Wednesday (5th May) provided the first trip of 2021 with some wind (and dramatic views of the new snow!!! on the fells).
We had rebuilt the lubricator (using a 10mm ID needle-roller sprag clutch and a hard-chrome bar collar to run on) and this seemed to work well.
Initially we took the (almost obligatory) trip round Belle Isle with a rafted up lunch with Etna and Aurora.
We then set off into the south basin and …
Continue readingWell it’s been cold! But we have had 4 short trips out, mostly between Ferry Nab and The Jetty museum, and around Belle Isle. But while the high pressure has delivered lots of sun , it has provided absolutely NO wind!
Continue readingWell, after a long lockdown winter, and a rather cold snap, we decided we were certainly ready to unwrap Befur and get back on the water.
Time for an update.
Well as Winter approaches in the Norther Hemisphere (Mid October), it seems time to add a few notes on actually sailing Befur. I see it’s 23rd July since we posted an update, so I am clearly getting lazy! In the interim it seems WordPress have “improved” their editor, duh! more unnecessary software to learn. grrrr!
While we have continued with the stream of maintenance-cum-repair-cum-development that seems to be the bread and butter of steam-based boating, we have made progress and have usually got where we are planning to go without mechanical break down. 🙂
Continue readingWell, looking back the first post here was on 8th June 2011, and we aimed to finish and launch by 26th June 2015 – planning was never my hot spot! We did change the goal posts in mid-flight (adding a sail, loo, etc, and stretching her from a planned 16ft to almost 27ft to get everything in, but hey we did get there!), and on the 20th July 2020 we took her for a steam and sail on Windermere with a cameraman (Roger Heise from the SBA) on hand to record her 2nd trip under sail (thank you Roger).
Before I inflict an album of sailing photos on you, a couple of notes on the steam side, especially for Leak Compound builders…. Continue reading
Today (8th July 2020), we finished rigging the sail, stowing all the stores, and getting her ready for the first steam and sail…
A picture is certainly worth a few hundred words… but Lou’s sail, Arne’s instructions and David Tyler’s advice have produced what looks like a working solution – just need some wind now.. (and some HK parrels to make those creases disappear!). Continue reading
Took Befur out for a tour of the lake yesterday, enjoying a day of early autumn sunshine. Conscious that it was a fated day, I was expecting some drama!
Lou managed to (very narrowly) avoid a dunking while we were boarding, so I thought we might of escaped. However, bad planning on my part resulted in us getting blown onto a jetty on the lake, which was (unbeknown to us) fitted with large bolt ends projecting out to catch people in exactly our predicament – so more filling, sanding and re-painting required over the winter to repair a pair of gouges in the hull – bugger! Continue reading
It would appear that the work on the burner paid off. Yesterday we had a fine day’s trip on Ullswater, from the marina at Watermillock, all the way to Glenridding without a single problem – virtually the full length of Ullswater. (About 3½ hours steaming). The first time we have managed the full length of the lake!
We took most of it at a leisurely pace, with a couple of bursts of speed to avoid yachts out racing…. Continue reading
After an extended break since the Windermere jaunt, rebuilding of the burner and visiting friends and family; we finally got Befur launched and back on her mooring on Ullswater on Thursday. Continue reading
Well we are probably due an update….
We just spent a week camping on the boat in the company of the SBA (Steam Boat Association of the UK) on Windermere.
A curate’s egg of a week! We did get a very fine trip down to Fell Foot (at the south of the lake) and had some nice pictures taken of us on the way 🙂
