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8'6 grp dinghy on davits w. Mariner 3.3hp, 4m inflatable tender w. 20hp Yamaha & 3.5 hp Tomos. CQR anchor main, chain rode & Lowfrans winch on bow, Danforth anchor at stern. Teak capped rails all round on polished stainless stanchions. Inside, 6 berths in 3 heated cabins (Eberspacher recirculating ducted), intercom via ship to shore VHF to main and forward cabin, CD stereo radio to main and forward cabin. Pump-out manual or shore-based.

Storyline - we bought Ocean Adventurer (the name is a pun on the model plus the English version of our previous dutch steel boat's name Wandelaar) from Richardson's of Stalham in a very decrepit state 5 years ago before we moved down to Sandhurst from Huntingdon. The reason was we had negotiated a mooring on the river Wey very cheaply from a friend who was at that time the river foreman and who had a trot of private moorings. We knew our deep draft dutch steel ex. North Sea fishing boat would never get up the Wey and sold her on to buy the Ocean..

Putting pics in order, first pic shows her after painting sitting in the Stalham Marina awaiting the trimmer to measure and make a new hood. Note no mast, lights, stanchions or pulpit or davits, old hood is brown. Then after move to Weybridge with new hood, lights fitted, followed by Papercourt lock, all the stanchions, rails, pulpit and davits with dinghy fitted. Daughter was 8 there. Various pics of cruising on the Wey with daughter's friend being taught to helm, and my wife in unboaty gear.

We also have an inflatable 4m tender as when we are 6 or 7 aboard on Thames cruises we can't all fit in the small dinghy. This is rigged to be towed on a bridle. It has a Yamaha 20hp bought for £165 on Ebay and which I've restored at a cost of the same amount (mostly paint). Pics show before and after of the inflatable tender engine, plus one of it in use off Barmouth, North Wales when we took the lot with us camping.

Our present cruising grounds are mostly River Wey for quiet weekends, we seldom moor up, moslty anchoring fore & aft somewhere quiet. It's a bit tight for us, as our beam and especially our air draft of 7ft with everything folded flat are a bit restrictive. For holidays we cruise the Thames, operating from the tideway right up to Lechlade. We have a trailer for the inflatable, and use that for days out off-shore fishing off the south coast.

Ocean Adventurer has the usual ex-hire pump-out toilet, hot & cold water, cooker with oven & fridge. We have added an Eberspacher hot air heater, nav lights, mast, davits, dinghy, mirror polished stainless steel stanchions (made to measure) and capped with teak rails, pulpit rail (also made to measure) and davits also in mirror polished stainless and made to measure. We added the hood at the outset, and had a mirror polished stainless hood frame made to replace the crappy galvanised one she came with. We've fitted ship-to-shore, echo-sounder, and a couple of compasses. She is now SSR registered, number 137372.

Her engine is a Thorneycroft T108 4-cyl naturally aspirated diesel driving a shaft through a Thorneycroft oil operated gearbox. She has two battery banks and a dedicated alternator for each bank.

We have a 700w generator we take with us which drives a tv/dvd combi, plus SWMBO's rice cooker, food processor, mixer, steamer, toaster, sandwich toaster, and drives all my power tools when needed except the large skil saw, jet washer, and compressor (used to blow out water lines for winterising) for which we bring down a larger 2.8kvs compressor. Wiring is 240v hook up, plus 12 volt sockets for pc, phone charging, deck wash pump etc.

She has just had a re-paint after 5 years, the hull was originally done with Dulux Weathershield, the topsides with much more expensive Bradite 2-pack epoxy polyurethane because of the wear factors. The Dulux has neither yellowed nor failed in the five years (so much for the pundits who turn their noses up at house paint on boat hulls), and has had just a wash and a refresher coat of Weathershield only although I have filled and sanded and touched up with undercoat first all the gouges from her previous life which I just painted over when we bought her. The hull now looks as good as new, well, almost!