Monday 3 December 2012

Buying frenzy

The last few weeks have seen some purchases for Ciao Bella... the pot of money is disappearing quicker than the Liberal party's principles.  There has been a lot of eBay activity and not all of it successful.
First were the seacocks,  Bought off Preloved, an absolute bargain at £50 for the pair with skin fitting and tails.  Seller had bought new to fit loo but decided against it.
My new cooker in it's old home.
Next was the Loo itself... I followed and bid on several Jabsco compacts, however they all seemed to go for far too much money, considering a new one was only £98... So a new one is what I got.
Then came the cooker.. That was a stroke of luck.  I was speaking to Rog and he mentioned he'd bought a new cooker for his Hurley 24/70.. I knew he had an Origo 3000 so we came to an agreement over that... Sweet :o) The only down side with the Origo is that it doesn't fit in the Galley... which is a tad annoying.

Now the big one, the Main Sail. There is lots of choice here, in the end I decided to buy from Swift Sails, a combination of price and recommendation. I nearly bought locally, more expensive but sometimes it's more convenient. Anyway, that would have involved me raising the mast to take measurements... I couldn't be doing with it. Roger, Nick Vass and Swift had already done the measuring up side on Big Easy so I know their plan fits. As soon as Jamie from Swift gets back from Thailand I'll get the order placed.


My final spend has been on a spinnaker.   I've chased a few of these on eBay, some go cheap, some not so. I finally got one off eBay from a Vivacity for £67.  Hopefully it will fit without having to take to Jan's for a trim :)
The one thing I've found with all these purchases is that the spend doesn't stop there... The Toilet and seacocks needed another £60 worth of pipe and fittings, the cooker with need gimbals and pan  holders.. another £120; the main sail will deserve a nice cover and the spinnaker will need miles of Guys, sheets, halyard, uphaul, downhaul, pulleys, cleats, shackles and even a turtle.. apparently.
What I could really do with, and I don't seem to be able to find it on eBay, is time, lots of it.. oh, and some reasonable weather.


2 comments:

  1. You had the lottery come up or something??? :o)

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  2. Oh yeah.. that would be nice :) No but I did sell my laser dinghy and Mariner 4HP.. The Fishfinder will find it's new home on the 20th and I did save a bit in the summer... I am however still short but I'm dealing with that by not looking at the bank account :o)

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