NEW BOOK, BOAT WORK IN THE WEST INDIES

Walking to the Boat in Grenada

My new book, ‘Diamond Rock’ is published!  (Diamond Rock (Paul Weston Historical Maritime and Naval Fiction Book 5) eBook : Weston, Paul: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store). 

It’s very difficult for authors to self-assess their work, but I’m pleased and grateful that ‘Diamond Rock’ has received some favourable reviews, and pre-orders have been strong.

I’ve also been working pretty hard on the prototype of - I’m not sure how to describe it, so I’ll call it the ‘device’ for now – based around an Arduino single board microcontroller.  Unfamiliar skills have been required, soldering, programming, as well as more familiar mechanical and design work.

Electronics!

Now, what next?  Winter’s approaching, nights are drawing in, I can write pretty well anywhere, and we’re lucky enough to have a boat in the West Indies.  I appreciate that quoting Kipling is a bad habit to get into, but … to quote Kipling:

"Over then, come over, for the bee has quit the clover,

And your English summer's done"

So, as the poet recommended it’s "The Long Trail" for us, and we are now in Grenada, and have been reunited with our boat, Kadash, which has been laid up ashore at Grenada Marine.  By the way, after Ms Kardashian’s remarks about the moon landings, we’re no longer referring to the boat as Kim – perhaps Buzz would be better! 

Kadash in the Yard at Grenada Marine - Keel Up

The boat hadn't suffered as a result of her long summer layup – but it was a bit tense when we first saw her.  There have been no hurricanes in the Leeward Islands this year so far, but the season has brought three Category 5 hurricanes.  Thankfully, only one – Melissa – made landfall with devastating effects, especially in Jamaica.  The disaster hurricanes bring to small Caribbean countries has to be seen to be believed.

We spent a couple of weeks maintaining Kadash before we laid her up in Grenada, so our job list is not as long as it has been before.  However, there one major task.  As we plan to spend time cruising in shallow water of the Bahamas, and then transit the Intracoastal Waterway in the USA, we expect that Kadash’s keel will be raised for extended periods (draft with the keel down is about ten feet).  The keel has a tendency to bang rather noisily against its casing if not fully down, and so I have fitted ‘gags’ to prevent this. 

Kadash's Keel - it has a heavy lead filled bulb at the end and lifts vertically

The ballast bulb on the end of the weighs about 3.5 tons, so the gags have to be pretty robust.  There are four of them (though I've only fitted two) – disks of aluminium which are bolted to the keel casing.  Large bolts are screwed through the disk until they press against the keel, preventing it moving when it’s raised.  The gags were made to my design by Wenda Sheet Metal in Ferndown.  Fitting them required careful measurement, and drilling and tapping M12 and M24 threaded holes in the boat's keel casing, which is fabricated from 15 mm thick aluminium.

Keel Gag Design

Keel Gag Fitted to Keel Casing

Once the yard work is finished and the boat launched, we intend to head north along the Lesser Antilles until we come to the British Virgin Islands where we will probably stay for some time until the weather in the Bahamas seems suitably benign.  We will then cross the few hundred miles of Atlantic which separates the West Indies from the Bahamas, and from then on we’ll be almost day tripping.

Inspiration?  I think it would be a rather poor writer of naval historical fiction who would not be inspired by the trip we’re hoping to make!