What's going on with the boat?

After ten years living on Tarquilla we have moved to land. I'm often asked if we love the house or miss the boat and the real answer is - both. We still have Tarquilla and we are open to all options at the moment as far as her future is concerned. We will carry on working on her, it would be great to be able to sail her again. The Scilly Isles, Portishead marina, Bristol harbour and Falmouth are all places we have talked about as well as many others further afield. But, on the other hand, if a family was looking for a boat, ready to do the preparation she needs and wanted to take her on then we would sell her. She is not ready to sail off into the sunset but has a lot of life left in her. If you or someone you know would be interested then please contact us. She is 3 ply cold moulded, 42 foot long, one off design built in the 1960's. She has 2 double cabins and 2 single berths, a good size saloon, a decent size galley, head and a covered cockpit. She has two engines and a full suit of sails. We have lots more photos and can provide more details or answer questions. In the meantime, this blog has come to a natural pause for now as we take on new adventures.

The refit (part four)

We seem to have reached a stage now where we can actually see progress which is very nice. There are lots of jobs going on alongside each other at the moment as some are weather dependant, others are waiting for things to arrive or be found and still others are waiting for final decisions.
 
When the boat is rocking all over the place and the air is full of salt water some jobs just become a little more challenging than we would like. We also need to wait for the dampness of winter to be over before any large varnishing or paint jobs will actually work.
 
The long awaited galley (kitchen) is taking shape. The new shelving along the walls looks great and we have completely stripped out the under shelves and changed the storage from our giant, lidded-buckets to smaller clip-and-lock boxes which take up less space and are more suitable for now. The trial cutlery storage looks good but may need some refining.

 
 
The head (bathroom) is coming along nicely. The plan is to split the large (for a boat) toilet/shower room into a toilet and a wet room. This will give us somewhere with drainage, a small tube heater and ventilation to hang wet coats, wetsuits and other damp stuff. The new sink unit is fitted and it is another room waiting for warmer weather to allow a lick of paint.
 
 
The Skipper has as usual been going above and beyond the call of duty with blood and sweat poured into his work. Unfortunately a little too literally in the case of the new saloon table as he sliced the edge of his finger off whilst trimming the veneer. The table looks great though. At the moment the chess board will be the top leaf and underneath he is planning Oca and Risk boards – certainly ambitious! Currently the living room floor is bare with cork flooring tiles waiting to be fitted any day soon which will provide some insulation as well as being nice to walk on and being waterproof.
 
 
 
 
Yet more stuff has been sorted out and a large pile of books suitable for younger children has been liberated. Going through them was very nostalgic. Hopefully we’ll be recycling some other bits and pieces at a local boat jumble soon. It is amazing how much a families needs change in 5 years.
 
 

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