On the move again - part 32

Ello! Is me .. Lexie! We are almost caught up on da bloggy now. I fort I just add a few snaps of Atlantis before she ended up being stuck in the middle of the river for 18 munfs! pffttt which we not appy about but fings are about to change. I will tell you more about that next time.

Well we finally got our moorin (only to be moved out of it again but that is annuva story) Ere me checkin everyfink okey dokey on da port side. All seems all right. I see that puddle is still there *tsk* just can't get the staff eh?

Dad relaxin on his luxury seatin on da back deck, enjoying a coffee and contemplatin his next move ;).

Not sure if I like this view. All we can see is a shed. What appened to the river?

Relaxin in the bedroom what was once a fish-hold! I like layin on the bed but it's quite high up. 

This is the steel for our new bulwarks (that is the low wall wot goes round the deck of the boat in case you was wondering). It's surprisingly comfy on there you know.

Dad building our new storage cupboard. it will be accessed only from the back deck and he will put annuva door in the wheelhouse at the back and one at the side.

Comedy spanner (yay!!). Believe it or not that is not the biggest spanner on the boat! We had one twice that size but it fell in the bilge ;).

Atlantis's original plante from Holland showing where and when she was built!

How she looked after a lick of paint following her trip up from Kent.

A view of the river and the dry dock.

Me and ma ball!

Check out ma access plank!

Not sure I like it!

Mmmm .... sunpuddle

Is dad sunbathing too? heehee -- no he's erm ... actually I am not sure what he is doing!

Running in the park nearby

My what a big bow you have! heehee

A photo of the other side of the river .. if only we'd know that was where we'd end up for quite some time.

Noms .... now!

Tune in next time when I will update you wiv the lastest pictures of Atlantis and news on the future -- wot shall remain a sekrit til then!

Ta-ta!

Fun an larks on the River Blackwater - part 31

Well ma pals, as yo know we did move da boat up wivout any hitches. Except for a small issue wiv food but I won't go into that. No point raking over old ground, like the fact that all they had to eat was kellogs crispy squares an spaghetti hoops for the trip but .. that's another story, eh mum? heehee.

I fort I give you a quite summary again in case you forgot as it was so long ago! We made sure as much as possible was secure inside the boat so noffink wod fall over and hit us on the head or cause uvva injuries. Here's the saloon tidied up (yes that is tidy believe me).

Ere dus be da engine room  wiv da engine in full swing. We ad to take a plate off the floor that dad had previousy welded in. We haven't got full ventilation in there yet so we had to have somewhere for da smoke an heat to go. It was boilin down there!

Ere be a few members of da trusty crew - Len, Dad and Julie and of course yours truly! Len does not have cattypillar on his face is mustache for you informashun.

Yes, yes I could do wiv haircut but those was the days when I was livin on da boat an it cud be cold so I had to have lots of fur! 

A view of the portside wheelhouse. Noffink but sea sea sea. Nice! Shame it's only the Mudway ... I mean Medway! heehee.

Here's our tender still clinging on for dear life!

What's that down there? I thought I saw a mermaid! Wonder if she has any sossidges for me?

A view from the stern .. pretty much sea sea sea (again). Well we are 'at sea' what do you expect!

This is sat-nav for boats! Dad set it up on big screen so we can see where we going and we dussnt get stuck in any mud or shallow waters. There is a shelf in the Estuary wot we cud get stuck on over Clacton way if we don't time it right.

Shipping buoy fing ... don't worry it's not foggy that is just smoke from da engine room! Not fire smoke ..... diesel smoke!

Mmmm sunset -- time for dad to put his hat on!

How about that for an Essex sunset. Not bad eh? See we dus av bootiful sunsets in Essex too. Admittedly it was so cold your tongue cod of stuck to the steel but hey, one day, we shall be sailing around warmer climes drinkin Pimm and eat sossidges (that will be me of course - the sossidges).

Next day, a visit from the old bill making sure we weren't smugglin fings or people or erm takin drugs or summat. We gave em the full tour and a cuppa tea too!

Starboard side of the boat keeps to the green buoys but we are also constrained by our draught wot means we has to make sure we as enuff water under us to move!

Hello Maldon!! We're ere!! Are you ready for us?

Hmmm the river seems to be getting smaller! Hope we can make it!

Well, we did! We made it to our new mooring. More on that next time!

And so ... to bed! Phew dat was the most knackerin two days of ma life!

Next time ... mooring disasters! Fanx for poppin in.

I fink it's time Captain Dad - part 30

Well ... is gettin to the point where I is almost back where I started wiv dis bloggy. Mum an dad workin hard to prepare Atlantis for our journey from Kent to Essex to our new mooring.

Mum mainly tidied up the wheelhouse while dad installs all the gear we will need for the journey. The windows are nearly all in place now (temporary ones that is) and we have lighting. Mum is sweeping up tons of rusty bits of steel and generally clearing away trip hazards. I am over-seein proceedings and keeping a ware eye on that broom too!

Just a little more welding to be done on the front of the wheelhouse and then the two final windows can be installed.

She’s looking good eh? Well as good as she can for the trip anyway.

Here’s dad just measuring up to put in that last big steel beam to ensure the wheelhouse is fully supported and there’s no danger of the roof crashing down on us. Not that it would. Dad has welded and welded and put in support beams everywhere!

Course, there were a few fings we didn’t av time for. Like a staircase! Pffttttt. So, it’s still the ladder for us. I tried givin my evils and fort I might levitate up there but it was not to be ;).

Even when I tried to plant the seed that I might go a bit Lizzy Borden wiv ma axe heehee.

I decided to call it a day maself; they were still workin late into the night. So I curled up on the sofa an mum wrapped me up in ma blanket but it was darned cold up there.

There was noffink for it but to retreat to the bedroom where there was a little heater an av a chew!

Next day we set sail- just like that! Here’s dad taking us out of the Medway. Can you believe tiny fing he’s got his hand on steers the boat! No wheel or noffink!

Pals, if you want to read bowt our trip up to Essex, you can see it on dis post from ages ago. So, we are nearly caught up now. Ma next post will show you Atlantis as she is now. Ok, I gots to manage expectashuns ere so don't expect too much! We had a lot of problems (and are still having them) with our moorings so dad hasn't been able to do as much work as he hoped.

See you next time pals!

You have the bridge number one - part 29

Now .... I like to make sure fings are proceedin appropriately so this bloggy is about me keepin ma beady eye on the dad. He's got a deadline to meet to make the wheelhouse (aka the bridge) as sea-worthy as possible for our trip to Essex (yes I am still bloggin about the past, which is really weird).

As you can see, I like to stand on our gangway fingamabob (wot dus av chicken wire for safety purposes for da mum).  Chicken wire very andy for me coz I can do zoomies across fast when I decides I want to chase a rat. Apparently, I needs to practise ma tecnique a bit coz barkin at rats gives em a bit of a heads up you is after em!

I can also nip up to the bow - well sort if nip up if you exclude the fact that mum has to carry me up a ladder heehee - and av a look at the marina next door oh and err .... erm .... check the ropes for dad ;).

Dis show wot appen when you dussnt read your tide tables  an set off in good time! The boat on the right just missed making it into the marina and ended up on the mud until the next tide! Got a bit of a lean on init? heehee.

Time to check the anchor chain. All lookin ok and now the anchors are in place an the chain is on the winch we can forget about that until we is out at sea! A job well done for dad!

The wheelhouse is certainl takin shape. You can see (i ope) how much bigger it is too! Ang on I have to getto you annuva pic to compare. Right ... nip ere and as a look .. don't forget to come back!

Before:

After:

I'm pretty sure I sure somfink down there you know! It might of been a ball, probably jus annuva rate *bark bark*. Oh .. it seems to have gone now ;). I feel like Kate Winslet in dat movie.

Arggh elp!! We as bin invaded by ... oh no .. sorry ... as you were ... is only dad in his funky new welding elemet. He don't av to flip it up an down coz of it knows when you dus be weldin so goes dark when it needs too. Hope that weren't too technical for ya heehee.

Sooooo, we gots annuva ladder eh? Exacly when is you plannin on puttin proper stairs wot can be used by the Lexie! I am fed up of bein carried up an down ladders. Looks a long way down for me to jump tho so I guess I'll just wait ere for ma lift.

Close up of some beautiful seam welds (dad made me say that) for the bottom of the wheelhouse.

Ooops! Fink someone (not sayin it was mum, nope, not at all, not mum) might of measured and drawn this up wrong first time round! Good job dad always follows his own advice, measure, check, measure, check and cut!

Sparks (no  ..... not the 80's pop duo):

Tempry windows on the port side (left). These be ones dad cut from perspex so we dussnt av to spent lots of money on da final ones as these will do for sailin to the new mooring so he can see fings! Always andy!

Inside the wheelhouse is realy takin shape. We gots lights! Well .. ok .. A light! heehee. Still got a long way to go before is luxuriush wheelhouse wiv all da mod cons an dat tho.

Well, dat it for now. See you for da next chapter.