Leaderboard

Our poison is our cottage on one of the Greek islands. The main downside is it's really hard to come home to the grind This is moonrise in the Autumn from our terrace. Shirt sleeves and a glass of wine!!

Oh so not a landing pad but a football pitch

If you want to go sailing, buy a fibreglass boat. If you love sanding and painting and fettling, and don't particularly want to get out on the water, buy a wooden boat. Don't get an open dinghy unless you really are planning on keeping it ashore and launching to sail then retrieving. A much better prospect is something like I have, a small 1980's cruiser. It's only 18ft 6 and when new in 1983 was described as a "spacious family cruising yacht" a description we would laugh about now. But having the cabin to store all your gear and having a self righting boat that's unlikely to capsize anyway just seems a much better way to sail to me than an open dinghy. You will buy a boat like mine, a small 70's or 80's pocket cruiser for the same money you would spend on a good dinghy. Don't buy a "project" boat. History has shown anyone who does either gives up, sells it at a loss, or never gets it finished. And on the rare occasion they do, it has cost twice as much as it would to get one ready to sail.

Downed tools a little over a week ago and got my boat back in commission- she had languished on the mooring all winter growing a good crop of barnacles and weed. Had a fantastic sail up the Minch to Stornoway, were followed by a pilot whale at one point, so close you could almost have touched it. Masses of sea birds as well, as our passage took us through the Shiants which are a huge breeding ground for puffins etc. It was our 4mo son's first trip and he seemed to enjoy it, slept like the proverbial baby afterwards anyway. Spent several days in Stornoway catching up with old friends, then SWMBO+baby bailed out by ferry leaving me to spend two days slogging to windward to get the boat home again. It's been great to not think about the build for a while, although not quite as relaxing as I had hoped!

Aka the Welsh Warrior? Must be one of his many bait times soon.

Our squeak only materialised after the joiner had laid the 9mm and 12mm ply in preparation for the resin ground floor. It was glued and screwed at 400 centers but there was a distinct squeak near the patio door, so we pulled up a few boards to investigate (and managed to clip a UFH pipe in the process). Looked like a joist was moving 1-2mm against a steel - was too late to do anything there and then as the ceiling below had been plastered. Laying the ply had probably highlighted the issue as it had pulled the whole floor surface tight. Funnily enough, now the resin has been poured, the squeak is gone. We realised just how well laid the 22mm deck was when we lifted a section for the wetroom former in the ensuite - was a real fight to get it off, even after getting all the screws out.