About us and the boat

About us and the boat:

We were lucky enough to retire early at the start of 2013 so we could head off and "live the dream" on board our Nordhavn 47 Trawler Yacht. The idea is to see some of the planet, at a slow 6 - 7 knots pace. There are no fixed goals or timings, we just had a plan to visit Scotland and then probably the Baltic before heading south.

The idea is to visit the nicer areas in these latitudes before heading south for warmer weather. If we like somewhere, we will stay for a while. If not, we will just move on. So, for the people who love forward planning and targets, this might seem a little relaxed!

If anyone else is contemplating a trawler yacht life, maybe our experiences will be enough to make you think again, or maybe do it sooner then you intended!

The boat is called Rockland and she is built for long distance cruising and a comfortable life on board too. If you want to see more about trawler yachts and the Nordhavn 47 in particular, there is a link to the manufacturers website in our "useful stuff" section. For the technically minded, there is a little info and pictures of the boat and equipment in the same section

Regards

Richard and June

Wednesday 16 August 2017

Trooning around

What to do during a few days in Troon with very mixed weather? Well, as the crew was deeply upset at coming 4th in the weekly Fitbit step challenge we had to have a good walk. The so called Ayrshire coastal path:



was attempted but parts were very overgrown and we didn't fancy doing the whole distance on the beach. So, re retraced our steps and walked the nice path between two golf courses to Prestwick instead on the nattily named "cycle route 7". The walk ended up on a main road for a mile or so before reaching the town, but that was well worth it as we discovered Buckleys a very nice local bistro come cafe for lunch. We were feeble and got the train back.

During a wet morning, the captain decided to fit a cooling fan into the cupboard that houses the navigation PC. On a couple of hot days, it had warmed up quite a lot (solid state 24v thingy, no built in cooling fan, just vents in the cupboard door) and we felt that it needed a little forced cooling. A little 24v computer fan was procured and holes driled into the cabinetry as needed. This was not popular with the crew who was worried about scratches, holes in the wrong place, the size of the hole saw being used etc etc.

We've commented on the substantial build of a Nordhavn before. Well, this is the section cut out from the front of the cabinet:




For the folks who don't normally handle the UK 2p piece, the coin in just under 26mm in diameter! Fairly solidly built cupboards we reckon.

During a very windy and rainy day, we took the train to Ayr to see the film "Dunkirk". Why? Because Bernie and Jenni's Dunkirk little ship Mimosa was in it of course. They were too! You met Mimosa a while ago in here as she was leaving Cardiff Bay:




You also saw perhaps more of Jenni than you expected to:




as she tested out her new hot tub in Dartmouth. We have similar pictures of Bernie but will save you from those. Here he is in the Nordhavn saloon instead:




We kept the picture small too. We are so kind to you.

Mimosa's bottom looked very good in the film, No unwanted comments about bottoms and hot tubs please. Glad we saw it on the big screen, the noises and effects would not have been the same on a DVD although many boaters consider our 42 inch saloon TV to be a little OTT (OTT = over the top for the non native speakers). We consider it an excellent addition by the man who had the boat built.




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