Carra Tidings

Carra lives in a shed for the winter with about 30 other boats. She has been very discrete about who her neighbour is. Apparently it is the King of Sweden motor boat! I haven’t seen him working on his boat…oh to have staff.

The next few days were governed by a big spreadsheet of jobs to do to get Carra ready for launching. Some routine maintenance, some required new skills to be learnt – like repairing some gelcoat in the cockpit. But there was one job I was dreading – to fix our loos or heads in boaty speak. Those that followed our travels last year, will know that I spent a fair amount of time trying to fix it. Like a baby that has to be winded, Carra has had to burp when trying to pass poo, so that the bowl can be emptied…. It has been a problem since birth. Tedious doesn’t even cover it but embarrassing when you have guests. So I was on a mission. We had even bought an endoscope so that we can trace pipe runs that couldn’t be seen and to check for any blockages. Be thankfully you have been spared the photos. I don’t know if I should admit this – but I even wrote a formula of the forces involved to try and problem solve this…. So now you know how sad I am. Stage Directions: Background Science Music. To continue with the science we had the banana test…. How many pumps to pass a banana with a measured quantity of water. It was a family activity with Mags holding the bucket to catch said banana. I am quite sure I could now write a dissertation for a Masters on our Heads. The only possible issue I could find was a potential air lock on the outlet pipe. So I spent a day modifying the joinery so the pipe would get a better drop to the seacock (the hole in the boat) and shortening the pipe. Frustratingly, there was only a very marginal improvement in the banana test. To placate myself, I decided that the air lock would only be an issue in the water… the true test would come once launched.

Over the next few days the jobs got ticked off, the car was emptied and the journey down a step ladder followed by a 200m dash to the loo became more wearisome. Soon the shed doors were opened, light came streaming in and Nicklas and Tommi came to collect Carra for launching. The next few days were a whirl of activity: mast on, lines rerigged, sails on and kit stowed.

Like expectant parents, we awaited the arrival of the first opportunity to test the loo properly………. and yes we are pleased to announce that……… we have a functioning loo!