Thursday 24 April 2014

Camaret sur Mer

It can get a but busy socialising in the marina ( the French wine, food and coffee taste so good and there is always something to talk about with like minded folk ) but we found time to get on with some more projects. 
We replaced our broken cockpit speakers with shiny new ones,


 fitted a fully working  Sony car stereo to play through them, installed air vents in the cockpit lockers next to said speakers to stop the condensation on the inside of the lids, fitted a door brush to the companionway sliding hatch ( I had previously put up an aluminium rubber squeegee set up that was a bit too effective and pulled itself apart with the friction on the acrylic )

Alison is working on a lee cloth, we had to fix a leak on the fresh water pump. The spray hood has been cleaned and re waterproofed. Repair to fibreglass under anchor fairlead. Perspex to engine control panel. Also we had to buy a new mattress as the original cushions had come to the end of their life. 
Mast straightened so that the sail goes up and down smoothly. 
And the biggest job was buying and installing a solar panel on top of our davits. 
It started on the drawing board. 

I haven't found an ideal way of locking the panel in position yet. Using bungees at the moment. 



We realise now that the 'to do' list will never end. Things keep getting added to it, so prioritising is the name if the game. 
As the winter season ends at Brest and the prices go up. Our good friends aboard 'Erminig' and ourselves have moved 5 miles downstream to Camerat sur Mer. 


Here we are making final preparations to cross the Bay of Biscay together. 
Also it's a refreshing change of sceney for us. A beautiful place indeed. 
We have enjoyed making use of our dinghy and outboard to pop to the shops, the Chandlery or to the beach. 

We enjoyed a walk around the coast. 
WW2 gun emplacement. 

We also thought it wise to get an Epirb distress beacon 'just in case'. 
Now waiting for suitable weather to journey south.