Tag: Pin Mill Blocks

A Clean Bow

Clean Bow

Cambria’s bow looking very clean after her painting by Sea Change; Photo by Dave Brooks

While we are still “on the blocks” at Pinmill I thought it would be nice to share another photo with you taken by Dave Brooks. This really just to show you how nice, clean and grey she looks in her new paint. This bow area, particularly has been a problem to keep looking neat due to the bleeding of tar (bitumen?) through between planks outwards, leaving us with a horizontal version of zebra striping. This is not a problem in ‘soundness terms’ (better tar leaking out than water leaking in!) and is seen as a good thing and common in brand new barges, especially where the bow and sides are double skin, like ours, overlapping  but stepped like brick-work, with a layer of bitumen-soaked tar felt between the 1 and a half inch (I think?) planks. The spiking down of the outer skin puts such pressure on the tar felt layer that it bleeds out between planks (inwards and outwards).

Even when we were first painting the hull, before she was launched we would faithfully roller on a layer of the silver-grey only to find it ‘spoiled’ (in the eyes of we volunteer, beginner-ish painters) by the next morning, especially in warm weather. We’d let it ‘dry’ (of course it never really did), try to clean it off and then repaint, only for the bleeds to come back again. Eventually she was launched like this and we just had to explain to everyone that this was OK and she might do it for 5 years or so before she eventually settled down.

 

Well, now the Sea Change Sailing Trust have had a go at painting her again. We’ll see whether they get the same issue as the “Summer” progresses.

Tomorrow, a nice report by Boss of Volunteers, Basil Brambleby from the Faversham Nautical Festival which took place last weekend and at which the Cambria Trust had a stand.

Roll Out The Barrel

Cambria Watch……Hilary sends the following update.
Roll Out The Barrel; Picture by Sea Change Sailing Trust“Update from Rowhedge. The tow up to Rowhedge by Andy Harman was carried out with the usual aplomb although he has not yet fitted the windows in the tug so it had been a windy trip for him upriver. Andy runs St Osyth Boatyard, has just rebuilt the Thalatta and skippers the Edme which is a very fast barge in the matches as well as being another engineless one. We swung without using the anchor and fetched up beautifully alongside the Parish Quay. Beer was delivered to the Albion by the boys who rolled the barrels along the street and were given a coke for their pains.

 

We were just about to go to the pictures in Colchester when it was apparent that the moorings dug into the quay were not strong enough for the amount of, and angle of, mud the barge was sitting on and she slipped off somewhat. This meant a tow down that night rather than another tide cementing relations, and another night at Pyefleet. We were thinking of going on to Harwich but by the time we were back at Brightlingsea, we decided we were all too tired after a 16 hour day so we anchored and waited until morning.

 

Wednesday morning’s forecast was for gales and so we waited until early afternoon when we thought the wind had moderated….it had for a while. Beating out of the Blackwater in a 7 was exhilarating and then a very fast run with just the one gybe to Harwich. The pier master had kindly kept Halfpenny Pier pontoon clear for us but after he had gone home a very large Swedish yacht went alongside despite all his “no mooring” signs. Thursday morning, a brisk NW made winching her along to the now vacant berth rather hard work and all before breakfast!!

 

At 11am Richard, the landlord of the New Bell Inn, came to collect his beer, the crew ably transferring it from hold to pier to car to cellar. We were then invited to see round lightship no 18, the last manned lightship. It was fascinating and we now want one!! We are intending to leave Harwich tomorrow morning for a short sail to Pin Mill blocks. We have hoes, and hopefully a delivery of paint so we can paint around the topsides, having scrapped the tar off while we were on Brightlingsea hard. The barge should know her way up to Pin Mill, but it will be the first visit to her old home port in 42 years”.

 

Superb report, Hilary. Thank you very much for that. The pictures are by Don Ramsey of Sea Change , who has generously allowed us to use them here.

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