Ready for Sea Again!

Endeavour returned to her mooring in time to make the trip to Portsmouth for the 75th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings. Her stay in Thames Marina involved quite a bit of work. First of all, inspection of the engine including starter motor and injectors being serviced was carried out by Andy Wood and marine engineer Neil Roulston from Maidstone, Kent who kindly donated his time and labour for which we owe thanks.



Andy also started laying new mooring chain in the Creek to secure her more safely. Our painter, Debbie kept very busy repairing problems topsides as well as re-painting the hull. Thanks are also due to crewman Alan Bartram, who anti-fouled the hull, and Rob Everitt, who anti-fouled his head!

Brian Kennell, the shipwright who rebuilt Endeavour at Great Totham inspected the hull and reported that work is needed below the waterline where re-caulking is required. He also feels the decks need scraping, priming, and re-coating with deck paint. The plan is that at the end of the sailing season the boat is sailed to Brian's yard at Maldon for this work to be done. He believes she will be ashore for two months.

It is almost 20 years since Endeavour was restored and next year she will be returning to Dunkirk again. The years have taken a toll on the boat but she will be ready for another 20 after this work is done. We have replaced our ADLS pennant and St George's Cross and had the life-jackets checked. We hope to improve the galley and removed the coal stove from the cabin. The plan is to replace the current two-burner stove and move it to a shelf in the space where the old stove lay.