36 hours and counting...lots to do...

The pressure has been on for the past few weeks to prepare for the expedition. I’m a bit behind where I’d like to be. A few days ago I managed to:

• Fit a fibreglass keel line to my boat and also an extra layer of epoxy for abrasion resistance, thanks for the helpful advice from the UKRGB Sea forum
• Wire up the solar panel/voltage regulator/battery/inverter
• Fit it all in my boat, with help from RNLI beach balls which hold the equipment inside in place!

Here's the before and after photos...

I wanted to put a keel strip on it to increase the strength slightly, and to greatly reduce the wear on the keel line so the boat lasts longer. Putting it on wasn't too hard, but I had help from a mate who fixes car body work, who is also the mate who has helped me do the website (thanks Stiof)! It's a fibreglass strip, cut from sheet with a stanley knife, then wet on to a sanded keel line that has been marked with masking tape. Then I put another layer of epoxy on for extra resistance to wear.

The solar panel is cool, expensive, but cool. At 10.30am it was producing 500mA, which is more current than the mobile phone charger uses!!

Today I packed my boat, and it all fits in, not including food that is, which will be some potatoes, and some locally grown meat and vegetables.

Also did a few press interviews. It’s amazing the phenomena of the word spreading in news/media organisations! It’s probably down to the John Muir Trust who sent out their press release to lots of places - I have them to thank. I don’t think the media would have been as interested without he JMT, not to say it isn’t worthy. It was brilliant having all the positive media support, compared to initial scepticism about the idea on forums.

I’ll write again tomorrow with an update on the day's activities, which will include:

• Reinforcing the solar panel fixing;
• Confirming dates for contacting media;
• Packing food in boat;
• Updating website;
• Buying food at local produce sale.
  

I hope that's been interesting for you to read. I'm really just excited and looking forward to setting off so I can stop worrying about planning, and get on with doing! Happy paddling or whatever else you may be doing...