The big launch... ish !

You can't knock the staff at Cobbs Quay, when they said lift at 9am they meant it! Hearing the lifting strops creak as they take the weight is a sound I don't like. Cobbs have a new 40 ton travel hoist coming this year so it will open a lot wider too ....... phew.

Looking stunning as she took to the water, I boarded to check for water tightness and to start the engine. No leaks AND no engine start, the engine start battery died so rather than motor out of the crane bay we had to be walked to the fuel berth. Not a great start but the staff had a jump pack available which saved any more embarrassment. So we motored off to our berth just as the wind started to build, and build and build, blowing 30 knots with one sustained gust of 43 knots which made backing in a bit lively in the cross wind, but done safely.

Our new Rutland 1200 doesn't work as the mppt controller isn't charging the batteries. Marlec want the unit back to test so hopefully it'll be up and running next weekend and to make it worse i've noticed the smart charger connected to the main engine alternator isn't charging the start battery but is the service batteries. So we've launched with a few charging issues to look at.

After nearly 4 months of trying to get hold of the specific petrol generator which has been out of stock everywhere, we finally managed to find it. We now have on board the Hyundai 3000sei 2.8Kw which punches a lot more power than any other same sized unit. It fits easily in the cockpit locker and we now have an excellent backup power supply.

With 3 months of winter ahead it made sense to to the winter cover on which fortunately still fits at the stern as we'd not thought about it when the arch was designed. It keeps the worst of the winter weather off the decks, and gives us the opportunity to take measurements so we can adapt it for use as a sun awning when we leave the UK.