Never fear, your intrepid and, some might say, slightly sardonic Cap'n is not dead. No he has merely been doing other stuff which has taken priority, much of which will become obvious later this year.

So what has been achieved recently (eyes looking at the ground and shuffles feet awkwardly)? I have to admit not a huge amount, disappointingly. I have been hassling the dry dock at Sharpness for a date in order to book Zee in for blasting and painting and after much trying believe we are pencilled in for late July. It better be late July as I am at Bisley shooting mid July so that wouldn't work... I have decided that the bags of sand ballast are going. They are taking up room and were effective (not that you need a PhD to be effective ballast but you get the idea), but I have plans for the ballast area involving large water tanks so the area is used constructively.

I did receive some very sad news about a friend of mine who had suffered a sudden, massive heart attack whilst on holiday at the age of 38 and passed away. Very sad and totally unexpected. He was the mastermind behind the power system for the barge so I am now looking for a new company to take over the mantle. I am hoping the company he used to work for can still supply the biomass boiler and a design for the pipework for a 'self fit' but I have yet to have that discussion with them programmed for tomorrow.

Another slight setback is that the carpenter I had wanted to construct the new wheelhouse is now unavailable due to taking on more work so something has had to drop out. That something being my wheelhouse. I am sure we can still work together as I could do with his expertise and I am hoping to do some form of 'Ikea' flat pack wheelhouse but again, I need to have that discussion.

So in short it is half a step forward, 7 steps back, 2 steps sideways and I am now teetering on the edge of an open long drop latrine. Let's hope I can avoid the fall...