@@jimbinho175 they sail very well, can’t compare to later boats for accommodation but a lot of boat for the money! Great for one or two people, or a few more for day trips, and easy to handle. We loved ours

Hello, ours is sloop rigged so not comparable, but from memory think it was something just under £2K…..

@briangetsaround4851 I'm toying with the idea of a ketch rig so I'm guessing around 3 grand for that

@@johnpaulslater2924 That setup has advantages for sure. Price sounds about right. We would have been happy with a ketch rig as well. Good luck!

Very handy piece of kit. Makes it possible to navigate on any size and type of vessel. I’ve heard the ICW is very shallow and tricky in places, though I guess with a 16ft boat you can now go pretty much where you want! 👍

@briangetsaround4851 Pretty much. I would like to do the Great Loop... not in jb.... but have been diagnosed with the big C so that's out...at least for now.

@@theoldshooter9011 Health comes first, hopefully treatment, though tedious, will give you options for further adventures.

Thanks! This trip was on our Varne 27, a really good very seaworthy yacht.

Couldn’t be assed to provide a commentary or adjust sound, just put it there for crew and any other interested parties!

Hello, I’ve never done that either so I’m afraid I’m not going to be much help. Think there is some information on the Scottish Canals website, and also Yachting and Boating World (ybw) has a very useful forum that from memory has quite a lot of useful posts on the canal from forumites. It’s free to look, just google ybw.com and search the forum. It’s a treasure trove of useful information from experienced people.

Hello, it’s Tayvallich, in Loch Sween, east of Jura. Absolutely lovely place, very sheltered and some great walks in the area.

Hi Daniel, For sure that’s an issue, as well as risk of water damage, battery going flat and the tablet getting knocked about. But we have a Scanstrut gimbal mount that we use to swivel it for best viewing angle, and a waterproof case. It’s mounted where it’s least likely to get hit by something and where we can see it at the helm, so all things considered it’s a very practical solution, as long as you work to minimise these issues. I quite often just use my phone instead of my iPad as I can still see it well. The other reason for this is that it’s less likely to affect your night vision, as I find that an iPad, even with the brightness turned right down, is too bright at night.

Thanks! I’ve since lost the drone at sea, but am thinking about risking getting another..

Hi Mike, yes you’re right it’s a bit rough and ready. A new external microphone is on the way!

Thanks Simon, it is a lovely stretch of coast. Hope you’re getting some chances to get out yourself!

Thanks for that! I’m no expert, but I’m trying to learn as I go. Good luck with your plans, it’s a journey you won’t regret! 👍

Hello James! Yes we’ve seen Takaza, we’ll keep an eye out for you. We’re just trying to get the hang of a bigger boat at the moment. We’ll have to have a meet up at the harbour

@@briangetsaround4851 yes that be great! We are hoping to go off on our own adventures this summer. We were thinking south coast but this may be a bit much for us as we are new to cruising so we are now thinking of going north!

@@GavinAndJames_LifeAfloat we tend to mainly go north as well because there’s so much to see, lovely coastline and great places to stop.

Thanks James! Feels like it’s been a long winter of getting ready, and I’m sure like you we can’t wait to get out.

Thanks Peter. Things seem to have come together well! Our boat is sold, a lot of work done and our berth is available again. We can’t wait to start exploring again. Good luck with your season too, I hope it goes well. 👍

Yup!! 🤩🤩

Hello Andrew, yes going back in can be a bit nerve wracking but all went well.

Thanks I’ve tried that now and it does seem to help. 👍👍

Hello James, I might have to do that! I’m currently trying to label all the wires so I know what they all are, but even that involves crawling around all the hard to get at areas, and takes time.

I’m sorry I should have added a reference to the music at the time. I didn’t ( and still don’t!) know much about youtube! It’s Danny Rayel, album Blue Skies, track called Inifinity. It’s royalty free music, it I should have referenced it. I’ve done that now, so thanks for asking.

👍😀

Thanks! 👍😁

Hello Mariano, We were a bit worried about in-mast reefing before we bought the boat as we’d heard stories about how they’re prone to jamming. Ours did jam once or twice in our first year, but we figured out why it was happening. Now that we know how to best to use it, it never jams. What we found is- It reefs best in the direction of the turn into the in-mast cylinder. You do this by keeping the boom slightly over to one side (in our case port) so that the sail feeds in with less of an angle to turn into the slot. If you were able to look at it furling you would see the sail wind straight in and not have to go in at an angle. We really only need to do this if it’s really windy or we’re not facing directly into the wind, otherwise it works as well if the boom is on the centre-line. But it’s something we learnt to do if we’re in any doubt about the wind conditions or the wind isn’t coming from directly in front. The next thing we learnt is not to try and adjust boom angle with the boom vang. We keep it at about the same tension when we reef, because otherwise if it’s too high or too low this can introduce creases into the sail which jam in the reefing slot. The last thing is don’t let your mainsail get too old and baggy! When we got a new mainsail the reefing was so much easier as the sail was flatter and less stretched. We love our in-mast reefing for the convenience, and the way you can reef exactly the amount you need, rather than either one or two big slabs of sail. Good luck! Brian

Forgot to say, we didn’t install ours, it was already on the boat so can’t say how easy it is to install.

@@briangetsaround4851 wow!! Very imformative!! Thanks a lot

Hello Andrew, not sure how to do that! We’re total newbies when it comes to westerly boats at the moment so not sure how much help I’d be…!

Hello Andrew, thanks for that! I’m a total amateur doing these videos so don’t expect too much! We’re still in the very early stages of getting the hang of our boat, but so far we’re very impressed. Glad to hear you’re planning on getting one and getting out there! 👍

Hello Gary, we really like HCA, it’s a great place, very welcoming and a great club feel. Thanks.

I’m Irish, but thanks!

Hi Maria, yes this is our Varne 27 yacht.

Thanks Dale. I’m a total amateur when it comes to this sort of thing as you can see (and hear!)

Hello Mike, Yes, there are some issues, but so far nothing we didn’t know about. As you can see in the video the cutless bearing and housing are already off. There was a bit of movement in the cutless bearing, and although it would probably have been ok for a year or two, we weren’t sure if that was causing the leak, so thought we’d get it sorted anyway. It’s beginning to look like it might be an internal leak in either the pipes (there’s loads!) or perhaps one of the tank inlet/outlets. This seems less likely as the (really big!) tank looks to be in very good shape. In addition to the basic safety work being carried out now we’re just taking stock of what we’ve got, and what we want to improve.

Thanks Robert. It’s difficult to get trips in at this time of the year, especially the last couple of years. I have to admit it was a bit nerve-wracking with the boat being an unknown quantity, but we’re pleased it went well. Here’s to more good times next year for all of us. Happy Christmas!

Thanks Andy, looks good so far. I see you’ve got a sturdy capable yacht as well! 👍

@@briangetsaround4851 Yes I love my Rival but lacks room sometimes. My brother in laws brother has a Westerly 33 ketch, had for some years now and loves it. Based out of Gosport. Here’s to a good seasons sailing in 2022.

@@AndyUK-Corrival hello Andy, yes all boats are a compromise! Whatever you’ve got that gets you out there is what’s most important. I’m with you completely on 2022. Wherever people are coming from, I think we’ve all had a pretty awful time of it lately, and here’s hoping it gets better from here on, including getting out doing what we both love, sailing.

Hi Mike, yes maybe we might lose a few degrees of pointing ability, but on the other hand the boat keeps her way on in waves very well with her weight, so in the North Sea that’s a plus point! Seems very stable and sturdy so far…

Thanks for your kind thoughts James. It’s easy to be judgmental viewing from the sofa, and yes, we were caught out. But there was no risk to us or anyone else, and we were quite happy to sit there and wait for the tide to refloat us. It wasn’t a Mayday or Pan-Pan situation. As it happened Humber Rescue came to have a look at us and offered to try and get us off, which worked a treat, which we’re very grateful for. So lesson learnt, and all ended well! 😁

Thanks for your kind words Adam! We still feel a bit raw about it though! As for the saloon cushions, they’ve been recovered at some stage and I was dangling my feet over the edge to keep them away. I know better than to mess them up, I’d be in trouble!

Yeh, you just feel such a numpty and you’re the talk of the river for the day! But as you say, if you sail these areas long enough chances are you’ll get caught out sooner or later!

Thanks. Boat is great, surprisingly fast and stable as a rock. Next leg was round Flamborough head in the dark in a F7, and she just felt so reassuring

Thanks. Bit more excitement than we needed to be fair! Very grateful to Humber Reacue. We’d have been sat on the sand most of day otherwise. No risk, but still not good. They really got us off very quickly with no damage, just a lot of embarrassment! Rest of the trip was fantastic and we’re developing huge respect for the boats capabilities 👍

Thanks Peter, fingers crossed!

I’m totally with you there, you’ve just got to do it. I’ve just dropped the price of our current yacht and re-advertised, but it’s not a good time of year. Well done for selling yours quickly, it just makes the logistics so much easier

Have to say I thought iPads used Glonass as well, but not sure about that. You can buy separate GPS receivers and plug them into non-SIM card iPads. Totally agree about using several different sources.