A blog about dinghy cruising a Welsford 'Navigator' around the coastal waters of SW England
Arwen's meanderings
Hi everyone and welcome to my dinghy cruising blog about my John Welsford designed 'navigator' named Arwen. Built over three years, Arwen was launched in August 2007. She is a standing lug yawl 14' 6" in length. This blog records our dinghy cruising voyages together around the coastal waters of SW England.
Arwen has an associated YouTube channel so visit www.YouTube.com/c/plymouthwelshboy to find our most recent cruises and click subscribe.
On this blog you will find posts about dinghy cruising locations, accounts of our voyages, maintenance tips and 'How to's' ranging from rigging standing lug sails and building galley boxes to using 'anchor buddies' and creating 'pilotage notes'. I hope you find something that inspires you to get out on the water in your boat. Drop us a comment and happy sailing.
Steve and Arwen
Saturday, 5 August 2023
Dinghy cruising refreshment for the soul
Here is the second part of our recent day sail out on Plymouth Sound after a long, long, long winter hibernation!
Nice to see given today I sit at the kitchen table watching a Yellow weather warning out side - 60 mph gusts. Drizzle and violent gusts. Our little woodland back garden is taking a real hammering. We took the precaution yesterday of lopping several large branches off the tree at the front of the garden to reduce the weight. Probably unnecessary, but prudent!
In this video you can see briefly a couple of modifications I have made over the winter. One is the installation of a small electric bilge pump. It is portable as in I can move it about the boat and just shove the outlet pipe down the centreboard casing. It is powered by a small 12v battery and I did two videos on how I set it up on our YouTube channel - search for the playlist on modifications to Arwen.
This hole drilling was 'wear my big pants time' I must say!
waterproof box, 12v battery, fuse and 1m long wires to pump
And yes - it has been pointed out that a jubilee clip would be a good idea but it was one hell of a tight fit and thus far it seems to be holding!
The second alteration has been to the lazy jacks/ topping lift. when erecting the boom tent I have always had to haul through sufficient slack in the topping lift to be able to take them forward to tie out of the way on the mast - a right pain. Now I can just unclip the lazy jacks each side and haul those bits forward - so much quicker and simpler. I can't remember whether it was Tim or Joel (two experienced and highly skilled navigator builders/sailors in the States) who shared that idea with me. Which ever one of you it was, guys, thankyou! 😆 You can see the modification in the video above around 6 minutes in.
Another idea I have is to put in a mounting for my kayak stirrup pump affair - somewhere close to the rear end of the centreboard case so that I can access it easily from the rear cockpit area. Given the weather we seem to be having, rain is now part of our summer! It seems a prudent thing to do!
Finally, I have always admired how decluttered Tim and Joel's cockpits always seem. I think we can all agree Arwen's interior always looks as if a bomb has gone off inside it. So, I'm going full on Marie Kondo and Stacey Solomon - putting things away so poor Arwen has at least some semblance of shipshape appearance. I also think declutter means - "lay it all out, go through it and be sensible about what you actually need to take!" Ouch - I'm a natural hoarder come - "you never know when you might need it so be prepared" kind of guy! This will be sooooo hard!
The boss says, given the state of my study, she will believe that when she sees it! 😂
A welshman displaced to wonderful Plymouth in SW England; a novice sailor, motorhomer, astronomer and boat builder with a passion for all things to do with the sea and the skies above. Follow my journey as I learn to sail Arwen, grappling with charts, tide tables and passage planning so that I can become 'a dinghy cruiser'
Follow my learning journey as I take up astronomy and astrophotography. Or you can come join us on our motorhome adventures across Europe. Subscribe on any of our blogs: Arwen's Meanderings (PlymouthWelshBoy), UnderSouthWestSkies (PlymouthAstroBoy) or Wherenexthun and at www.youtube.com/c/plymouthwelshboy for videos about dinghy cruising. I look forward to hearing your comments, tips and thoughts.
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