Quite right! Dog can’t stand up in 3 feet of water, humans can!

We were waving at you from Haslar marina, on your port side. But we probably looked like two demented snowmen!

Does anyone have any idea when Prince of Wales will be ready to sail again?

@@FreeSpiritsII When will Prince of Wales be ready?

I’m afraid I am just a recreational sailor, so my information is from Google. The press is reporting the Royal Navy as saying it will be Spring 2023.

Cheers! Yeh we had a long running fault in the Torqeedo that required a replacement unit. It took ages (more than 6 months) to squeeze that out of the sole UK agent, we weren’t very happy with them. But the motor is fantastic now. Given our type of use we’ve now upgraded to a bigger and heavier dinghy and a 20hp outboard. And so the Torqeedo will probably go up for sale as we approach the sailing season. It’s fabulous and we will miss it.

and gals

When I said guys I meant both are men and girls. So sorry should have stated that👍

Hah! Yes in real time it’s a very sedate and restful journey. We love a slow bumble down the river. At 20x speed which I think this video is, the world goes by quite quickly. 🚤🚀

The is Sergey, much appreciated 😊

Ocean Village, a lovely spot, so well situated. Well that really was our first look into Cowes, we've been waiting for a quiet day and strangely the last bank holiday Monday was it! We feel only slightly less terrified of it now 😊

@@FreeSpiritsII we are new to sailing ourselves. 18 months in and loving it. North Basin has more room if you want to stay over. Cowes town is a great place with lots of shops and good places to eat. It's worth the terror of going in and mooring up. 😀🙂😅

Cheers Jon, that's very kind of you! I've been drawn the the calming influence of water from a very young age. I have another video coming up soon, this time sailing in the Solent...

Thank you! There seem to be quite a few Free Spirits about - we saw another one on the weekend in Beaulieu River. And in Gosport where our Free Spirits II lives, we are two berths down from a Fuller Spirit, and three piers away from Fine Spirits!

@@FreeSpiritsII Ours was a small (25') trimaran, launched in 1981. I sailed her to Hawaii 2 years ago, and we sold her there. It was like leaving a family member behind, but we need a bigger boat! Fine Spirits sounds like a good boat to get to know!

Thanks! We love the peace and tranquillity of the river, although at time lapse speeds it seems rather busy…

Thanks! We learned our lesson and bought a two speed high pressure pump., running off 12v. It does the job quickly and brings the dinghy up to an admirable hardness. All ship shape now, and gets the best out of the little motor.

Thank you! We're taking much inspiration from your excellent voyages 😊

Thank you! We just replaced this dinghy/motor combo with a Highfield RIB (inflatable sides, solid hull) and a 20hp petrol engine. After a year or so of use, the 3D and Torqeedo just didn't have the oomph that we were after. We'll do a review of the new combo some time soon!

It's the Torqeedo 1103 CS - the short shaft variant

@@FreeSpiritsII thanks so much!

Hahahah! The view of the Brentford marina? A lovely sight indeed, nothing beats the view of hundreds of apartments with thousands of prying eyes looking down upon one's misfortunes attempting to assemble a dinghy! We'll make a followup video down the south coast at Haslar Marina in Gosport - that's where we're keeping the dinghy and motor now. With more miles under our belts we can paint a richer picture about this little outboard/dinghy combo.

He also put it in cold water so we will let him off for the lack of pressure 😂

Exactly right, not enough air. We have a 12v pump to inflate it now, it's much sturdier when inflated properly, you can stand in it without fear of taking a swim. And it's much faster to inflate and deflate too. We had some trouble with the Torqeedo motor, and not much support from the UK service agents. I'll make a followup video soon to tell all of that story and show you how it's all worked out.

Hahahaha! Thanks! Yes UK water is never very warm. The 12v inflator has sorted us out. Watch out for a new video, we'll show you how it's all turned out.

Thank you!

Hi Darren, thanks for your kind words. Our boat is named after this channel. Or maybe the other way around…. Free Spirits II. It would be great to catch up, we’re having so much fun pretending we know what we’re doing!

@@FreeSpiritsII Now I feel a little stupid for not noticing! Lol 😀. Our yacht is a 51.1 Beneteau, grey hull called Dixie-Mae. We will be out most weekends over the summer. It would be great to compare notes with fellow beginners.

That’s very kind of you Chris. I must remember to tell the story of how I sunk the drone… maybe in the next video! Best wishes

Thank you! I owe you guys another video to fill you in on how it all turned out - coming soon-ish!

Normally 11psi Sides 3.5psi

Hi there, the plate on the dinghy says working pressure is 0.25 bar. That's 3.5 psi. We inflate the floor and sides to that and it works just fine. You can stand in it, dance in it, walk around in it. But to inflate to that pressure really needs an electric pump. We bought a twin speed unit, inflates quickly to about 0.15 bar and then tops up at the slower speed. All in all it works really well, and also works as a deflator - otherwise it's difficult to get all the air out to get it back in the bag. New video coming soon-ish to show you all of that.

Cheers! I hope the Solent is treating you well, we've been enjoying Chichester - such a lovely spot, and great helming practice dodging all the sailing dinghies!

Yes much less! It’s very smooth. Though it is also not very powerful - about 3.5hp equivalent petrol they say. It’s fine for moving around in a marina or anchorage, for us at least

Yes the electric motor vibrates much less than petrol, it's quite smooth and very very quiet. We had a problem with our first Torqeedo, we had to send it back for replacement - something shook loose and it wobbled and vibrated all over the place! That took ages to fix because the sole UK service agent (Golden Arrow Marine) took months and months to convince that there was a problem. I ended up taking it back to them three times and threatening legal action before they would take the problem seriously. All sorted in the end - video coming to tell the story.

You're very welcome, we'll be making a followup video to show you how we've got on with the dinghy and motor since.

@@FreeSpiritsII I bought one and I’m very pleased with it!

Thank you! Yes that’s John, he’s the best neighbouring Dock Boy we could ever have hoped for! We’re very lucky with boats, we bought a river boat a couple of years ago and, like a gateway drug, it has lured us onto this... We should have started smaller and worked up to this but COVID has motivated us to get on and do stuff in a hurry. No regrets so far. We’ll look out for you on the pontoon!

Cheeky! The hovercraft generates >2,000hp and whisks >12,000kg at 50 knots! They don't publish consumption figures, but I am guessing it is thirstier than a drained camel.

Hi there, when inflating with the supplied foot pump, it’s a little wobbly. We’ve bought an electric high pressure pump to inflate it to its specified pressure (which I think is higher than is possible to achieve using their foot pump). I’ll let you know how that goes when we use for the first time - probably this weekend

@@FreeSpiritsII thank you for the fast reply. Looking forward for your test

Hi there, we used the electric inflator and it is MUCH better than the supplied foot pump. The floor can be stood on, I did that in the marina. Find a two-speed pump, they inflate quickly most of the way and then inflate to a higher pressure near the end.