I’m trying to write my second blog this month, it’s such a shock that the computer can’t accept it. I wrote the blog, tried to add some photographs and Google won’t let me…

Went back to the written draft to find that random words had been highlighted and not shown when I previewed it…most bizarre. 

So the two pallets arrived, but without the transducer which we need to be installed before we can launch. It is now on the way but, who knows when it will arrive. 

The cockpit is now back in

Gill is sewing toe rail covers and I am splicing mooring lines

Let me try and publish this

The ship carrying our pallets arrived in Castries on Friday. Now we wait for the stock to get through Customs. As anyone who has ever done this sort of thing, that could be quick, or not…

Now that the physical engine installation is complete, we have started to refit the cockpit as the photograph shows. After that, we will build the “engine room”. 

Kevin joined us for a couple of weeks and fitted the portholes, I still need to install a mechanism to keep them open for ventilation.

Other than that, we have continued to plug screw holes, varnish wood and polish brass. 

We are still pushing for a launch this year, but it will be tough to get there!

More later…

 Well, here we are halfway through November and no updates for months…and we aren’t in the water!

I decided to ship some stuff out from the U.K. so went to the Boat Show at the end of September to buy stuff. The last order has finally arrived at the warehouse in Barking, so went are now ready to ship. I’ve not done this before, but so far the warehouse (One Caribbean) seem to be very efficient and friendly.  The shipment should be with us early December 

Unfortunately we need a few things on that shipment before we can launch… There was also the small matter of the engine installation which for one reason or another has taken forever. It is now complete so all is good. 

The guys have not been idle (well no more so than usual) over the summer and the interior is looking magnificent the forepeak berth is in, the heads is almost in, the saloon berths are nearly finished. Hopefully I can put some photographs in to show how great it is!

As to “the plan”…. I’m not sure when the pallet will arrive, but we will need two weeks to fit the underwater parts once they arrive. So that and the ARC arriving, we will launch after Christmas I think. 

We do now have a plan to sail up to Antigua in early April, ready for Classics. If you want to help sail up, please shout and I will furnish you with details. 

Today marks seven years since our friend, and previous owner of Guiding Light, was lost at sea. 

Looking aft.

The main saloon taking shape

Gill making covers for the Brightwork 

The head

 We are moving forward at a good pace it seems, the hull is almost complete. Just the stern tube and anti fouling to go

The deck is being caulked, should be finished soon! Then we will be able to start reattaching all the deck furniture.

Below decks the sole boards are all ready, just need varnishing.  The anchor locker is coming on well, it just needs lining, and the windlass of course…

I really now believe we will be in the water in October.

Other jobs to do include all the electrics and electronics, all the plumbing, commissioning the engine etc etc. 

Hopefully we will have more regular updates, but Looking good!

 

Three Blakes seacocks awaiting the heads

We provide only the finest furniture for our craftsmen 

The template tank…

Yet another delay

We have decided that we won’t make Antigua Classics this year. The main stumbling block this time is Star Charger, she isn’t ready to make the trip as mother ship. 

Work on Guiding Light is going well, the top sides are painted and the boot top line is being applied by Gill.  The guys have primed the interior and are working on the structure for the sole boards. I am focused on the deck furniture, final bits that need cleaning and reinstalling.

In ten days we fly back to the U.K. for a month, hopefully the work will continue while we are away.

When we return our focus will be on Star Charger. We have to sail her up to Martinique to restart the clock on her stay here.  Hopefully that will be in April.

More news later…

Happy New Year, this is the year…

We now have less than three months to get Guiding Light sailing…and for one month of that we are back in the U.K. for medical checkups…

So this is where we are, all primed and ready for topcoat, and anti fouling. Mostly varnished, mostly polished…

The engine bed is in, the engine is aligned, just need to trim the prop shaft to size, fit the inner bearing and bolt it all together.  Then of course commission the engine.

Fit basic electrics, bilge pumps, lights etc

All the deck fittings need to be reinstalled, with backing plates where appropriate.

The mast needs rigging.  As does the bowsprit and bumpkin

Plus everything I’ve forgotten…

I will try and update weekly

 

Following my last post, life served us another curved ball!  I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s…a huge shock and something I’m struggling to really come to terms with. My motivation has dropped through the floor and it is a struggle to find the enthusiasm to do anything. However……

We are moving forward we have found a very nice and competent carpenter, Jeremiah.  Not a shipwright but between us we are getting there. Stephen is still with us, as is Krishna.  We have undercoated the exterior, and almost the inside, if only Kevin had stayed a few more days!  We have, thanks to Neil set in the beautiful new deck prisms. Jerry helped install the new stern tube, a difficult job as it was only 2mm greater in diameter than the previous one.  All the brass work has been cleaned and polished, Gill’s trusty Dremel was put through its paces again. The brightwork is being varnished by Krishna and Stephen. 

Next big job is the engine bed, we have Rob lined up.  Not looking forward to it, but hopefully it will be simpler than I think…

Hopefully the next blog will not take so long to write!

 A very sad note

I still can’t really believe it, but Zaka, our shipwright, died at the weekend.

Simon, Zaka Gajadhar, has worked with us for four years. Without him we would not have got this far.  Now, close to launch we have lost him.  I learnt a lot from him, not just about ship building.

At times he could be impossibly exasperating but it was always fun to be around him, we shared a sense of humour.

I knew he was not well, he hadn’t been for awhile but he kept putting off going to the Doctor. But I had no idea just how ill he was.  I am more determined than ever to get Guiding Light launched, we cannot falter now.

Our hearts go out to his family, he will be missed by many.

This is my favourite photograph of him, Gill who’s hand you can see had just found a sprung plank, Zaka in typical form laughed…and then fixed it.

The exterior

 The photographs show the huge amount of progress we have made... I failed with the video

Still a mountain to climb

July and still hopeful we will launch in the autumn

 

Well it has been awhile since I last put pen to paper, so to speak. 

Critically Hurricane Beryl was centred some 100 miles south of us. Disastrous for Carriacou, we have two friends there with seriously damaged boats. But we survived unscathed.

Things have been up and down here we are constantly falling behind schedule. We spend a lot of time redoing things that we didn’t get right first time!!

Fran, our paint lady is coming this week to discuss hull paint, so that’s progress 

Having said that I think we are still on track to launch in September.  Don’t get too excited, not finished but launched.  We can then let her take up before putting the mast in, hopefully October. 

After that is the interior, electrics etc….

I will post a video of the outside later this week

 I am feeling rather more confident now.  Things are moving forward at pace.  I just hope I can keep up with all the ancillary stuff.

But I do now have a skeleton plan.

Complete hull....last few rib repairs; tighten planks; fill unrequired through hulls; drill new through hulls;

caulk and paint...

Install engine 

Fit basic electrics:- Engine, bilge pumps, charger

Launch June 2024

Monitor for leaks while fitting out interior

Fit sun protection

Fly back to UK in August for six weeks... stress and pray

During September

Step mast and rig

Continue refit and learn to sail her

March 2025, leave St Lucia and sail to Antigua for Classics

What can possibly go wrong

 I have had very mixed emotions over the last few weeks.  We have finished a number of things which is great.  

We have finished the cockpit, albeit that we will need to fit it, and cut new holes for the engine controls etc.  The metal work is being painted, should be finished this week, I have started rerigging the mast. 

However we have not progressed the hull at all.  Hopefully things will improve this week.

We had a visit from Suzie and Julie who helped by doing some sanding.  It is always nice to have help.

Other visitors have brightened our day too

Taking stock back in the UK

Back in the UK for medical check ups, and a quick ski trip in France.

 We are moving forward with Guiding Light....slowly

But taking stock of where we are, reveals that although we feel that we have spent over three years working on Guiding Light, we have actually spent only 19 months working in that time.  So there is still hope.  We will launch this year.

One problem we have is finding sufficient space to varnish.  I have my gazebo but i can only fit so much in there.  The rest is done outside which is far from ideal.

I tried to included two videos, hopefully they work...sorry

. 

Christmas and the New Year

Since my last blog much has happened here in St Lucia, sadly not to Guiding Light.

Poor Kevin had a slight accident, he fell down a ravine and ended up in hospital.  All is well now, he stayed an extra week which was nice.  By then we were into the ARC, and spent two 24 hour periods as the finish line boat.  The first time we had 25 boats in the 24 hours, so not much sleep!

Work is progressing slowly, with the odd notable, even if small, success... I finished the light boxes, see photograph for proof.  I am varnishing everyday over Christmas

Hopefully 2024 will be the year we launch, but I am no longer so confident.

Wishing you a very blessed and Merry Christmas

No blog last week as I was racing in the Mango Bowl.

We have been making good progress, helped by having Kevin out helping.  As you can see from the photograph, he has ground back and painted the floors red.  He has also dismantled and sanded the butterfly hatch, ready for repair and varnishing.

At one stage we had seven people working on the boat at the same time!  But we are still very much up against the clock if we are to make Classics next year.

I also completed my little experiment with wood expansion.  A plank, 135mm wide expanded by 3mm when left in the sea for two days.  Leaving it for two weeks showed little more expansion.  Removing the plank from the sea and it returned to 135mm after one week in the sun.  I'm not sure what this means for our plans going forward.  Any thoughts?

My other conundrum is hull paint...

The wood needs to take in water and expand to seal the gaps.

Paint provides a waterproof layer between the sea and the hull

So how does that work?

 

Well, here I am again, but not much has happened.  Unfortunately not much progress, the guys didn't work this week, so my confidence has decreased somewhat!

The experiment with the plank has shown that in 48 hours the swelling was around 2%, then left for two weeks and little change was seen.

Gill and I worked all week and have sanded and varnished stuff!

Alasdair

The old plank taking up water

Some varnished pieces waiting a week to cure before being put away till they are needed

 

November 2023

 I can't believe it has been so long since I wrote my last entry...sorry!

The depressing news is that we haven't really got any further, We are still working on all the things we were a year ago.  We are making progress but it is painfully slow.

On the positive side we now have three guys working with us and there is a real enthusiasm to get her sailing by February... To that end I have registered for Antigua Classics in April 2024.  I am fairly confident this time

I really will try and do better, but I've said that before.

McVitie is still with us and offering much needed "encouragement"

In the varnishing gazebo, all is going well

Where to begin!  A great deal of work has been done since my last post, and plans have changed many times… I think that we have now more or less finished taking the boat apart and are now putting it back together.  

This year we have had a number of friends helping us out. A few giving us a day or two of their holidays, some coming to work.  It makes a massive difference, not just an extra pair of hands but also the boast to our morale.

The roll of honour …

Brian and Pam

Kevin and Sally

Kevin (again)

Kaveh

We have moved back our completion date, again… we will aim for Antigua Classics 2024. But hoping to launch, or at least be ready to launch by the end of the season.  I will keep you posted. 

I have varnished the boom and the blocks the winches sit on, and have started varnishing the spreaders.  Gill has almost completed preparing the hill for paint, an enormous task.  Zaka is getting close to finishing the deck!

Much more work still to do, but we are getting there.

Happy New Year to all

Love Alasdair and Gill

 For a few weeks now we didn’t really get very far….I have been sanding bits of rigging, Gill and Shawnel have been removing the caulking from the deck seams, Zaka has been removing things…..

Of course on every project this is perfectly normal, you plod along for ages and then suddenly everything happens!

Well our big moment today was that we removed the cockpit!  The main deck beam across the front of the cockpit was rotting, of course we discovered other horrors while dismantling it.  Things like, the metal straps that support the pit are held in with screws, they have rusted away so much that they look like pins!  

The cockpit itself looks salvageable, some work required but not too much, but several of the beams actually need replacing.  We will also take the opportunity once it is out to fit a new engine bed and engine.

I tried to upload a video but failed….it is available on Facebook 

We have a new recruit, this lovely little ginger kitten seems to have made Guiding Light his home. He is not at all concerned about all the noise and activity! 

Progress has been good.  The girls are making good progress with removing the paint below decks, they will need a few job soon!  Zaka and I have been stripping the furniture off the deck, everything is going to reset.  I also finished servicing the winches.

Now I need to decide how much effort to put into cleaning and polishing the bronze.

We were delighted to see Karl and Kara, with us in our profile picture on Facebook. Jerry also paid us a visit to see progress.

More later….