I wanted to buy a boat ready to go, not a project, as the point was to explore the network, to wander around England with a luxury home. So … year 2 and its now late June and i have not gone anywhere yet.
Delays started as the engineer doing the service runs on river time and then once he did come discovered that the cooling system did have a leak and it had damaged the starter motor. At least i know why i was having odd starting issues last year. As you can imagine this took a while to get fixed.
As it was not possible to go away i thought i would deal with the rust patches on the roof and the old solar panel that was so opaque and rusty round the edges it had to go. There was also the matter of the covers which are well overdue for replacement. An opportunity for me try out the form of boating that involves pottering on your boat.
Its been a tricky month to paint, first of all it was so on and off with rain and then crazy hot, my thermometer threw an error message at 50° C measuring the temperature on the decking today (25th June). So here are we are the end of June:
- engine has been serviced.
- new starter motor fitted.
- new solar panel installed.
- roof has been treated, 3-4 coats of red oxide and 2 coats of deck paint, much safer when getting back onto the boat in a lock!
- non-slip patches on the front deck removed, treated, red oxide applied x3 and deck paint x2.
- well deck floor: treated, red oxide applied x3 and deck paint x2.
- water tank cleaned.
- new water filter fitted (tomorrow fingers crossed). A mission nothing like the simple process of unscrew the old and fit the new as advertised!
- new covers made for both the stern and bow with the enhancement of zippable sections which makes it so much easier to open them. my first attempt at cover making and i am very pleased with myself. Even more pleased with old school sewing machine which was more than up to the job!
- Sealing around the windows inside and out has been done to stop the leaks.
- knobs fitted to the windows so they can be opened from the inside, no longer will i have to go outside and force them open with my knee.
Check her out
I am really pleased the work has gone so well and the boat looks so much better for the spruce up. The covers are a joy to use which makes life better but i am frustrated and sad that i have lost a whole month of cruising. I had planned a 7 week trip without any commitments and now that is only going to be 3 weeks.
It’s all good clarity about whether I want to own a narrow boat. Really hoping the next update will be from somewhere other than Teddington!