the deck with the leverage of supporting it. I have tried to lift it – cannot move it an inch – which means that it is time for more brains and less brawn.
A Spanish winch will do it. I can secure the top end to the frame supporting the Bimini roof and if I find a lever of the right length can trap it behind an upright when I need both hands to manoeuvre the gang-plank.
Here are the photos to prove it worked!
Lifted free of the socket
Higher and ready to drop overboard
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