High winds and rain!

Here is a view from the Chandlery door this morning, looking across to the Junction Inn.


It certainly was very windy in the night. I came to work this morning to find the majority of the chairs from outside the tea room and all of our advertising signs blown across the wharf, with some of them in the canal! Good job that the chairs float or we would have to send a diver into find them.

The water pipe that we were waiting for to rectify the problem with Yelvertoft's engine finally came today. Our suppliers inadvertently sent it by standard mail rather than with a courier, meaning that it took two days for it to reach us. Someone had an ear bending this morning - I can tell you! Bernard's fitted it and she's all up and running once again!

Lee's nearly finished doing the prep work required on Strait and Narrow. So he'll be washing her down by close of business today and the painting will commence tomorrow. Priming first, then undercoating, building up to the top coats - I'll keep you posted, but in the meantime here is a picture of her.


I've received the deposit today for both Shongalolo and Maggie Bloggs, so they are now officially UNDER OFFER and I am hoping that I will have the deposit for the third boat by the morning. That's a good weeks work I think, along with the day-to-day running of the yard.

It's time to "batten down the hatches" and sit through another evening of high wind and rain. That's England for you!

David

Security...

Sorry I didn't blog yesterday! Unfortunately I didn't have time too.

Yesterday AM saw me putting my overalls on and diving into the engine compartment on Yelvertoft. That's a rare sight these days, as I'm usually busy in the office or talking to customer's. But due to running on minimum staff this week, it was down to me... I quite enjoy "getting my hands dirty" (on occasions)!

Yelvertoft is one of the shared ownership boats that we operate. The very nice couple that are currently aboard have travelled all the way from the States to have a week on board in England. I'm glad the suns out for them today following the bitter weather and rain that we have been experiencing! Her Nanni engine was losing it's coolant water, so after a few minutes I identified the problem and then spent the next hour removing the alternator and other pipework and wiring that always gets in the way to remove the source of the problem. That's always the problem with boats, nothing is easy to 'get at'. The problem turned out to be the water pipe between the bottom of the heat exchanger and the water pump had perished. I promptly ordered a new one, which should be with us later today and Bernard can then fit it and get the boat underway once again.

Following this it was time to tighten up security around the yard. We had some coal pinched out of our compound on Monday night. That's the first time we have ever had a problem. It seems more apparent that items and fuels (in particular) are going missing from boats and canal side properties. A good customer of ours, is dropping his lovely boat off to us within the next week to have a locking diesel filler cap fitted. He has had his tank drained twice in the last few months. Although he moors in a rural spot, it's unbelievable that people will steal off boats, or even steal at all! A lot has been written about diesel thefts on narrowboatworld. That's a good site to keep up-to-date with canal news.

We also had a boat hauled up the slipway yesterday. It was a boat that BW had put a Section 8 on a few months back and was now being retrieved. It went off to Belvide Reservoir near Stretton for storage, while it's future is decided.

So, with having spent the day out on the yard yesterday, I'm bogged down with paperwork, phone calls and ordering today! That's nowhere near as interesting for you to read about.

The rest of the staff are busy around the yard. Steve's getting the trimming finished off in Ember which will allow us to get all the woodwork sanded down and a second coat of varnish applied. Upon completion she will be entered into our hire fleet. Whilst talking about the hire fleet. We have decided to freeze prices for 2011. This means that all holidays for 2011 will be at the same cost as 2010. So we have not only not increased our prices, but we are going to absorb the 2.5% VAT increase that is due in January. That's a bargain! We are also doing lots of last minute deals at the moment - for details please email us bookings@norburyhire.co.uk.

Bernard's busy fitting anodes and a new rudder cup on the boat that is in the dry dock whilst Fred's blacking the bottom of it. Lee's still prepping Straight and Narrow.

David

Wet, cold and windy

Yesterday was reasonably uneventful, but didn't it drop cold last night? I went down to Tamworth with Sue Cawson for a roast dinner with some friends (thanks Malcolm), by the time we left to drive back to Norbury the wind had got up which brought in a lot of rain during the night and more leaves off the trees. I've never seen so many leaves on the cut - it's playing havoc with the back pump in the dry dock. It's still drizzling now but it's bitterly cold. Blanche; that's the lady who delivers our newspapers to us all year round, said that there was sleet early this morning and one of the roads up near Buxton is closed due to snow! Looks like winters here for sure - best order some more coal as it's selling quickly at the moment.

I took an offer on another boat we have for sale yesterday, so I am now waiting for deposits for three boats. Hopefully these will arrive in the next few days. I've advertised the new boat that arrived at the weekend, she's called Eliza and you can find details here.

Ron and Brenda arrived back with the boat that Simon took them to fetch from Saul Junction on the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal last week. They've had a couple of good days boating since they came off the river at Worcester, due to it being in flood. They tied at Stoke Prior on Friday night. Saturday saw them tied in Birmingham City Centre and they had an excellent day yesterday, after leaving Brum at 5.30am and tying up here in the basin at 4.30pm. This one's called No Frontiers and will be advertised for sale later this week. Another boat that certainly is well worth a look at. 70 foot long, recently painted and full of equipment to make it an ideal live aboard or luxury holiday narrow boat.

Here's a couple of pictures of their trip.

Debris in the river following a spring tide.

If you look closely you can see the speed at which the water is moving and how high up the banks the water is.

Jack keeping a watchful eye down 'ampton.

I know the dates are wrong on the pics, sorry!

Docking today - as I explained yesterday. So Mick and Dean are out swapping the boats over. It's not fun doing it when it's this cold, handling wet ropes, pushing and pulling on cold handrails. That's the benefit of a lot of the old carrying boats. They were fitted with wooden handrails and were no where near as cold to the touch as the steel ones. I suppose it's progress though?? Once the boats in the dry, Dean will be busy with the pressure washer cleaning the boat off and the dock out. We keep the dock clean, the reason being that if silt and leaves build up, the dock stays damp and the paint won't dry.

Sue's off to Ellesmere Port today, to help get plans together for the gathering of working boats there at Easter. It's an annual event and well worth a visit, as is the museum. After the gathering a trip is being organised to lock out onto the Manchester Ship Canal, then out onto and across the Mersey to Liverpool. A trip I would love to do, so I better get some holiday booked!

A new moorer has arrived this morning, so when we have finished shuffling boats about, we will move her onto her mooring on the mainline of the canal. We have a few moorings left; both on the mainline and down the arm, so if you need a mooring click here for full details.

We've got a motorhome going out on hire today, still waiting for it to arrive back from the garage following a service and the cam belt being changed. I hope it's back for 3pm, ready for the customers...

Have a good day!

David

Good news for our customers

Well, yesterday was very satisfying. I took an offer on one of our brokerage boats, which was accepted and we are looking to complete within the next couple of weeks. We also had another boat come in to be sold. It's like new and well worth a look at if you are looking for a 40ft boat. It will show HERE later today. The day boat came back on time and with the customers having had an excellent day which was complimented by the weather. The two boats that were going out on hire, were turned around and have gone out exploring with their residents for this week aboard. And finally, all the engineering work is up to date. Good news for our customers too, as diesel also came down two pence a litre yesterday, now making it just 59.9ppl.

I went upto the Anchor at High Offley again last night for "Dave the duck's" birthday party. A smashing evening was had amongst friends with entertainment being provided by us musicians. I'm glad Olive had both fires burning as it dropped very cold. When I got in the car to come to work this morning I had to defrost the windscreen although the exterior thermometer was registering 2°C.

Mick has nearly finished installing the replacement engine in Hope and it should be up and running later this morning. There's just the painting off the cabin top left to do then as we had to take part of it off to get the engine out and the new one in. That should be done towards the end of this week.

Sunday's are enjoyable days at Norbury, and I must say it's my favourite day of my working week. The mornings are peaceful, which mean that I can get on and catch up with some work on the computer. We usually dock a boat and that's being pressure washed by mid morning. By lunchtime the tea room and the shop get busy with people from the surrounding towns having tea and cake or a sit down meal after a leisurely stroll along the canal. Then we have our regular customers! They come onto the wharf to fill their boats with diesel, stock up with coal and gas, fill their water tanks, have a pumpout and talk about their 'wish lists' for work they would like doing on their floating homes.

This morning is slightly different as we are not docking today. Straight and Narrow; that's the boat that has gone in for painting, went onto the dry dock last Sunday for blacking, but we were waiting until Wednesday for replacement parts for it's stern gear, that meant that we couldn't undock it and dock No Problem until Thursday - that put us a day behind! So No Problem will be floated off the dock in the morning and then we have got one of the boats that we have recently sold going on to be blacked.

I'm sorry that there are no pictures today, I'll try to upload some later.

Have a good day!

David.

Sunny Saturday

Following a wet and windy afternoon and evening yesterday, this morning has turned out to be beautiful. Ducks quacking, the smell of coal burning and the sound of a blow lamp roaring! Minnow's off this morning, heading up 'ampton locks and round the BCN. 'Ampton is the boatman's name for Wolverhampton and the flight of twenty one locks there whilst BCN stands for the Birmingham Canal Navigations.

Here's a picture off Blossom, just after he'd kicked off with his lovely assistant Dawn on the gunnel!


The engine in Minnow is a 9hp (Pup) Bolinder - more about these another day!

And here's a picture of them heading off towards Gnosall, into the bright sunshine.



The other boats visiting for our Open Day last weekend headed off yesterday afternoon and I would imagine that they are now nearing the top of 'ampton already. They tied at Brewood last night and I went and fetched them by car and trundled off to the Red Lion at Great Chatwell for their firework and bonfire party. Simon and Amanda came over to join us too and a good night was had by all.

One of the day boats went out at 9 this morning with a happy crew aboard and we've got two boats out this afternoon. The engineers and cleaner are busy getting them ready for the next customers, who will arrive about 3pm. We reduce our hire prices right down for the winter and do publicise massive late minute discounts. Details of our hire boats can be found at www.norburyhire.co.uk.

There's a lot of activity in both of our docks too. The boat that is currently in our Wet dock, that Simon told you about a couple of days ago is being prepared prior to being painted and Paul's removing several of the cabin fittings so that the paint can be applied underneath them. These will be replaced once the paintwork has been completed. I'll post some pictures tomorrow...

Fred's busy down in the dry dock. He has just painted the counter bands on No Problem and has just started to apply the second coat of International Intertuff. This is a bitumen based product that we highly recommend. Each boat docked is pressure washed with a 3000psi steam cleaner and left for 24 hours to dry. Three coats of the blacking of the customers choice is then applied with adequate drying time in between coats. I must say that Fred does do a thorough job and he prides himself in taking the time to look after each boat that we have on the dock.

Here's a picture of him hard at work! You can also see that the large rubber fender is back in place and a set of anodes have been fitted.



Bernard's also busy in the engine bay of No Problem, checking the engine over and doing some jobs that Sue has asked us to do.

It's time to press 'Publish' and get back to work.

Until tomorrow ...

David

TFI Friday!

At last its Friday and a week away from work for me, yipee! last post from me for a week, i know i can here you all now saying thank god! well its Davids turn to let you know whats happening at Norbury for the week, Its been a mad house today, only 7 boats going out but it has seemed like 20! The last bit of the jig saw was sorted today, the roof that is, was put back on to 'Hope' after fitting the engine yesterday, mick can now fit the engine back up without getting wet, its like having a giant sunroof in a boat!



I have only just got home after towing a stranded boat back, poor Ed and Sarah off Weyflower broke down a couple of days ago, they popped in today so i lent them a day boat to tow there's back but they were struggling so much with the leaves, the dark and the rain that my self and Mick went and rescued them from Grub street, they are tied up safely on wharf now, so i apologise if i came past your boat earlier and rocked it about, it was for a good cause.

The boat en-route to us from Gloucester has made it as far as Worcester but has now left the river, they rang to say tht the river was far to swollen for them to carry on, the trees and debris coming down the river has put them off! Another boat has come in today to be sold, we have never had this many boat for sale before and looking around there does seem a lot for sale at the moment, half empty marinas and full brokerage sites, doesn't bode well for the waterways at the moment

Any way its my third anniversary with Amanda today, so off to the pub to celebrate and watch some fireworks.

Simon

A day of in and out

The day has been like a yo yo, down the dock first thing to undock a boat then dock 'No Problem' (opposite) it does have a problem though, its front rubber fender has come adrift and a pig of a job it is to re attach it at the bottom, so Sue if you read this please be careful in the locks in future! x then the undocked boat had to go over to the painting dock where it will live for the next four weeks while being painted, quick coffee then back down the dock with the Matbro and a Brand new Beta 'tug' engine to be fitted in to 'Hope' (below)
out with the old engine and in with the new one, its all down to a warranty issue with the engine so Beta are replacing it, as a Main agent we have the task of changing it, not my favourite job if im honest as an engine weighing nearly a ton swinging around above a freshly painted boat is quite nerv racking! Below is Mick (left) and David (right) with the old engine and the new one.















Last picture is the engine room devoid of its power plant

I am away next week, well not really going away, Just down to my boat to winterise it and look at a few boats for sale dotted around the country otherwise i would take some more pictures of the other engine installation that we are doing at the moment, i will mention it to David but i suspect he will be to busy to remember.

Simon