Remember we're doing all of this so we can go full time cruising as a sailing family in a few years time.
This is obviously a huge refit and refurbishment of this big, old, abandoned steel yacht and it's not only time consuming, it's complicated and quite...
IT'S BAD!! We removed our keel and what we found could result in the end of Project Melody. Melody has a lifting swing keel which goes up inside a box inside the long keel so it is super important to remove that and inspect everything and repair everythi...
Well our boat will definitely sink now!!
In this episode we start tackling some of the bad areas along the bottom of the keel where the side plates of the keel meet the keel base under the engine and prop shaft.
We talk to Ian Poole from SV Blown Away an...
In this epsiode we FINALLY have our boat blasted below the waterline to remove the old paint and rust and we pain her bottom sides using JOTUN two pack epoxy.
Melissa continues to work alone, doing a job which really should have been tackled by a whole t...
Just a Girl tackling a steel boat project to get her ready for our family to move aboard and sail round the world. In this week's episode Melissa insulates the pilot house and gets into to awkward spaces to paint an area of the bilge while Andy is hard a...
We're just a normal family working together to restore this rusty old sailing boat so we can fulfil our dream of moving aboard and sailing around the world. In this week's episode we get Jack as involved as we can building some temporary steps down to wha...
Can this old rusty, battered steel yacht be fixed?
This it's a regular episode, just a reminder of how far we've come.
This is Melody as we found her, battered, bruised, rusty and rotten.
And now look at how far we've come and what we've achieved!.
Keep w...
Welcome to episode 39 of Sailing Melody Season 2
Massive progress this week as we more or less totally rebuild the cockpit combings creating a much better mounting point for the winches and also much better headroom in the aft end of the boat.
Two soli...
Melissa gets stuck into the prepping and painting the the side of the coach roof.
Jack and Andy Battle the elements to try and get some work done. We also have an amazing gift from one of our followers.
Remember we're doing all of this so we can go ful...
Andy and Melissa, Prep the coach roof ready for painting as we try and restore our boat on a shoestring.
Melissa gets her birthday wish of getting some paint on the coach roof.
Remember we're doing all of this so we can go full time cruising as a sailin...
Andy fills all the holes left by the old wind and depth instruments as we continue to chip away at our restoration of this 40 year old steel sailing yacht.
We will be putting the new instruments in a pod on the steering binnacle with repeaters in the pilo...
We are just an amateur family trying our best to fix up this old rusty sailboat, sometimes things go well and sometimes they don't, and sometimes even progress feels deflating.
This week we get the cockpit sealed, mostly, and stop the water coming in, most...
This week Andy finally opens the keel box to take a look at the condition of the lifting keel. He welds a patch in the pilothouse roof, Melissa arrives to help get it painted and re fit the hatches!
We hope you find the high speed painting as satisfying ...
Welcome to this BONUS Episode of Sailing Melody
In this special feature Andy takes part in the historic and famous ROUND THE ISLAND RACE, around the Isle of Whight in the Solent, probably the most famous sailing ground in the world.
As part of the crew o...
This week Andy starts stripping our mast down and removing the rigging for inspection and Melissa starts tackling the pilot house hatches. Lots of help from jack and a flying boat!!
We also have a fantastic chat about rigging with the lovely Herby and Ma...
This week we tackle servicing the FORD engine in our boat.
Our good friend Chris is here to help go over the engine thoroughly and help get it running sweetly.
But does it all go to plan?
Do we manage to do the complete service and what else will be left t...
The mast has come down!!! After 40 years standing proud and tall the mast came down today for a complete refit and to facilitate further repairs to the coachroof and chain plates.
We also welcome back our good friend Tim, who is a marine engineer and ex...
FIRE!!!! FRUSTRATION!!!
This was a hard week! We had a lot on our plates and the work on the boat was challenging to say the least so there was a bit of friction in the air as we tackled the front of the cockpit seats and struggled to trim and fit the pane...
Is Melody our cheap dream yacht or just a rusty Nightmare?
The rusty steel is in a much worse condition than we thought in the cockpit this week as we continue to cut out and replace ever more steel from the aft end of Melody.
We're starting to work on r...
More Bad weather forces Melissa and Jack indoors this week so progress is made on stripping out the remainder of the cork insulation from the inside off the pilothouse and getting some lovely new epoxy paint up. Meanwhile, Andy sits around playing guitar ...
Terrible News.
Zebu has sadly been declared a Wreck and has been removed from the breakwater in pieces after a devastating storm caused further catastrophic damage over the last few days.
Thanks as always to our AMAZING supporters on Patreon for your inc...
The cockpit conundrum continues to confuse and befuddle as we move on with the build, this time tackling the aft seats. turns out the Port side seat is a fair bit narrower than the Starboard which is actually a good thing as Jack's bedroom will be on the ...
An epic conundrum to baffle the brain and confuse the grey matter evolves as we tackle cutting out and replacing large sections of the cockpit floor/sole and seats for reconstruction.
This week's episode is split into two sections with the first coming ...
SPECIAL EPISODE
The 100ft Long Tall Ship Zebu has tragically run aground on the breakwater at Holyhead after breaking her moorings
A historical 100ft tall ship has become stuck on a breakwater in north Wales after drifting from its mooring.
The Zebu drift...
Something AWESOME is coming!
Be the FIRST to know⛵
Sign up for exclusive updates and be the first to hear when we go live!
Get sneak peeks, exciting announcement, and special content straight to your inbox!
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to optimize our website, personalize and measure the effectiveness of advertising and collect statistics on usage. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Technical or Functional cookies
Always active
Technical or functional cookies are essential for the basic functionality of the website. They are necessary for general web administration, session identification, website security, and presenting optimized content based on your devices. They also improve the general usability of the website, enabling features such as logging in to your account, adding products to your shopping cart, and checking out securely. These cookies are crucial for the website to function properly and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are typically set in response to actions made by you, such as setting privacy preferences, logging in, or filling in forms. While you can configure your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, please note that some parts of the site may not work properly if you do so. It’s important to mention that these cookies do not store any personally identifiable information directly related to your identity. We may place these cookies without your explicit consent as they are strictly necessary for providing our service.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics or Performance cookies
We utilize statistics cookies to optimize the website experience for our users and gain insights into its usage, such as the number of website visitors, unique visitors, visited pages, and traffic sources. These cookies enable us to measure and enhance site performance by identifying the most and least popular pages and tracking visitor movement. This data aids us in understanding and analyzing website performance for continuous improvement. All collected data is aggregated and therefore anonymous. Disabling these cookies hampers our ability to monitor site visits and performance effectively. We ask for your permission to place statistics cookies.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing, Advertising, and Tracking cookies
On this website, we use marketing, advertising, and tracking cookies to personalize the advertisements we show to you, ensuring they are meaningful and relevant. These cookies also allow us (and third parties) to gain insights into the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. This is achieved by creating a profile based on your click behavior and Browse activity both on and outside our Website. These cookies link you, as a website visitor, to a unique ID, for example, to ensure you do not see the same advertisement repeatedly. The information stored in these cookies may also be used by third-party ad providers to show you ads on other websites you visit. Because these cookies are used for tracking and marketing purposes, we ask for your explicit permission to place them.