2nd December 2010 - Wedding, Honeymoon & Condensation

Jeff's blog of his life living aboard a yacht, at anchor, in the UK, with his wife, a dog and a baby.

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2nd December 2010 - Wedding, Honeymoon & Condensation

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Well the wedding went relatively smoothly, and after the slight hiccup of missing our flight (long boring story), so did the honeymoon.

Rose's plan for an autumn wedding worked out well and we even managed to have our humanist ceremony outside at her family farm as planned, thanks to a timely weather window. The humanist aspect concerned our less atheistic friends and relatives but I think they were all pleasantly surprised. It didn't take them long to work out a way to convert the conker table decorations into something more playful and the whole mood drifted rapidly into a whirlwind of dancing, fireworks, conker fights, fairy lights and hurricane lamps. It was absolutely brilliant and a testament to Rose's hard graft in planning it using the power of mobile broadband while we sailed slowly towards it.

Rose had said from the start that our honeymoon could be pretty much anything at all so long as it did not involve boats.

Our Nile cruise was excellent. In all we went on 5 different boats and 10 separate trips. One of which was on a traditional Egyptian sailing boat (a Faluka). Fantastic!

On our return winter had begun to kick in and as I write this we have a completely snow covered deck. We're in a secure boatyard, in a cradle, on land in Whitby, North Yorkshire - and we'll be here until at least early April. It seems that not having the constant temperature of water under the hull (perhaps not surprisingly) means that condensation is more of a problem than it was last winter in Sutton Harbour; cold walls in the back of cupboards are a magnet for it and it's a constant battle to keep it at bay. Having said that we've got into a bit of a routine now and seem to have it under control. If you're into that kind of thing, a brief summary of our routine now follows...

Morning. Diesel blown air heater (4kW) on full for 2 hours to dry us out from the night before, with as many hatches open as wide as we can managed given the outside temperature, wind and rain/snow conditions. If the forward (sleeping) cabin is damp, either open the hatch wide, lift the cushions and shut the door on it - or lock it all down with the dehumidifier in it.

Daytime. Switch to the fan-heater as it's a 5th the cost to run and doesn't choke up with carbon when not running on full blast like the Eberspacher (diesel heater) does.

Dinner time. Diesel heater on full, all hatches open.

After dinner steam has cleared. Back to the fan heater for the evening.

Night time. If the main cabin has got really damp, bring out the dehumidifier and leave it in the main cabin with all doors and hatches shut, and all cupboards open and cushions lifted. Shut ourselves in the forward cabin with the hatch wide - no heating. Fortunately this is not that common. If the main cabin is not wet then just leave as many hatches as wide as possible and switch off all heating and go to bed. Expect temperatures in the cabin as low as -1 so if required, use the dog water bottle.

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We've only had the water pipes partially freeze once. Since then I've been diligent with the regular daily blasts with the Eberspacher which has kept us from freezing up. We've also now winterised the engine (antifreeze in the seawater circuit) and serviced it (air filter, oil, oil filter & new alternator belt).

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Some pictures:

Rose & Bridesmaids
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Rose and Me - With Best Men
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Rose's Awesome Natural Table Settings
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My Sister's Awesome Homemade Cake (THANK YOU!)
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The Valley of The Queens
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Sailing in a Faluka, River Nile, Aswan, Egypt
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Winter, On Land, On Isabella, In Whitby
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Winter, On Land, On Isabella, In Whitby
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Dog Water Bottle
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