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Elessina at The Brocas Eton and at Cookham, October 2007
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Windsor September
2007 (with freshly painted black hull, and scrolls alongside the name
'Elessina')
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Windsor, August
2007
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Just off Chatham,
on our way back from the R Thames (August 2006)
Just below Goring
lock on the River Thames, August 2006
Some more Thames cruising photos
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At anchor, Stangate Creek July 2006 (during the world cup!!)
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Sunset at Anchor, Stangate Creek
Elessina is at
anchor in the background. Nice and peaceful, seen a few Seals around
us.
Having an
inflatable is useful, we have a 2.6m Lodestar with 4hp Yamaha, can be
launched and recovered from Elessina fairly quickly with just a few
ropes (no hoist etc). and getting into and out of from Elessina's deck
is fairly straightforward.
Stangate Creek is
off the R Medway - Close to the R Thames estuary.
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At anchor
in Stangate Creek June 3rd 2006 (near mouth of R Medway / R Thames). Our
first overnight mooring at anchor.
No
problems, anchor held well and the manual windlass made
lifting the anchor straightforward.
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June 2006, just off Port Medway Marina
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2005 Navigational
Photos
Although
not complete, We started doing some navigating on Elessina
during the Summer of 2005. Some underway and external photos
etc below:-
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Monday
18th September 2005
 We have
done around 20 trips up and down the river Medway now in
Elessina. Up to Maidstone (overnight) and down to Quensborough
(also overnight). We filled up with 30 gallons of fuel when we
had done 37,5hours of engine running ( I think we probably
could have got a little more in, so at this point I think 1
gallon per hour is as good an indication as any. The speed
limit is 6 Knots, we probably do around 6 knots with tide and
5 against. Half of our cruises are against the tide (it seems
like more than half!!). Virtually no work done on board for
the last 10 weeks , just enjoyed the summer. We plan to start
work again in October.
On our way
to Maidstone, through Allington Lock.
 
Moored
just outside the House of Fraser at Maidstone. We can get
under Aylesford bridge with the wheelhouse roof up and with
the tide a couple of feet off high water, just. It would be
easier if it were not on a bend!.
We
enjoyed the DBA Chatham Barge Rally, although we were unable
to spend much time there due to a death in the family, but
look forward to the next one. We will definitely be at Beal
Park on the R. Thames in August 2006. Hopefully another rally
before this one.
Left:.
Entering the lock at Chatham Marina
Below:
At the DBA Rally, before and
during.
Perkins
Sabre have done a promotion feature on Elessina, see
http://www.perkins-sabre.com/PR/Applications/Elessina.cfm
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Monday
4th July 2005
We have
spent the last 10 days on Elessina, neither of us wanted to
leave / return to work. We would like to move on board now,
but there is still work to be done!. We
fitted a VHF radio, wired up the horn and navigation lights
then spent the last 7 days of our vacation cruising up and
down the River Medway / relaxing. Wonderful!!! .
On
Saturday 2nd July we cruised down to Quensborough (on
the Isle of Sheppey, at the mouth of the Thames and Medway).
Moored overnight adjacent to a lighter / barge (photo
right), taking the trot boat to the pier for a meal in the
Flying Dutchman pub in the evening, then cruised back on
Sunday. All very pleasant.
The bow
thruster is great. Highly recommended. If you wish to do some
cruising on a barge, amongst GRP and wood boats, I would say
it is a must. Our biggest problem is coming back into our
mooring. We have a GRP cruiser in front and a wood cruiser
behind, with around 80 feet of pontoon to get into (we are
60feeet).! First time in, I did a practice run (when the
wind was only force 4) then it blew up and was gusting force
7, with a fairly strong tide.
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Tuesday
1st March 2005 |
Elessina
on her mooring at Port Medway Marina on the
River
Medway in Kent, in the snow. |
With the
(5Kw) Bubbles diesel stove on it's lowest setting (no1) the
inside temperature dropped to 8 deg C, whilst the outside was
-2 deg. The foam insulation kept snow on the roof until
around about the same time as the snow on the pontoons also
melted. The 'snow pattern' on the roof is the steel
reinforcing. Turning up the stove had the inside temperature
up to around 18 deg within a few hours. 21 deg could easily
have been achieved.
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Sunday
13th February 2005
Elessina
has been moved to her new pontoon mooring at Port Medway
Marina. She is now permanently afloat regardless of
tides, which means when the weather improves we can take her
for a cruise any time we like.
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Elessina
on her 1st mooring at Port
Medway Marina in Kent 2004.
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Thursday
15th July 2004
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Thursday
was mainly 'sea trial' and refinements. Extra ballast was
installed, and now with 5mm double glazed toughened glass now
installed in wheelhouse (replacing the 4mm) Elessina's screen
and roof raised and lowered perfectly (see photos below, I
will add a small video clip as soon as I get time). She Manoeuvres very well, turns in about a boat and a three-quarter
length (without bow thruster), and reached 9.1 knots (over land
speed on the gps) with a little tide assistance but in only
around 1.5m deep water. I think she will probably do 9 Knots
with no wind, no tide with deeper water. 
When
we placed an order 18 months ago with Simon Piper, he promised
us he would build us a good boat. Elessina has surpassed
anything we had ever imagined we would get. For us she is
absolutely perfect. Beautiful lines, well built, handles well,
very spacious inside for her size, etc etc. Many thanks to
Simon, Vinny and the rest of the team at Piper Boats. A beautiful
'little ship', and our future home. 
..........
and now the start of the hard work for us fitting out the galley,
saloon, main bathroom, main bedroom and water / electrics etc. Our
next open day is planned for end April / Beginning May 2005 on her
mooring at Cuxton (near Chatham), Kent.
Click
her for more details.
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Lowering
/ Raising
the wheelhouse roof (and front screen), at the touch of a button.
Lowering
takes
around 30 seconds. Lifting around 90
seconds.
Window
sides and rear also have to be removed / lowered to get down
to around 6'-10" air draft (+/- 3" depending on the
amount of fluid ballast - water, diesel, toilet waste - held
in tanks). So if we have a 6'-6" bridge we may just
'scrape' through if all our tanks are full!!
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Roof
and front screen
in
the
half
way down position
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Inside
the wheelhouse
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Tuesday
13th July 2004
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We
are in!!!. Despite traffic delays along M25 etc. Elessina was
final launched. Many thanks to Duncan Milner (tel 0777
4627997) for safely
delivering Elessina from Stoke and to Dave Redwood, Paul Sands
and the team at Sheerness Dock (01795 - 596566) who did a great job craning her
in. It was getting close to sun set so we decided to moor up
at Sheerness dock and motor up to our mooring the following
day. Wednesday saw force 4 / 5 winds and white top waves, and
Sheerness is pretty open on the Thames / Medway estuary!!.
Elessina was a little light on ballast so we filled up the
fresh water tanks (1,500 litres) and diesel (1,000 litres) and
set off to our mooring at Cuxton some 15 miles upstream. She
handled beautifully, a very respectable 7.9 knots over land
speed on the gps against tide and wind with no noticeable
engine temperature increase. Cruising very comfortably at 5.5 knots
and 1300rpm. No problems at all, just needs a little more
ballast, which Simon Piper installed Thursday.
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Crane-off
and Crane-in at Sheerness ......... and at Port Medway marina,
Cuxton
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