Preperation to Continue

The Golden Cloud 3/5/13 - Aberaeron MidWales -
60 miles down, ~440 to go.
And So after the madness of the last few days finally I feel prepared to go again. The issue with the cloud's engine turned out to be significantly more minor than originally realised, although the trouble shooting of the engine and fuel system has lead to significant improvements in the engines running and has given me confidence in both the engine and myself.
In my week in Aberaeron (instead of the 12 hours originally planned) has been fantastic, the weather has been great, and the towns folk (especially those of the Yacht Club and the Grandparents of Heather O'rourke) have been fantastic. Not a moment seemed to go by on that mooring where there wasnt some well wisher or sailor wishing me thier best and offering any assistance possible. It just shows how much the sea can bring us together.
And so as i sit in an Arriva bus enroute back from Cardiff after passing my Naval fitness and medical, I am filled with great excitement for the forthcoming week. Billy Whitehouse is crewing with me for a few days, the forecast is sunny, and hopefully the wind isnt as brisk as forecast so we can safely make Cornwall by the week's end.
Mind you, my engine blues continue... The Bus has stopped on the hard shoulder of the M4, "serious engine overheat" maybe i'm just bad luck for these things!!!
Sadly my internets not great but next time i find an Internet Cafe there will be a few photos to put up!
Bon Voyage
Joe

P.S. This Trip is no longer raising funds for Surfers Against Sewage.

We are sailing!

We are Sailing
The Golden Cloud 8.6.12


Once again I've left you lovely people for too long. So much has happened in so little time with me and the boat, and now I type sitting onboard my boat as she sways in the Gales.... Maybe this wasn't the best week to give her some sea trials!


About 10 days ago I had a bit of an issue at Uni, and as a result I was frustrated with life. The result of this frustration was me deciding I should spend a week or so tending to my Boat.


As I started working me and Lloyd the boatyard manager, started talking and we decided that it was probably better for me to work on getting the boat to sea for a short period of time, to suss out any issues she had before I spent out on the interior. For all I know I could spend thousands making her gorgeous inside and then the engine might not work or the hull might have a massive leak!


First I repaired the mast, her spreaders (the arms that keep the mast upright) had snapped over winter. To save the extortionate cost of buying Yacht Spreaders, I went to a metal merchants, brought the tube raw and manufactured it myself!

Then I got to work on was sanding down the hull to check for any dodgy repairs... I found a few! 


Turns out at some time in the past her long keel had hit bottom and got damaged. Whoever owned her at the time did a quick repair job with car filler fibreglass, and never got round to going over the job properly.


Needless to say this area now leaked,and so needed a repair.


So I sanded the area down, chipped out the fibreglass, drilled it around the hole, and left it to dry.... Apparently 40 years of soaking water into a concrete cored keel meant it didn't dry, and as time past it kept seeping water.

In the end we decided to mark down the affected area, reseal it quickly and come back to it in the winter, put the boat in a barn and let her dry out.

Next on the list was getting the engine started. So we charged up the battery, put a hosepipe on the water intake, and next morning started her up.

Amazingly she started first time!!!! Turns out the engine name SABB (not SAAB like the planes and cars) which is Scandinavian for hard working and reliable, is quite fitting.


Then I unpacked the sails to check for damage, all sails were the original 1970 sails no damage, just a bit of oiling on the Hanks! This was too easy!

 Then the issues began....
1st I noticed that the prop shaft was disconnected with the engine. meaning although the engine worked it didn't turn the propeller!

And because of the engines age, the bolts were not modern metric dimensions! So out with the hack saw and manufactured some new bolts.

Then all bolted up. Me and the lads from the boatyard slowly hoisted the mast up by resting it on the roof of a shed! By the end of the beautiful evening, we sat around with Golden Clouds on the horizon, sharing a curry and a can of lager! Wonderful!

Then to make her ready for sea, I removed the infamous freezer, and put in a worktop to give me space for chart work. While a porta potty was installed in case I journeyed to Aberystwyth Marina, where the bucket and chuck it method isn't accepted.

Soon it was time to get her afloat, and after a day of cleaning her up and cleaning the area where she once sat, Lloyd picker her up in his tractors slings, and down to the water. Mick from the yard who also owns a Falmouth Gypsy, came on-board to help with proceedings. 

Down into the water, and away we went FANTASTIC! She sat beautifully in the water! And she reversed with ease out of the slings.


oh


wait


She could only reverse!


NO FORWARD GEAR!


Mick ran to the front of the boat and prepared the Anchor!


OH NO!!!!


Luckily the beast of a rudder this fantastic boat has meant she steered OK in reverse. So we gently reversed her onto the mooring, with a bit of help from the nose of Lloyd's rib. 

When low tide game I got down underneath the prop, and saw that too big an    anode (piece of metal to stop the propeller deteriorating) had been installed. So I unscrewed it, put it onboard, and readjusted the bolts on the propshaft.


Tide returned. FORWARD Gear existed.


Since then, I've happily lived onboard, and every high tide myself and Mick have gone down the estuary to try and iron out any issues with the boat.

Yesterday we even got a jib sail up, and in the wind this was enough so we didn't need the engine.

Needless to say these sea trials are showing a few faults (3 a4 pages so far) but nothing that cannot be worked around.


This weekend when the weather dies down I'm going out without Mick for the first time, but with some friends out fishing. Safe Seas and Tight lines!

What to do?

The Golden Cloud 6/5/12

What To Do?

Again after a long period away with work including time at sea becoming an "Advanced Powerboat, Day Skipper, and VHF License holder" I came back to my humble aboard at 12 o clock last night after a hard day’s work. (See what I did there, humble abode, aboard :D)

Then I notice.... Tarpaulin has gone....Great

The strong East winds we had last week, tore the tarp clean off the ropes and tossed it across the boatyard! The grand cost of a 6 by 8m tarp which I cannot afford to replace means I now have to re sew seams, hem, and eyes onto the tarp, before re-ropeing it and tying it back on a more secure way. An obvious result of this was that the boat had about 5 inches of water in the bilge to pump out! Amazingly though, it wasn’t too damp.

Then I go inside, and flick the lights, power was out. I didn’t have time to work out if this was as a result of the water, or I’d just used up my credit on the meter, but the rest of the evening was by torch light.

Then I get down to my bed to go to bed.... COCK IT! Left the sleeping bag somewhere else... not actually 100% sure where to be totally honest!

So as I wrapped myself up in blankets fully clothed and settled down to a total of 4 hours sleep as I had fieldwork in the morning.  Surprisingly though, I felt warm, safe, and at home. The only thing that wasn’t great was the sound of ropes slapping the roof, a sound not heard on the boat for a good few months while the tarp was alive!! REMINDERS TO SELF NEVER LEAVE A BOAT UNATTENDED!

In a months’ time, I'd been planning to meet up with a friend for a long weekend in Cardiff. But on the realisation that hotels cost money, this idea soon gave way to the invite to my friend of "come stay on my yacht instead!"

4 days, 3 nights in June in Ynyslas... that’s the great British summer holidays for 50% of Birmingham! However, they don't have to sleep on a clapped out boat!

So with the realisation that I've not got; a chimney that works 100%, a roof that stops water 100%, and 100% of my insulation, the boat needs painting, the cupboards need finishing, and really the 2nd bed isn't very good, Oh and that the boats a dump, I've got a lot of work to do!

If you didn't guess, this last bit is kinda a call to arms... If anyone has some spare time in Sunny May to help out, please give me a buzz!

Mussels on the Woodburner!

The Golden Cloud 27/01/12


Being tired from a long night chatting through thoughts and religion last night I came home today as early as possible to have a lovely evening by the log burner. 



The tide was out upon my arrival home and so I set about a foragers dinner... moules sur le poêle à bois. (Well thats what google translate calls Mussels on the wood burner anyways!)


Recipe number 2! Mussels A La Woodburner!


First walk the 10meters from your boat to the mussel bed!

 (Mussel bed is the gravelly looking stuff bottom right)

Collect a few mussels, choose the biggest ones as they've had time to live and make plenty of babies. Take only what you need, leave some for tomorrow.

Now bring them home put them in a shallow dish with some oats and slightly salted water, leave for 2 to 10 hours (according to the books i've read, i've heard slightly more and slightly less. Too long and they die, too short and they're full of grit and poo)

(My mussels purging in the frying pan)

After the time has elapsed pull the mussels out, if there open tap them on something hard, they should shut, if they don't discard. Then put them in the wood burner fire box so that the crack between the shells is horizontal.

Shut the door, and enjoy the smells and noise from the stove for 5-10 minutes.

While this is happening finely cut some garlic and some parsley in some olive oil and butter, and cook on the hob

After a while check the mussels, any that are open take the worst shell off, and keep the meat in the other shell, drizzle over a teaspoon of garlic oily butter, over the meat and put back in the woodburner to sizzle some more.

 Once the meat goes abit rubbery and all the fluid is gone, pull out and enjoy!
(Beware shells and woodburner = very hot)


Enjoy the mussels!

 Cooked Mussels

 Empty shells at the end!

It's never easy

The Golden Cloud 29/12/11


It's never easy is it. With just over a week left until the proposed move date for the Golden Cloud, I get a slap in the face.


The boatyard currently home to the ' cloud (the one who was asking the earth for yard and crane fees) called me yesterday to say ... the clutch was gone on there crane!


Oh Joy!


So I spent last night ringing and emailing around the various haulage companies of Wales, looking for a lorry that has a crane built in (a HIAB)... the nearest companies with these are in Conwy or in Swansea... great.


However, this morning I get the email from a company in North Wales. His price undercuts the cost of boatyard crane, low loader, boatyard crane, by £200.


Out of Darkness Cometh Light!


So new move date 6th January. BRING IT ON!


Happy Christmas, have a great New Year

Oops I Did it Again!

The Golden Cloud 21/12/11


When I was a teenager my mother always used to say, "as soon as my savings got to £300, I couldn't take it any more and would spend it". Ooops I did it again!


Sat on the sofa, with top of the pops 2 on the telly, I've had one of those evenings where the boredom pushed me to a moment that I checked how my banking looked. After working for a friend of my mum, cleaning my great aunties car and selling my old speakers I'd amassed about £300... time to go and blow it then!


So onto ebay, look at my "watch list" and I soon see that oh wait, there's a 500w wind turbine on there, I've been watching it because it suits what I want... And look here, its on at £155, £300 less than I priced up. Well how could I resist a bid, i'll say a £180 maximum! 


30 seconds left, no bid from me £155, I'm holding out to make sure there's no time for anyone else to bid... 20 seconds left no bid from me, this holding out is hard £155... 15 seconds, Now's my time! £180 maximum bid.... 10 seconds OUTBID!... 3 seconds left quick £185 bid, .... 0 seconds ... WIN!


God my heart was about to explode....

I'm the winner!!!!

However, this is quite exciting, I now own a 500watt wind turbine, a source of power beyond my needs! (I'd planned for 100watts).


Before any geographers point out a big problem with turbines, I did think about it! A wind turbine, doesn't produce its rated output all the time. The output of this turbine increases from 0w at 0mph wind, up to 500w at 35mph wind. Some turbines won't produce any energy at usual wind speeds, and only produce an output at hurricane force wind! Luckily this turbine has an output of 100w at the average wind speed in the Aberystwyth area so that will do me nicely.


I'll probably also get a small solar panel to see me through the not so windy days of summer.  


Exciting stuff!!!!


It's been posted to the boatyard which makes it more exciting! However, he doesn't know it's coming so fingers crossed he doesn't send it back!!!!


Seatbelts on the roller coaster of The Golden Cloud is about to start!


Merry Christmas

What do I actually need?

The Golden Cloud 19/12/11


And so the Christmas season is most defiantly upon us. I'm sat now curled up in a blanket on mums rocking chair, sat by the fire while the dogs sleep to either side of me. It's so nice to be home and the Christmassy homely feel is definitely what the doctor ordered.


I spent the first few days after getting home doing a RYA Powerboats License. I sometimes find myself doing something fantastic like this. I spent 2 days courtesy of my job at uni, spinning around in a high spec. powerboat, doing over 35knots, racing ferry's, the rib's equivalent of a handbrake turn, j turns, 8 turns and donuts! FANTASTIC. Apparently this will also be something that will help the work I do, and will mean they give me more hours. What more can I ask for!?!


I've come back in the evening and spent my spare time reading the various books I've bought off amazon as reference material for the project. Many things have caught my eye, from chutneys and jams, to fish traps and lobster pots. Fingers crossed I'll have the time to try them out.


One particular book has been fascinating bedtime reading; Low Cost Living by John Harrison. One chapter that has captured my thoughts Energy.


Energy on The Golden Cloud is something of a critical point. The boat is designed to run on 12v produced by the inboard 10hp diesel engine. However, this has a number of stumbling blocks. 1st  the previous owner was in the middle of an electrics refurb, as a result the boats internal 12v circuit is incomplete and not operational. 2nd if the electrics were operational I will not be going to sea for the foreseeable future, and as such, the diesel engine that charges the batteries will not be running to charge the battery, the battery will soon run dead.


Now I also have a number of decisions to make with regards to energy. I could a) run off the extension lead that I will be supplied with from the boatyard, on metered mains 240v, at ~15p per unit. Or b) spend some of my years savings on a solar panel or wind turbine to charge the battery, and then set up the 12v circuits, with the free power from the sky!


The answer that slaps me in the face is GO FOR THE RENEWABLE, after all I want to be sustainable, and this will also be adding value to the boat. However, going down this route will cost me ~£500 for a set up for a 100watt panel, or £700 for a 500watt turbine. 


It will also limit me in the wattage I can use onboard. Yes I will not use all my electrical items all the time, and yes by producing my own energy I'm more likely to be careful with what electric I use, but it does mean I need to work out what wattage is a want and what wattage is a need.


So I wrote it down and worked it out. If my heating comes from the wood burner, and my cooker runs on gas. I'm left with the fridge (optionally works on gas) ~50w, the Laptop ~30w, phone charger ~5w, lights over the cooker, bed, forward cabin <10w each. Total under 100w. Other things I may need are optional extras, they're wants, not needs, The TV, the PS2, I really don't need in all honesty, I don't need lots of lights. Its also more than likely that I will only have the fridge, the laptop and a light on at one time. If I find I need something that I haven't put down for, worst comes to worst I can use the extension lead supplied.  


In a lot of ways this final bit of the blog is more of a survey than anything else. Other than light, laptop, phone and fridge is there anything anyone can think of that I will need electricity for?


Merry Christmas.

The Golden Cloud is glistening on the horizon

The Golden Cloud 15/12/11


As one life begins to end, the Golden Cloud is glistening on the horizon.


I write this entry sat on the train on my way to the family home for christmas. When I return to Uni in January, The Golden Cloud will be home! I left the hotel first thing this morning and on the way out, the boss gave me a bottle of wine and some lovely biscuits. I can't help but think these "luxury" items may be the last, and will be savoured with that in mind.


In the bag with the wine also came my tip slip. I thought of no better way to use this money  than to head to a favourite old haunt of the local cafe, and have a big breakfast.The result was leaving town with a big smile and a belly stuffed with too much food. I wonder if those feelings will happen in 2012?


On the train we tootled past the boat yard, and i'm filled with a sense of what's to come. There was a pristene beauty to the valley as we sped past. The wintery haze hid the larder of natural foods that will soon be at my disposal. What I saw through the train window, only made my excitement and thought processes run wild. I wondered the best ways to catch and cook canada geese, if there was a hidden delicacy in the reeds, indeed were the reeds themselves a scrumptious treat?


As people came and went, bought things off the trolley, and played football manager on their I-Pads, I couldn't help feel that somewhere our modern society had lost it's way.


The £5 per litre fruit juice (with numerous preservatives and chemicals added) from kenya on the trolley. The thousands of pounds of laptops and I-things that our society makes us crave. Our obsesion even through a tough economic climate (the worst times since the 1980's according to a certian D. Cameron) with this tat, and crap, that honestly doesn't improve us or our lives.


I looked out the window and saw a world of under-utilised natural plenty. These people on the train speed past unaware, as they are engrosed in the latest episode of "strictly come dancing" on I-player. A few months down the line they may visit these beautiful places on Google Earth, on holiday, or on a team building exercise. unaware that they can admire it's beauty from the train journey too!


Last Night I had my final meal as a Uni Seminar Coordinator. The meal's purpose; to amuse and chat up a lecturer of another uni, sucking up basically. I had spent in excess of a combined week's food and energy budget for this task. While everything I ate could be caught, forraged or grown in the local area, and cooked with relatively little skill. Don't even get me started about how the majority of the dish was 5 months out of season.


I realised sat there, and sat on the train this morning, that we've become so disconnected with the natural rhythms of the world, with the true value of things. As a society we say we can't afford or its too hard to live sustainably. Yet we will easily waste the equivilant money of a high spec solar panel or wind turbine, for our annual upgrade of laptop, mobile, i pad or the next new piece of kit. This would be understandable if we needed the upgrade to do what we NEED to do on the computers. But all we NEED to do on a laptop is type, and research on the internet, neither needing high spec, or regular upgrades. What does need the regular upgrades is for the new version of Football Manager, Call of Duty, or FIFA. We buy these things and they stop us from doing things outside, they cost us money, they take up our time. Because of this we then have to spend further money on a Gym Membership, an excersise bike, a week's holiday to somewhere hot (and a massive distance worth of aviation fuel and pollution). 


If we just thought long term, not for our next techno fix, we'd save enough money in a short period of time to buy solar panels, wind turbines, land, woodland, shelter, and all the things one would need to live a life where it doesn't cost money to live, and it does't damage the planet. If we lived more sustainably we wouldn't need the gym membership as lifting the logs into the fire would build our biceps. We wouldn't need the holiday in Tenerife, as even Aberystwyth has an average of 4 hours of sunlight every day (1455 hours a year). The thing that grinds the most is that IPad (which I admit I'm also jealous that I don't have one!) may have cost around £1000 now, the second it's brought its value will halve by the end of the year its outdated and chances are will just be hoarded in a cupboard. If i spent £1000 on renewable energy equipment, (say £300 turbine, £300 panels, £150 battery, £150 transformers and controllers) based on output rating (normally the output is below this admittidly) I'd make 15p worth of electric an hour (on the price N.Power was charging me) Thats £3.6 a day, of £25 a week, of £1310 a year. In one year with these rough figures I could afford an upgrade on my solar panel and a new IPad!


Enough ranting, my train's just passed some snow topped peaks, and that reminds me to say, Merry Christmas to all, and a Happy New Year!

The Times They are a Changing

The Golden Cloud 8/12/11

So I thought to myself, a broker who has on his website boats of up to £500,000, and has sold boats from the UK to people in the USA, should find a 24ft boat for under £1000, moving only 22miles plain sailing (pardon the pun). Perhaps not it seems.

Now I understand I'm small fry, its out of season, and probably not worth the effort. But if this is the case, don't offer to sort everything out. This is a big deal, big expense for me, for gods sake it's going to be my house. So waiting the best part of a fortnight for the broker to liaise with the boatyard to sort out the best date for moving and a price to suit, does kinda grind.

Before I go any further I'll put this into context. 24ft of boat, moving 22miles, I've sorted the road transport, but I needed the yard where the boat is, to get a crane for demasting the boat and getting her on the lorry. That was the only thing I needed. I myself had sorted the crane at the destination boatyard, in about 10minutes. The cost at the destination boatyard to get her off the lorry and remasted came to £60.

I told him the dates the lorry could do, and he said OK he'd sort it out. So each day he called me gave me a cock and bull story of why he hadn't. Made funnier by the fact he lives half a mile from the boatyard and could easily pop over there any time.

So this morning, after getting a call from him claiming that "all dates wouldn't align, and that the price for the crane was going to be astronomical", I decided to take matters into my own hands. 

In 15minutes, the boatyard, crane, lorry, crane, boatyard from origin to destination were all aligned and the primers set. Upon calling the broker he was amazed that so much work could be done so quickly... I know the sailing type are meant to be layed back.... but he's bloody horizontal.

The new date is the 7th of January, a full 25 days after the originally intended date. This isn't a bad thing though, it means £50 less rent, it means I get a straight run at it, it means I can shop for items I need in the January Sales, it means I have the best part of a months more wages. But on the other hand it is a pain in the arse to have to wait.

But if anyone is free through January for an hour, an evening, a weekend, or a week, please give me a shout. Any help would be much appreciated, and as part of the deal a boat party in the summer!

The date set, costs confirmed, looks like the times will soon be a changing.

So it Falls into Place

The Golden Cloud 7/11/11

And so the future begins to fall into place. Although it is hard to organise 2 boatyards, a haulage company, and the broker, as everyone has different perogatives, insentives, and holiday's booked, I feel I'm begining to get there.

Today was an important day in the development of this story as today a date for moving my boat was decided. Friday the 30th December. So the plan is set, instead of coming back to the hotel on the 29th after my xmas holidays at home, I will carry on up to my boat. That evening I will prepare her for travel, de-rig her, de-mast her, and secure everything onboard. The next morning the boatyard will put her in the water on a crane, there she will stay for 2 hours to check the hull is watertight and sound. After that onto the lorry and the the ~70mile drive through the Welsh Mountains to my final destination.

The proximity, the closeness of this all makes it so exciting and yet so scary. Soon I will not be living a normal life, I'll be living out there, kept warm by a mere 15mm of plywood. 

Now dad, mum, my sister, my neighbours, god parents, friends, and relatives all can see this is something my heart is set on, and can see that this is the way I'm going, for now at least!

Now before I start this journey I need to secure some ground rules. Reading the book "The Moneyless Man" (a great motivation towards my new lifestyle choice), a key part in the authors success in becoming sustainable and successfully moneyless was ground rules. While in the film "Yes Man" the lead character at first can only successfully say yes to every opportunity in the believe that he had to due to a "covenant". The ground rules must reflect the key objectives of the project, and so must be carefully chosen. They must help me get to were I want to be, and get there happy and healthy. 

1) Every month's food bills cheaper than the last:

The main issue I'm up against is living costs. With my future rent at the yard at £14 p/w, my biggest regular cost is now food. Now as an avid fan of on TV and books based on sustainability and outdoors (such as River Cottage, episodes of Grand Designs, Ray Mears, Moneyless Man, Sustainability Bible, and Food For Free), I know there is no need for this to be the case. Nature has a plentyful bounty available for my nurishment, and I can think of no place where this is more true than in a river estuary by the sea, with woods, pasture, cliffs, rocks, sand dunes, salt marshes, and sand flats all in walking distance. Now the reasons I don't start the ball rolling by saying I want all my food to be free, are numerous. A) Its now the bleak mid-winter. The totally wrong time to start living off the land, there are few mushrooms, no fruits, few vegetables, and many of the summer fish stocks have left welsh shores. There simply isn't enough food about for a novice to go in head first. B) I'm a novice, yes I've read books, yes I've watched almost every episode of River Cottage, but I have few ideas where to start. C) I'm doing a masters at the moment. More than anything I am doing this so I can afford to finish my masters so I cannot give all the daylight hours to looking for food. As the days grow longer in the new year, more time will be available for finding food, I will have more knowledge of where to find it, and I will have more skills and equipment on how to catch and cook it.

2) Finish the Masters by 2013:

The whole point of doing this is so I can afford my masters, there is no point saving the money to finish but not actually completing it. 2013 however, does give me an extension on the expected hand in date of sept. 2012, yet I think I can do so much in this summer to improve me as a person the extra 4 months will be worth it.

3) Write a record everyday:

This project is something huge in my life. The stories, experiences, and adventures along the way will change the way I live in years to come. They'll also be something for the family at Christmas! So I need to make sure I don't forget it. I also think stopping for half an hour each day to think what I've done will help me see the good points, the advantages, and the improvements. Chances are in the long run i'll forget the bad stuff. Also a record of what works and what doesn't will help when I do something again. I'll write the record every day, and then every so often turn these entries into the blog. Fingers crossed it doesn't just go boring!

4) Any spare cash is spent on the Golden Cloud

Now this is the moment my parents get to reading the blog then call me saying are you being stupid!!!!

But there is method in the madness. The 'Cloud is the core of this journey I'm beginning, and so if I work on her, and improve her, I improve the journey. Now admittedly it won't be every penny of spare cash, it will be the cash with a spare grand to push me through any hard times. A major issue of my plan that many don't understand is "if you've got the cash to buy a boat, how can you not afford a house". But I'm playing a very delicate balance here at the moment. I earned the majority of my years budget working the summer, and so I'm trickle feeding the penny's across from these savings to pay for the years costs. Projections in conventional housing were not pretty. The move to the 'cloud  should save massively in the long run, its investing in the future.

5) Take any opportunity that presents itself.
The film Yes Man and the book Moneyless Man shows this perfectly, if an opportunity arrises, it may be hard work to help someone out when your tight on time, but in the long run, Karma will ensure the people help you back!


6) The Good Life, or Sustainable Man, not The Gypo, The Pikey, The Hermit, or The Loner
I need to make sure of the fine balance that I'm not turning into something that people frown upon. Yes I will be living in a caravan of sorts, and yes It will not be a permenant home. But I want to do this in a way where I'm still happy, and I'm still happy of peoples view of me. Theft is not an option! So no stealing steal gates to sell to the scrappy. I want/need people to look at me and say WOW thats awesome, he lives sustainably and off the land and he's still respectable, I want to live like that. Not PIKEY!!, GYPO GYPO GYPO (for one i'm not Stephen Hunt!)


7) Sustainable route where possible
As said a main aim is Sustainability. Now this will not always be possible, I can't varnish the boat in cowpats, however hard I try. But choosing a varnish that has the lowest environmental impact and the longest lifespan is possible. It may cost 20% more initially, but in the long run I may save 50%, and the planet. Everything has to be looked at in the long term. A Xbox 360 would be great to keep me amused, but in the long term it will cost on electric, needs a 240v power supply, needs games. For the same money as the Xbox I could buy a Wind Turbine or Solar Panel and a load of fishing gear to replace the games, which will give me free electricity when I need it and fun/food from the fishing gear!


Now I know I've got a few Friends and Family reading this, so please do not hesitate to comment on the blog, you may have ideas of rules I should put in, or see flaws in my design. Any ideas are appreciated.


Joe