Monthly Archives: February 2018

Yes I know I am a boring old f..t, almost as bald as a coot, and according to Jenny daft as a brush! As for getting out of bed in the depth of winter these days and then, after having had a hot shower to ease my stiff back, having to bend down to put my socks is still a hell of an effort! However there is one product we sell that does put a smile on my face and requires no effort on my behalf to obtain a good result. Its that brilliant product WET & FORGET. Yes I know I am like a parrot and have blogged about it repeatedly but this product certainly does the business with absolutely no hard work, which is the bit I like!

We first heard about WET & FORGET from the guys who launder our sails. they had been asked to spray WET & FORGET onto a huge superyacht head sail, as the sail had been often furled whilst still damp. they wanted a product that would keep the dreaded green ‘mould’ at bay with minimum effort and at a low cost.

Since we first used the product in anger (we tested it out on a road sign some 4 years ago believe it or not and then to convince ourselves sprayed a test patch on a customers winter cover, with his permission I hasten to add) Since then we have used it ourselves to remove green algae from decks made of all substrates such as glassfibre, wood and steel with no effort at all. Its safe to use on all fabric covers be they manufactured in PVC or woven materials. Excellent results are obtained when sprayed onto contaminated halyards, jackstays etc etc. WET & FORGET can of course be used at home on wood decking, paths, block paving so can be bought using the household budget account, see images below of my bosses patio before and after. Believe it or not these images were taken 24 hours apart!

So easy to use all you have to do is dilute the concentrate in a ratio of 5:1 with water , it's sold in a 5 litre container so makes up to an economical 30 litres. You spray the diluted mix onto the surface to be treated, leave and let nature do the rest. The combination of rain, wind and UV work together to remove the unsightly staining. As it's name suggests, all you do is wet and forget. You do not have to scrub the surface, it may take up to ten days before you see any difference as weather conditions, rain, sun and wind dictates how fast it works, incidentally it rained just after Andy (the boss) applied WET & FORGET to his patio!

Down to your boat for the first time this weekend? Disappointed to see that green tinge? Spray the deck, canvas work, ropes etc leave and concentrate on other fitting out tasks which you have to put some effort in confident that very soon the 'green will be gone' and don't forget that before you hoist your furling genoa spray it with WET & FORGET. Well worth the little effort that would require!

To help keep your canvas work in ‘Top Tips’ condition, brush or spray on some Fabsil Gold. As well as being the water proofer that Hancocks sail laundry use and recommend, an application of this product avoids the ‘sodden look’ to your woven fabric; water beads and runs off just like rain falling on the waxed surface of a newly polished car.

Please don’t report me to the RSPCA, cos this blog is not about the inhumane treatment of the Red Admiral or any other species of butterflies! But I digress, we sometimes get in our engine workshop, Mercury, Yamaha or Tohatsu outboard motors (these are the three makes we sell, service and sometimes repair them if things go wrong!) It's usually in the spring when we get the non-starters and its often traced back to the fact that last year's fuel is still in the tank and always still in the carburettor! Yes I know its a bit late telling everyone that they should always drain the tank at the end of the season but its worth reminding folks before the start of this coming season that it's good practice to always turn the fuel supply off and let the engine die before drawing the dinghy up onto the beach, or if securely tied to the stern of the boat once again stopping the engine through fuel starvation. Incidentally if you don’t already carry out this procedure you will be surprised just how long the engine will keep running on idle or low revs and after a couple of attempts you will get used to turning off the fuel perhaps 50 metres from the beach.

Yamalube Carburettor Cleaner is a powerful carburettor cleaner specially developed to eliminate deposits and varnish on butterfly valves, throttle chambers, nozzles, tanks, floats and venturi tubes. Yamalube Carburettor Cleaner reduces fuel consumption whilst increasing engine performance, stabilizes the idle, and improves the engine’s accelerating. It's easy to use and of course full instructions are printed on the aerosol can.

Two stroke outboard fuel mix is more likely to cause varnish issues however for both two and four stroke petrol engines there are a couple of Quicksilver products that can be added at every fill up. Quicksilver Quickare keeps fuel fresh between every fill up and helps prevent or controls corrosion, gum and varnish build up. Quicksilver Quickleen helps remove carbon deposits from carburettors and injectors, intake valves, spark plugs, piston crowns and cylinder heads it helps prevent engine knocking and piston seize up as well as extending spark plug life.

We all hate antifouling and the preparation that goes beforehand, however the good news is that it's just got easier, why? Read and inwardly digest and if you have either a large build up of rust on your keel or multiple layers of antifouling you want to remove easily perhaps consider using one or both of the products mentioned just below.

Removing rust from cast iron keels has always been a soul destroying job however the relatively new to the market Tercoo has made it so much easier. We have first hand experience of how effective the Tercoo tool is, it certainly made my task so much easier when tackling a badly rusted Albin Express keel that we were wanting to get ready for applying fairing filler. Also in our local boatyard the owner of a steel Bruce Roberts thought it was the best thing since sliced bread for preparing the underwater surfaces. As for the other Rob, he has not stopped smiling since he started using the Tercoo for prepping rusted keels!

Where there are copious coats of antifouling that need to be removed, Peelaway Marine, a new product to the market, looks the business, doing the job in just one application. Peelaway Marine can be used on a wide variety of substrates, grp, wood, metal and ferocrete, however, it works faster in temperatures above five degrees so I haven’t had a test run of it myself yet but word from the yard is that it works well.

Unsure of what to do next, read our 'Definitive Guide To Antifouling'

Last October with Hindsight out the water and safely chocked up in the Corfu boatyard, Jenny and I decided that it would be less hassle if we left the majority of our 'summer clothes' onboard to save us the task of taking them all home and then some seven odd months later bringing them all back again! Great plan we thought as bitter experience, (get the pun?) has taught us that the North East in the height of summer can be and is often a cold, wet and windy place. When out for a Wednesday night race it's often the full monty; base, then mid layer, which are my trusty Musto Goretex salopette and jacket (now in at least their tenth season) topped off with my Gill foulies and my Spinlock Deck Vest Lite. So when some three weeks ago we started getting ready to pack for a non sailing winter break (not at that time on our radar back in October) Gomera an unspoilt Canary Isle was our choice of destinations, last year's cunning plan suddenly and then rapidly started to unravel. Surprise, surprise no shorts for Jenny and precious few tops as well. As for yours truly, all I had in the way of sunshine clothing was a couple of old t-shirts I had purchased at an International 14 European championships in the last century! My shorts?, sadly the UV had done the dirty on two pairs of Musto Fast Dry ones left at home and they were falling apart. What a b****s up, however, with my scruffy moth infested Musto wallet in hand, off we trotted to M&S to hopefully get sorted. Spotted bargain t-shirts for me, reduced to £2-50 each, shorts for Jenny at full price and then that night it was a repair session to my shorts, many thanks to Tear Aid for making it so easy. Clothes packed into the case, along with reading matter but then I realised I had made another b***** up, where were my Gill bi-focal sunglasses and Jenny's Boarding Ring glasses? Why, they were onboard Hindsight in Greece, where else!

Fast forward to the morning of our flight, by then I had managed to talk Andy into lending me his own Gill bi-focals, great for map reading and as 'normal sun glasses' Jen then sweet talked him into lending her the chandlery's demo Boarding Ring glasses, not only are they brilliant at helping her keep her food down where it belongs when sailing, but as a poor passenger in a car (nowt to do with my driving I hasten to add) they keep her from feeling iccy when on the twisty roads of Gomera! So good are they that they even enabled her to take snaps out of the car window as we ‘hurtled’ down the mountain roads without fear of projectile vomit!

Having berthed our Channel 31 in San Sebastián harbour for some three years during the Mystery 35 fitting-out we had always enjoyed good weather. Sadly this time, yes we had three good days of sunshine where on the last day of these we got to take the hire car up into the mountains and enjoys the forest walks and afterwards, the superb anchovies in the harbour cafe at Valle Gran Rey.

However for the next six days which included the remaining two days of car hire it was a bit like being back in the North East, strong cold Northerlies, unfortunately neither of us had base, mid layer or foulies to keep the elements at bay but on the last day I did have (for once on my wrist) my Optimum Time watch to remind me that there was only a few more hours till we caught the ferry from San Sebastián Gomera to Los Christianos Tenerife and then on to the airport!