The facebook page is: www.facebook.com/pages/STAGNANT-The-Movie/159438023649
Fear Driven's web site is: http://www.feardrivenfilms.com/
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Stagnant - recut teaser video
The facebook page is: www.facebook.com/pages/STAGNANT-The-Movie/159438023649
Fear Driven's web site is: http://www.feardrivenfilms.com/
Thursday, 14 January 2010
That sinking feeling
The ferry's out and the problem seems to be as we thought.
The propellor clomped a few bits of ice the other day and it seems to have pushed the shaft a little up the tube and fractured the fibreglass where the sterntube comes through the hull.
Thankfully, a relatively minor problem and a simple repair.
The propellor clomped a few bits of ice the other day and it seems to have pushed the shaft a little up the tube and fractured the fibreglass where the sterntube comes through the hull.
Thankfully, a relatively minor problem and a simple repair.
First (only?) casualty of winter
Yesterday, we arrived at the yard to find our ferry boat sitting on the bottom, sunk.
Thankfully, it was in our slipway so she wasn't flodded over the gunnels and so the salvage pump was put to work. Well, I say work.....
We spent most of the morning trying to get the wretched thing to actually prime up and pump. It's always been a bit tempremental, but today it was being little more than a waste of petrol. Finally, we fitted a transparent header tank to the pump body and it became apparent what was wrong; it was drawing in air - lots of it. Some investigation later and we found that the hose clip on the inlet was just a tad loose. It was one of those wire ones that came with it and we flet it better to replace it with two Juliblee clips. It wasn't very loose, but it was amazing just how much air it was pulling. Certainly more than enough to stop the pump from working. Well, another lesson learned.
Once it wasn't drawing air again, this baby emptied most of the water from the boat in just a couple of minutes. However, the problem with a 3 inch water pump is that it can't pump water if it's less than 3 inches deep (3 inches is the bore of the suction hose) and trying to manouvre a spiral reinforced suction hose around to get the hose flat on to water isn't easy. So, with most of the water out and it's back to the 3/4 inch bilge pump which also kept it afloat overnight.
So, what caused it? We don't know yet, it's got to be something to do with us using her to break the ice on Woods Dyke on Tuesday in preparation for this weekend's bookings. She's being lifted this afternoon so we'll know more later. We are hoping that the stern tube has been knocked by ice and fractured the joint with the hull. Fingers crossed.
Cottage holidays are selling well too as the booking season takes hold.
The Old Post Office has got a February booking and is so far, the most popular of all our cottages this year. This is quite unusual as the chocolate box Garth Cottage normall ytakes that position, regardless of the season.
Thankfully, it was in our slipway so she wasn't flodded over the gunnels and so the salvage pump was put to work. Well, I say work.....
We spent most of the morning trying to get the wretched thing to actually prime up and pump. It's always been a bit tempremental, but today it was being little more than a waste of petrol. Finally, we fitted a transparent header tank to the pump body and it became apparent what was wrong; it was drawing in air - lots of it. Some investigation later and we found that the hose clip on the inlet was just a tad loose. It was one of those wire ones that came with it and we flet it better to replace it with two Juliblee clips. It wasn't very loose, but it was amazing just how much air it was pulling. Certainly more than enough to stop the pump from working. Well, another lesson learned.
Once it wasn't drawing air again, this baby emptied most of the water from the boat in just a couple of minutes. However, the problem with a 3 inch water pump is that it can't pump water if it's less than 3 inches deep (3 inches is the bore of the suction hose) and trying to manouvre a spiral reinforced suction hose around to get the hose flat on to water isn't easy. So, with most of the water out and it's back to the 3/4 inch bilge pump which also kept it afloat overnight.
So, what caused it? We don't know yet, it's got to be something to do with us using her to break the ice on Woods Dyke on Tuesday in preparation for this weekend's bookings. She's being lifted this afternoon so we'll know more later. We are hoping that the stern tube has been knocked by ice and fractured the joint with the hull. Fingers crossed.
Engineering
We've reorganised some of our storage space this week too. The life jacket store has been moved and we've taken down the wall between engineering and the old life jacket store to enlarge our engineering space. It may only be another five foot, but it's made all the difference. We've now got space to properly work on engines and we're also gearing up for working on outboards more efficiently. We've been servicing a 60hp unit recently for a Cromer fisherman and look forward to establishing ourselves as a major player in the outboard engineering field locally.Things are looking up
On the plus side, bookings are doing quite well. Rambling Freedom is proving to be a very popular boat this year - there's just one August week left now. We've also got a few more out-of-season bookings and enquiries, though, sadly due to the weather, we've had to put a few people off and postpone one holiday already. Hopefully the 7 degrees that are forecast for Saturday will see the end of the ice and snow.Cottage holidays are selling well too as the booking season takes hold.
The Old Post Office has got a February booking and is so far, the most popular of all our cottages this year. This is quite unusual as the chocolate box Garth Cottage normall ytakes that position, regardless of the season.
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Still Cold.
There was yet another blanket of snow awaiting us yesterday as we went into work.
The yard is frozen in - ice seems to be getting thicker and with the additional snow each evening (it seems to be each evening now), we'll soon be needing waders again to cross the carpark.
Here's a shot of the large chunks of ice that I pulled out of the ferry boat on Thursday and threw onto the frozen dyke. You can see why the ferry service has been suspended....
Progress always seems slow when we're in the throws of a project, but in reality, it's going quite well.
We've now got all the cabinets in place, leveled and properly fixed. The new new oven has been pre-fitted and a new power line is in for the oven igniter/light and new fridge. The next big job is to fit the new worksurface.
The yard is frozen in - ice seems to be getting thicker and with the additional snow each evening (it seems to be each evening now), we'll soon be needing waders again to cross the carpark.
Here's a shot of the large chunks of ice that I pulled out of the ferry boat on Thursday and threw onto the frozen dyke. You can see why the ferry service has been suspended....
Galley Fever
Work continued on the galley in Tranquil. Here you can see the old cabinets having been ejected from within with some of the old framing on top. Waste-not-want-not, we're reusing some of this timber for supports, battening and so on.
Progress always seems slow when we're in the throws of a project, but in reality, it's going quite well.
We've now got all the cabinets in place, leveled and properly fixed. The new new oven has been pre-fitted and a new power line is in for the oven igniter/light and new fridge. The next big job is to fit the new worksurface.
Friday, 8 January 2010
Ferry Service - Suspended.
The yard was closed yesterday as too few people were able to get there safely. However, we've been waiting for a fuel delivery for over a week now and I arranged to go in to meet the tanker. I got there on time along easily passable roads and found the tanker delivering to ANH on the other side of the dyke.
With my little dog, Ollie in tow, we waited and watched, and waited and watched for what seemed like 30 minutes. Now, I know that ANH has a large fuel tank, but 30 minutes?
Then they started recoiling the delivery hose and the tanker left. I assumed it was coming to me next. 10 minutes later, nothing. So, we called the supplier only to be told that the tanker's pump had broken! Great - that's two hours wasted.
Still, the wait gave me an opportunity to start bailing out our ferry boat which is open to the elements. The huge amount of snow had caused it to sit a good six inches lower in the water and much of it was now ice. Naturally, I'd forgotten to take my phone or camera with me so there's no evidence of this, but I was removing sheets of ice from the floor of the boat that was one and a half inches thick. Breaking the ice around the boat showed the water in the dyke to be at least two inches thick and that's just around the boat.
Needless to say, the ferry service has been suspended until the ice has gone.
Tranquil's galley is making progress.
We've got all the old cabinets out and are in the process of fitting the new units. So far, there's been very little modification required and it's going in quite nicely.
More work will be done today and pics posted shortly.
Andy
With my little dog, Ollie in tow, we waited and watched, and waited and watched for what seemed like 30 minutes. Now, I know that ANH has a large fuel tank, but 30 minutes?
Then they started recoiling the delivery hose and the tanker left. I assumed it was coming to me next. 10 minutes later, nothing. So, we called the supplier only to be told that the tanker's pump had broken! Great - that's two hours wasted.
Still, the wait gave me an opportunity to start bailing out our ferry boat which is open to the elements. The huge amount of snow had caused it to sit a good six inches lower in the water and much of it was now ice. Naturally, I'd forgotten to take my phone or camera with me so there's no evidence of this, but I was removing sheets of ice from the floor of the boat that was one and a half inches thick. Breaking the ice around the boat showed the water in the dyke to be at least two inches thick and that's just around the boat.
Needless to say, the ferry service has been suspended until the ice has gone.
Galley Fever
Tranquil's galley is making progress.
We've got all the old cabinets out and are in the process of fitting the new units. So far, there's been very little modification required and it's going in quite nicely.
More work will be done today and pics posted shortly.
Andy
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Taking a Punt
Terry asked to see images of our 1932 Motorised Punt. Here she is
She was built by T Timms of Oxford and is believed to be one of only two made. It's powered by a Stuart Turner 2-stroke petrol engine which chugs away nicely and is really easy to get going (which isn't a common trait of these old engines).
There's a side mounted steering wheel that uses a rack and pinion gear to control the rudder and there's also a small tiller.
As you can see, there's a nice sun-shade canopy which also extends to cover the entire vessel to make it a camping-punt.
It's remarkably stable too and just glides through the water with barely a ripple.
We did hope to put her out as a charter vessel in the summer for romantic picnics and so on but really don't know what the market will stand in terms of pricing. Perhaps followers might make some suggestions.
I'll also sell her if the price is right. We've got quite a lot of history on her including the identity of a past owner who was once very famous.
She was built by T Timms of Oxford and is believed to be one of only two made. It's powered by a Stuart Turner 2-stroke petrol engine which chugs away nicely and is really easy to get going (which isn't a common trait of these old engines).
There's a side mounted steering wheel that uses a rack and pinion gear to control the rudder and there's also a small tiller.
As you can see, there's a nice sun-shade canopy which also extends to cover the entire vessel to make it a camping-punt.
It's remarkably stable too and just glides through the water with barely a ripple.
We did hope to put her out as a charter vessel in the summer for romantic picnics and so on but really don't know what the market will stand in terms of pricing. Perhaps followers might make some suggestions.
I'll also sell her if the price is right. We've got quite a lot of history on her including the identity of a past owner who was once very famous.
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
January Hardship
January 2010 and one day already gone.
Amidst the the freezing pipes, icy water, frozen carpark and cold, cold office, we set to work. One of our number is off for a couple of weeks to warmer places bringing our workforce down.
January's work consists of ripping out the galley in Tranquil Freedom ready for new cabinets and appliances, some private work on a customer's 75Hp Outboard (gearbox seals all gone!), trying to get our 2010 brochure complete (Quark Xpress has failed on me!) and reorganising some of the yard to get us additional engineering space.
We also plan to launch the private boat in the shed which has had a full hull repaint and, time willing, get our 1932 motorised punt tidied up a little. Still not sure what we're going to do with this cute vessel - if anyone's interested in buying, do drop me a line
Amidst the the freezing pipes, icy water, frozen carpark and cold, cold office, we set to work. One of our number is off for a couple of weeks to warmer places bringing our workforce down.
January's work consists of ripping out the galley in Tranquil Freedom ready for new cabinets and appliances, some private work on a customer's 75Hp Outboard (gearbox seals all gone!), trying to get our 2010 brochure complete (Quark Xpress has failed on me!) and reorganising some of the yard to get us additional engineering space.
We also plan to launch the private boat in the shed which has had a full hull repaint and, time willing, get our 1932 motorised punt tidied up a little. Still not sure what we're going to do with this cute vessel - if anyone's interested in buying, do drop me a line
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