Rib Virgin Drives Home

[Sarah G]

We left my parents at 6.00 am (which for me is not a time I relish) but we made good time down to Weymouth. Pat did the launch and couldn't have done it better and had great support from Gary who drives the Tractor at Blue Horizons.

Tied up against the pontoon - in the pouring rain and then delivered the trailer.

Unfortunately, due to Wessex trailers not knowing their products, turns out that they had sent all the wrong bolts, the incorrect 'U' bolts and a very short handbrake cable. So at 4.30 we had to make the decision to stay the night. Blue Horizon were great and let us keep Braveheart on the Pontoon and lent us a load of fenders to protect the tubes from the concrete under the pontoons..

Then we realised - no clean clothes so a quick trip to get clothes - always enjoy shopping. Had to find a hotel with a family room and off we went.

Good news - collected the trailer at 2.30, had a brilliant retrieval - really nervous as we knew there was very little fuel and didn't want to fluff it up.

The tractor driver was brilliant and talked us through the whole process.

And we hosed the trailer down and drove home. Took up 10 parking spaces in Little Chef on the way back but other than that completely uneventful.

Tonight, we are going to spend some time to sort stuff out. Some of the ropes from the fenders and rubbed marks into the tubes and almost look like peeling skin. It needs a good wash anyway to sort out the oxidation patches.

Do I need to worry about the peeling patches as I think if I wash her, more will come off?

I think I need to invest in some of the flat fenders (to protect the tubes from ropes).

But at least she is home now!

[Sarah G]

Here is a picture of the peeling - it finally stopped raining long enough to take the picture.

[Nick Hearne]

Not so good, you could put some whear patches on the top to cover them!

[GuyP]

Originally Posted by Nick Hearne

Not so good, you could put some whear patches on the top to cover them!

From the look of the marks around it, it looks like there could have a wear patch there?.

[Sarah G]

Originally Posted by Nick Hearne

Not so good, you could put some whear patches on the top to cover them!

Do you think that is the only option? This is already on the reinforcement patches on the top of the tubes

[GuyP]

Originally Posted by Sarah G

Do you think that is the only option? This is already on the reinforcement patches on the top of the tubes

You could always remove the wear patches there - the material underneath would probably be in good condition, although it may be a deeper colour than the rest of the boat, as it won't have faded.

[Sarah G]

Originally Posted by GuyP

You could always remove the wear patches there - the material underneath would probably be in good condition, although it may be a deeper colour than the rest of the boat, as it won't have faded.

How would you do that - isn't it a nightmare job? I suppose if it came off, we could replace them with new patches.

[Nick Hearne]

If it is on the wear patch I would not worry too much as it is just cosmetic as it is on the patch!

[Hightower]

So did you take Braveheart out for a spin then?

[Sarah G]

Originally Posted by Hightower

So did you take Braveheart out for a spin then?

Unfortunately not.

We looked at the forecast and felt that it was going to pour with rain and we would only be in Weymouth for Monday for a couple of hours.

Had we known we would be there for Tuesday as well - which was sunny and lovely, I would have filled a fuel tank and we could have gone for a spin. Nevermind, weekend here we come - although the weather doesn't look promising we can leave our daughter with Grannie and go out for a spin - even in the rain.

I've just been cleaning the boat with Rib Revive - it did make the tubes bluer but it didn't help the light patches. My neighbour is getting some TFR for tomorrow so I'll give that a go and see if that makes the difference.