P1 and P2. fitting out etc. The joys of PBO (Practical Boat Owner / Poor Bloody Owner)

August 01, 2026

What have we been doing since I last wrote?

I haven't updated my public for a wee while because we have been 'busy'.

It hasn't felt like we have been retired at all. Since we got to Spain (21st July) We have not been living the life of the indolent retirees - more like being back at work.

As I have alluded to before, this phase of NEPTUNE has been a blend of 'winding up the old', stabilising the current', 'Preparing for OLYMPIC', and snagging out where we find ourselves.

There has bee a lot to go at, and we have been very much in the thick of it since we got here.

Broadly our separation of duties has stood - so Mrs D has focussed on the the run-off for our home in York - and my priority has been commissioning the barky (boat) so she is sea-worthy at least, tolerably comfortable - and commodious at best.

I will give a flavour of the issues (fun?) we have had over the last two weeks - but TBH, most of the tribulations warrant a post of their own. My worry is that in living it as we are, I will neglect the 'hot-debrief' edge from what has been going on and that you, dear reader, will be digesting things from a 7 day old fug of red wine and paella.

First out of the traps - it was evident with the life admin ashore and the commissioning work needed, getting 'away' for the first week of August was overly ambitious.

This, along with planning out the plethora of shite associated with getting our residencies and the blistering pace of Spanish bureaucracy (ha) meant that we needed to slip our 'departure' date from our booked moorings.

I booked until the 9th August.

Logic to this was that we needed to get our shit together for legal appointments, give plenty of time for ordered chandlery to land, some sea trials and (lets be honest) after 11am, it has been 38+ degrees in the marina, meaning we really needed to be aboard for our prep work from 0730 - meaning the prospect of spending a good working day afloat was limited to 3-4 hours. Throw in a bit of sleeve just in case and add a spot of pressure to get going and an extra week made sense.

By the way - working below during the day is like carrying out manual labour inside a Tupperware tub in a Sauna, accompanied by the heady whiff of a stale boat-loo. (A whole post on that) to come.

So by way of both anchoring (pun intended) my thoughts, and breaking the posts into discernible chunks - there will be some updates to come as followe:

Domestic Engineering: home and away? (Boat cleanliness, sorting York out and the errant Mice)

El Kafka: 'Manuel', 'The Computer says No', and Stamp collecting in Spanish police stations;

Deep Nautical Bollocks: flagstaff clamps, kedge-rodes, vinyl lettering, MMSI numbers, fenders, benders, benders-on-the-fenders and the beloved topic of all yachties: toilets-electric, pump-failures and holding tank backwash.

Next update will be in a few days, as trial sail is tomorrow (2nd)