SNOW!

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Yes, we awoke to find ourselves surrounded by snow approx 5cm deep.

The weather man has been threatening us with snow for days and it has finally materialized. It was quite funny going to work this morning with the snow crunching under foot, something I have not done for longer than I care to remember.

Last night was another first. We met up with the first of our many narrowboat contacts who we have contacted since this adventure began. It was Les from n/b Valerie who we had exchanged e-mails with before we left NZ.
He is heading North up the Grand Union as stoppages allow with a final destination of Wales and the Llangollen canal. Nice to meet you Les, no doubt we will cross paths again at some stage.

This photo was taken about 9.30am after it was light.

This was taken at first light looking down the roof as Derek was leaving for work.

Back to work

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After such a hectic week in the dry dock it was a week-end to chill out and recuperate which we did very easily. There is still not much movement on the cut at present but there are stoppages not far from here.
Monday morning and we were contemplating what our activities might be for the day when the phone rang for Derek. It was the agency with a weeks work for him so that put paid to our plans and it was all go to get him out of the boat and up to the bus stop A.S.A.P.
He came home reporting another cruisy day, easy money. As for me it was a day of domestic chores and a bit of shopping.

The two photos bring back memories of home. The two signs were on a narrowboat in the Apsley Marina. Real Estate UK style, Real Estate with a difference. http://www.flaggs.co.uk/

Back on the cut

6 Locks and 3½ miles

As soon as the boatyard staff arrived this morning it was all on. One of the staff was sent to the lock up stream from us to let water down as the pound was low and we were still stuck fast in the dock. After about 10 minutes we felt a surge of water enter the dock and we were afloat. We were then hauled out into the main stream of the canal and moored on the opposite bank because I had not had time to check the boatyards account. After some discussion with management a settlement figure was agreed upon and we set off for Apsley where we are now moored about 2 boats lengths from where we were previously.
The trip down was cold and windy and except for one tree that had been blown down in the storm on Thursday blocking half the canal the trip was uneventful. Once moored at Apsley it was a trip to the marina to use the laundry ( too much to do on the boat) and a visit to Sainsbury’s for some depleted essentials. We had a personal mail delivery from Tracey in the afternoon before she returned to Wimbledon this evening.

All done and dusted

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Due to our webmaster sorting out a problem on our web site our computer was otherwise engaged last night and I was unable to do a blog.

However the work on “Gypsy Rover” has now been completed and we are now afloat again waiting to be let out of the dock back on to the cut.
All the blue on the top of the hull has now been given 2 coats of paint and the stern now sports shiny new red and cream markings.

After leaving it as long as possible for the paint to harden I re-fitted the bow and stern fenders. Luckily I had some spare chain and ‘U’ bolts (shackles) on board as the new bow fender did not have long enough chains so I had to modify them to fit.

Yesterday Britain had its worst storm in 17 years and 10 people died due to falling trees and debris from buildings being torn apart by the wind. Electricity was cut off in many areas and as of tonight there are still thousands of homes cut off. Power companies have even bought engineers from France to help restore power. We were lucky in that we must have been on the cusp of the storm as we had heavy rain and high winds but suffered no damage in this area.
Today British Waterways have posted a long list of closures all over the country mainly due to fallen trees and will be working hard over the next week clearing these obstructions.

Day 5.

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With only 2 days left in the dock its full steam ahead to get the painting finished. We have been told that we are to be re-floated Friday afternoon so this might cut our time back by half a day and we will be back on the canal by about 9am Saturday.
All the undercoating is finished so all there is left is 2 coats of top coat but this is where we may have problems. Due to the cold moist air the paint is very slow hardening so I just hope that we have enough time. We did a trial tonight on the gas locker lid to give it a non slip surface. We masked out a pattern on the lid with masking tape and then painted each section separately with topcoat and sprinkled kiln dried fine sand over it. After a short while we then removed the tape. This will be left to dry overnight and in the morning any excess sand will be brushed off and a second coat of paint applied. Watch this space!

All measured up.

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The hood maker arrived as arranged and bought his samples for us to choose from. What we have chosen is a new material that is burgundy in colour and has a grey lining on the inside. Hopefully the covers will look very nice. He took paper patterns to work from and hopes to have them finished in 2 to 3 weeks.
In the mean time there is no time for me to be standing idly by so it was business as usual. Grinding off the last of the rusty marks above the gunnels and finally cleaning the new back doors and getting a coat of red oxide primer on them. In between times I have now applied the second coat of blacking all the way around the boat and have some left over so area’s such as the bow and stern will get a third coat. The welder has now fitted 2 flat anodes amidships which should help to reduce future corrosion and has pulled the rudder apart as it was not mounted properly. At slow speed the tiller arm was OK but at higher revs on the engine the tiller became quite hard to hold with severe vibrations. Basically the rudder was hanging by the top bearing as the bottom mounting on the skeg was worn and sloppy. A new mounting with a brass insert is to be fitted which will solve the problem. Anyone recognise this scruffy fellow? The other photo just shows one of the new anodes amidships (the silver thing on the side)

Nearly there.

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While we are in dry dock we are on landline power for which we have to keep feeding the meter with tokens which cost a pound each. On Saturday I purchased 5 tokens thinking this would be sufficient but due to the heavy use of the grinder yesterday we used more than our daily quota. Also a cold overnight temperature necessitated the use of our electric heater first thing this morning which also consumed a fair bit of power. This means we have now used our last token and cannot get any more until tomorrow as they yard is closed on a Monday.
To ensure we don’t run out of power overnight I have stopped using the grinder until tomorrow although there is very little left to do. So it’s back to the paint brush and put the first coat on the port side.
If you read yesterdays blog you will recall my paint brush fell apart and I managed to repair it with a couple of cable ties. Well this held together for a while until one of the ties broke. Only one thing for it, put on a surgical glove, grasp brush head in my right hand and carry on. A bit messy but you don’t have to be too fussy with this stuff and it got the job done. Surprisingly my hand stayed relatively clean even though I was putting it in the tin of paint.
The first tin of paint did one coat all round and I managed to get a second coat on the bow section so another tin of paint will be ample.
I have now started to prime damaged paintwork above the rubbing rail so that I can make a concerted effort on the blue paintwork as soon as I have finished applying the second coat of blacking.
The Hoodmaker is calling tomorrow morning to measure up for both a cratch and stern cover which will give us a bit more covered space and keep the weather out as well.
No photo’s to accompany today’s blog as the photographer has been confined to bed. She has the same complaint as Sue on n/b No Problem.