All boats ready for winter

Today we made a great push to get the Carrot, the Wanderer and Zephyr ready for winter. We are not entirely sure if we're coming here again this year.
The first job was to sort out the road trailer tyres for the Wanderer as I'd forgotten to check them out last time we were here. As it transpired one of the trailer tyres and the spare were flat and couldn't hold pressure. This morning we were very successful in getting inner tubes fitted to two tyres at STC Holt for £20 the pair! I have now put both the tubed tyres on the trailer with the spare inside

We did all the necessary things: took down masts and stored them on the wall in 25, took the carrot up to the yard and got the Wanderer ready for trailing to Langham tomorrow.
Some notes/reminders:
I have left most of the carrot's ropes attached.
The Wanderer sails are in the boat - rudder/tiller in boatshed.
The Wanderer needs attention to the blocks at the foot of the mast:

I removed the mast prop from the front of the trailer which meant I could use the winch which was quite successful.
I removed the boom/sails from Zephyr and attached another mooring line from the chain (below the block) for extra winter protection - however Zephyr clearly survived the attention of ex-hurricane Gonzalo earlier in the week. There is still the problem of water accumulating in the cockpit. I dodn't have time to pump it out today.

Zephyr's new outboard mount

MKF evening sail Zephyr and Wanderer

Changed centreboard on Wnaderer, Zephyr centreboard clean

Loads of pics and video of MKF crowd careening and swapping centreboards.
And the traditional Zephyr centreboard clear out

Bottom scrubbing

Zephyrs Post and new grille

Strangely, it appears the 'backup' mooring of masonry still seems to be in situ - I can only imagine a rope/knot failed on 5 December 2013

Zephyr's new Mooring system!

Following the Tidal Surge I have replaced the ground tackle with some modifications.
I have placed in further up the bank, more in the mud than in the sand. I have also incorporated the large flint block and cement bucketed weight to give the whole thing more resilience:

Mooring in place - Zephyr still on her borrowed mooring. (moved next day)

First view of storm aftermath

I'm guessing the red line is the level reached this year.

Wayfarer beached on bank opposite duck pond

Major breach by new steps

Boatpark. This bank is where Audrey kept her Solo and where we kept our boats until they put chains everywhere

End of the path for Rik

Mary was not sure this bench was safe

Broken railings where some boats floated through to the Blakeney Hotel carpark

Path to Morston

View from Mariners Hill.

 Zephyr safely on the path!

Baling out Zephyr

I bailed/siphoned out Zephyr the best I could. I also added another mooring line. I wish I'd appreciated the Tidal Surge was imminent as I might have let her run on a longer line - pulled her further up the bank. I reckon it was partially the buoyant upwards force that ripped out the ground tackle.

MKF 2013 day 2.

MKF 2013 day 1

Zephyr on her mooring

She could do with a pump-out but should be OK with her new mooring equipment.

Zephyr's new 'Ground Tackle'

This view shows the outer stake position before being driven home under the water/sand, the masonry block is roughly where the inner stake is located.

Detail of inner stake before being driven home and before the masonry block was buried. The wire has also been taken away. The masonry block is looped round the chain. The original block looks OK and was therefore re-used.

This view shows the chain running from the inner stake towards the outer stake, and the general location of the block - a little further out than before..

Major evening excursion

The wind had picked up by the evening and, evening though it was another 8.00 tide we got all the boats out: the Jav (B, F and Jun), Carrot (H) and Zephyr (R, T, Si, Jud and Su). This was a sea-trial for Zephyr's recently installed centreboard system and she did very well going off to the committee boat and tacking most of the way back. H in the solo had a good time reaching to and fro - but lost his cap. The Jav fared less well as it was gusty at times and the shallow water made it difficult to get enough centreboard down and steering very tricky. We went out to the Watch House a few times and got a plane going but reckoned it a bit risky to go too far out should the wind pick up any more.

Nine of us got ready to sail:

We got the Jav ready:

We got the Carrot ready:

There was little water but plenty of wind

Someone may have better pictures of Zephyr

Zephyr Centreboard

We had yet another MKF Engineering session to try to sort out Zephyr's sticking centreboard. The latest plan was to use stainless steel wire in the uphaul system, hoping that this would not snag in the centreboard case as was suspected was happening with the current rope-based system. It took quite a lot of scraping and flushing to get the mud out. There were also a couple of bits of shingle wedged in there. This is a bit ominous as it might imply the problem is one of mud and shingle ingres rather that a snagged rope. The new wire-based system has travel (approx 18 inches) limited by a knot.