Has the thaw begun?

The thaws begun, its even been raining today, but how long for? The forecast is for another freeze tonight. There's still plenty of snow about and thick ice on the canal.

One of our hire boats has set out on an adventure today, although they have only moved a hundred yards out of the basin and onto the visitor moorings in the hope that the ice will thin over the next 24 hours. Lets hope that they get to enjoy their winter break!

Other boats in the vicinity have started moving too, to top up with water, gas, diesel and coal and to empty their elsans and pump out tanks. That's keeping Fred occupied, although I did wish I had the camera earlier when I caught him sat inside a water tank on one of the shared owned boats. It hasn't got to the stage where he has to hide from me, he was actually busy painting it!

The engine in Silhoutte that Bernard has been fitting is nearly complete, Mick is just wiring it up and then we can hopefully run it tomorrow. She's then going into the wet dock for her painting work to be completed.

Paul's been fitting a gate valve in line between the diesel filler cap and the tank on one of our customers boats. The idea is that it will act as an anti theft device as access to the tank can only be gained when the valve is open. We've fitted a lot of these caps to boats that are kept in rural locations or are left unattended for long periods over the last 18 months. They've varied in design from the lockable filler caps kept on the shelf to a simple hinged arm that passes over the top of the cap and simply locks with a padlock.

Amanda's busy taking stock of everything we have got in the chandlery, making sure it's all in order and priced whilst Jay's busily painting.

The blog is looking a bit boring without any pictures so here's one of the last pictures that I took with the camera. That's Sue on Thea breaking the ice and passing under bridge 38 and entering the basin at Norbury last Sunday on her way back from the Anchor at High Offley.

Best regards,

David