Doggie-paddle-tastic

Hello! Is me .. Lexie! Ow fings? Well pals, as you might know, I dus like to swim heehee. I fink I may of mentioned it a few times ;).

Anywoof, mum and dad luvs to see me enjoyin ma Skamper Ramp. I dussnt be scared of the pool any more and can get in an out easily wiv ma ramp. See ma uvva post for a better look at da ramp ere.

Coz they dus be scoobin divers they got all their gear at da pool for practisin so they decided wod be fun to filum me from under the wata coz they fink ma legs is so funny happarently!! Pftttt cheek! I am like a glidin swan I says ;).

So there you go, doggie paddle from under the water courtesy of the dad! Oh, ignore mum showin her amazin underwater skils (NOT) for the camera. She is a right silly moo ;).

Fanx ma pals ... paddles off ... paddle paddle paddle

Is it gettin otter in ere?

Hello ma pals! Ow fings? Is me Lexie!  Now then, as you may or may not know, I dus like to av the odd swim ;). Til now, I dus mainly do swimmin in rivers and the sea.

However, a few munfs ago all dat did change and turns out mum and dad has gone an got me ma very own swimmin pool! Errr ... well ok they didn't get it just for me, I has to share it wiv dem unfortunately pfffftttt.

Fing is, even tho I dus love to swim (as you may or may not know teehee) I was too scared to swim in the pool because I has to have a way in and a way out. Well ma very good friend on Facebook wot dus be Elizerberf telled me abowt this fing called a Scamper Ramp and ow we could get one an put it in then I cud get out of the pool easy.

So, mum opened up her wallet (moths were flying everywhere BOL BOL) and buyed it for me! Took ages to come. It came all the way from Americy. That wasn't the hard bit coz it achewlly arrived wivin 5 days. The big problembo was the customs! Took em free weeks to sort it out. Doesn't matter, coz its ere now.

Ere I am checking it all out

Seems to hold ma weight ok ;).

Doggie paddle is the stroke of choice in this house ;).

I fort you might like to see a bit of video of me  using it wot dad done. You will see mum in da background floatin around as lifeguard on standby in case of incidents ;)). Fink she needs some elocushun lessons - she gets more Essex every day pffffftttttt.  Just a short swim first:

An a bit further this time:

The best fing about it is that if, for some reason, I fall in the pool (unlikely) and they ain't there, I can scamper up ma ramp quick as a flash and be all safe an that.

Woofhoo!!! Well that's it for now, talk to you soon, this be Lexie signin off, lovin life and livin it to da max baby heehee!

xx

Home sweet home - part 35

Hello pals. Well we have moved again! Atlantis is now moored it what we hope will be her home for the next year at least. The funny fing about it is it is where we started off in 2010! 

Here we are heading off up the river to our new home, under our own steam I might add! This is view from the port side (the left). If you wants to remember that port is left, we use a little phrase - no port left (as in the drink). 

Here's the view from the starboard side. Not much in it I guess!

Here's our little tender following along behind.

 

Here's some pals helping us more up in our new exciting surrounds. The view is not great, but at least we know we can do all the noisy messy work and no-one will complain. We also are able to get on and off when we like and don't need the tender any more. Bet we can get a few quid for that!

Dad moves her into her new spot, nice and slow. You can't see it but mum is waiting wiv fenders (in this case some classy large tyres) to fend off from the wall.

A neighbour in the dock over the way. A Loyal Class Fleet Tender having some work done.

A view from astern.

Our new gangway across to land. I'm summoning up the courage to go first.

Nope! Decided to send mum over first so I could make sure it would hold me weight ;). Seems ok.

Here she is safely moored up in her new home. We have shut up shop for the winter and waiting for Spring. Dad will then finish off the wheelhouse inside and out (think I've said that before) and there is talk of a new galley and bathroom for 2013.

Well it's been slow progress for the last few years as you can tell but 2013 looks to be fun. Not least of all because dad has another slave helper in the form of his son!

Thi has been Lexie, signing off for now.

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.

Didn't there used to be a kitchen ere? - part 24

Well hello again ma pals! Ow fings? Last time I was ere I dun telled you about ow we did av to get some anchors in so we cud sail Atlantis and err ... well ... stop if we needed to! Before any of dat cud appen, mum and dad had to strip out da galley so dad cud get access to the f'o'c'sle (the what!??) heehee. Well in da olden days it was called da forecastle but is pronounced folksal.  Bet you landlubbers didn't know dat eh?

As you can see from these pics mum and dad continued to strip back all da walls, kitchen cabinets and sink down to the frame and the rockwool (dat dus be fibreglass stuff wot you puts up for insulation - it is rubbish tho). When we did see what the insulation was in da galley, it explained why it was always so cold. Plus, da rockwool itself was soakin wet from all da condensation over the years. Yuk!

You can see the damp in this pic - see how the rockwool was stuck to the steel walls! Scraper time! I wonder who got that job? heehee - mum of course! I wasn't allowed in the room much. You can see from the pics that there was loads of fibre glass dust flyin around the room. Mum and dad were coughin a lot, eve tho they was wearin masks.

Here's some more of the nasty fibre glass - mum scraped all dat off the walls! She was coughing like she'd beein avin sneaky cigarettes heehee!

Ere dus be dad doing the 'I'll carry it for you dear, you carry on scraping' trick!

The room started looking a bit cleaner and less dusty as more and more fibre glass gets removed. Dad was clearing the ceiling panels (dat is wot he has in the photo above dis one) while mum works on tidying. Can you see the pattern? heehee.

Dad nips off below decks to av quick check in the lower bow to make sure the pipes dad had disconnected from the old sink were not leakin an pourin water into the lower bow.

Mum says goodbye to the orrible cooker wot she dus hate. Only one ring worked on the top and the oven door wud not stay shut. There was also no tempritcha fing in da oven so anyfink cooked in there had to be watched in case it burnt! Soooooo ... plenty of burnt lasagne ;)).

Watching all dat work as made tired! Fink I shall have lay down by the rusty pipe!

Now the kitchen is completely stripped out and mum even tidied up some tools into a little pile for dad! heehee.

Tune in next time to see how mum an dad put in da anchor and chain for Atlantis's voyage to er new ome! Fanx for readin pals!

Goodbye galley - hello house!?? - part 23

Well hello again! Is me Lexie. Ow fings? Fanx to da magic of the interwebnet and clever use of the time space continuum we is still in 2009. Big event for mum that year was goin wiv er very great friend Jaclyn to a AC/DC concert at the O2. 

Wot is the O2 Lexie I hear you ask. Well apparently it was a white elephant wot cost da taxpayer loads of money. But then it became a concert venue and is great! I av no idea wot all dat means but it makes hoomins very annoyed.

Anyway she was working in London in Waterloo at the time so decided to take the Catamaran Ferry to the concert. Ere dus be a photo of The Houses of Parliament:

Ere dus be the London Eye. Wot is a very big wheel wot goes round wiv some lozenges on it wot you can go in. Mum as bin on dat too. Looks a bit scary to me.

Ere is Tower Bridge wot dus be called a bascule bridge (comes from the French for see-saw) and was finished in 1894.

An ere dus be where mum went to see AC/DC in concert. Dis was second time she seen em live - first time was in 1979 when she was a headbanger heehee.

Anyway ... movin on swiftly back to Atlantis. Mum and dad ad found a new mooring in Essex back where they used to live so it was time to focus on gettin Atlantis sea-worvy for da trip. Like most trawlers, Atlantis didn't av no anchors because the fishermen used the fishing gear itself as the anchors. Dad telled us that she had to av anchors for her trip to Essex because we cuddn't make it there in one tide. 

For that to appen we had to pull out the galley he announced. But why? We arks him. Well, he says, because I need to get frew da front wall of the galley to the bow to install the anchors and build the chain locker! Oh ... right .. yes well we knew that of course ;).

Ere dus be a outside view of Atlantis wiv her new wheelhouse. You can see is really takin shape! For future reference, please note lack of anchors at the bow for the moment!

So, wifout furva ado, dad started rippin the galley out. Dussnt panic tho pals (remember galley is boaty-talk for kitchen) coz mum an dad did av plan up the sleeve of their tops for where we gonna eat and that. 

Ere is da first bit of work dad did in the galley. He removed the old tables wot he cut out wiv the plasma cutter. You can see, was very smoky in there!

The walls ad to come down too an as you can see ere there is a wooden frame between the wall and the outer hull. This pic shows the outer hull wot looks like it is covered in brown paper. That was insulation .... fibre glass only. Oh! No wonder it was so cold in winter ;).

Ere dus be dad workin at the front of the galley near the bow - he's cutting away all the wood ready to cut a big ole in the wall. On the left there is wot is left of the kitchen cabinets and sink.

Mum started clearin out the room as dad was working to demolish. She found old Atlantis bags wot they used to store the scallops in! Ewww memories of the fish-hold came floodin back.

We burned all da wood on the shore (which we was allowed to do). There was a oooge bonfire wot lasted for days. Mum seemed to enjoy that a bit too much dad said. Nice side view of Atlantis here wiv her new roof takin shape too. 

Now I was sitting wiv mum on da shore wondrin ow we gonna eat! Wot we gonna do for a place for relaxin coz that was always the galley. Mum telled me not only has she got a new job in Essex but we dus all be moving into a house for a while *thud ... faints* What! What??!!! She said, dad is gonna commute to Atlantis and come ome weekends and we gonna stay in da howse and go down at weekends. Pfttttt ... speechless. An then she say, it has a garden where I can run around. Ere it dus be:

I like it! An i as a nice step wot I can sit on to look around at fings. I sees cats, squirrels and some geese. This place is great! We has beds, heating, rooms, a barf, some kitchen, carpets an lots of room. We can even switch loads of fings on at once an it doesn't trip the power. Cor!

Work continues on the galley removal an mum has the great job of removin all da fibreglass wot dus be very itchy if you gets it on your skin. I was banned from da room. Ere is some fibreglass:

Well, more soon ma pals! Hope you liked ma posty today. Fanx. Byeeeeeee!!!