Friday 12 April 2013

Andre's Paper Jet 14

Seen here and as one of the best finished boat kits you will ever see, the Paper Jet 14
as a finished kit takes on a new meaning!



Andre and Helene


They are finishing a Dix 43 Pilot in steel and plan to do some cruising soon.



 Click on the pictures and check out the build and finish quality.

Roy

Thursday 11 April 2013

The JoLon Imp reaches the Equator!

Actually they went even further, it was a distance of some 196 kilometers from Nairobi to the Equator, just short of one third of the distance to the town they are heading for in Ethiopia.


This sign stands for a remarkable landmark in the JoLon Imps African part of the drive to London, England,
as Terence and Geoff are now well past the half way mark on the African continent, well done guys! 


Today we packed up our little African Imp again and bade farewell to the good friends we made at Jungle Junction and headed off to northern Kenya to tackle the most horrific road in Africa, the Marsabit Moyale road. In the dry season it is barely passable by all but top of the range 4×4 vehicles. Well now we are in the slithersome and flashflood wet season and are about to head over to Moyale in our tiny Imp. As my astute nephew Chris correctly pointed out a good off-roader is not one who does not get stuck but one who can successfully extricate himself from the jam when it occurs.
Geoff and I were super thrilled to be on the road again, and our little chariot seemed to smile along with us also as it whistled along the nice Kenyan roads with the crazy drivers.
Darkness fell as we arrived in the busy town of Nanayuki but luckily there was still enough light for us to have some nice pictures at the ‘you are now crossing the Equator’ board.
Tonight we are staying in a most stunning golf club in a quaint reed roofed hut called a Banda. Well hot showers, clean bedding, mozzie nets and absolute silence apart from the rain happy frogs in their loud cacophony outside to entertain us is a delightful change from what we have had to put up with earlier on our journey.
Tomorrow we head out at 04h30 to get some kilos under our belt before first light and then some of the dirt road will be tackled tomorrow midday to the afternoon.

Update, 17th April and they have made Addis Adaba, the last 500 kms were on the so called Road to Hell.

Roy

Wednesday 10 April 2013

Wanted, a Garmin 35/36 GPS receiver or similar

This is needed as a workshop test receiver, I need one now in Cape Town, South Africa, 7806, cost plus postage please, does anyone have one spare?


This is the 35, the 36 looks the same, they can also be found in a white plastic case.
They are a 12 channel GPS receiver.

The later model looks like this.

Also acceptable!

Roy

JoLon Imp left Nairobi today

Out of Nairobi, wet or otherwise.

I think they intend leaving today.

The JoLon Imp guys have had a wet time in Nairobi, they have found the place very expensive, and a rip off, plus the local drivers seem to drive by touch, read the link below.

http://jolonimp.wordpress.com/2013/01/


Terence Tracey and Geoff Biermann, the event was a fund raiser at the Scrooge Dinner in Johannesburg. I do like that poster!


Parked outside the guest house where they felt it was safer than a camp site, power outages have been the norm while in Nairobi!

Roy

Monday 8 April 2013

Marlow braid falls apart in the sun

To be fair its been out in the sun, wind and rain for about twelve years!


Click on the picture for a closer view.

Note that the woven casing has departed from the inner core.

Charles took me up the mast to remove the B&G mast head unit, (broke again) I was surprised to find the tail of the Marlow braid main halyard case cover in tatters, must be the UV? I cut the tail off and used the halyard anyway, the core is the bit thats rated under load, not the outer cover. Mind you its been out in our weather about 12 years now, an outer cover in a colour would probably lasted longer? I will replace it with some nice blue braid for a change.

I would seriously recomend reversing your mast halyards end for end every so often, simple to do and it may double the life of your halyards at no cost!

How unusual is that.

Roy

Guys Argie 10 kit is painted!

We sent Guy an Argie 10 kit a while back, he has reached the stage where its painted and just requires some varnish.


The deep blue does look nice but remember to cover the dark surface up, it attracts a lot of heat from the sun.



Hi Roy – I've attached one photo of the inside and one of the outside – each one coat of paint away from completion.  Still have to do the varnish work but that she not take too long.  Loads of mistakes made but I'm not unhappy with the outcome.

It looks fine to me!

Roy

The JoLon Imp is now in Nairobi, Kenya!

They arrived two days back, my message by SMS to them on Saturday morning was not replied to, seems they lost that phone or it packed up and they had to buy another.


bonnet raised at the back to reduce the blistering cabin temperature to almost bearable


These pics were posted on the Jolon web site yesterday.


Arrival in Nairobi means they have done over 3000 kms since leaving Johannesburg.