26/05/2011

I am sorry that there wasn’t a blog for you to read yesterday, but I started to type the one below and then I had a breakdown on one of our hire boats at about 5.15pm which I had to attend. I tried to type one from my phone last night, but the signal kept dropping out – so I do apologise. Technology hey?

Anyway, yesterday was my birthday. I still feel like I’m 21, although I have started to think twice before hopping down onto the cabin top when I’m boating and how close the boat has to be in to the side before I step off. Go back six or more years and I would have taken a flying leap on to the counter as the motor was leaving the lock after pulling the top gate shut. In hind site it is amazing that I never hurt myself, but I didn’t ever think twice about doing it. I do now though, and one occasion last year the boat went off on her own due to the fact that I hesitated about taking a long stride as the boat was leaving the lock and decided that I couldn’t step that far! It was then a matter of sods law – she went up the outside of the pound and I had to scramble through brambles and nettles to get to her!!! So, I am not ageing, I’m just getting wiser! I had a great day at work and an enjoyable evening followed. I’m going to Birmingham on Saturday night to celebrate in style with some friends…

Yesterday morning started early for me. I took Annie out for a walk across the field at Norbury and then ensured that everything was removed from the dock floor, lowered the paddle and lifted the top plank. The dock takes about 40 minutes therefore when Fred turned up the boat would be floating and ready to be taken out.

After getting to work and opening up, Graham and Fred went down and lifted the remainder of the planks out and brought the boat off the dock. Fred was then called to pumpout duties on the wharf so Graham and I docked Python and Silver Haze. The former is on for her skeg to be straighten; as we couldn’t get it to sit correctly in the water, and the latter is on for some more major work. She was over plated by another yard a few years ago and hasn’t really moved very far since. Whilst on route to us the engine kept over heating which is a good sign that the head gasket needed replacing. Graham removed the head, we had it skimmed, pressure tested and put it back together. Although vastly improved she did creep up towards boiling point again. So once on the dock we discovered that the over plating ran across the skin tank, hence there was an air gap between the outside of the tank and the canal which should cool the water. So Graham has been kept busy with removing the over plating across the skin tank which will solve her problem.

We had a steel delivery yesterday. Graham is going to be fitting a new cabin to a boat that previously had a wooden top, so you will no doubt hear quite a bit about that over the next couple of weeks. Fred has got rid of all the rubbish that has built up whilst he was on holiday and we have got all the scrap together which now just needs to be taken to the scrap yard. Bernard did a service on a private and was checking the hire boats over that we have in and Lee has been painting Falcon.

Today has been quite busy too, although it has rained most of the day and we even had hail at one point. The wind is building up again now, the weather forecast is for thunderstorms during the night, so Jay is stacking the chairs as I write.

We have all been busy again today. Ralph and I have had a mass move round of boats, which always seemed to be at the times the rain came. I have been soaked to the skin most of the day… Fred and Graham have been in the depths of the dry dock whilst Ange and Jay have been manning the shop and tearoom. Lorraine has gone through the boats that are in and cleaned them, ready for their depature over the weekend.

The shared boats are filtering back in now, ready to be turned around tomorrow and their new crews arriving to experience another week aboard their floating homes.

Our new dryer has arrived and it will be installed tomorrow – just intime for the weekend.

That’s it for today, I’m off over to Weston-on-Trent to pick some friends up who have moved a boat and then I will run them home.

Have a good evening,
Until tomorrow.

Regards,

David