Saturday 28 December 2013

Maiden Voyage!

Well, she didn't sink, neither did the radio fail, so I didn't have to don the waders that I had taken just in case the worst happened.

The storm had finally blown itself out and the day dawned calm, dull and not too cold, with just the prospect of a bit of sun peeping through the clouds, so it was off to Fleetwood Model Yachting Lake for the maiden voyage.
It was inevitable that there would be an audience of relatives and so it was essential that Grandad didn't make a fool of himself and showed himself to be in total command of the technical aspects of the occasion.

All was well and with the light westerly wind beginning to chill us we decided to lift the boat out of the water and get home for a warming tot of the hard stuff!!

Delighted with the result after many hours of enjoyable building. 

Wednesday 25 December 2013

Happy Christmas!

...and a peaceful and prosperous New Year to all my readers.



Have a lovely time today and dream of glorious Spring and Summer drives in your Morgan.

Cheers!

Chuckers

Saturday 21 December 2013

Vacancies filled!

After pursuing the two potential recruits residing in Switzerland but realising that it was going to cost at least 32 Euros to have them transferred, I decided to fill my two crew vacancies from the UK.

This momentous decision was made while I was searching the web for alternatives and happened to come across a fellow boatbuilder who made his own.
Not the most handsome helmsman!
The discovery was like a red rag to a bull, so off I went to 'Hobbycraft' in Preston, to buy some 'Fimo' modelling clay and some cheap acrylic paints, accompanied by my lovely wife who would never miss the opportunity of visiting a nearby M & S!
...and as for this beauty!!!!
Mission completed for around a fiver we returned home, whereupon, I found some galvanised wire in the shed and shaped it into the skeletons of the crew I required, ie a helmsman and a glamorous female who would flaunt on the rear seat of the deckhouse!
At the wheel
After kneeding the clay I started to sculp the figures by forming the clay around the wire framework.
She looks absolutely paralytic after consuming her wine!!!!
When the figures were completed to my satisfaction, not quite to Michelangelo's standard, they were placed in the oven at 130 degrees for half an hour, after which the hardened figures were taken out, allowed to cool and then painted.
All set to go.
The results of my labours can be seen in the photographs.

Monday 16 December 2013

Helmsman required!!!

My new boat is complete except for at least one crew member which I feel will add to the look of the craft when it is on the water. I have sourced a couple of likely candidates who are residing currently in Switzerland, so I will probably wait until after Christmas and New Year to recruit them, when the postal service will be less fraught.
Finished!
The building of this luxury cruiser has taken up most of my time over the last few weeks, when I should have been out there buying Christmas cards, presents and cogitating over the various details, culinary and otherwise that we men have to contend with at this time each year!

It has also meant that I have not been out for a pootle in the Morgan....and oh do I enjoy a good pootle! Anyway yesterday I ventured out on a 15 mile round trip to give the engine a good run and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Now the boat building is over I shall be giving more time to our cars and also to our humble abode and garden.

How this will affect my constitution remains to be seen, because, while building the boat, my wife said that I was a better person to live with, informing most of the village of this dramatic change in Chucker's character, in fact on one occasion she caught me singing or was it whistling? Yours truly was a very happy chappy, absolutely top-ho, so I'm hoping, and so is everyone else, that I do not have a relapse.

The maiden voyage of the 'Lollypop', I haven't chosen a name yet, took place this morning in our bath. In preparation for this I asked my wife to fill it , which she gladly did, carrying jugfuls of water filled from the well at the bottom of the garden. In our part of darkest Lancashire, United Utilities have not got around to laying on modern facilities so we are obliged to retain our ancient bathing facility and take a shovel into the garden as and when necessary.

It was not a very long maiden voyage, as our galvanised bath tub is not very long, in fact we have a dreadful job getting in and out of it, especially as we are both ridden with rheumatic ailments! However, once I had got to grips with the technical aspects of radio control, the boat moved in the direction and at the speed I demanded, which was encouraging, although it was necessary for her indoors to hold on to it to avoid collisions fore and aft in the confined space.

I am looking forward to a calm sunlit winter's day when I can take it to our model boating lake and see it perform to its full capacity.

Only five days now to the shortest day, then we turn the corner and although there is a lot of winter to come, at least the days will get longer and dreams of idyllic Morgan based picnics will once again be filling my mind.

Photos of the build follow:-





ANCHORS AWEIGH!!!!!!!