Have a little faith Nerys LOL!!!!

Martin555.

Hi Martin,

I do hope your optimism is realised, I don't think I've had a sail this year. The bad weather seems to be never ending. Perhaps, says she, crossing everything we'll have a good summer.

At least, one thing, March is coming in like a lion, let's hope it remembers the old adage and goes out like a lamb.

Cheers, Nerys

Hi Nerys,
I am sure when this next storm has pasted you will have plenty of good sailing weather.

Martin555.

With the constant stream of weekend gales we are having, Ken, you'll probably catch me up. Jorge this weekend, what will it be next week. Will I ever sail her?

Cheers, Nerys

A P.S. to pmdent, Peter, I too drank Blackthorn cider in the Shipwrights.

Nerys

Pleased you liked the photos Doug, hopefully we'll get some of her sailing one of these days. You'll be disappointed to hear that I didn't dress the sails. the fabric, polycotton comes in a huge variety of colours at a little over £2 a metre.
We haven't had as much rain as further East in the valleys above Cardiff, There's been a big drop in temperature but as yet no snow. Actually, we get very little, we've lived here six years and have never seen snow lay for more than a couple of hours and it's always been very light. It can be on the mountains a mile or two away to the East, but we just don't get it.

My sister, in the Jura, has been complaining of very high winds and has lost three very tall trees in the last week or so.

I continue to work on my crash tender, but all the time, am planning the next Thames Barge.

Regards to you and Gisela.

Cheers, Nerys

How nice to hear from somebody who sailed from Hollowshore. I did for many years so we possibly knew each other and have a lot of mutual acquaintances.. The tales of Lawrie's wife Eileen are of course legendary but I don't think we ought to mention them on here. The Shipwright's was still a great place after Lawrie, retired and Jack and Kay took over, but I went there a few weeks ago, first time in 30 or more years, and it just wasn't the same. Lacks all the character and friendliness of times gone by. Felt it had lost all it's magic.

All the best, Nerys

Excellent👍 Thanks Nerys.
And congrats (belated🙄) on your Match win!
(I daren't ask how you coloured (Dressed?) the sails 😮🙈🙉🙊
Hope you have more luck with the weather soon🤞
We've had blizzard - sunshine - blizzard ❄️🌤️❄️ all day here, now very light snow.
Temp. crash from +15°C to freezing and still falling😝
So I'm having to do all my sanding, painting and 'resinining' indoors🤔
Hooray for water based materials!
Best regards to you both,
Cheers, Doug 😎

Nerys, sorry to add to your thread on barges under "Fittings for Areokits RAF tender"...… but hey ho. As a teenager I sailed out of Hollowshore ( at Jn of Faversham and Oare creeks) in the 1960s' with my Dad and saw many of Lawry Testers "projects" come and go including "Orinoco" after he had apparently raised from the seabed and then rebuilt/refitted her at his yard/slipway there. She still sails out of Ironwharf at Faversham now. Took my first pints of cider then the local ale " sludge" drawn from the cask at the "Shipwrights Arms" and staggered to my bunk when too many waiting for the tide.....which always seemed to be at 3 am !! Lawrys' wife was the fiesty barmaid back then ! Of course Lawry sadly passed I think not making it back to another one of his barges " Hydrogen" which he had finally as a live aboard in Faversham Creek. Happy days...… Peter.

Hope this will satisfy you for time being, Doug, Will post pics of her in her natural environment when the weather improves. 'Stangate' is named after a creek on the Lower Medway. She is built from a 1/24 'Portlight' hull from Dave Watts Mastman. I chose this hull for nostalgic reasons, I knew 'Portlight' when she was sailing, she passed into the ownership of Greenhithe Lighterage as a motor barge, then when that company closed, she and several other barges were sold with the proviso that they must be put back into sail. Lawrance Tester, of Greenithe Lighterage kept her for himself, rerigged her and sailed her again. She replaced his previous barge 'Orinoco' on which I had the honour of sailing when she won the 1977 Jubliee Thames Match.

Cheers, Nerys

"The barge is sitting on the stocks, well and truly finished, "
Pic pics pics! 😉😎

Thank you Doug. The barge is sitting on the stocks, well and truly finished, but the weather has been too bad for sea trials and the forecast for the next few days isn't any better.
I'm a little limited on the colours I am able to use on the crash tender as the person I inherited her from had made and painted the cabins. The cabin tops are all varnished as I have laid planking on those as well as the engine compartment cover and the aft cockpit. The cabin sides are a mid blue, with a pale grey deck, which I still might well plank. I fancy a white hull as I think it can be seen better when she is careering down the lake at some ridiculous speed. At current rate of progress, I can see both boats having trials on the same day, if ever the weather improves!

Cheers, Nerys

For both my fireboats 1/12 and 1/16, I have got my decals from BECC, they are definitely the best, easy to apply and waterproof, but they don't sell direct, contact them and they will tell you who are the nearest distributor to where you live👍

http://www.becc.co.uk/index.html
Cheers, Pete

If it feels good - DO IT Nerys👍😁
White hull and cabins, a varnished deck, brass trim and fittings should look very nice.
I'm only Fleet Admiral, not a Marshall of the Air Force, but I'll give you permission 😉
BUT; Have you got your Barge finished yet you naughty girl!?🙄
Cheers, Doug 😎

Yes please Ed, I'm not quite ready for them yet but it won't be long if I keep her as an RAF vessel. I'm at the painting stage and am thinking of being really radical, throwing convention to the wind and painting the hull white. The idea being that she has been sold out of the service and is now civilian owned! No doubt the purists will disown me or something.

All the best, Nerys

Nerys, the decals from SLEC arrived today! I had asked who stocked them when ordering something else by phone and they said they would be carrying them. Took a while but they are here now. Will be interested to see how they go on after reading about the problems others have had on this page with some decals! Ed

SLEC told me today that the decals are not as yet shown on their website, but can be ordered by phone, price is £10.25 inc carriage.

Nerys

Chris, this is helpful. I've ordered decals and a fitting from SLEC, although they haven't arrived yet, but I might well look at these flags. Many thanks, Ed

Apologies, tad late on my reply. I purchased my decals and flags from the BECC range for my #93 and #94 restorations. Being in Australia it was a touch difficult to find a local supplier compared to the UK /Europe hobby market, however once I did I have used their products on the fire floats and other builds including their scale flags. Their range and pricing are quite reasonable. Just an option if you haven’t already sourced an alternative through SLEC or others.
Best regards Chris.

I have a plan from the Aerokits/Keil-Kraft kit we built with our father many years ago. I'm restoring it too, and thought the plan may help you?
Good Luck with your project

Excellent result Ed👍
Thanks for posting that. Good info.
Cheers, Doug 😎
Er! 'Lift belt'? Sounds like summat the ladies might use to 'boost their assets' 😮

I got a nice reply from Tina at Slec. She included this layout plan for the fittings. Thought I'd pass it on. They are apparently going to also start selling the transfer kit, which I will eventually need.

Hi Peter. I bought new fittings. The old ones were unusable. I got the set from slecuk.com . It cost 35.00. I guess I will contact them for a layout. It probably came with the original plans. Ed

Hi Peter,
You can't do better than 'the horses mouth'😁
https://www.slecuk.com/crash-tender-345
Scroll down the page and you'll find all you need👍
Not cheap for the whole shebang but probably worth it from what I hear.
Alternatively you might ask Robbob or mturpin if they accept commissions for the superb fittings they make themselves!😁
Cheers, Doug 😎
PS There are also a few fittings in the Shop here on this site.
See 'online shop' at the left of the Home page.

Ed - have you acquired new fittings or are you installing the originals you may have ? I am in need of a complete new set of fittings for my restoration.....but not really sure of the best place to go for them ( 1/16 scale). Peter