Busy day so far

Well Thursday has got off to a busy start, you can tell its winter as the shared boats are coming back in early! David and I have been making room on the wharf for their Impending return.

Sue off No Problem has cast her ropes off and has now disappeared in to the distance to try her new prop and see if it stops her 'prop walk' I remain sceptical! She had a bit of a lie in this morning and scared the hell out of me when she appeared at the window in nothing but here Pyjamas!! poor Old Vic! Just kidding Sue xx

Empress is all pressure washed and cleaned off and as i promised yesterday here are some pictures of the old girl, Empress that is and not Sue!





















Empress is quite special as she is reputed to be the oldest surviving purpose built motor narrow boat in this country, she dates from 1887 and was originally a steamer for the former FMC (Fellows Morton Clayton The prop on this boat was 33 inches when she was in steam! that is one BIG prop. I rebuilt the boat over a few years between 1995 and 2000 the worked the boat for about three years before finally selling her to the current owner Jim Taylor who is doing a grand job of looking after her, and it is a pleasure to have her on the dock her at Norbury again.

I think we are becoming experts in the renovation of burnt out boats, here is the latest one to arrive and be lifted out of the water to have a full make over, this will be the third one that we have done in the last few years and is the second one this year, although this one is pretty bad and not only needs half a new cabin but will require two new sections of hull where it is badly buckled, Will keep you up to speed as and when things are taking shape, no rush with this one!













here is an old springer that we have started to plate, this one is about 20 years old and was only built of of thin steel in the first place so now it needs over plating, quite an easy job and should take about a week, well if the rain holds off, once completed it should last for another 20 years without any issues.














Mick is busy today, he has sorted out the leak on a shared boat and is now stuck in to the engine eclectics on another shared boat, Bernard is winterising Nebulae, Lee is still busy applying more paint to the one in the Wet dock, David, well David is doing what David does and i never quite know what that is most of the time but he does seem to get it done, what ever it is! and me well I'm typing a long blog today so i can stay in a nice warm office!!! Arr i have just remembered what David was doing, he has been rapping up a vintage engine that is being collected for delivery down to London, that reminds me we have another engine that has got to be palletised for delivery down to Southampton, i suppose i better go and sort that out.

Until tomorrow
Simon

Very late!!

Sorry about how late todays post is, I was working until late this evening and by the time I got home, had a shower and my supper it was getting on a bit.
What a vile and disgusting day it has been, sorry no photos,it has just been to foul to venture out to take any pictures, i did have to go out to help dock 'an old girl' (not my mom) sorry mom xx, To be exact it was Empress, now i will take some photos of that tomorrow as she is a very old ex FMC steamer, in fact she is reputed to be oldest surviving purpose built motor narrow boat in the country and she has a lovely underwater shape, so some photos tomorrow of her 1887 iron hull.

Talking about tomorrow, i will see you then.

Simon

good intentions!!

Well today started with good intentions! i thought seeing as it was a very cold morning, very hard frost and misty Norbury looked stunning so off i went armed with the camera to get some nice pictures to post on the blog, been a busy day so last thing this afternoon i downloaded the pictures and typical, no internet again! its been on and off all day and i could not get it to stay on last thing so i gave up, shut up the shop and left for home, so here i am typing this from the comfort of my place. As the sun started shining this morning and melting the early morning frost on the boats Norbury was a perfect picture, if i can get the internet to stay on tomorrow i will post some pictures then.

Its been a busy day as i have already said and we have even seen some boats on the move today, a few on the wharf filling with diesel and buying coal and one en-route to its new mooring at Over water marina at Audlem, now that is a superb marina if you havent yet seen it and according to sources is nearly full, if that is correct then that is good going as most marinas seem to have plenty of empty berths at the moment, people must be coming on to the Shroppie at the moment as our moorings seem to be nearly full up again as well although that situation can change at any time!

Fred has finished blacking the boat on the dock, while Paul welded a new set of anodes on to the hull, Bernard has been busy all day with engine services and then we saw one of our motor homes go out for a couple of weeks, its amazing that people are still hiring them at this time of year but both of them are out this week and are out for a few weeks, Paul was also getting boats ready to go out this week, again amazing that they are still being hired, not surprising really as they nearly all have solid fuel stoves on them making them ideal for this weather.

Ive been busy making the necessary arrangements for the craning and transport of another boat that is coming to us for sale, this one is a 45 footer and is coming from the Leeds and Liverpool canal, The word must be getting around that we seem to be the only brokerage that is selling boats at the moment, we must be either doing something right or we just have the right boats for sale!! you tell me?

Any way my dinner is nearly ready, so just enough time for a quick shower and then dinner so until tomorrow, and i promise to post some nice pictures even if i take them on my phone and up load them from home tomorrow.

Simon

Monday morning blues, or not ?

Well im back from a very nice weeks break, i didnt go abroard or anywhere really exciting but i did have a nice break, did some boating down on the Solent, Sat, Sun and Monday and the weather was superb and we had the South to our selves, virtually no other boats out so it was wonderfull, we returned to our mooring in Burlesdon on Monday afternoon, cleaned the boat off, winterised the engines and water system and got it ready for the winter,we had an excellent meal in the Jolly sailor on the evening(pictured opposite)and headed back home in torential rain on Tuesday! i then spent a couple of days in the garden at home, i know me in the garden lol and then Friday saw us down in deep South Wales looking at another boat!

the picture on the left was taken on the Solent over the weekend showing how calm it was and how sunny it was.

Back to work today, now usually after a week off there is all sorts of stuff to do and loads of catching up to do but today has been lovely, not to manic, no problems and everything seems in order!! hats off to David he has kept everything in order and i see he has kept the blog up to date, even if he did miss a day!

It started off really cold, -3 on route to work but then the sun was out nice and early and it has been a stunning winters day on the wharf, we have even seen some boats on the move and a few on the wharf, The shop is now taking shape after selling off all the fishing tackle and Amanda has been working hard to get it all cleaned up and everything in its new place, we now have a dedicated stand and area for all the stoves, chimneys and paraphernalia that goes with keeping you and your boat warm, sorry there are no pictures, you will have to pay us a visit and take a look for yourselves!! I will take some pictures next week of the mess we are just about to make as we are moving the chandlery, office and counter, redecorating and painting floors etc, its a big job and im sure it will take quite some time to complete but it will be worth the effort as it will give more space, both in the new office and in the chandlery. Mick and Paul have been cracking on with Ember and that is looking very good, i think it will prove to be a popular boat in the summer,Paul has winterised Sphynx and put that to bed for now while Lee has been applying more primer to the boat in the dock. David is now off for a couple of days for a well earned break, im sure he will still stick his nose in tomorrow.

Until tomorrow

Simon

Sunday and work continues

It's a peaceful morning in Norbury this morning and there's still a few signs from Halloween! The pumpkin on the stop plank store came floating by yesterday and a local boater fished it out so it can still be appreciated by passers by.


When I got in the Landy to come to work this morning, the windscreen was frozen over and the roads were a bit slippery here and there. The remainder of the frost from last night has now gone leaving it grey and cloudy over us, but work still continues!

The water board are trying to find a leak on the main. Apparently usage in Norbury Junction has gone up over 4,000 litres - that's a lot of water! So they have got all the grids up down the lane. Here they have even found a fire hydrant that we didn't know existed!


Lee's now at the stage of priming Strait and Narrow. Here she is with her first coat of primer on the cabin sides.


Mick has now finished installing the new engine in Hope...


and the cabin top has been painted, although it does need another coat before she is handed back to her owner!


Sunday's are docking days too! So here is Silhouette going on the dock, for pressure washing and blacking. She is the first shared boat in for Winter Maintenance.


So there's some pictures for you today, to make up for the few days last week that I didn't get around to uploading any, sorry!

Simon's back tomorrow, so he will probably be blogging during the coming week.

Speak soon. David.

Sunny Saturday

It's been a busy day here at Norbury today.

We had two day boats go out this morning, they've gone down towards Wheaton Aston and will hopefully be back for 4.30pm as they are going out again tomorrow. We've turned a hire boat round too and we have got people staying in our holiday cottage. The owners of one of the shared owned boats that is based here are also having there meeting today.

I'm glad that the wind has eased and the sun's been out, but it has started to turn chilly now. There hasn't been many boats passing through for the last few days. I guess that they decided it was easier to stay 'put' than being blown up the canal sideways!

The winds over the last 2/3 days have reminded me about going to the Port (that's Ellesmere Port) at Easter about three years ago. I (along with a couple of good friends) took Hyperion and Ethel. The wind was that strong between Chester and the Port that the majority of the boats ended up getting blown against the bank and had to be towed off. That's the benefit of having butty, and a good butty steerer at that - you can work together to keep the boats moving and in the centre of the channel. Here's a picture of me decending Bunbury staircase with the pair.



I've finally finished the advert for No Frontiers, that's the 69 foot boat that has just come in for Brokerage. I've just been totting up the invoices that were left on board. Over £25k has been spent on works and parts in the last five years! Click here to read all about it! But in the meantime here's a picture of her.


That's Fred proving that he does know how to steer a boat! He has took some training, but he's getting there... I've seen the white's of his eyes on a few occasions when we have been towing boats back to the yard! :-)

Yesterday afternoon I received the deposit for Long in the Tooth, meaning that she is now officially UNDER OFFER and off the open market. So that's Shongalolo, Maggie Bloggs and now Long in the Tooth all sold, subject to surveys.

David

12/11/2010

Friday's seem to come round so quickly. It's turnaround day once again.

We've got four shared owned boats turning round and one of the hire boats going out today. Here's the view of them all lined up this morning, ready and waiting for the engineers and cleaners.


I had a nice evening last night. After a couple of drinks (yes I know, it was a few more than that!) and a good laugh in the Royal Oak at Gnosall with some friends after work, it was then back to Lucy's boat for dinner but that was courtesy of Sue. It's good to have friends around at this time of the year, short days, long dark nights and all that! It's a shame that I haven't got a local within walking distance...

The road back to Norbury last night was covered in debris from the high winds. There were branches, twigs and leaves everywhere. We were just praying that a tree didn't fall down as it had done only a few days previous. A poor lady from the village was driving her car along the road when a tree came down right across her bonnet. Luckily she wasn't hurt but the car was a write off - what a shock that must have been! The winds have certainly been violent. A farmer friend of Simon's and mine had his brick built porch blown off his farmhouse during the night - reports Blanche who delivers our newspapers. It was a good job that we stacked the chairs and tables and all the signs in front of the shop last night, or they would have all blown away by this morning.

Ange is busy packing up the fishing tackle in the shop. We have sold it to a trade customer which will allow alot more space in our shop for our new stove and chimney display and to introduce some new stock - so watch this space. Once it's all built I'll post some pictures. Paul will be starting on it later today.

The boat on the dock has now had it's three coats of Intertuff, 6 anodes and a new rudder cup on the skeg, so the docks flooding as we speak ready to take Hope. Remember? That's the boat that we changed the engine in. We going to pop her in the dock so she can have a new coat of paint on the cabin top, where we disturbed the paintwork removing the access plate to get the engines in and out.

I need to catch up with some Brokerage paperwork and advertising today. Which; I'm sure, will keep me busy for most of the day. You can soon get distracted by ringing telephones and making sure everything runs smoothly on the yard.

Time to get started!

David