Shrink-wrapped

This past ten days has been a long-drawn out preparation for shrink-wrapping the boat. This seems to be common practice here but we’ve never seen it in England. A thick white plastic sheet is placed over the whole boat then literally ‘shrunk’ to fit with a heat gun. Very simple and very clever, with no loose bits to flap to pieces in the wind.

Dave has bought a whole roll of shrink-wrap plastic and after watching a couple of boats being done, is confident of being able to do ours himself. So far, he has put up a framework of plastic pipe right over the boat, reaching to a few feet above boom height, so we will end up with a sort of polytunnel with plenty of room to walk around on deck in the dry. He has already installed a shrink-wrapped door, which looks a bit surreal with nothing around it!



In order to cover with shrinkwrap, we had to wait for a day with no wind. In the meantime, we caught the bus up to Maine, hoping to drive back the following day in the car we have been borrowing from friends all summer.

Sadly, we only got ten minutes down the road before it overheated and we had to pull over with steam pouring out of the bonnet. A top-up of water took us another ten minutes before the same thing happened. We limped back to a small garage and a little investigation suggested it was more than just the thermostat.

It turned out to be a blown head gasket and Dave spent a day and a half stripping the engine and replacing it himself. Luckily friends took pity on us and not only let us stay in their lovely heated RV (‘Recreational Vehicle’ – ie. a big camper van) but also drove us around looking for parts, found Dave a place to strip the engine with use of spanners etc, and John even got his overalls out and pitched in with Dave. Thank you John and Mary!



(By the way, the guy in the picture is wearing a bright orange jacket because hunting season has just started in Maine and he doesn’t want to be mistaken for a deer. No joke – several years ago a mother of two got shot dead by a deer hunter while hanging out washing in her own back yard. And the guy was allowed to walk free…)

So a 2-day trip turned into 4 days and we missed the shrinkwrap day, but we finally had an uneventful drive back to Newport through lovely autumn foliage.
We arrived back in time for Halloween, which is a huge thing in the States. One house we saw had created a Halloween extravaganza in their garden - there were a dozen fake gravestones on the lawn, skulls and ghosts galore, at least 30 carved pumpkins; the balcony was a ‘pirate ship’ with spooky figures hanging from the rigging and an inflatable horse and carriage ridden by Death himself guarded the driveway.

We knew we would have at least one lot of trick-or-treaters - the two girls from the boat in front. While they were out collecting ‘candy’, Dave got the boat prepared. A boiler suit with boots, gloves and hat attached became a ‘dead man’ hanging from the rigging, pirate flags fluttered from the stays, our ship’s bell dangled from a rope by the door with a sign saying ‘ring if you dare’. When the girls arrived and duly rang the bell, we jumped out of the darkened wheelhouse with pirate gear on and gave them a fright. I think it worked, as the youngest (aged 5) had to be coaxed inside by her mother to collect her sweets!

scary pirate!

Yesterday, Hurricane Noel passed close by the coast on its way towards Nova Scotia. Even 100-odd miles from the centre, we had winds gusting 50 knots or more. Unbelievably, today dawned calm, sunny and pretty much wind-free. Dave took advantage of the perfect conditions and by sunset Ros Ailither was shrink-wrapped. We now have a perfectly sheltered 50’ x 15’ living space on deck!