First Night On-board

We went back down on the Saturday following the launch on Friday, but given all the rushing around the previous day, we left home around noon, figuring that the purpose of the day was to get the children afloat, and see how they took to the boat.

We launched the tender from Northney marina around 2pm, and pootled out to the mooring. We'd booked a berth in Northney for the night, as we had a load of bedding and other items still to take aboard.

Having got ourselves sorted, we motored off the mooring and headed down the channel, we had planned to get to East head, but time and wind direction got the better of us, so at 4pm we turned round and headed back to Northney for our first go at marina parking...

The first thing I realised, was that without a full trained crew, it was going to be a tricky. We found the berth, and moved off to put fenders and lines on the right side to enable us to come alongside.

Being an outboard powered boat has some advantages, not least of which her ability to go backwards! I reversed into the finger berth, and all went ok, we had a little problem with getting the right lines ashore, but plenty of fenders down, and no one got bumped or damaged. Lots of learning still to do!

We knew the forecast was for rain overnight, and lots of it. However we discovered we had a few more leaks than first thought, the Port settee was soaking, and it was getting late, what should we do, stay or go-home?

We opted for a trip to the local B&Q to find some silicone sealant, to plug up the gaps, which thankfully did the trick. Following a quick pasta tea, which daughter No1 pronounced as "the best homemade ever!" (it was from a jar) We all eventually got to bed around 10pm.

And so it rained, and rained and rained! (The best way of knowing how much it rained, is always to look in the tender! - a good few inches in the morning)! We found another couple of leaks, which we've hopefully plugged up, and started to make a list of fittings to be removed and resealed with Sikaflex in the winter.

The next morning, we had Bacon rolls, and got ourselves up and organised to take the boat back to the mooring, and then off home. as daughter No1 had a party to go to.

Overall not a bad start to the season! We spent a night aboard, everyone was reasonably happy, and lots of things to learn!