- 5 C      80 miles

Yep, the temperature got down to -5 C last night. The first night we have been cold. With the oil filled radiators on you can get the cabin up to 12 C, that’s positively balmy, but you still need a coat and hat. Unfortunately heat rises so waist down it’s still quite cool! Last night we cooked meatballs in pasta sauce. Although there was a slight delay because the sauce was Mama’s homemade from the freezer, which had been left on the boat since Sunday afternoon. Come last night it was still frozen and the cooking oil had congealed, so both had to go onto the radiator to defrost. I suppose it wasn’t a surprise the marina was still frozen over this morning, still with the stones on it we had tried to break the ice with last night coming back from the pub. We will not be back to the boat for a few days because it is Christmas and we are heading to our families with central heating and running water. Merry Christmas. X

  -2 C      0 miles

The first night we stay aboard at Chertsey it snows, the second night the marina freezes over…….need I say more!

  0 C      80 miles

We drove down to the boat enjoying an interesting journey due to the snow. We had driven to my parents on Friday night and had the Saturday off, I know, it came to a shock to both of us. Si went off into Witney to get a new oil filled radiator. We currently have two: one isn’t too bad, the other is useless. We didn’t get to the boat till 4pm where we loaded our stuff on to the boat as we were going to be staying until Wednesday because the weather wasn’t looking great this week. We sorted out bits and bobs but eventually agreed to find our new local. The nearest is 1.5 miles, the pavements had iced over so extreme care was required. The pub was dead but had the friendliest bar man who we chatted to for some time. We had found a very traditional pub, with two raging fires, perfect. The walk back was rather cold and so was the inside of the boat, so it was straight to bed with a hot water bottle, fleece and hat.

  -1 C      80 miles

We awoke this morning after our first night on the boat to look outside at a white marina….snow! I remember having a conversation more than once, with both of us agreeing that we didn’t want to move onto the boat in winter. We’ve moved in, with no plumbing or heating, and it snows, you have to laugh…      

   2 C     80 miles

Si kept in daily contact with Tim by phone to check progress. During the week (every hour!) we had been watching a website that my father found, which tells you the status of the flow in the Thames, extremely useful. Slowly the reds (do not navigate) were disappearing; yellows (navigate with caution) were talking over and in some places white (no stream). We took another morning off work and travelled down from parents to Shepperton, the sky was blue but it was bloody cold. We climbed aboard and checked out Tim’s handy work. We now have a boiler in the cupboard, the electric cupboard in with the Inverter installed and the 12v switches and panels in place. Tim had been hard at work these last 3 days. We checked over the engine and warmed her up. Our part of the marina is really designed for cruisers so it was going to be tight getting our 60 foot, 20 ton monster out!

The lads from Shepperton guided us out of our mooring with ropes. Si was in total control with the occasional guidance from Tim as we backed out. Si did an impressive 3 point turn and slowly meandered the boat out of the marina onto the river. The river seemed calm, but we were aware this part of the river was on a white board, after the next lock we were moving on to yellow (decreasing). We ambled along with the three of us on the back deck chatting about boats, life etc. First we went under Walton Bridge, which for 6 years I used to drive over everyday to get to work. Had some one told me then, that I would be taking our own boat, which we would be building ourselves, underneath it, I’d never have believed them.We approached the first lock at Shepperton and Si slowly pulled in to the side, just as we were about to moor up when the lock keeper opened the gates. We were now at a 45 degree angle and rather awkward to the entrance so I went to the front and was ready to push off, but Si got us in without a scrape. Si jumped off to pay the lock keeper for a day pass while Tim and I threw our ropes over bollards. The lock keeper started letting the water in as the two of them went into his warm hut to sort out the paper work. The ropes were wet, the wind chill was freezing and now I couldn’t feel my hands at all, with wet gloves not helping. Si kept on smiling at me from the hut, I smiled back and thought you’re doing the next lock Mr! It felt like an age but Si eventually came out £48 lighter. The lock keeper opened the gates and off we went passing very nice waterside houses. We took it in turns to say “I’d have that one” or “I’d even take the shed”.

As we approached Chertsey the flow increased so we whacked up the throttle. Si was desperate for the toilet so Tim took the tiller and guided us underneath Chertsey Bridge and up to the next lock. Once moored up, Si went to see the lock keeper and the gates started to open. This time I was on the back deck with Tim holding the ropes with Si at the bow, fantastic I’ll still be able to feel my fingers in 5 minutes. We were now on the home straight, metaphorically speaking. In actual fact there were several bends with Si saying “I think the marina’s around the next bend….or maybe the one after that”. This continued for several miles. The wind chill was now well below freezing and due to our relative inactivity we we’re all shaking to some extent, all three of us were dreaming of hot drinks (not actually realising we could have boiled the kettle anytime off the batteries!!! That was why Tim had been with us the last 3 days!!!) Passing Laleham it felt like the boat was stationary, so Tim whacked up the revs again. This was turning into a really good test for the engine and this was another reason we wanted Tim aboard. Eventually we could see Penton Hook lock where we needed to bear left for the entrance to the marina. We had a discussion where the entrance actually was, with Si and I disagreeing. Si was going with what he could see, I was going with what I remembered from Google aerial maps. Si jumped on the roof to have a better look, seconds later we hit the weir stream or should I say it hit us and we were suddenly being pushed sideways at a very alarming rate. Tim slammed the throttle on full and pointed us into the weir. We just made it through the stream without being pinned onto the moored plastic cruisers. Tim looked at me and said “Well that was a bit hairy wasn’t it?” Si jumped off the roof and said that I was right about the entrance and I mentioned to him about the hairy moment, he replied “what hairy moment?” Tim cruised us through the marina very slowly until we found our new home mooring.

On tying up the boat we were greeted by Andy and Andy, who had come to measure our boat and ask us how it had gone. Afterwards we all had a much-deserved hot drink with Tim taking us through what he’d managed to do and how to operate it. We paid Tim, locked the boat and all climbed into the van to head back to Shepperton to collect Tim’s van and my car. It was only lunchtime but we were all shattered. We all said our Goodbye’s and Merry Christmas and Tim headed off towards the Midlands and we went back to work, well I did, Si went to his Christmas lunch in a pub. That evening would be our first night in our home, I picked Si up from the pub and we drove to the marina. It was celebration time, to mark the occasion we opened a bottle of champagne, nicely chilled (the boat is the same temperature as a fridge). Here’s to stage 4 complete! Cheers!

   5 C     80 miles

I had driven from my parents to drop Si off at the boat, he was taking leave this morning to finish off the cabinets and to greet Tim. I came aboard as he needed a hand to move the boiler cupboard from the bedroom to its resting place. The marina had suffered a severe frost and it was extremely slippery on the pontoon and gunnels. I left Si to get on with it and headed to work. Tim turned up at 10.03 and apologised for his lateness…3 minutes, now that’s what you call service. He got stuck in straight away making Si feel extremely guilty when he had a cup of tea or a cigarette or toilet break. Apparently Tim never stops and works really quickly, making Si feel quite overawed.

We have discussed before that had we been on Grand Designs, we would have worked harder because of feeling pressured by Kevin. Reality is, we are not on Grand Designs, and it has taken us 15 months to get to this stage. Si came back to work at lunchtime. The only downside of Tim being at the boat is that we are going to have to commute every day from Milton because Tim is using the boat as his residence for the next few days. Before leaving London we went via the boat to drop off the gate swipe card and a key for Tim. Tim already seemed to have done loads of work. We asked him if he could help us out this week to move the boat, for a small fee. Tim agreed to help us complete stage 4 of the journey, finally getting to Chertsey.

  7 C     80 miles

Nessie slept in her own bed, so probably had worked out that we don’t feed her biscuits at bedtime. I went to bed earlyish and left Si working, it was the deal that I’d get up earlier in the morning to varnish the ash panels for the electrics cupboard. I was pleasantly surprised with the bulkhead I had painted yesterday, in the day light it didn’t look patchy. The room was freezing so I fancied my chances with the fan heater. I managed 45 seconds before I heard the clunk….damn, tripped. I put on my Wellingtons to flick the trip switch, luckily there wasn’t a soul around to see my interesting fashion combination. I made a start varnishing, I had seen pencil writing on the wood and presumed Si required these for building the cupboard.

Si woke about an hour later and so did Nessie. Si took Ness for her morning walk around the marina, when back he said that the river had changed to a yellow decreasing sign. This perked my mood up but I was quickly brought down again when I asked Si about the pencil markings. They should have been sanded off before varnishing – damn! While he was out I had turned our bedroom into the varnishing room so that he could continue to cut wood in the lounge. Luckily the now fixed boiler cupboard just fitted through the corridor gap. I was about to start varnishing the cupboard and extra panels when I received a phone call from Becks, she was in the area and wanted to call in. I had to cheekily ask her to get a pint of milk when Si informed me if they wanted tea or coffee it might be a problem.

Becks and Andy arrived bearing gifts, sausage baps and a litre of milk! We gave them the guided tour, doesn’t take long but the explanation of what it should look like takes a little longer. I apologised for the curtain to our bedroom, it does make the place look quite seedy! We chatted for an hour before they disappeared back to their new, warm home. I started varnishing and pretty much stayed in this room for the majority of the day. In between waiting for the varnish to dry I painted another side panel in the Galley but it wasn’t long before I was back in the bedroom doing the 2^nd coat. Si stopped playing with cupboards and joined in as time was disappearing quickly. We had said to my folks we would be there at 19.30 for dinner, so it was a mad rush to finish. The 3 of us left at 17.30, Ness was ecstatic when we arrived at parents, possibly a little too much. We had an enjoyable dinner but unfortunately we are back on the road again tomorrow and my beautifully manicured nails are now covered in paint and varnish.

  8 C     0 miles

It was Nessie’s first night on the boat and in my concerned manner as I woke I said to Si “does Nessie look okay”, “yes” he replied. I said “how do you know you haven’t even rolled over to look?” he replied “I don’t need to, she’s been on the bed the whole night”. Now this could have been for several reasons but the one I’m going with is that my parents have a routine where upon just before bed, the dogs get up on the bed and all have 3 biscuits each. I believe Nessie had been waiting the whole night.

We got up and made a start on tandem sanding, I did the bulkheads to be able to paint and Si sanded the cupboard sides. I would be painting with the Dulux Paint Pod for the first time. We have had it since September because it was on offer, the Pod itself was around £40, the paint was £30…..work that one out. I spent a while with the instructions as I’d never come across a machine like this before. The first time I switched it on I was a little shocked by the noise, I now understand the advert: The lady watches a man in another apartment across the road painting his flat different colours until she likes the final colour. This is set up due to the fact that being in another block of flats, she would not hear the noise the thing makes. There are two distinct pitches, the suck noise and the supply noise. If you’re painting late at night or around sleeping children this may not be your best option. So off I started at 13.00, it took me a while to get the hang of it but as I gained experience I was starting to enjoy the process. The colour we had chosen was called ‘Timeless’, on the bottle it looked very cream, on the wall it was closer to brilliant white. The first coat was very patchy and a second would be needed. Once I’d finished the kitchen bulkhead I moved on to the bedroom. I news papered the side panels because these had already been varnished. While I was painting the bedroom bulkhead, Si made a start gluing the boiler cabinet together. It wasn’t long until I started the second coat in the kitchen, it still looked patchy and would need a third coat.

Once I’d finished painting Si made a start on dinner and I was left with the task of cleaning. Now this is where the Pod should come into its own. The problem being it required 5 litres of warm water. This was over come and I pressed go, it sounded like it was about to take off. I left it for 10 minutes on its cleaning process while I cleaned the accessories. On my return I was now left with 5 litres of dirty water I had to get rid of, so back to the marinas men’s toilets. The girls do not have the Belfast sink with draining board, go equality. Luckily this time of year there are not many using the toilets. Si was still busily cooking meatballs and pasta so I decided to give the roller an extra clean as it wasn’t quite as good as I’d thought it be. While Si was cooking he was creating enough condensation it was dripping back down into the pan. We will need to rethink the steel channels, currently they are covered with duck tape that we hoped would stop the condensation….wrong. It doesn’t help that our mushroom vents were wound right down due to the un-forecasted rain. The rest of the evening compiled of beer and bed.   

  6 C      80 miles

I had booked today off as leave but Si still wasn’t to well, so we took our time leaving my parents and this weekend we had Ness. I drove us to the boat and dropped Si and Ness off, as I had plans, me plans. First I went to a beauty salon to have a manicure, only the 2^nd I’ve ever had but I needed a bit of girl time. I can’t remember the last time I felt like a women, boat building and feeling like a women doesn’t go together. After being pampered I went Christmas shopping. I returned 5 hours later beautified and with lot’s of goodies. In my absence Si had managed to make more progress and mess with both the electrics and boiler cupboard. Tomorrow was going to be a clean day. I had bought dinner, but neither of us could be bothered to cook it, so we ended up with a liquid dinner instead, we are rubbish. 

  10 C     84 miles

I went to work this morning leaving Si in bed not feeling very well with a stomach upset, it doesn’t surprise me, as he gets his lunch from a place which has a reputation. In the afternoon he felt a little better, so made start on the electrics cupboard in between toilet runs. I picked him up after work and headed towards our second home in the country!

  12 C     84 miles

Si spoke to Tim today and sorted out a date for him to do more work, next Monday, with the proviso the boiler and electrics cupboard are finished. We left work at 4.30pm, I wiped down the wall I sanded on Monday and started to varnish. Si drew out cupboard sizes on the ply and waited for my varnish to dry before cutting. After Si had finished making a mess I did the second coat on the bulkhead. Afterwards I washed the brush plus several others I hadn’t washed up straight after varnishing in the attempt to save these rather expensive brushes (£10 each).

  11 C      84 miles

We were staying aboard tonight. I managed to sand with the orbital sander, the second bedroom wall, to prepare it for painting. This wall needed varnishing before the boiler cupboard went in. I’m not quite sure how I had missed the logic, I did the side wall but not the bulkhead. With this done we were out into Sunbury having it large, well, going for a curry. Just the concept of going out for dinner was original. Bed time was a reasonable 9.15pm, nothing much else to do and the warmest place is bed. Luckily the oil filled radiators don’t trip the electrics, so we can maintain a reasonable 10 C overnight.

  13 C       80 miles

We woke at 9am, luckily sleeping through the hangovers. I pestered Si to get out of bed and eventually got up myself. I hand sanded down the panels I had varnished yesterday to start on the second coat. We had our second lot of visitors at Shepperton, Dave and Emma. Dave has been Si’s best friend for 20 years and is one of the kayaking boys. I briefly stopped varnishing for a quick chat but couldn’t allow my wet edge to dry. Sounds so dodgy, but really it isn’t. Dave still lives on the river where Si used to live and loves the water too, both seemed impressed with our efforts to date. They offered us to go for a pub lunch and we were so close to saying yes, but knew the amount of work we still have to do. Instead Si cooked a mean sausage and bacon bap. He then made a start on the Alde boiler cupboard, he cut out the angled sides with the jigsaw and routered to have a clean straight edge, a very long winded process but there isn’t really an alternative with a 10amp fuse. He also cut out different height plinths, to see what would work best for the kitchen, wardrobe and boiler cupboard. I finished varnishing, allowing Si to make a mess, so I opened up my lap top in the bedroom and let Si carry on. We packed up at 17.30 heading back to Oxfordshire for the night and just to check our baby girl still remembered who we were.   

  10 C     0 miles

We woke up to the sunshine beaming in, it would have been almost perfect if the 3 of us were there, but Nessie was back at my parents, we thought it would be best this weekend. Last night wasn’t the quietest of nights, the location could fool you but with Heathrow, the M3 and sirens from the ambulance station close by, this was no Sharpness. For lunch Si cooked a sausage bap, afterwards he went to the chandlers to collect our 14kg anchor that we had ordered. When the river does eventually come down we think it might be useful just in case we have another moment from a badly installed engine. The anchor is huge and only just fits in one of the bow lockers. Si taped the edges of the locker lids and put those into place, September Air was starting to look like home, well, on the outside. On the inside I had sanded several side panels and was well away on the first coat of varnishing.

It wasn’t long before we had to go and test out the marina showers, we were going out tonight to Kingston. I know, very unusual for us. Unfortunately it was to Brian’s memorial, neither of us knew what to expect. Brian would have been touched with the way his life was remembered. Most of the band members were in tears within a couple of minutes with the girlfriends not far behind. There was a meal afterwards but we just slipped out and sent our apologies. Si was devastated and I wasn’t surprised, a lot has happened in the last 3 months, not giving any time for him to properly grieve. So on our return we dropped the car off in Sunbury went to the first pub and got hammered, our journey home was a 50 minute drunken walk closely followed by collapsing into bed, a tribute Brian would have agreed with….. night Brian.

  6 C     84 miles

We had been at work all week and tonight was only our 2^nd night aboard at Shepperton. We had stayed aboard on Wednesday night, no boat building was done just a major tidy and sort out. Well, more Si really, I ended up in bed at 8:15pm, on the grounds of being in an evil mood, the tiredness and stress had caught up with me. Earlier in the evening we had put our mattress on board in the dark; at least that would help my nights sleep, but not my mood. Anyway back to today, we left work at 15:45 to travel to the boat, 15 minutes later we were there! Finally the M4 can turn back into our holiday road. We made an attempt at more panels but this started off badly as the electric supply is only 10 amps, meaning the circular saw tripped the electrics. In the end the list of tripping appliances was longer than the ones that worked. So with just the jigsaw we managed to cut 3 panels, not bad for a nights work. We finished at 8pm and reheated a stew for dinner before bed.

  4 C     180 miles

We woke a 6am planning to leave at 7am. It was cold, windy, rainy and dark outside. Perfect for our craning out day! We drove towards Sharpness watching the weather improve, maybe that windsurfing website was right. Every time we’d see a tree or bush we’d check it for movement. We exited the M5 onto the A38 where we overtook a crane, maybe it was on. We parked outside the Docks and went into the reception, meeting Ex Big Fish Steve. He was waiting for the lorry to turn up with Reece’s boat on, soon enough both marine transport and crane were ready to go.

In reception we met Will who was trying to find out if we could use the opposite side of the docks, due lack of space on their side. The answer was yes, so the lorry and crane drove off. Unfortunately it meant we had to move the boat again, this time with a bigger audience. We waited around for them to get Reece’s boat off the lorry and into the water before setting off. I stayed inside as it was bitterly cold. We had discussed several options of manoeuvring the boat out and luckily chose the right one. As we reached the centre of the huge docks the wind started to pick up. We approached the dock wall as Steve and Will were trying to reverse Reece’s boat out, it wasn’t having that much effect and their faces said it all. It was now our turn to get in and I have to say Si managed it well, letting the wind do the work. I was at the bow and passed the ropes up. On my way through to the stern I suddenly realised the boat wasn’t lorry proof. We had been pre-warned the journey shakes and vibrates everything up on the boat. We laid things down quickly and jumped off by climbing on to the roof. These are big dock walls after all, not some marina pontoon. We waited for Will and Steve to get back to put the slings over the boat. I stood and chatted to the lorry driver and Steve, while Si helped out get the slings on. I had been told to walk away at this point because the steel creaks and clangs. The crane attempted to lift but the slings were not even, so back down she went and the slings altered. Si and Will jumped off and did the action to tell the crane driver to take her up. I couldn’t help but watch and took many photo’s as the sky was a jewel blue with the red of the crane and the red of the lighthouse boat behind. She was swung smoothly and effortlessly up and paused in mid air to wait for the flat bed lorry to reverse underneath her. She was placed onto the truck, then Si and John (lorry driver) checked her and strapped her down. We jumped into Steve’s V-dub who took us back to the docks to pay.

We were just leaving when we saw Brian (marina owner), we said our thank you’s and goodbye’s and I gave him a big hug. We went back to the marina to drop off thank you cards, presents and keys. On walking to the marina office we met Emma (Martin’s other half) who said the level of water was dropped by nearly a metre overnight and had left a few boats in difficulty. Lucky we had gone the night before, our boat would have certainly been one of those in trouble. For once something had gone in our favour. We were now heading back to London with both vehicles, we followed in convoy all the way back to Shepperton, hoping to catch a glance of September Air on the road.

We arrived at the marina after the boat, on arrival we met Shufty (a friend and Si’s work colleague). Apparently he was on his way back from Somerset on the M3 when he saw a grey boat on a bridge going over the motorway. He thought there can’t be many grey boats travelling today, so followed her as soon as he saw it was September Air! The lorry reversed into position and before we knew it the slings were in place, this was a slick operation. The boat was lifted into the water into a gap just big enough to fit her. We went into the marina office to pay up for the week. We weren’t going any where just yet as the river was now in flood. Shufty came aboard to see the aftermath of the journey by road (it looked like we had either been burgled or suffered an earthquake – or should it be tsunami) and attempted to put the place back to some normality. We had thought we might stay on her tonight but we decided good food and a warm bed would be a much better idea, so got into the car to head west to my parents, a place we were now starting to call home!            

  7 C     50 miles

The big day had arrived, we had to move the boat through the lower swing bridge and into the docks. We were up and out and walking Ness by 10.30am. We received a phone call from Knot Krazy (Pete & Chrissie) letting us know that they were on there way - by boat. Just as we were getting back to the boat, the weather turned filthy, typical, as if we weren’t stressed enough. Knot Krazy turned up at 2pm with some very impressive manoeuvres in the wind to moor parallel to us. Ness still had her life jacket on, so to make her feel more at home they put one on Tizzy, their dog. They just looked at each other “So your owner makes you look like a luminous idiot too?” Pete and Chrissie toiled on in the horrific rain, both kneeling over the back deck to fit the 2^nd tipcat and button fenders. Neither of them had particularly waterproof clothing on, at one point we offered them Si’s windproof lighter because they were trying to melt the rope by covering their lighter with a hat. We felt so guilty being inside but they had to race on because the bridges to get back were on winter opening times……..early! Once finished we came outside to have a look and paid them their money. They are probably twice as expensive as buying off the shelf but they look amazing. Most fenders look like they have been stuck on the boat as an after thought, ours look like they are part of the shell. They are pieces of art in their own right, with amazing attention to detail. Well done to Knot Krazy. Once they had cruised off into the horrid weather we continued to sort stuff out.

Si cleared our rubbish from under the bays of Big Fish into the big bins and the van. I loaded all of our belongings into the van and found, underneath Nessie’s bed, a wet floor. Paul the fitters bow doors had leaked so much there was an inch of water in the bow, the wood battens were soaked through, 2 sheets of ply had been ruined and the water had soaked up to 6 feet into the bedroom. I mopped up the mess, ready to cry. We are very aware that Paul had ruined our paint work on the bow a week after we had her painted and still failed to repair it in 2 ½ months…..I feel a letter coming on. We were 20 minutes away from setting off when Si’s parents drove into the yard. This was a surprise visit, not one that either of us were happy with at the time, we were highly stressed and didn’t need on lookers. Plus Ness wasn’t on the lead as they drove in and she went chasing after the car. I screamed at her to stop. I could just see her jumping up at Chris’s very expensive car with those claws, or worse. I picked her up and threw her into the van, with a voice over my shoulder from Si “Calm down!”. I admit I wasn’t very happy but tried to put a happy face on. Sandy apologised and blamed Chris for wanting to come. Chris didn’t make matters better by then proceeding to get his video camera out…..great we are now going to be filmed being stressed novice buffoons. We were waiting for Martin & Emma as they said they would help us move the boat into the Docks if they were back in time from a presentation, but there was no sign of them…….on our own it would be then.

It wasn’t long till we had undone the ropes and we were off, the bridge was being opened and this was it, good bye Sharpness Marina. At least the weather had calmed down and it wasn’t raining for now. We went under the first bridge and through the second into the inland sea of the docks, passing a huge cargo ship on our Portside. We were told that they had made space for us next to the lighthouse boat but there wouldn’t be anyone to greet/help us as they were on an emergency break down. On route I took a few photographs of the epic journey. As we came round the corner we saw the gap…mmmmmm! Anyway we went for it, with me at the bow instructing Si on direction and distance. We were heading in quite nicely, just needed to be a bit more over to the right. I kept on shouting this to Si but he shouted back “there’s something wrong!”. He slammed the boat into reverse, I had to push us away from the lighthouse ship, as our roof was about to scrape on its hull. Apparently you aren’t supposed to do this, but I managed to move 21 tonnes away from damage. I ran back through to see a desperate, puzzled look on Si’s face. He said he couldn’t go forwards, he demonstrated, yep we only had reverse. I looked around the ship yard and docks for help, no one there. The wind was whipping up a Northerly, pushing us back towards the lightship and the dock wall. It was now 15:45 and getting dark. Si’s manly reaction was to shout F****** C*** at the top of his voice aimed at our engine fitter. He then opened up the hatch to the engine and stood astride the engine bearers, we were drifting in circles as he spotted the fault. The selector rod had come off, he was desperately trying to put it back on, but with adrenalin and the cold and it being quite greasy, it wasn’t easy. I was nervous that the engine was still running, but he managed to get it on, jumped out of the engine bay and tried the lever, we now had forwards. My hero, the funny thing is that I’m the one that’s done the car maintenance course and used to have a car with the same problem, but I was as much use as a chocolate spanner. All credit goes to my hero. Now with the option of going forwards, it was time for attempt number two. We went in quite slowly but still ended up bonking into the wall head on, I didn’t care, I was almost willing to jump in, swim ashore with the rope and pull us in. I think you might be starting to understand the depths of our desperation. We tied September Air up and saw Chris filming through the fence….whoops. We were quite elated just to have made it.

Si’s father offered us a lift back, we weren’t going to except because he has a very nice cream leather interior, but he insisted. Actually it was nice to get into a warm car where we relayed the story to them. Sandy thought we came in very skilled and thought we meant to circle in the dock. I know we are novices but there are people out there even more novice than us, which made us feel like we had achieved, thanks Sandy. Back at the marina yard we collected Ness from the van, she gave a lovely greeting to Sandy, I think I was being ignored for putting her in there after shouting at her. I was now back down to a normal level of stress. We said our goodbyes and I apologised for my mood. We headed back to my parents where we told them our adventure that afternoon. Unfortunately the stress wasn’t over. We had completed Stage 1 of our journey but there were still 3 more stages to go.  

  7 C      85 miles

We had driven to work and back on the Friday because we are quickly eating through our leave.A 1 day working week was quite a result. We checked the Met Office weather report, the weather was looking better for Monday with no rain but still 22mph winds and 36mph gusts. We loaded the ash faced back into the van seeing even more in the daylight how unusable the 2 dodgy sheets were. On arrival at Sharpness we loaded the sheets onto the boat and I took photo’s to email Heritage Timber. While in the process of doing this Daisy turned up (Nessie’s Best Mate) and they ran around the yard for 20 minutes, a dog owners easy exercise. Due to arriving so late we worked through till 9pm trying to get the rest of the upper side panels on. By the time it was Dockers Time we had still 4 panels to go. We ended up at the Dockers for the last night and chatted to marina locals most of the evening. Neither of us felt that drunk, so we foolishly carried on chatting and drinking on the boat.

  9 C      170 miles

We were still in bed at 8.30am when Si’s phone rang, it was Will, “It’s all off”. Typical, it was now too late to pack up and drive to work. Will said it was definitely on for Monday, we had slight reservations  though as the weather according to the Met Office was 22mph winds and up to 36mph gusts. We were told the cranes don’t operate with gusts over 20mph……..doomed!!!!! Will said they don’t use the Met Office report as it is far too pessimistic, instead they use a windsurfing website……….mmmmmm! Anyway we had a look and it did show a window on Monday morning.

We decided to make the most of the day, so we took Ness for a walk and had sausage bap brunch. We packed up the van to go and search for two faced ash 18mm block board, when we were inundated with visitors, well, two. Julian, a chap we had recently met in the Dockers, had come down to the yard to see if there was any work going and to wish us all the best. At the same time a car rolls up and it was Pete from Knot Krazy who came to attach our dwarf trousers and first tipcat (fenders for the novices). He hadn’t finished the second of the tip cat’s but gave Si the rear button to keep safe inside till he was next down. We left him to it as we headed across the country in search of wood. We were in the van as we wanted 6 x 8ft x 4ft sheets of two faced ash block board for the wardrobe sides, the boiler cupboard etc. A few weeks earlier we had done a price comparison and there was up to £60 per sheet difference between suppliers. We were heading east to Leicestershire / Warwickshire to the cheapest.

The journey took us nearly 2 hours but there was a BK stop in between. We turned up in the middle of nowhere and bought 6 sheets, which they loaded into the van whilst Si went to the office to pay. We got back on the road to my parents where, on arrival, we unloaded them into the garage, and saw 2 of the sheets aren’t even usable…typical!!! We were going to work tomorrow and thought it would be more fuel efficient without 6 sheets of ply as extra baggage.    

  10 C      50 miles

We slept incredibly well, I woke up quite early and left Si to continue sleeping. I went to chat to father before he went to work regarding mothers Christmas and birthday presents. There was no point me going back to bed so I opened my laptop up to Christmas shop. We didn’t leave till 11.30am as we’d showered, chatted to a friend of mothers who I hadn’t seen for at least 4 years and generally mooched.

The weather was still gale force 9 and on arriving we saw the inland sea hadn’t improved. I asked Si if he would be happy to cruise the boat if the conditions were identical in 24 hours. Both of us were incredibly nervous and didn’t need anything else adding to the stress and the weather seemed to be a big part of it. Si phoned Will from the docks to see if Friday’s crane day was off, although this was still 2 days away. The only time the lower swing bridge could open for us was tomorrow lunch. Will said he would get back to us by the end of the day. Si phoned Big Fish Steve to find out his expectations for the weather and also Martin (the guy who was going to originally cruise her back to London, until they shut Bristol lock). Martin said we would be fine as the waves had no frequency and the boat would cut through them. This helped our confidence no end especially as he also said he’d come aboard to help us….perfect!

On finally entering the cabin and starting work we put up the panel we had cut yesterday but not put up. We then went for 3 more panels S1 S2 & S3. We were waiting for the phone call from Will to say yey or ney for the crane. We had made the decision, if it was off again we would head back to work as we are rattling through our annual leave. Unfortunately we didn’t receive the phone call so felt we couldn’t head east until we knew for sure what was happening. We ended up in the Dockers, for once the faggots were not making an appearance tonight. We arrived back at 10.30 pm, so not a late one.

   13 C      50 miles

Another crap nights sleep (well for me), the noise was so bad I got up at 2.30am in my PJ’s and checked the engine bay, there was nothing to worry about, but it meant I could sleep with piece of mind. It was only when I mentioned it to Si in the morning did I realise nothing wakes that boy. He had no idea I’d got up to check we weren’t taking on water. We took Ness for her third morning walk, we’re almost getting into a routine. We went via Sharpness Docks to see where the boat would be craned out and where to moor the boat on arrival. “Where?” was a very good question, there was no room so Si checked with Will who said the light house ship would move. On our way back we also popped into the shop for milk and jelly baby supplies. Walking back we saw Apache John, he had just received a text from the EA telling him that the Thames was now on yellow boards but most likely going to red, meaning the Thames is in flood. This plummeted us into foul moods, the entrance to the docks from the marina resembled an inland sea with the waves breaking up to 2 feet high on the lower swing bridge footings. Sometimes you feel that the world is against you, we are just starting to realise this is actually the boating life.

If you are thinking about buying or building a house boat, you have been warned!!! We had only been back an hour and marked one panel up when Si’s parents arrived. Sandy had bought a fantastic picnic spread, we set it out on the ply and dived in. After lunch we chatted, with Sandy and I staying in the vicinity of the fan heater. After Si’s parents went home we finally cut the first piece of wood. This wasn’t easy as we were rolling around from the wind. It didn’t take us long to make the decision to have a nights sleep without gale force winds by returning back to my folks. We checked the ropes were secure before packing the car and heading east. Once back in Milton we discussed having showers but that’s as far as it went. We drank many beers which started the conversation ‘the gospel of boat building for novices’. We came up with:

1 – Don’t do it!

2 – If you do, make sure that time is not an issue.

3 – Only do it if you own your own home and money is not an issue as boats are total money pits, they sap you of every penny you have and more.

4 – Boat building isn’t for the impatient, or the faint hearted.

5 – Don’t do it unless the boat is within ½ hour travel of your permanent residence.

Funnily enough we don’t tick any of those boxes…

  13 C + Gales      0 miles

Once again not a great nights sleep due to the wind, rain and slapping swims. For the second day in a row we took Ness for a morning walk via the marina toilets and got totally drenched. We didn’t have our waterproof trousers on and Ness didn’t have her life jacket on. On our return Ness looked liked a two tone dog, the upper half white and wet, the lower half very brown, she has discovered puddles!

We were now starting on the side upper panels P7 and S7, this is our coding for the sheets. Port or Starboard and a number between 1 and 7, in total we have 7 panels through the cabin with the lower number starting at the stern. Hope that makes sense, not to worry if it doesn’t, as long as we understand our system! P7 and S7 are in the wardrobe so good practice sheets as any mistakes on the first ones would be hidden. We finally agreed on a 6 cm over hang (below the gunnels), this is due to the kitchen cabinet heights and 6cm hides the gas pipe. We then attempted P6 which has the 4ft bedroom window in. I was in charge of drawing the window in the correct place. I drew round the oak frame with a marker pen as a template, Si took over with the power tools. This was the longest panel at 240cm so it was fun and games checking it was correct and finally screwing it in. While Si started the next panel I screwed in around the window, the screws will eventually be hidden by the oak frame. Si drew out the next panel P5, a double whammy with 2 port hole windows. By the end of the day we had 4 panels up only 10 to go!

We felt a sense of achievement, so rewarded ourselves with dinner at the Dockers, where I didn’t have faggots! I opted for the curry instead due to slightly O D’ing on faggots.

  11 C + Gales     0 miles

The nights sleep wasn’t great, the southerly wind was disturbing the water which meant it was just slapping on the swims. We had decided we would walk Ness first, the reasons being it would tire her out and if we left it till later she probably wouldn’t have received her daily walk. We went via the marina toilet, it started off as a light rain but this soon turned into a down pour, we did the circular walk, Ness seemed quite happy though we did make her wear her life jacket for warmth, we got that look putting it on her ‘Do I have to?’.

On our return we stripped and put on dry clothes, I have now found new boat building foot wear, I have moved on from flip flops and pink slipper boots, it is now my Wellingtons…..suitable for the weather we are having! All the upper bulkhead panels were cut, we now needed to do the socket and switch holes. We started with the most difficult, the kitchen panel. I marked up and Si jigsawed 5 socket holes and 4 switch holes. The next panel was the 2^nd bedroom, only 1 socket hole but this had to be placed carefully as where we originally wanted it clashed with the kitchen switch. We predrilled the screw holes to be careful not to screw through the wiring. With the 2 panels in the bathroom, one was a temporary fix and the other needed a massive section routing out for the roof bearer. We kept going till 7pm and decided to stay in with a few beers and pasta.

  15 C + Gales      100 miles (2 x cars)

We managed a 5 day week at work but two of those nights were in a hotel, which had seen better days, but boy was it nice not to have to travel. My parents had Nessie, so on the Wednesday night we went for dinner and a pint, only the one pint though as I was falling asleep in the pub! The Thursday night I went up into town to meet my girlfriends, which ended up being quite a drunken evening, great fun. Unfortunately I did do the typical drunken child thing by phoning my parents on the train home to say I loved them……….mmmmmmmmmmm……I’ve regressed 10 years! Anyway we arrived back at my parents on the Friday night after work.

Saturday was a very slow day, with a bit of internet shopping, walking the 3 dogs, bathing Nessie, blow drying Nessie, us having showers. The plan was to get to the boat in the daylight, well we left at 4.30pm, the journey turned into a horrific one. If I’d had my way I would have stayed at parents but it did make sense to wake up on the boat, I just didn’t want to admit it. We took both vehicles to the boat, I was in the car with Nessie. The journey was so slow due to the deluge of rain. Si and I got separated a couple of miles before arriving at the boat, he was so worried he tried to phone. Honestly the weather was that bad! On arrival Si joined us in my car and we all sat and sulked. We finally plucked up the courage to connect the power and load the boat up.

It wasn’t too long till the Dockers opened, so at 7.30pm we headed for the smell of faggots and a few pints. We sat next to DIYer Richard and his wife and chatted about our plans. The last plan was to cruise September Air up to Evesham to a much cheaper static crane. Apache John was going to cruise it up to Evesham, crane it onto a lorry (a mate of Apache John) drive it to Shepperton and then the final cruise on the Tuesday 1^st - December to Chertsey. To cut a long story short it was all off, we had been in contact with John all this week. The plan was a no go as the Severn and Avon were closed due to high flood water. Apparently in places the Avon had reached a mile wide. It was now time for plan B. During the week Si had organised a crane at Sharpness Docks, sharing the cost with an ex Big Fish boat. The lorry transport was reduced heavily because we were going to backload the same lorry as the ex Big Fish boat that was coming down. September Air would be craned in at Shepperton and cruised up to Chertsey. The big day was this Friday, but the weather forecast was not looking good, fingers crossed. We didn’t have a late night just three pints and then boatward bound.    

  14 C     50 miles

We awoke to blue sky, pretty remarkable after the strongest storms so far this year. We eventually woke at 8.45am, the first 9 hours sleep we’d had in a week. Si took Nessie out for her morning ablutions while I mooched around eating chocolate. While outside Si checked the engine bay, the port side swim had water on it, we believe the water overflow pipe is leaking. He mopped up the mess while I prepared the bow bulkhead to varnish. I used the orbital sander but unfortunately this has lost a screw so vibrates out of control, so it made an interesting experience, one suitable for You’ve Been Framed. The light sand is just to get rid of all the stains and abuse the ply has taken since arriving on the boat.

It wasn’t long before I was starting to varnish, as I was doing this Jo Whiley was on Radio 1 doing a feature calld “What are you doing in your Pyjamas”, fantastic I thought, as most people said doing home work. I was actually wearing mine as I wanted to experience what it would be like to wear your Pj’s all day….a lazy Sunday. Unfortunately we never get the chance to experience this, I texted in ‘Building a houseboat in Gloucestershire in my PJ’s and slipper boots. A shout out to my other half Si, whose wielding a jigsaw, love you babes and not forgetting our little monster, Nessie the dog, Jacqueline x’ after all that typing they didn’t read it out…..damn! Anyway once my first coat was on I offered my assistance to Si who was cutting bulkheads. Si was making good progress using each new bulkhead as a template for the other side, there were a few tweaks here and there but a massive time saver. Within 2 hours I could gently sand and re varnish the second coat. As soon as I’d finished, Si had completed his tasks too, I changed out of my Pj’s at 7pm to head back to my folks. We packed up the van and were off into the dark damp night.

When we arrived home my parents were back with a Chilli waiting. My mum’s chilli’s are famous, more for the Russian roulette you’re about to take part in depending which Chilli powder she’s used and whether she’s had a “senior moment” while cooking. It was quite warm, but luckily I’m used to hotter food from Si’s tastes. It wasn’t long before I was showered and ready for bed, Si was holding off for another night.

  12 C + Gales     50 miles

What a week. We had driven to and from work from my parents Monday to Thursday, spending an average 4 hours a day in the car, then on Thursday evening after work, we drove to Wolverhampton for my Grandmothers 90^th birthday party. We left the party at 9.45pm to drive back to London, arriving at 00.15am in a Travelodge which went beyond basic (another story). All of this driving was through horrific weather conditions. Si then had to get up at 4.30am to go sea fishing off the Isle of White, and I went to work. So within 36hrs Si went from Burford (Oxfordshire), London, Wolverhampton, London, Isle of Wight, London, Burford. That must be heading towards an entry in the Guiness book of Records or maybe just an Asylum!!! Anyway it was all worth it as Nessie enjoyed her time at the dog sitters, Nana enjoyed her 90^th and Si came first in the national sea fishing championship.

On the Friday night back at my parents we had the place to ourselves, on the way back we joked this is what it is like to have a 2^nd home in the country, very nice but it would be nice to have a first place to live! On the Saturday morning we over slept, not surprising really but we had to get our arses into gear as my parents were driving my Auntie and Uncle down to see the boat. We stopped off at Berkeley for milk when my father phoned me to ask “where were we?” in a gloating tone. My parents are never early, there is something called BST (British Seviour Time) only on one occasion where they early and that was because they were scared of my now ‘ex-Mother-in-Law’. We pulled up next to my dad’s steamed up 4x4, not surprisingly with 5 adults and 2 dogs. The weather was foul, we knew it was coming as weather warnings were in place across the country for the strongest storm of the year. Nessie greeted my parents as long lost family, my parents are rather smitten with Ness but boy does Nessie love them, I think we may have some competition. My Auntie and mother climbed aboard to use the facilities, once the coast was clear my Uncle and dad came aboard. We walked them through the layout and what is still left to do. Both of them seemed really impressed and loved the width over a narrow boat. My Uncle would sell his house for a narrow boat, my Auntie would sell Keith, but joking aside I think she quite liked it too. Si jokingly said “well if you want one building I know a man!”. Gail (Mrs Collins) was in the yard checking on the progress on her boat so I jumped up onto the quay to see how she was doing, we chattered for a short while and gave up as the weather was so changeable and had turned to torrential down pour. We gave each other a hug and said goodbye.

It was now 1pm and the Dockers kitchen closes at 1.45pm, so I rounded the group to up and herded them on their way. Lyn & Keith had heard about Penny’s homemade faggots and were now going to put them to the taste test. My parents drove up to the Dockers, less than a 4 minute walk but they had my 90 year old gran with them. We decided to walk - wrong decision. The heavens opened and by the time we arrived we looked very similar to Ness. We had a great lunch, Si and Keith chatted away as they had far too much in common. My father and I took the girls for a walk, to give them a break from the boot of the car. On our return we rejoined the family briefly inside the Dockers before heading back to the boat for Lyn & Keith to take photo’s. We made a cup of tea for all and took nana’s out to the car. We talked a little more on boat electrics and future plumbing.

My family left around 4pm to head back to the Midlands, Si and I went for a lie down…..dangerous! I woke 90 minutes later to banging and crashing. Si was trying to measure the angles of more bulkhead ply sheets, alone! I ended up getting up and helping as there was no way I would be able to continue to sleep. We did an hours work and shock horror the Dockers had re-opened. We had joked earlier that we should make up for lost time as we hadn’t been there for 2 weeks! We sat in the locals bar as there was a cricket do on, we consumed a few pints before we fell for Nessie’s’ look of “Twice in one day, can’t we go home”! On return the weather had totally changed, not a cloud in the sky and the canal looked more like a mill pond. Ness and I went straight to bed to snuggle into the sleeping bag for warmth, Si is more of the rugged type so put his fishing rods out.

  9 C     100 miles

We left my parents and arrived at the boat for 12pm. On arrival I noticed the bow locker lids with their smooth curves, Si had only done one coat of varnish but they were looking really impressive. I gave Si lots of praise but I was in trouble though for not being observant enough, I didn’t notice his new trousers. Once I’d said all the right things and showed enthusiasm for all his different pockets, hammer, pen, phone etc. I was forgiven. We knew that we’d be lucky to get a full days work done so we immediately started.

I continued by putting on a 2^nd coat of varnish on the lids and also 4 ends of wood, eventually to clamp the exterior gas pipe. Si made a start on drawing the many angles onto the ply panels for the upper interior bulkhead. This entailed picking the sheet up, putting it against the bulkhead in question, drawing more angles, cutting, picking it up, putting it in place etc. I’m sat here now looking at a panel and I’ve counted 23 different cuts on one panel and that’s just at the top! I think at the end of it we had put it against 6 or 7 times before the job was done. This job required two of us but between the lifting stages I cut up the floor matting for in the bow lockers and gas locker. This is to try and extend the life of the hammerite by having the gas bottles etc not touch the steel. These were also lovely shapes and angles due to being at the front of the boat. The bow lockers were not too bad as they are completely exposed but the gas locker was a different story. In the end I ended up climbing in with a newspaper, masking tape and a pair of scissors to create a template. It was a cross between a Rolf Harris “Can you tell what it is yet?” and a Blue Peter “Here’s one I made earlier”. I had roughly measured the size of the areas but it was a complete fluke I used 17 out of the 18 tiles from the box. Not quite sure what I’ll use the last square for but I’m sure we’ll find a use. Si had finished his first panel and 6 hours had passed so I started on the 3^rd coat of varnish. Si used the first bulkhead ply as a template for the next, he drew round it and left it on the top of the ply pile as a big reminder of ‘what to do next week’

We packed the van in the dark and were on our way to my parents at 7.30pm, so a 7 hour day wasn’t to bad in the end. We arrived back at my parents, showered and went to bed because tomorrow we’re about to start a long week by getting up at 5.30am….oh what joy!

  10 C     100 miles

No excuse this time, just knackered, I stayed at my folks and Si went to the boat. I still managed to do quite a bit of boat admin stuff but mainly Christmas internet shopping. I am my parents personal shopper. I know we have plenty of other stuff to do but I do enjoy it and if you start early it can be good fun. Parents were taking Nana back tonight so I had offered to have all the dogs because it was going to be firework hell tonight.

Si drove down to the boat, plugged in the power and started using his electric planer on the Hexigrip to smooth out the curve he had cut yesterday. He also managed to coat the ply edges with exterior varnish. While he was hard working I was hard at cooking, I was feeding the whole family with lasagne in two sittings. My parents were leaving at 6pm to drive to Wolverhampton so I put theirs in the oven at 4pm so they could eat before they left. I was going to wait for Si, out of politeness but also it’s the closest we get to a romantic meal when building a boat and being homeless. We eventually ate 3 hours after parents had. Now that’s will power, especially when the smell of cooked lasagne lingers. I was in bed before my parents arrived home but Si was watching Match of the Day on his TV, it does fit in parents lounge extremely well, but not as well as the boat!!!

  12 C      100 miles

We had taken the day off work and made this a 4 day week, we were so shattered because those 4 days were commuting from my parents house to London and back, on average we are spending 4 hours a day in the car. I have total admiration for the people who do this on a daily basis, and on the other hand I wonder if they have a screw loose. Anyway back to today, my Grandmother was staying this week and my mother was going to work, so I offered to Nana sit for the day. This gave me an excellent chance to catch up on the boat finances. Normally a scary experience, I have two spread sheets, one is what we’ve spent (on the stats page) and the other is what I believe we still have to spend, a kind of forecasting for the boat blind!

Si decided that his day would be more useful at the boat, so he headed west via Screwfix and A&D Marine. On his arrival he saw the work Tim had carried out earlier in the week, we now had part of the 240v working, we could plug it in and voila….power! Si made a start using the new steel drill bits as he hadn’t managed to finish the tunnel light holes last week. The wood burning stove had arrived on Wednesday and Si had a quick look, but at 75kg it was staying under the barn for the time being. Si finally used the templates for the bow lockers (made quite a few weeks ago) to cut the Hexigrip. The Hexigrip is an 18mm ply with a plastic coating, so great for the outdoor weather. He used the jigsaw to create the curve of the bow and managed to cut both lids from the smaller off-cut sheet we had bought. In the mean time my mother returned and so did my father, so we swapped shifts and I went off to Witney with Mama for a bit of a break and to do the weekly food shop. Si returned home 10 minutes after we did, dinner wasn’t too far away meatballs and pasta along with a few beverages and bed.

  14 C     50 miles

I woke at 5am with the wind howling and the rain heaving down. I slept on and off till 8am and thought I’d better check for leaks, my head was banging, so I climbed back into bed. I next woke at 11am, I couldn’t believe the time and was angry with myself, Si on the other hand didn’t seem to be beating himself up, as he continued to sleep. Even Nessie wouldn’t get up, she had no excuse she doesn’t drink! Eventually I stopped nagging Si and led by example. I went off to find a couple of paracetamol and food. I’m a big believer in not having an empty stomach when taking Nuerophen, so I ate 2 bags of Skip crisps. I am the apitimy of health! We pulled the stairs away and I started to varnish the back wall. This would have been relaxing but not with the mother of all hangovers. I must have only had 5 pints and these are shandy’s to! I don’t like to think of myself as a big girl, especially drinking shandy, but there was a method in my madness. I originally used to drink pints with the kayaking boys and was plastered way before them, so drinking shandy’s meant I could stick in the rounds without passing out.

While I was varnishing Si started and finished putting the saddle clamps on the internal gas pipe every 60 cm. We needed to do the external ones, but not in this weather. He also made a start on drilling the holes for the tunnel light, but only got half way due to his drill bits being blunt. By the time I had made lunch it was time to start varnishing again. I used a block with fine sandpaper along the grain, dusted the excess off and started to coat number two. The problem I had was that it was so dark and gloomy outside I needed lights on to see what I was doing. It wasn’t long before it was dark outside and the devil women returned. Si kept his distance as I sweared with every stroke. I knew I would have missed bits, by the time I finished it was time to get home and get ready for work the next day. We packed up the van and were on our way back to my folks for those home comforts.

      17 C     193 miles

We had been commuting to London each day, leaving at 6am and arriving back at 8.15pm. We were shattered but this morning we had to collect our window trims from Worcester. Unfortunately we had forgotten the trims we borrowed, so we had to go via the Sharpness, completely the opposite direction to Worcester. We left Sharpness at 10.15am and phoned ahead to Graham to say we were on our way. We needed fuel so we stopped off at Sainsbury’s at Gloucester but when trying to get back onto the motorway, realised that J11a only goes south, which wasted a bit of time. I became Si’s Sat Nav and remembered my way in, we picked up the 13 trims, had a chat with Graham and were on our way. We left J11a and realised we made the same mistake twice, and had to do a U turn to get back into Gloucester. In Gloucester we went to Screwfix and then onto Burger King.

We finally reached Sharpness just after 2pm and were working. Si prepared the stern bulkhead for varnishing, this included enlarging one of the ventilation holes, as we’d found the stairs carcusing hid part of the hole, which would reduce our ventilation rating, so Si enlarged it. He then sanded the whole of the wall using the orbital sander. By this time it was dark outside and with the lights on you could see how thick the air was of dust. What also was quite surprising is that it took well over an hour to settle. Si used a damp cloth to get rid of the surface dust, he’d read it somewhere and it worked a treat. In all of this time I was determined to finish the 12v cabling. I laid out the last few using the 6mm, this only comes in single core, so as I pulled the red and black off I taped them together every 50cm or so. I used the 6mm for the water pump and the tunnel light. The tunnel light is RCD but not the horn. We were struggling to get a horn, so we decided that we will just use a hand held one as it’s not RCD.

It was too dark for me to varnish, as you need natural daylight. So we started on feeding the gas pipe through the internal bulkheads and then the external. This was fun and games, we started with the 10m copper piping in the 2^nd bedroom and feeding it through, we got it to go into the bulkhead gas pipe fitting (that Si had drilled out before, instructed to do so by Tim) but that’s as far as we could go. It didn’t matter how much jiggery and pokery, it just wouldn’t go through. We took the pipe out and saw the problem, with all the jiggery and pokery it had squashed the pipe making it to fat to squeeze through. We un fed the pipe through and started with the other end, this time we didn’t do up the bulkhead fittings but loosely put them on the pipe to do up once it was all through. This worked but there was still a lot of panting and grunting. It’s not easy doing this type of work with head torches. The reason we wanted to get this done tonight was the weather was turning extremely foul tomorrow.

By this time it was 8.40pm, so we did a speedily exit to be able to get to the Dockers for food. Once in the Dockers we realised neither of us were that hungry, so we just ordered a bowl of chips and onion rings. We were only going to be in their for a few hours as we were knackered. Unfortunately we got chatting with Neil and Mizes and returned back to the boat at 1am! You could tell we were hammered as Ness walked all the way back with no lead. Trying to get on the boat wasn’t easy, as we can’t use the back deck, due to it being locked from the inside. You have to walk down the gunnels to the bow, Nessie has the easier option as we put her on the roof to walk down. Just as I was getting onboard I slipped and went down on my ankle. There is an argument here, had I not been drunk I wouldn’t of slipped (in my argument it was wet and there is no sand on the bow gunnels) or had I not been drunk I would have done more damage. We went to bed knowing we were going to regret this.   

 18 C     100 miles (2 cars)

Considering in 24 hours we would be at work both of us were in good moods. We seemed to try and make the most of today, I continued with cabling while Si fitted the second lot of doors. Luckily this time they both fitted. He then part sorted the Yale lock by fitting it with the back box but not the actually barrel, due to not having trimmed the hatch. He also put the bolts on the side doors. Throughout the day John kept on popping in, as the previous night he had spoken to a mate to get cheap transportation from Evesham to Shepperton. Si asked him if he would be wiling the cruise our boat up the Severn and he said yes. We arranged to be in contact via email during the week. It wasn’t long before we started to pack up the mess of the last 4 weeks. We packed the van and closed the boat up from a month of living on it. Although we didn’t get as far as we wanted and there was many ups and downs, we did enjoy the time together and especially a month of work! We arrived back at my parents as we were now homeless and the plan was to commute from my parents daily to London for work.

 15 C     56 miles

We were awoke with a startle, as my phone rang, I tried to answer it but had no reception. I suddenly remembered the radiator delivery. I looked at the time 9am and delivery was supposed to be between 7am – 1pm. Bugger!!!! I jumped up to get more signal and listened to my voicemail, they were 10 minutes away. Si got dressed to open the gate as I was still in my PJ’s. The delivery lorry reversed down and unloaded the radiators, So congratulated them for being one of the first to find the place. We loaded them onto the boat and couldn’t wait to have a sneak peek at the towel radiator and how it fitted into our new bathroom layout. It was a little smaller than we’d thought, but still looked lovely.

We are zooming through the money but it’s a fine line of skimming at the fittings end as this is what sells the boat and make it have the wow factor. I went off to the marina toilets and on my return, Si had answered my phones as I’d had 7 missed calls from the delivery driver and mate. Five out of the seven were voice messages saying they were lost, the other two were road noise. So they must have presumed Si was being sarcastic when he congratulated them on finding the place. I opened the grey gloss painted to touch up the inside of the doors, as some steel will be showing. I also gave the doors a quick final varnish just on the oak. Tim had arrived in the yard while I was letting Daisy and Ness have a play. He came aboard for a quick chat and we had a few questions for him, it was all go as Si’s family turned up.

Sandy, Chris, Jo and the kids. It was the first time Si’s sister, niece and nephew had seen the boat. Tim made a quick exit and the family bored, all 3 of them seemed impressed. The kids were great, as usual, asking loads of questions and being genuinely interested, which was lovely. I walked Jo and Sandy through. Jo was really impressed that I’d done all the cabling and extremely impressed at her brothers doors. She believed they had been made and we were just varnishing them. She was totally shocked to find out they were all hand made by her brother, quite a touching moment. The kids loved the bow deck and that’s where they wanted lunch. Si and the kids ate lunch, while Si got his fishing rod out for them to play with. Unfortunately I had to leave them to it, as I’d pre arrange to meet my mum in Cheltenham. I left Si to be the host, it sounded like they had a fun afternoon.

On return he had glued one of each door in place. It was now dark, so Si took off the clamps from the doors and I started to create lists for the following weekend. Unfortunately Si shut the door and it wouldn’t close, so had to take a chisel to the bottom door. I kept very quiet as I knew he’d be really upset. By the end it would shut but wasn’t as straight as the routered edge. Si took the positive attitude and said something to sort out another day. We headed to the Dockers for my last lot of faggots. Even when Penny came over, she asked ‘whose are the faggots’, Si said “do you have to ask?” She replied “No, I was just being polite, there you go”.   

 
 15 C      0 miles

The weather this morning was completely different, although still blustery the sun was shining. I didn’t have a great nights sleep due to the water slapping up under the swims. I think we are both glad we didn’t have our bedroom in the stern. Si disappeared off quite early to visit the marinas ‘busy busy’ toilet and I sat on the back deck and watched the bridges opening to let the Navy cadets come through, followed shortly afterwards by the police. The first time I had ever seen the police down here, I waved but received no response unlike the Navy cadets who are all smiles. On Si’s return I made a start on varnishing the doors.

The week before, I had bought a 5L pot of ‘Dulux Trade Diamond Glaze’ (Satin) for £102,  I know we were robbed. Although called Dulux Trade, it wasn’t at trade price, trade would be in the region of £85. Neil did offer but he was going away for a bit and we needed it sooner. Anyway the original Big Fish owner did an experiment with Danish oil, traditionally used on boats and this Dulux floor varnish by lighting it. Basically the Danish oil ignited and flashed while the Dulux Diamond Glaze wouldn’t take, so no contest really. We opened the top and stirred this creamy liquid and I started brushing going with the grain. I had also bought 2 expensive brushes, £10 each, due to this stuff being water based. It made a difference and the process of varnishing the doors turned into a therapeutic process. I have to say my boat building wear was also helping being in my fluffy slipper boots, fleecy pj’s and Si’s beanie. In the day I had managed two coats of varnish, in between this time I continued to lay cable and rework the bathroom layout. Buy the end of the day we had completely re arranged the bathroom, but we were both on agreement, the shower was still in the same place, it was just the sink and toilet had swapped alternative walls.

The day went quickly and before we knew it the afternoon was dark, as the clocks had gone backwards. The plan was to have the left over stew from Friday but instead we sat and talked about moving the boat and managed to make ourselves not hungry for food……stressing. Si replaced food with beer and I replaced it with sleep.

 17 C     0 miles

Bed time wasn’t late last night and we were both buzzing, so Si sanded down the doors for me to start varnishing. While I was waiting for the dust cloud to settle I continued to cable. I have to say you need a logical brain when doing this job, I was labelling each end but occasionally forgetting, so would have to wiggle one end and shouting to Si which wire was moving. So I am worrying the kitchen light will flush the toilet. The weather was extremely foul from light rain to down pours of monsoon rain. The wind was also pretty strong. I had received a message that Knot Crazy, fender makers were on there way. A little while later I received a phone call saying they were by a hotel, as this has happened nearly 99% of the time, I replied ‘Are you by The Peir Hotel? Are you using a Sat Nav?’ Yes to both. Basically the Sat Nav sends you the other side of the canal into Newtown and the bridge is closed and has been for many years. I redirected them, but received another phone call, they were at the marina. So I told them to turn back and I’d meet them, just as they arrived, the heavens opened so I jumped into the back of their car.

We had a quick chat as they’d been reading our website and it turned out they were civil servants in their day job. Pete, Chrissie and their dog came aboard to escape the down pour, we spoke about work and put the world to rights before talking fenders. I had originally sent them an email, as I didn’t want to buy cheap fenders with carpet as centres and they were local in Frampton. I thought they’d just ask what we wanted i.e. 1x tipcat, V fender, 17 inch button fender. So I was a little surprised they wanted to measure our boat. Once the rain had gone, we all went outside and carried on chatting. The quote was going to be for a button with dwarf trousers, 2 tipcats and a 12 inch button. Why so different to what we thought? Basically once again our steel builders didn’t know what they were doing and put the eyes for the chain, anywhere that looked good. Also we were told that long button fenders tend to droop and do nothing to protect, if anything you want them slightly pointing upwards. So a lesson learned about buying off the shelf, but then we saw the prices, not cheap, especially when our budget is so tight. But to be fair, these are completely handmade, there was going to be a possibility of the price being reduced using alternative rope. Pete and Chrissie went on their way and we shut ourselves in from the foul weather.

Now we had the 3mm cable I could finally lay the lounge lights wiring, meaning we could permanently put all the stern bulk head panels up. Unfortunately Nessie did not receive a walk today as we didn’t feel like going out, I know bad parents but the weather was filthy and it was now dark. Instead we cooked fajitas on the stove and sat in with beer and played with Nessie.

 16 C     50 miles

I finished off the last of my ordering and was on my way to Sharpness via Gloucester. I was back again at Screwfix as they didn’t have something on my Tuesday visit which was now in stock and Si had come up with a few more items in the last 2 days. I also needed to go via Sainsbury for food for the weekend and another Christmas shopping trip. On my return to the boat, I gave Si his treats I’d bought from Sainsbury, fresh olives and a pork pie. We do make a good couple, Si could want for expensive gadgets but he’ll be happy with a pork pie. I could want for expensive jewellery but I’ll settle for a can of Dr Pepper and a bag of Marshmallows. It’s a good job really, as building a boat sucks every penny out of you, that realistically a treat is a pork pie and marshmallows.

Anyway I’ve lost the plot, back to the day. I walked on the boat to see Si’s hard work, I came over slightly emotional as the doors looked amazing. I was one proud girlfriend, Si has never attempted anything like this before. I had finally got my hands on the 3mm cable so was well away doing the 12v system. My parents arrived shortly after, although we were confined to the engine bay trying to stick battens with Sikaflex to the engine bulkhead. I ended up jumping in the engine bay to see if I could mute the foul language being broadcasted out. The battens we were trying to stick have cable tie mounts in to keep the cabling neat in the engine bay. Si was struggling with one pair of hands, so the extra helped. By the time we re-emerged both of us were covered in glue. My parents came aboard and were equally impressed with Si’s doors, my mum asked how much would it be for him to do their study and she wasn’t joking. We showed them what we’d been up to, they were singing our praises. This is the problem living aboard, we don’t see the progress. Anyway, my folks and I plus the dogs went for a walk before it was too dark. Si stayed back as he wouldn’t have been able to get out due to his head swelling so much from all the complements he had received about his doors. On our return we set up our formal dinner. Si’s head swelled again when his bite alarm went off and he had another Tench. He’d caught one earlier in the week when I was away, but I’d never seen a Tench before, so I helped Si out with mother looking on. He educated my mother on a quick low down of facts about the Tench, had a few photo’s and the fish was released.

My parents came with Russian stew in the pressure cooker, a table (from my dad’s Honda CRV, it has a picnic table as standard), chairs, glasses, plates etc. We set the workmate up as the kitchen and reheated the stew. Unfortunately we couldn’t sit round the table due to the ply but we had a lovely dinner with our chairs grouped closely together. For desert we had Vienetta or homemade lemon drizzle cake. Well I say ‘or’ but we all had both! We chatted for a little longer until 10pm and then my parents were on there way. We went to bed dreaming of those dinners we can have to say thank you to the people who have helped us out.

 15 C     0 miles

I was supposed to be returning today but I was still ordering, updating the website, walking Ness etc. So we ended up having another night and day apart. We spoke several times on the phone, Si to let me know Puffer Parts order had arrived (toilet, chimney collar and hatch runner). Also that he had spoken to Tim regarding our missing 3.0mm cable, as it seemed to have been delivered to one of Tim’s boats in Surrey and the method of cabling lights with 12v. I hate to say I was right, but that niggling feeling we had done the electrics was wrong, was right. Basically the cable comes from the power to the first light, second etc. Finishes at the last light, but there is another wire that comes from the first light to the switch. Don’t ask me why it should do that, but that’s how you do it. After this I then remembered our Surveyor Paul and an electrician we were going to use had told us all the same thing. I mentioned this to my dad, he didn’t understand why, but said if that’s how it’s done, then that’s how it’s done. The day went extremely quick and Si was hoping that Penny would feel sorry again for him and he would get free food, but no such luck, it seems that sympathy only lasts one night in the Dockers.

 15 C     50 miles

Si had a few extra cans on return to the boat last night, so instead of resembling a cheetah he was more like a grizzly bear in hibernation. I had my usual breakfast mooch, fan heater, Dr Peper and a chocolate bar. I put the kettle on for Si but didn’t make his tea, as it would have only taken 10 minutes for it to be cold, due to the boats ambient temperature. I attempted to get an internet signal, I have found one place in the boat. It is by the kitchen sink window, raised up from the table on the circular saw box, with the dongle touching the window. I can just about get a page to load, but it was excruciatingly slow, so the suggestion was for me to go back to my folks for the day to use and abuse their broadband.

We needed so much from chandlers but also wanted the best price which takes research. Ness and I left Si playing with his router and oak. If Si ever turned this into a job/ career, I’m sure he would end up being one of those people who we believe don’t really exist who say they love their work and look forward to getting up in the morning. We travelled back to my folks, my father was off this week, so it was nice to spend time with him, even if he was trying to change the upstairs toilet. Let’s just say my dad’s relationship with plumbing isn’t a loving one. The day turned into the evening and the evening turned into night, so we decided it made sense to be apart for one night. Si continued with the doors till late into the evening and went up to the Dockers, where the locals felt sorry for him being by himself, so bought him drinks. We communicated by text till we both went to bed, Si on the lilo and me in a huge wrought iron bed.    

 13 C     100 miles

The plan today was for me to drive up to Worcester to collect a sample of each window trim from Worcester Windows. The reason for this was we believed we would soon be doing the upper gunnels panels and didn’t want to guess the window hole sizes wrongly. I had quite a list of things to do as well, Screwfix, B&Q, Homebase, Sainsbury etc. The morning didn’t start well, I had missed a call from Pufferparts to say that payment wouldn’t go through on my card. I proceeded to spend the next 90 minutes on the phone, going between my credit card company to B&Q several times. The short story is my card wouldn’t authorise because I had apparently reached my limit, knowing full well I hadn’t! It seemed that B&Q had taken the payment out twice but the second name was completely different but the exact same amount. I spoke to B&Q who said they had taken it out only once. I started to become suspicious as I’ve had many a problem with my bank, it doesn’t help that you are speaking to people who you don’t understand and they don’t understand you. I demanded to speak to my branch not a call centre the other side of the world, they gave me a phone number which turned out to be bogus. I phoned the bank back again and reached a UK call centre, who informed me they don’t have numbers of their branches. So in the end I ended up transferring money from my savings so I was able to shop that afternoon. This was the final straw and I will be departing my bank after nearly 30 years of holding an account.

Ness & I finally managed to get in the car to head north when Ness let out the smelliest fart, so we got out the car for her to do an obviously much needed ‘busy busy’. We drove up, the M5 and got of at junction 7, from here I was on my own, I had memorised the route from Google maps, I am the Sat Nav! We’ve always been against them as we were both originally trained cartographers, but we are seeing the advantage of owning a Sat Nav, but don’t tell my students! You can even get a Garmin which does waterways, how cool is that! I eventually arrived at Worcester Windows with only one mistake, as I needed to turn right into a road and it said no right turn, so I had to go further, turn around and then take a left.

The industrial estate was amongst Victorian terraced houses, quite a sweet area. I popped my head in the factory, the smell took me back to my days at school in the metal work room. Everybody was busy but a chap came over who I recognised from Crick show, he found the 3 trims Graham (the master and inventor of the S type window) had left aside for us. He helped me put them in my car and just as we were doing that Graham arrived, I had a quick chat and told him how pleased we were with the windows. He told me about the secondary glazing windows and the clip on you tube of what they look like. If you type in Worcester Windows on ‘YouTube’ you will see their whole repertoire of accessories. On the way back I went via Sainsbury, made a start on my Christmas shopping (3 for 2), spent a small fortune in Screwfix and a visit to Homebase for some dowelling for Si.

On my return we had Si had cut the bow bulkhead panels and temporarily screwed them in. With the two ends of the boat panelled, it was starting to look like a boat. The night before Si had practiced with his router different shapes to work out the fittings for the stern an side, now he was attempting the real oak. By the time we had walked Ness, Si had made one grouve on all 16 pieces. We ended up in the Dockers, as Arsenal was playing in the Champions League, While Si was engrossed in the football, I took the opportunity to blog, as I was struggling to get any dongle signal.   

 13 C     0 miles

Waking up, you could see from our incredibly large bedroom window that it was pretty yuck outside. The sort of fine rain hat drenches you to the core, so in our usual fashion we had an excuse to snuggle in bed for longer. Plus I had only just turned on the radiator, so was waiting for it to warm the room slightly before I braved the outside elements. Si continued with his work on the stern bulkheads, while I continued with the wiring. We are using the twin core 12v cable, just because its easier and although thicker due to it being double insulated it is  less confusing than having a red and black wire for each. It is so thick I was having to use a 10mm drill bit to pass the wire through the battens. It was easier to use the battery Dewalt but it didn’t take long for me to drain the batteries, luckily the se came with two, a crucial must have. Tim had left us with a list of what cable to use for what appliance.

Yesterday I had finished the bedroom down lighters cabling and I had laid this out in the logical method as if you were laying 240v cable. We had many conversations between ourselves, even asking the dad’s for their option. It all came back to the most logical way of wiring, but something kept on niggling me that we had been told different, but hey I’m know electrician, if I’m unsure I’ll use a wooden spoon to turn things on and off. Si had put the stern bulkhead panels into place, cut all the necessary holes for the ventilation and wires. He had secured all the panels except one, because we were still waiting on the 3.0mm cable for the light switch in the saloon, so that just had a few temporary screws in. For a second evening we stayed in as we found it more beneficial to discuss action plans, but don’t be fooled there is still plenty of beer involved, Si with his 1664 and me with my Sol.

 
  12 C     0 miles

We all awoke at 8.30am, it wasn’t as cold as we’d first feared, with reports of the temperature dropping to 2C in rural areas and 0C by water, so we thought we were scuppered. I was concerned with the possibility of surround sound of snoring, The previous evening Shufty apologised in advance for his nocturnal nasal repertoire. I did just about hear Shufty but it was disguised by the juganought I was sleeping next to. I did hear Shufty go outside twice to visit the little boys room, Nessie didn’t hear Shufty the first time but on the second went mad. So we just have to hope any burglars in the future forget something, nip outside, come back in for our furious guard dog to jump into action. Anyway, Si treated us all to a sausage sarnie, the boys ate theirs on the back deck, while I stood just inside with the fan heater on my feet. We chatted for a while, Shufty asked if Nessie had fallen in yet, not yet we replied!!! Shufty went on his way back down to Somerset and we started work.

Si was in the saloon area and I was in the bedroom. I heard a commotion and presumed Si went leaping out of the back door to intervene between Nessie and the swans. It was when I saw he turned right outside the door instead of left to the water that I realised something was wrong. I ran onto the back deck to join Si who was now knealing down reaching into the water……Nessie! Si pulled her out by her front paws, luckily for her she was in there all of 20 seconds, it was just shallow enough for her to put her back legs on the bottom to be able to doggy paddle to keep her head out of the water and that the fenders are fat enough so the boat didn’t squash her against the side. Once out of the water, I held Nessie while Si ran on to get a towel, we had one very bedraggled stunned looking dog. So how did it happen? This is where Daisy her best mate has to take some responsibility. Unknown to us, Daisy was on the side looking down at Ness, probably with the conversation ‘Hiya, you playing?’ Nessie must have put her front paws on the side and slowly by transferring her body wait onto her front paws, started to push the boat away with her back paws. At this point there must have been a comical Scooby Doo moment of all legs going in mid air before the splash. To try and stop Nessie developing a fear we thought the best way was to chuck her on the side to play with Daisy. This worked plus within 20 minutes she was mostly dry from running around. After Ness was exhausted we put her back on the boat and continued with more work.

Si continued with work on the Stern bulkhead, so pulled the stairs away. Before he could put up the panelling he needed to create a hole between the engine bay and the cabin for the electrics to run through. Once the hole was cut he made protective pieces from wood with smaller holes, so the wires wouldn’t rub on metal. Once this was glued in place he could make a start on fixing and cutting the panels. I carried on with laying the 4.5mm cable as we were still waiting on the 3.0mm to turn up from Aquafax. We continued to work into the evening, but decided to stop and cook, before having a night not at the Dockers.

 12 C     50 miles

Considering our late bed time, I was up and downstairs by 7.30am, I let Si sleep for longer. I was making use of parents broadband and had just ordered our four radiators and shower tray. I was quite pleased with myself as I had saved £216 buying the radiators because B&Q kept on giving more and more discounts. The radiators we have gone for are 2 column Victorian looking radiators, we thought these had a little more elegance to them. The shower tray is a slim line version as we need to gain as much height as possible if Si is to be able to stand underneath the shower head. By the time we had packed up the car and locked the house it was 11am. We had a pleasant drive to the boat and on my arrival I was introduced to Brian’s tractor, I had wondered whether he had gone indoors or was still stood there from yesterday when Si met him.

On arrival I could easily see what Si had been up to and I was really impressed. He had left the sash clamps on trying to bend the ply over night, so I could easily see how the end product was going to work. Mrs Collins (Gail) had arrived with family to see how her boat was coming along. Gail saw us on the back deck and came over, it was great to see her and to be able to give her a hug. She has been in our thoughts so much. We had a long chat about the situation with our boats and we swapped stories, we were really touched that Gail had been keeping up with our blog. We swapped contact details, neither of us is giving up on some kind of retribution on our ex boat builders. Si and I started by putting his bendy swim panel into position, it had proof of his hard work…..blood, sweat and tears. There was his blood on the face of the wood, I can well imagine he’d sweated over the job, and the tears, well that was my job this week. I went off to visit the ablutions and on my way back

Shufty had arrived. He was our first night guest, I know mad! We have no choice in this situation but Shufty could have booked himself into a hotel. We showed him how far we had come in the last 3 weeks and told him the stories. Shufty took himself off for a walk around the docks while Si and I continued to work. I was now laying the first of our 12V cable to the bedroom, it didn’t take too long as I had done all the preparatory holes beforehand. On Shufty’s return he brought in his bedding for the night, he was on our guest bed (pile of ply) in the saloon. The four of us then went for a walk and we showed Shufty Sharpness at night before entering the Dockers. We spent the next 4 hours eating and drinking and were all amazed how late it was and how much we had consumed. We strolled back and prepared for a cold night.

 14 C     100 miles

We woke quite early. Even my father was shocked we didn’t go back to bed. I fired up the laptop as I needed to upload blog and photo’s to the website. Although father was off to work, we did have time for a chat. He came up with some very good ideas to try and keep us warm. One was to take some old curtains from them, cut them up and use sticky back Velcro to stick them to the windows. Papa went off to work, Si went off to have a shower, mother arrived down stairs and I was still stuck on the lap top. Updating a weekend normally took me at least an hour to do, so you can imagine the time it was going to take to do the last 3 weeks. On Si’s return I showed him the lengthy process and I disappeared to have a shower and for my hair to be reintroduced to shampoo and a hair dryer.

By this time it was 11am, I mentioned to Si if he didn’t mind if I stayed with my mum for the day, so at 11.30am Si took my car to the boat. I later found out that Ogya and him had a fun time on the country roads, I’ll say no more, not to incriminate either of them. Mama and I talked for most of the day, took the dogs for a long walk and did more talking, I can’t say it was a dry day but it helped us both. Si arrived at the boat via Berkeley for lunch and as soon as he had stepped out of the car was introduced to Brian’s new toy, a 1943 Perkins Engined Tractor, a project. On board Si started one of the hardest panels, where it needs splitting in two with the bottom section curving round the swim. He also cut the unusual shaped higher stern bulk head panel.

My father came home from work and within an hour they were on there way up north to a hotel, for a sewing course my mum was booked on. I started on dinner, cooking a lasagne for the two of us. Si came home at 7.45pm and we spent the rest of the night chilling watching TV, we didn’t go to bed till 1.30am due to watching Jools Holland. Seasick Steve rules!

 12 C     50 miles

We awoke to a murky grey sky through the window and bow door. I was now awake so took my self off to the second bedroom and carried on blogging while sat in front of the fan heater. Si didn’t wake till 9am but he didn’t come to bed till nearly midnight. Si started off putting the battery box into the engine bay and gluing this to the swim. This is a regulation but believe me with the weight of those batteries that box is not going anywhere. I attempted to pass the 4 batteries to him but I could hardly lift them. Si obviously struggled as the grunting and groaning coming from the engine room you could have mistaken we were keeping a troll in there.

I started to work out the 12V cabling spurs to drill holes in the through routes. I spent a lot of the day sobbing, with Si coming over for hugs, I think the news about my dad had finally sunk in. Si believed sausage sarnies is a good remedy and he was right. After lunch we walked over to the BW disposal area as Si had filled the toilet to the brim. The 3 of us walked over in the miserable drizzle. On return we managed one panel for the stern bulkhead before Si’s parents turned up. They had not seen the boat since it had been painted, or the bulkheads put up and the panelling. We showed them our makeshift bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. I made a cup of tea for everyone while Chris explained 12v lighting systems to Si, and changed Sandy’s phone to not do predictive text. On their departure a bird had cluster bombed the side of their car, Si came to the rescue with a bottle of water.

We cut another board roughly but it required more shaping and we had promised to be at my parents by dinner time. It was already 6pm, so we decided to pack up, lock up and go. On arrival Nessie was overjoyed I can’t quite say the same for Maisie and Lily. We sat in parents conservatory with their oil filled radiator, they were testing it to see how good it would be for us. None of the other radiators were on and we were extremely impressed, even mother and I where warm (that’s unusual). We had a nice evening, well as nice as it could be with the news my parents had received earlier in the week.

 17 C     0 miles

Surprisingly we both slept well and Si started work before I was even out of bed. I drilled another row of holes for the cable tie mounts before deciding I needed a shower. I walked over to the marina but bumped into several people along the way, so ended up being well over an hour. Si measured the stern and side door to work out the oak trim sizes. We had ordered more oak than Paul required to do the taff rails. Si took himself off to use Paul’s planer to sort the wood, while he was making a racket I managed to phone my sister, my mother and finally my father. On Si’s return he had lovely pieces of oak and I could see another toy he wanted.

Si did the washing up on the back deck, while I pinched two pans off him to start dinner, Sandy’s thankfully donated beef stew and new potatoes. I was about to start when Si’s bite alarm went off, this one took at least 5 minutes to tire out. I ended up helping Si catch the 16lb common carp in the net and took the obligatory photograph. Dinner was fantastic and the smell reminded Si of old camping trips with his family. We went up to the Dockers and I blogged away on the laptop while Si enjoyed watching England play football. We stayed as long as the game and returned back to the boat (home!).

 15 C     40 miles



 

We woke at 8.45 and slowly got our butts into gear. We headed north in the van to Gloucester. We worked out the plan of action as Gloucester isn’t simple enough so that you can drive straight through, you end up having to tackle the different ring roads. Our first stop off was B&Q, Si went in to purchase 22mm hole saws as Screwfix only sold them in sets. We then drove down to the newly built Sainsbury’s, I know it’s sad to be impressed by a supermarket, but it was lovely! Apparently you can even moor at the bottom of its steps, how nifty is that to go by boat to do your food shop. On my return from spending £40 with very little to show I fired up the laptop to check the reviews on circular saws. We had chosen an Erbauer and for the first time it’s not Yellow! See, I told you we go on the reviews and not just the colour. Si did his thing in Screwfix and later returned with a huge box. Next we were going to the hardware shop but I desperately needed a busy, so we stopped off at BK to use their facilities and thought while we are here, lets eat. We pulled up at the hardware store (sorry, I would like to plug them here but can’t remember their name, something like Ernst and Rembrant – hmmm – but really, really helpful – support your local hardware store!) on the Bristol Road and Si went in to pay for the 2 sheets of birch ply, 2/3’s sheet of hexigrip and half a sheet of master board (for the stove). We returned back to the boat for 2pm, unfortunately not a lot more work was going to get done this afternoon.

I had been waiting for my father to call with the results of his MRI scan. To say I was taken aback was an understatement, Si realised the severity of the call as I was now on the back deck sobbing my heart out. My dad told me like it is, that it wasn’t good news and the cancer had spread into his lymph nodes and bones and there is no cure just to try and slow the cancer down. Although I’m 32 years old, to my dad I’m his little girl, and to me he’s my hero, one of a kind and irreplaceable. I’ve always imagined my dad reaching the age of 90 and life suddenly seemed very unfair. Plus, our family is no stranger to the disease, loosing 2 Aunties to breast cancer, my mother has had cancer 3 times. I know at this point my dad would like to tell all those who are reading this blog who are male and over 55 to go to your doctor to get tested for prostate cancer, it’s only a simple blood test. The clinical nurse believes my dad may have had this for the last 10 years. My parents made the phone call to my sister and then drove on down to see us. It was the best idea as they needed to get out of the house and have a distraction. While we were waiting for them to arrive Si took his anger out on 5mm thick steel and I drilled the hell out of the roof battens for the cable tie mounts, these also required a mallet! My folks arrived and I received a huge bear hug from my dad, which set me off again. My parents had a look at the boat and were really impressed with our progress. We chatted for a while, made cups of tea and my parents and I took the 3 girls for a walk. On our return we decided that Penny’s faggots would also be a good remedy, so we arrived at the Dockers within 2 minutes of it opening. After dinner my parents set off for home and we returned back to the cold boat in a sombre mood.

 15 C    35 miles

We returned to Sharpness from Si’s parents around 11.30am. Both of us were feeling very lethargic as neither of us slept well last night. This is unusual because Sandy and Chris’s spare bed is extremely comfortable, maybe we were not used to central heating.

We decided to take advantage of the Dockers 3G signal, so picked up the lap top and were on our way when Molly (Paul the Fitters dog) came out round the corner and went for Nessie. We arrived at the Dockers rather flustered and annoyed. I made use of the time on the internet and managed a pint. On return we mooched around and did bits and bobs Nessie then spotted Daisy, Beth’s dog. She seemed quite up for playing so we let her off the lead. Daisy is three times the size but they played beautifully and you could see their friendship forming. We managed to pretty much waste the afternoon so decided to take Ness for a walk. On the way out we met Eve (Pauls other half), luckily with no dogs, she couldn’t apologise enough. In the Dockers we had the usual faggots and beers, and on return it was straight into bed as it was going to be a cold night. I had left my PJ’s at Si’s parents so my alternative was my purple and pink striped thermals, a suitable choice considering the temperature.

 18 C     35 miles

Mr Moody was no more and Si was back this morning. He had borrowed a circular saw from Richard. So far we have been using the new Dewalt jigsaw and the new Dewalt router, so yes all of our power tools are currently bright yellow. We have learnt that using expensive tools makes a difference. We have had to experiment as the new router is half the weight of Si’s mammoth Titan but it’s also 700W less in power, so it struggled to cut the wood in one go, hence buying the jigsaw. In defense of our yellow power tool collection, we do go onto the Screwfix website and check all the reviews, these are a vital asset to us novices. I do applaud those people who find the time to put reviews on, I always mean to, but normally forget, or can’t be arsed. Yesterday they announced in the news that golf and rugby 7’s would be in the 2016 Olympics, we feel that ply moving should feature in 2020. We went through the stack in the lounge (sorry saloon) and placed them up against the wall, working out between psychedelic and ones that will do and writing their prospective placement on the back. We then moved the bed (sorry lilo!!!!) off to take all of the 18 sheets of 6mm ply through to the saloon. This was so we were able to check the quality of the ply in the bedroom but also our cutting table in the salon was being vastly reduced by us getting the panels on the wall.

The circular saw from Richard was much quicker and safer. Earlier in the week Si had a near miss with his old Titan router, it skipped and took out several chunks of wood only an inch away from his knee. Not to be to graphic but what it managed to do to 12mm ply would have meant down to the bone. We had a renewed respect for power tools, so thought the circular saw might be the answer and it was. How quick? I was struggling to do the little bits in between anymore, as I kept on hearing done…..done…..done.  We made a good team today, as Si was chief cutter and I was his Debbie Maggie. I would measure up the double sockets and drill out, for Si to use the Jigsaw. I also started to put up the first row of cable tie mounts to hold in the 12V cables, when ever the 3.5mm cable arrives. The circular saw had sped us on and we had completed 6 sheets and rectified one mistake. We packed up the boat and locked the stern from the inside and went out the bow doors.

We took Ness for a walk first before getting in the van to head south to Si’s parents. Here we had a fantastic gammon dinner with strawberries for pudding, Si had his first shower in 8 days, yep I just wrote 8. If you know Si personally, give him grief. It became a joke that every time he lifted his arms above his head I started to choke, even Ness joined in occasionally with a dead dog impression. “Look what you’ve done to your dog!”. Anyway he came out of the bathroom a clean person, Ness wasn’t too sure who this stranger was and spent a good 10 minutes sniffing him. At 9.30pm we did the usual and the three of us plus Ness toddled off to the pub, but not for long as it was Sunday licensing.

 
 17 C     0 miles

I awoke with no hangover, unlike Si, and decided a shower was required. On my return and for the rest of today Si’s mood pretty much stayed in the foul part of the mood ohmmeter. This is very much out of the ordinary for Si, but fair enough, this being homeless in a boat that leaks can get to you some times. Normally it’s Si trying to keep my mood up, so just for today I was going to let him be a grumpy man. With all this equipment onboard we were very aware of security, so Si found a padlock fixing to put on the inside of the stern doors.

Paul visited to put the rest of the bolts onto the bow doors, as we had only one due to there being a countrywide shortage of silver chrome bolts. Unfortunately I had started pulling up the floor, as the new draft regulations for stoves decry you should not have anything flammable under the stove. Meaning we need to take up the floor and the bearers. Paul’s catch phrase is ’I wouldn’t do it like that, I’d……’. I suddenly realised in the last year that he has never once complimented us on our efforts. We did find out later in the day it wasn’t only us that felt this way, two of the other self builds often receive the same opening line.

Si bravely tackled the hole for the water tank overflow pipe, this hole is much closer to the waterline. He spent his time working it out as a mistake here was not a wise one. The final placement was perfect, and after a quick hammerite covering, I held the skin fitting on the outside while Si tightened the nut. Si then attempted to drill the first hole for the gas pipe in the bow bulkhead. Unfortunately the 22mm hole saw bit the dust and he only managed a 2mm indentation.  We have started to notice the rust around the boat, from the steel filings that have escaped from being cleaned up. The paint work around the bow is terrible thanks to Paul the Fitters big boots. While Mr Moody worked I kept out of his way by single handed getting the 8x4ft sheets of Kingspan into the boat and cutting to fit the bulkhead gaps. Dinner tonight was supposed to be ‘Chicken Tonight’, unfortunately we had kept the chicken for a week in a travel fridge/cool box that is turned off overnight and when we are out. This propelled Mr Moody, so I had to improvise by suggesting we used the sweet and sour sauce and replaced the chicken with the left over peppers accompanied with rice. Dinner was alright and nothing more. The night ended with an early night and a prayer for the banishment of Mr Moody.   

 15 C     125 miles

The plan was to get up early, why do we bother planning. We finally woke to sort out the Aquafax order, Si unpacked and I ticked off the order form. Its always the way, the parts you need the most they don’t have in stock, these were saddle clamps to pin the gas pipe up every 60cm, fairleads, the horn and more importantly the 3.5mm 12V cable, the one cable that pretty much does the whole boat. We put most of it on the boat and put the valuable stuff in my car. We unloaded the van of our chest of drawers and put our clothes underneath the Big Fish bays. We needed the van clear as today would be a shopping day.

We finally left the yard at 10.30am. The plan was to collect and purchase the items we had ordered on Monday and treat ourselves to a nice lunch. Once again, why do we bother to plan… We set off realising that we didn’t have the address of Sterling Power (the inverter). We had the postcode, from this I went onto the Internet on my phone and managed to get a map that was probably no more than 30 pixels in size. My mobile is rather small and cost all of £40. I only use it for texting and calling…I’ve just realised I sound like I’m in my 60’s! Anyway from the blue, red and green line being displayed I worked out from the road map the rough direction of where in Droitwich we were heading. We arrived with only one missed turning, now that’s what you call a skilled cartographer! Si went in and did the business while I waited outside with Ness who did her business. The next stop was Stourport on Severn for the Chandlers. We had a list of 4 items….toilet, fairleads, horns and lights. While in the chandlers we phoned Aquafax to ask them to cancel the order on fairleads; but Limekiln seemed in the same position as Aquafax with a national shortage of horns. We came out with a Jerry can spout, a sea search magnet, fairleads and a canal magazine, not totally successful. The journey went down hill from there as it seemed we couldn’t get back through Stourport and the diversion seemed to be 10 miles north to Kidderminster. Three miles out we sat in a long queue of traffic, so did an about turn to find another way through. In the end we drove cross country and added at least an extra hour to our journey. It was less of a diversion and more of a road trip!

Lunch had been and gone and time was not on our side so no nice lunch. We drove into Cheltenham for Groves batteries, the vans wheels were nearly splayed by the weight. A very helpful company and we even had to join a queue. Next stop was Gloucester to visit a Hardware store that did a lot more than you thought. We ordered our wood and from there went onto the Plumb Centre. By now we were fading fast and gratefully received the helpfulness of the Plumb Centre lad. We drove back into Gloucester for B&Q. We were travelling more miles but all the other places are trade and shut at 5pm. In desperation we stopped off at Burger King but it was just the energy we needed to get us through the next hour. Si went off alone into B&Q and returned with 3 sheets of King Span to put in between the bulkheads for insulation and sound proofing. Si was not impressed with the staff, on entering the store he couldn’t find a large trolley so asked inside. The reply was, if there’s not one outside the shop you’ll have to find one in the car park. Not sure if this young worker had heard of customer service. By the time we returned to the boat it was now 6.30pm and we had spent 8 hours travelling 125 miles, we could have been by Loch Lomond by now. We arrived at the Dockers earlier than usual but also stayed later to, a decision that one of us would regret tomorrow.

 15 C     0 miles

We were up early this morning due to the delivery of our slimline washing machine. Our slot was between 7-11am. Si received a phone call from the drivers mate as they couldn’t find us. Once through the gate Si and the driver brought the machine onboard, not quite sure what the drivers mates role entailed, he just stood there. The canal was breath taking with mist this morning. It was a vast improvement on the weather and I took the opportunity to pop the outdoor LED lights and smoother them in silicone to try and stop the leaks. We continued with more panelling, managing 3 and a mistake.

We often watch the boats but you always hear them miles before you can see them. The sound of their engines come through the bottom of the boat, it takes a while to get used to. We popped our heads up and I said to Si that the narrow boat turning around look liked it had a Chicken Igloo on top. My eye sight is quite poor but Si confirmed it was, with 3 chickens in the run, that was a first and I’m sure it will be a while before we see that again. For a change we decided to walk up to the Pier View Hotel in Newtown, easily mistaken for Sharpness but you can easily offend a Sharpnesstonian. Ness enjoyed the change of walk, I sat outside while Si went in to order the beer and asked if dogs were welcome as it was a nippy night. It turned out that dogs were not really welcome due to the Landlords two Alsatians taking offence at any other dog in the pub. I had one pint and Si had two but we quickly departed as it was bloody freezing with even Ness shivering. We went back to the boat to cook pasta and meatballs with a few beers and then bed.

  11 C     0 miles   

I was woken at 2am with the sound of gushing water, not a drip a pour! I climbed out of bed to hunt the gush. Water was coming through the hatch and the newly fitted outdoor LED lights but these were only drips. It was only on my return to the bedroom did I see Niagara coming through underneath the bow door. I moved the steps away, finally waking Si. I put a bucket underneath but the pour was the width of the door! We ended up with two buckets, two saucepans and a bowl. We climbed back into bed and Si fell asleep within 10 minutes whilst I stayed awake fretting for another 3 hours. The rain and wind were coming from the north, straight into the newly fitted bow doors. We didn’t wake till 9am but as we’d had a disturbed night I think this is only fair. We assessed the damage and tried to mop up the mess. Si went over to see Paul the fitter to explain that his doors weren’t waterproof. His solution was to silicone everywhere and everything and he was going to create drips for the doors. On inspection we found the LED lights were leaking due to water pouring straight into the two outside ones. We didn’t put them directly under the roof drain, at least 6 inches away but since installing these lights we have found that water doesn’t flow in the direction it should.

The Aquafax order finally arrived, we knew this would be arriving on a pallet and we’d expected to unwrap it and lift stuff off bit by bit. Paul the fitter offered to get the fork lift, Brian now leaves the keys with him, this saved us, and the lorry driver, time. We placed the order underneath the old Big Fish bays and decided to check it later. The weather slowly improved and the stern doors were fully opened. I decided that 4 days of not seeing a shower was my max and took myself off to the marina ablutions block. We walked Ness once again in the dark and I phoned my father for him to look at the Met Office weather for me. Phew….no more rain till Friday night. We ended up in the Dockers and sitting next to Jacquie and Jim. Jim had found the Dockers was the best place for dongle signal…..handy that! We spent the next few hours chatting and learning more about our neighbours.

 14 C     0 miles

I nearly woke Si in the middle of the night, the view outside of the 4ft bedroom window was breathless. The star formations were bright as ever with the moon reflection from the canal shining through, creating amazing patterns on the ceiling. I decided against waking him, as Si’s a heavy sleeper and he’d either not wake up or not remember it in the morning. The day’s weather wasn’t great, it rained the majority of the day, with todays major leak running from the hatch, a shell build design, meaning harder to fix.

The plan to stay at Sharpness all day was to wait for the expensive and rather large order from Aquafax. We made a start on the panelling, first we needed to sort the out ply into two piles, psychedelic patterns and  pleasant to look at. The psychedelic ones will go on the bulkheads and behind the kitchen cabinets. We have been told you race through the lining out process. By the end of the day we had managed 4 sheets with 2 plug sockets, no Aquafax order and the weather was here to stay. We braved the wintry conditions to take Nessie for a walk in full waterproofs, I even had to take my flip flops off for the first time since March. Our head torches illuminated the sheeting rain. We went via the marina toilets and took it in turns to cower next to the building with Ness to briefly escape the rain.

 6 C     16 miles

The mornings are starting to get colder. We did our usual morning routine and started with today’s tasks. Si put on the Navigation lights making sure the green was on the starboard side and the red on the other. I’m still confused why this is; boats are supposed to pass port to port, so surely shouldn’t that would be green to green. Anyway Si put the Satellite box on the external bow bulkhead and we threaded the cable through and down into the steel gulley below the gunwales.

I needed to make lots of phone calls and use the internet, the signal on the boat is useless, so I went up to the bridge to start on my list. I had two insurance companies to phone for quotes because we are not happy with ours. The two companies have been recommended by other people, both were much cheaper, the excess slashed, plus the value amount was taken as £100,000 and personal items were insured…..need I go on. I also tracked down Evesham marina to get a quote for cranage, an extremely reasonable price, half of London prices. It’s roughly 50 miles and 2 days cruising to Evesham. I ordered our 4 domestic batteries from Groves in Cheltenham, very helpful. I found the codes for the shower tray, lights etc. While I was up on the bridge I could look down on the boat and see Si cutting, drilling and filing a dirty big hole in the control tower for the onshore power.

On my return Si unfortunately slipped with the jigsaw across the paintwork and then dropped his file in the canal. So we now need one of those great whacking sea searching magnets. We tried using Si’s fishing net but just stirred the mud up and couldn’t see it anymore, so abandoned Op File Rescue. We were supposed to cook dinner but decided against it, so Si went into Berkley for fish & chips. The sky was clear, meaning an early night due to the temperature plummeting, a stunning view of stars but bloody cold.

 12 C    0 Miles



We were awoken by a large cruiser on the other side of the canal, in all fairness our first alarm had gone off. We didn’t have a great night sleep, I say we, meaning myself and Si. Nessie had a fantastic sleep, on our bed for the whole night. Si and I had no choice in our positions, while Nessie could do curled up, stretched out, on her front or back. Lets just say tonight she will be in her bed, the DOG bed!

Si started the day drilling for the sprung toe steps, outdoor socket, navigation lights, the cabin hooks and the aerial. He had recently bought a new set of HSS drill bits, so he could start with the 2mm and go up to the required hole size, although some of these were for cable, so he would use 11 drill bits to get to the size. Less risk of snapping drill bits but rather tedious changing the bits over. I put in the first session of the final coat on the battery box; in between I was hammeriting any holes Si was creating. At one point I could have mistaken the bow bulkhead for a sieve.

The weather forecast said rain at 4pm but with no sign of it I decided to repaint the bow lockers with black hammerite because they were filthy from the dry dock, plus, as they were not covered they were starting the usual surface rust. I masked up to protect the grey gloss and off I went with my brush. It was nearing 3pm and it was now time for food. We have borrowed mothers sandwich toaster and I was recreating a toasty of mozzarella, chicken and sweet chilli sauce that we’d had back in Easter while surfing with the boys (Dudes!). A warm lunch was a treat especially as the weather is starting to chill in the day, plus an excellent combo. Si continued with more holes for the nav lights but in doing so he stepped into my recently painted bow locker, believe me he received death stares from the devil woman herself!.

We could now start screwing in the chrome accessories. We started bolting in the toe sprung steps, these are nifty devices that allow you a step up onto the roof, but fold away neatly when not in use. The second didn’t go to plan as the bottom hole was slightly misaligned. Si widened the holes but we had to repaint. Now it was the turn of the cabin hooks, we managed to finish these off just before night fall. Today hadn’t gone with out damaging the paint work but the paint is so easily scratched.

We were held up with a chat with Brian.  Earlier in the day we’d been told that the marinas TV aerial had been stolen at 7am that morning. Two unscrupulous characters were seen heading away from the crime scene, one with a tool box and the other with the aerial. The cheek of it is that they walked through the Dockers land, which is full of visiting caravaners, and escaped by boat. I ended up having to lye down as I’d tweaked my back, although I fought through to reheat the bolognaise we had taken out of my mum’s freezer. We walked up to the Dockers, partly for warmth but Si wanted to see if he could watch Match of the Day. We had 3 pints in there before heading home. Si made me a hot water bottle for my back and the only warm place to be was bed. Si joined me later without Nessie, she was told to go to the DOG bed and she did, with no fuss.

 14 C (blooming windy)     55 Miles

This morning was slow paced although we did have lots to do, the washing, banking, ordering stuff etc. We had another of father’s breakfasts and were on our way at 2pm. We went into Gloucester to Sainsbury’s for food for the next few days and may have over done it on the sweets. From there we went to Screwfix although out of the £170 we ordered they only had one item, so the rest will be delivered on Monday. Once at the boat we loaded up with the food we’d bought plus all our the other essential homelessness stuff. We sat and made more lists, especially the one for the engine fitter with what we are not happy with. This is another battle we have to face, nothing’s ever simple! As I needed the loo we took Nessie for a walk across the marina and then round the footpaths. On our return we did the washing up, I started blogging and Si started the Chinese sweet and sour dinner, washed down with a few alcoholic beverages.

 

 16 C     55 Miles

We were awake early this morning as our next door neighbours were having their sofa delivered at 7am. We weren’t too bothered as this is the normal time our alarms go off. Si got on the bow deck looking at drilling yet more holes while I made a phone call to Shepperton Marina as Barry Tuckey had suggested them for a crane in to the water. I was pleasantly supplied that they could lift our weight plus the lad I spoke to was so helpful. With this positive news I was on a mission, via the marina toilets. On the way back I bought a British Waterways key and had a long chat with Neil. He showed me around his boat, I asked loads of questions and he gave me loads of info. He also had 11 metres of Artic cable he didn’t need anymore. On my return Si had drilled loads of holes for the satellite box and an outdoor socket, he’d thought I’d fallen down the loo as I’d been so long. With the new bit of cabling I finished the ports side spur.

Si finished his holes so made a start on brunch, a sausage sarnie. I continued to clip in the 240v after out breakfast / lunch and it wasn’t long before we had packed up the van to head to Sharpness Shipyard then onto Gloucester and finally my folks. We drove down to one of the last gates before you hit the river. We parked up and headed to the offices. We walked past the dry dock, not quite like A&D marine. If you multiply A&D’s drydock by 1000 you may come close to the sheer size. The boat, sorry ship, in there was easily 400ft long. The men working on her looked dressed for an oil rig. We told the receptionist our predicament and she phoned for Will to come and talk to us. We are too heavy for their crane but they can hire one in for a good rate, in the region of £1250. He though he may have a few more people interested in sharing the lift which could reduce the cost. Will would be in contact once he knew more.

We headed into Gloucester to A & D marine to pick up a few more bits and more screws. Ann & Graham were there so we had a chat and asked about our damaged paint work. They were under the illusion it wasn’t that bad, but we told them it was back to steel. We climbed back into the van and drove further into Gloucester to an Aerial shop because the satellite cable supplied isn’t long enough. We were now too late for the plumb centre so headed straight for Milton Under Wychwood. On arrival my mother had had a very bad day, it wasn’t long till my father came home having had an equally bad day so Si and I escaped to buy pizza. My mother had a WI committee meeting so quickly ate her dinner and was off, leaving the 3 of us and the 3 dogs.

We sat in the conservatory listening to my dad’s RAF stories about working on the Lightning’s but, unfortunately, also to teenagers on the playing fields F-this C-that. On my mothers return we decided we were going to head to the local pub. We had a couple of pints in the pub where we were briefly joined by the parish councillor Jeff. My father told Jeff his news, he’s been diagnosed with prostate cancer, we are still waiting for scans to see if it has gone any further. My dad is being very pragmatic about the situation but it does feel unfair with my mother having had cancer 3 times. We all enjoyed the beers but as we were leaving the pub it emptied, apparently there were 4 police cars and a riot van on the playing field. We walked home to count in total 9 police cars and the police sweeping the playing field, plus loads of teenagers who were a little worse for wheres. The number of teenagers was unusual for Milton but the 9 police cars definitely has to be a record. We arrived home to tell my mum the latest news. It wasn’t long before we were in bed……..our bed!

 16 C     5 Miles

At 3am Ness decided she was too cold for her bed, so ended up sleeping with us, luckily she is small enough not to be too much of a bother. Our phone alarms went off at the usual times; this is a good, but evil method of getting our bed back from Ness as she’s now decided she’s scared of our phones. I made a start on another coat of hammerite on the battery box, it is quite relaxing and not at all taxing but this has it’s dangerous side as my brain races. In my head I was writing letters to the head of the business school of Gloucestershire University where Jonathan Mills is now employed as a senior lecturer, and the other to Gordon Brown. We do feel that limited companies can go down the pan, people lose money and the response is almost, “never mind dear – there there”. We lost £20,000, that still have to pay back, Jonathan Mills will never pay us a penny. We are still waiting for the report from the liquidation company but we already know we paid Jonathan £11,000 the day before he sent our engine back that we had paid for. So we all ready know where he stands on honesty. Anyway, the letter would be outlining to Gordon Brown our predicament, and that it is criminal how directors of limited companies walk away leaving a mess that we will be paying for, for the next 15 years. The other letter would be asking Gloucester University how they think it is ethical to employ a man with a shady business history. Obviously I have to be very careful due to liable but nothing I am saying isn’t true.

Eventually I finished painting the battery box to return onto the boat to see Si tightening up the window clamps and putting new ones in that we had found in the last few days. I placed the back deck LED lights into their new homes and it wasn’t long after that that Tim came over with his laptop to go through our order for Aquafax and other suppliers. He had re-done the drawings for us and a list of what we had to do for him. Basically we are laying the electrics, the gas, the plumbing and he is checking it and doing the connections. Tim was going to process the order that night and we would phone up and pay for it tomorrow, easily £2500. When Tim had left us I continued painting another coat on the battery box and this time writing to all heads of states (joking). Si was inside the boat wiring up the led lights, these lights can either be 12v or 240v, but he kept the 240v plug on them just to check they were working probably. We decided to wait until night fall before testing them out. I created more lists, we now have three separate lists, all on pieces of celotex. The first is a floor to ceiling list and this is the ‘to do list’, smaller pieces of celotex are the ‘shopping list’ and the ‘speak to list’.

Si drove into Berkley with Ness to the Co-Op for more supplies while I did the washing up on the back deck. Next door had Ben the ex Big Fish electrician over to give guidance on their boiler. Jackie came out and said it was getting all too technical but what she did know was the hot came out the cold tap and vice versa. On the upside if that happens to us we only have ourselves to blame. On Si’s return Si started dinner, meatballs and pasta, although his meatballs had to be given the prize for the cutest as he’d cut up the left over sausages and used the meat to create the little tiny meatballs. While he was on ‘Master Chef goes camping’ I sat on the lap top writing blogs and stealing Wi Fi - no idea where from. It wasn’t a great signal and often intermittent but the only thing our dongle usually picks up is dust!

After dinner we had the grand LED ceremony, I stood outside while Si was inside with the plug. He announced ‘I formerly name this boat and all who sails on her……MUPPETS’! Blue!!! We both rushed inside hunting for the box to prove B&Q had been the muppets by putting a blue pack in a white box, unfortunately we were the muppets. The box said blue but in our favour the picture did look like the LED’s were white. We stood on the back deck and admired the 3 out of 4 working and tried to convince ourselves blue was the future. It does match our flowers, plus at night you can’t see our boat is grey, so no clashes there. The rest of the evening was spent with Si playing with his new dowelling set and I continued to blog till bed time.

 19 C     0 miles

I had woken up in the middle of the night remembering two 12V appliances I had forgotten on Tim’s list. We were up and about much earlier today and started work before 9am but even then Richard across the yard still puts us to shame. He’s a DIYer fit out and he’s working before 8 am and still going when we’ve been packed up for 4 hours. It’s at this point I realise it was a good job I’m not a slave as I’d be quite useless, well, probably more dead, as I need a good 8 hours sleep to be able to work 9 hours. I walked over to the marina ablutions block as I needed a shower as this was day four without, plus I couldn’t use the porta loo as Si’s last wee had put the toilet to bursting point. On my return the 3 of us walked over to the area to empty our over flowing loo. If Si was a gentleman he would have let me have the last wee! Anyway, we returned lighter and started on the inspection hatch and painting the gas locker. I also painted the led holes with two coats of hammerite to prevent unwanted rust and believe me, this baby can rust. I also ended up vandalising the hatch runners as we had stupidly left masking tape on them to stop the overflow of glue. The problem being we had left it on for nearly two weeks and peeling it off took the paint work with it. I tried to soak them in water but it didn’t make a difference apart from taking 4 times as long to take it off as it now came off in little bits. We have now been told it takes at least a couple of months for the paint to harden. The paint job is certainly not good around the gas locker, it’s already peeling off, we will need to get Ann & Graham to have a look.

We attempted to put a back deck led light through but realised it didn’t have any grip as they are used to going into wooden decking, so we created circular pieces of wood for them to squeeze into. As we were doing this Martin and Emma (the professional crew) appeared on the back deck. We asked if they were all right they replied with ‘Well we are’… Basically the Bristol lock is shut, opening one day…..this Saturday. We had a chat on different options but because we are too wide there is no other route apart from craning. We were trying to avoid this option due to the expense. After Martin and Emma disappeared I rang a cranage and transportation company and Si rang the lock master to try and get a few more dates. Neither of the people we wanted were there so we returned to work rather gloomy. I attached the 4 rings of wood with Sikaflex to steel but not before I placed them on my bonnet turning my Toyota into an Audi. It’s a running joke that I’ve been hit twice at the same roundabout by Audi’s. The first time an A3 the second an A8, so our in joke is ‘The car in front is a Toyota, the car up the rear is an Audi’. Si created a bow locker template out of card preliminary and then upgraded it to ply, the final stage will be hexigrip ply. We had hoped we’d only need half a sheet and at the cost of £40 per sheet we thought this was quite steep. In actual fact we do need over 5 feet but we are still going to see if we can beg off a few people first. The next time I got off the boat there was a wooden box left on the side, I presumed it was from Tim so we could make measurements to make our own battery box. Tim came over and said we could have it as it was going spare, although it did mean we will only have 4 domestic batteries than the 5 we were originally going to have, considering we intend to be on hook up 95% of the time this shouldn’t be a problem. The box needed a little TLC with sanding and painting. Si started the sanding and I continued with painting it with hammerite, silver to match the engine bay. The Screwfix man turned up delivering the rest of the items they did not have in stock yesterday. Si spent the next 10 minutes feeling up his new router.

Dinner was bacon mixed in with pasta and a tomato sauce cooked on the double camping stove (my 30^th birthday present from my old landlady Lucy). We had stopped using it camping as it was far too heavy to carry for a weekend trip but it is certainly coming into its own on the boat. After dinner we avoided the washing up and went for a walk to the Dockers. We told the locals our dilemma due to Bristol lock being shut and they thought Sharpness Docks could lift us. I also received a phone call from Barry Tuckey himself at 10pm to talk costs for craning and transportation. It boils down to the fact that transportation isn’t the expensive part, it’s the cranes; which we knew anyway. Barry was saying if we could get craned out and in with established cranes it would be much cheaper. The places he thought would be Evesham this end and Watford or Shepperton the other. We stayed for 4 pints and drifted back to the boat, where I did my usual trick……..bed!

  20 C     35 miles

This morning was not as early as yesterday, getting up early didn’t last long! We slowly mooched around and eventually got on the way to Gloucester at 11.30am. The journey was a slow affair due to Sunday drivers confusing their days of the week. We stopped off at Tesco express to pick up supplies and then onto B&Q to return a mortise lock we had purchased for the bow doors; Paul used one of his as ours wouldn’t have fitted. While Si was in B&Q I used the time to get on the internet whilst we had a signal. From there we drove to the other side of Gloucester to Screwfix, here we needed to return deck lights we had purchased ages ago but didn’t like the look of  - the problem with catalogue buying. Si also purchased a new router, much lighter and yellow…..another Dewalt bit of kit. While Si was waiting for the order to be collated he nipped across to Howdens (Kitchen and flooring specialist) and returned with loads of brochures and catalogues, in other words our form of porn! Back at the boat Si attempted to use the new 32mm drill bit just purchased to finish drilling the holes for the LED lights. Unfortunately he managed to break this but luckily after getting through the 3^rd hole. We worked out he was going too fast, with no lubrication, through the steel, thus ending up with the heat snapping and bending the teeth. So for the fourth hole we decided to use the 35mm drill piece as it was 1.5mm larger either side….a fraction. The new method of slow and oiled worked.

While Si was putting holes in the boat I was continuing the port side 240v spur as I had a replenished stock of clips. There was a knock at the door and Martin and Emma introduced themselves. These were the guys Brian had put us in contact with to crew our boat back to London. We had a chat, the price was extremely reasonable and both were wearing flip flops (always a sign of good characters). There was only one problem that they had found out, that day Bristol lock was shutting for maintenance and would only open intermittently. Martin said he would try and get concrete dates of when the lock will be open. Shortly after this I ran out of 240 cable, we only need 8 more metres, typically Screwfix sell it in 50m rolls.  Tim Davis (our new man) turned up to talk and talk we did, nearly 3 hours of it. Tim is getting us to do the ground (grunt) work and he will be connecting the electrics, gas and heating. Neil in the yard with us used to work with him and are good mates, plus he comes recommended from other people. If you can image a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall of the boating world, you have your man. Even similar curly long locks! Tim drew many a diagram and explained the ins and outs of an inverter, calorifier etc. He did this in a very simplistic, comprehensive manner that is hard to come by in the boating world. Once he said my 240v cable laying was up to scratch and we let him escape we made a start on dinner. The plan was to barbecue chicken kebabs on a disposable barbecue, this didn’t quite go to plan. The first being that next door rushed out thinking we were on fire, the second being I had just put 2 kebabs on when Si’s fishing bite alarms went off. He ran through the boat like a mad man, scarring Nessie (now every time she hears the alarm she cowers). He jumped from the shore onto the back deck like a mad man and then grappled the fish out of the reeds. I offered my assistance in passing the net and taking the photo’s, as it was his first fish in a year (I shouldn’t drop it in that I caught mine months ago with a Heath Robinson fishing rod). Ness stood horrified at the back deck while watching a 15lb Mirror Carp flap around on the back deck, with Si pulling out a hook with a pair of pliers. Once the fish was back in the water we carried on with dinner only to be interrupted 10 minutes later by a bream, at least we had all 4 kebabs on the barbecue this time.  The barbecue became more than useless, I’ve felt hotter drill bits, so we had to take the chicken off the kebab sticks and into the pan. Dinner was served with Thai rice and pita.

After dinner I made a start washing up in the dark on the back deck, we tried to find our head torches but couldn’t so whether I washed up properly was a gamble. That evening we sat and worked out the 12V appliance list for Tim to create our 12V panel. We were then supposed to be going through Tim’s Aquafax catalogue but I wimped out and went to bed.

 19 C      0 miles

We woke early but by the time I had nagged Si enough to get up, we were out of bed by 8am. A good start to our month off work, lets just see if we can keep it up. The plan was to go into Gloucester to go to B&Q and Screwfix. We made a start on the 240v, finishing the placement of the starboard spur. It was rather annoying we wouldn’t end up with enough cable at the stern end, so we’d have to feed another 10 feet through the bulkheads. As we were doing this, Paul grabbed Si to help him lift our new bow doors onto the boat. It was easier for them to walk onto the roof and down into the bow. Paul screwed, packed and siliconed them in place. Once they were in he was going to start on the template for the taff rail (handle rail on the back deck for non boaters). To do this it would have been easier to swing the boat around. We asked for Paul’s assistance to rope her round, as there was no wind he said we needed to fire up the engine. There was a little communication issue, as we thought he was coming aboard to help us. Before we knew it, he had undone the ropes and we were off with Paul on the bank. We did manage to turn it around and both were impressed with the turning circle she achieved. Although in usual Si fashion, he was heading to the bank too fast and in a usual Jacq fashion I was shouting reverse HARD! Luckily or not so luckily Richard was there to push the bow from hitting the bank with his feet, no so lucky for September Air’s paintwork. Afterwards Si and I discussed and he said 3mph doesn’t seem that fast, what I think he is forgetting is 3mph steel hitting corrugated steel bank is toooooooooooo fast! Next time I’ll video it for him.

After that drama was over Paul was on and off with his template, I was now fixing the 240v spur into its final place by using cable clips. Si was using his router to create air flows through the battens below the vents, although the vents are on the back deck, we have to use them for lower cabin air ventilation. In between all this, Ness discovered that beautiful swans can be vicious, Nessie was minding her own business (get it!) on the back deck when mum swan and 4 signets came to the boat for food. Mum was really hissing at Ness, I jumped up on the back deck to tell them that they had invited themselves and told them to go away. As I did this the signets made a definite giggling sound. Mother had her last hiss and as the 4 little ones left, one by one they all made a noise, like they were saying “Later”!!!! The 240v was in place on the starboard side, so we now made an attempt to put in another inspection hatch under the stairs, because our washing machine is now going over the first hatch we created. This was going to be a guessing game as we wanted to take out just one brick. The problem was we had no idea where the bricks were as they were covered by celotex and ply. We used a circular hole saw and took a chance, typically we were in the exact centre of a brick. We poked around with a screwdriver and found a line, from there we created a puzzle and eventually had one whole brick exposed. Si used a jigsaw to cut a rectangle and then the router to neaten it up. The only problem left was how to get the brick out as it was securely wedged between the other bricks. Eureka! We glued a batten to the brick and would leave it over night.

We then decided to have our first meal out, so we shut the boat up. On leaving we realised Paul had put the lock on the wrong bow door, hence us not being able to use the keys. We walked Ness around the old Docks before arriving at the pub. It was a mild evening, so Ness & I sat outside, I placed my order for food with Si (faggots, or curry if they had run out). Si returned a few moments later with a couple of pints and bad news, food was off! Jim and Penny were away and there was no food till Friday. Plan B was fish and chips from Berkeley, we drove into the village and collected our dinner. It wasn’t a late night, just a few more bottles of beer then bed.

 18 C     248 miles (The Dub & Ogya)

Friday was to be our last day of work for a month, it did feel strange to think we won’t see our friends for a month. We started packing Friday night after work, nothing like leaving it to the last minute. In our defence the flat was too small to put the boxes in! The push came on Saturday morning to pack and clean. We were struggling to fit everything in the van and the car but with a little creative packing we managed it. Si took on the task of cleaning the VLB (The Vile Little Bathroom). The only reason I didn’t get that job is my chest still isn’t great and cleaning up mould isn’t the wisest of ideas. Although saying that I did end up cleaning mould, it was every where. We were most surprised to see it on the back of the bed head, no wonder I still have trouble when I’m sleeping there! Anyway, we left the flat immaculate, that’s the training from being a military child marching out, my parents would be proud! Si dropped off the keys to the estate agents and we were off.

I followed Si as neither of us had any power in our vehicles. I had Ness in the front seat, although it’s a good job I knew where I was going as my navigator was fast asleep by the end of our road. We will miss the street as it does have a fantastic community spirit, it was just a shame the flat was so damp and mouldy. On arrival at my folks we unpacked straight away as my dad had made some room in the garage. We had a fantastic evening with one of my mum’s stew’s with local pig (Hartley’s Farm). We took the morning at a leisurely pace while my parents were at church, on their return Papa cooked one of his mean breakfasts with the addition of croissants. We finally made a move and arrived at the boat for 2.30pm.

We unloaded and sorted out the boat for the next couple of hours. We had a long chat with our new next door neighbours, who we didn’t expect - but neither did they. Jackie and Jim, who are Ex Simpsons and Ex Big Fish with Steve Potts finishing off their boat. Their plan is to live aboard and cruise around the UK for the next couple of years and eventually France. We had a tour of their boat which emphasised that we have a long way to go! For dinner we reheated the bolognaise I had made earlier that morning at parents. Ness became the most unwanted pet by not going busy outside, but coming in and peeing on our bed and my PJ’s. It is so out of character, we are putting it down to the stress of homelessness. Eventually we forgave Ness and took her for a walk so we could see the Severn bridges lit up in all their glory. On the return we both needed the toilet and decided the Dockers was a much closer and a more sociable option. On return to base camp it didn’t take long to get in our bed for the next 4 weeks.

 

 20 C      173 miles

The morning was very slow and chilled, we’re building up our energy for the next 4 weeks effort. Si cooked us sausage baps for breakfast and it almost felt like we had a home in the country. We gathered our belongings, although we had turned my parents dining room into a storage facility……sorry!

Once again we went via Gloucester’s retail park for more bits from B & Q and to collect the hoover that I had ordered on Comets internet reserve and collect facility. We are now the proud owner of a Henry with a turbo boost button! Unfortunately they didn’t have a 32mm hole drill. Another job only half done! I stayed with Ness as it was too hot to lock her in the van. Arriving at the boat, Richard came out to chat and invited us into his boat. It was really useful and gave us a few more ideas. We finally started work at 4pm, I know!

The boat is filthy, the dust from the docks gets everywhere and whilst all that wildlife is lovely, the birds still need to go to the loo! Just wish they didn’t think our boat had a target on the roof, so I attempted to clean it. This put me in a foul mood because the hosepipe isn’t long enough, and we had stupidly bought a loose hosepipe rather than one on a reel. To top that off, Si was in a foul mood too. Whilst getting the hosepipe from the bow locker Si had seen the huge chips on the brand spanking new paint work. Back to the steel and rusting in some places. We know who the perpetrator is and he has apologised and had a word with our painter to get it sorted… Still, we weren’t amused.

Si started the 240v cabling. We’ve had the blue artic cable for months and are only just doing something with it now, a common story with us. Anyway we discussed and started from the bedroom bulkhead, we drilled holes through the wall carcasing and started feeding the cable through. About an hour later we unthreaded it all, as we realised we needed to start with the roll at the other end. Then we realised we didn’t know if the Alde water boiler needed its own dedicated 240v cable so left the cabling there. It was a bit late to text/phone the surveyor. This prompted yet more discussions on where everything is going. We think we’ve made our decisions this time… Though we’re not sure that our beautiful sofa that we’ve had for 18 months in my parents spare room will now fit! The nights are seriously drawing in so it was dark at 8pm when we packed up for the lovely M4 and home. Next time we’re at the boat it’ll be for 4 weeks to really break the back of the work. Obviously we’ll be taking breaks to visit parents for home cooked food and to do our washing!

 

 21 C     175 miles

Last night we drove up to my parents via the M25 & M40, we were pleasantly surprised to be able to do this and not get caught in traffic on a Friday night. We arrived and Nessie’s name was immediately changed to bald’ness. The poor dog went to the groomers on Thursday, let’s just say we will not be going there again. We asked for half an inch to be left and she returned scalped. Also, due to her being in season, this didn’t make for a happy dog. Luckily being at my parents cheered her up no end. We had a nice goulash dinner and the classic Viennetta. Si and I fell asleep on the sofa together and we were instructed to go to bed. It had been an extremely stressful week and we know this will carry on for a few more weeks. Nothing’s ever simple when building a boat!

While I was in the shower Si unloaded the latest of our belongings to be stored in Oxfordshire. Saturday, we left the house late, 11am, and went to the boat via B & Q, Comet and Argos. We were on the hunt for door furniture, kettle and a hoover. We came out with 2 door locks and a kettle from Argos. We were both excited with the kettle, Si was in desperate need of an upgrade from his dribbling travel kettle, especially with the intended 4 week stay coming up. I don’t use the kettle that often, but it’s lovely and chrome and has a blue light. It only draws 1800w so will be fine for use on the boat. Believe me when you’ve been desperate for your own kitchen again, for me nearly 3 years, you do get excited about kitchen items. We eventually arrived at the boat and once we started work it was quite late in the afternoon. Si set up his fishing rods and got excited with a large movement on the surface of the water. I have to say I thought it was going to be a large carp, but no a SNAKE!!!!!!!! Two feet long, swimming up to the boat and then underneath. You get to see loads of different wildlife at Sharpness but a snake wasn’t one on my lists of wants! I took a few photographs while we stood on the roof trying to work out whether it was a grass or adder. Luckily it was a grass snake. We made an attempt at drilling the holes for the LED outdoor lights. The idea is for then to be an inch off the back deck, 2 either side to illuminate the floor for safety. Although it states they are 12V, they are really mains 240V. I cut out round pieces of cardboard and using blue-tack attempted a few different layouts. Once a decision had been made, Si drilled the pilot holes and he was off. On hole no 3, the 32mm hole drill snapped, so that was that, till we visit Screwfix again. The light was starting to fade, so we decided to pack up and head to parents although my parents were away caravanning. We used and abused their oven and had a nice relaxing evening. 

Today I had an interesting chat with HMI, they are one of Isuzu’s distributors in the UK, to see what happened to our original engine. Our situation seems to be different to Mrs Collins. Her engine never returned to HMI and is now in another boat. It looks really dodgy but she may at least have a chance of getting it back. Us on the other hand......our engine was purchased on 7th April 2008 and wait for it.......returned to HMI for a credit note on the 1st August 2008, days before Simpsons went into administration. Simpsons/Big Fish asked us for another staged payment in late July. How’s that for fraud? All the anger has come back. We are still waiting for the report from the liquidation company to the level of fraud and to which company was involved?

 19 C     124 miles

I awoke several hours before Si, so took advantage of blog writing. It had been a chilly night, the day had been like summer but we now knew we were on the approach into Autumn, with the damp air and the chill on your head in our sleeping bags. Once Si was up and had had his morning cuppa, he was off with the drill screwing in angle braces. I persuaded him to swap so he could make breakfast…..bacon butties, he agreed and I took over screwing, just as my breakfast was ready I had screwed in the last brace. After breakfast we set to squaring up the bulkheads and securing them to the roof battens. With a bit of jiggery-pokery we got them right. It’s unnerving really because the weight of the boat is always to the rear so the floor tilts towards the back. This is something to remember when installing the kitchen sink and draining board! Get it wrong and the draining board won’t drain into the sink!

We had a look at the LED outdoor lights we had bought a few weeks ago, typically it wasn’t as simple as drilling holes and plugging them in. In the end we decided to create a list of things that needed doing and see what we could do today. The list consisted of 14 jobs, I started working out equal distribution and numbers of window clamps. By using all of the clamps it worked out 10 per porthole, 16 per 3ft and 18 for the 4ft windows. Si did intend to screw the hatch runners but decided Sikaflex (marine glue) would do the trick. We placed a blanket on the roof to pull the whole hatch onto but realised we could glue in two stages. Unfortunately pulling it back we exposed an area that had not been painted, the part that you wouldn’t see unless you took the hatch off. But, as we are learning fast, steel needs protection so it was time for the Hammerite. While Si used a wire brush and masking taped the area, I cleaned a piece of filthy 2 inch pipe for the water tank inlet. We have been struggling to find 2 inch flexible pipe without buying it in 30 metre rolls. While at A & D Marine we mentioned this to Matt and he came out with a piece of very dirty exhaust pipe, exactly the right diameter! We cut what we required and it was now time for a clean, so I put it in a bucket of fairy liquid, gave it a good scrub and left it in the sunshine to dry. I prepared the paint and it took all of 3 minutes to paint the exposed hatched area. Brian came over for a chat, we talked more about Mrs Collins’s boat and he gave me the number for a chap at the engine company he had spoken to about the disappearance of her engine and suggested we should do the same.

While we were waiting for the paint to dry we had a go at getting the 2 inch pipe onto the inlet pipe to the tank, there was no way it was going to fit on, even when we tipped the tank forwards. The only option was to squeeze it through the deck hole. Mr Muscles went onto the bow deck and sure enough he managed to get it through the hole and straight onto the inlet. I painted a second coat of Hammerite onto the hatch runners. We now started collecting together our many belongings and the extra’s that we will take to parents next week to clear a little of the boat to move into. Maybe I haven’t mentioned the plan, but we are taking a month off work to do as much as we can because we are homeless in less than 2 weeks. We know the boat isn’t going to be completed but as long as it has running water, heating and electrics we will be fine. It does mean we won’t have time to cruise her back as well though. We have looked into the prices of cranes either end and transportation on a lorry, the price is looking anywhere up to £5000. Brian had mentioned to us that it might be cheaper to hire a professional crew (or him and a mate!), definitely something to think about.

Back to the day: we stuck half the hatch runners down and while the glue was setting we took Ness for a short walk, being very wary of other male dogs wanting to do The Devils Deed to our little girl. The real reason for the walk was to empty the porta-potti. It hadn’t been emptied for 5 weeks and the stench just lifting the lid was indescribable in a blog, I would require a smelling blog. Let’s just say it was bad enough to make you retch……Okay, you get the picture!!!! We walked over to the sanitary disposal station and then realised we required a key, so I walked back to Brian’s for it. Si had the job of pouring it away, he lit a fag hoping the smoke would mask the stench. On returning with a lighter toilet, we locked the boat up, being careful pulling the hatch shut not to move the hatch runners and were on our way home, arriving at “O Great” o’clock…10:30pm.

 21 C     135 miles

We arrived last night at my parents just in time for Chinese. We chose a peculiar route to try and avoid the rest of London leaving on a Friday night. We went M3, A322, M4, A34, A415, A40, took us 1¾hrs. After dinner both Si and I fell asleep on the sofa and my parents thought it would be a good idea to go to bed. Due to an early night, I was up at 7.30am and Si slept in for another hour. We unloaded the van with the start of our possessions as we are moving out of the flat 2 weeks today. We put some in the garage and some under our bed. We sat and chatted for a while and it gave more time for Ness in garden, she’s banned from walks because she’s come into season. Typical really as we have just found a fantastic dog walker and we’ve had to cancel her. Hopefully they will be reunited soon.

We left at 10am with my parents and Nana waving us off at the front door. My father did make the comment that I’ll probably be writing that they were still in their dressing gowns. I won’t make a comment on that, I’ll just say the only one dressed and showered was my soon to be 90 year old grandmother. Also when I went to kiss them good by I had to fight through the cob webs on the front porch. I’m in trouble now!!! Anyway, we went to Screwfix first in Gloucester and then onto Travis Perkins for timber. Although we were completely unaware that they shut at 12pm, Si cut the wood we needed while I put it in the van to hurry up the process to stop us being locked in. We eventually arrived at the boat, Ann & Graham were there painting primer on Mrs Collins’s boat. Ann made Si a cup of tea and we had a chat. We then chatted to Paul and then Brian eventually starting work at 2.30pm. The plan today was to do more of the bulkheads. We made a start trying to straighten up the first bulkhead that we’d built; we came up with a method and re-screwed the frame in place. Now onto the other bulkheads, we worked as a team and seemed to be making good progress. Although walking into the edge of a sash clamp also made a visible lump and bruise on my forehead.

We decided to have a quick break, so sat on the roof playing draughts with sweets on our painted decorative draughts/chess board, (see the photo’s!) a good improvisation plus you get to eat what you win! While we were playing Beth came over and sat down for a chat, we agreed that Sharpness marina was a lovely place but with everyone being so friendly and chatty you struggle to get any work done! With the light starting to fade, forcing us to put our lights on, we realised that it was 7.30pm and should really make a start on dinner. Meaning business we had brought my big stove (a 30^th birthday present from Lucy) 2 burners and even a grill! This worked out perfectly as we had Bhuna curry and grilled naan bread. The dinner was washed down with a few beers and chatting. By 10 pm I was bushed so I went to bed while Si stayed up for a few while fishing.

 
 21 C     124 miles

We awoke for 8am and slowly started to pack our belongings into the van. We took the rude comments from the lads about our pink boat, phoned our bosses and then we were on our way home. We finally arrived at work for 1.30pm.

 21 C     51 miles

We were expecting Matt to disturb our sleep at 4am, as he was also behind schedule fitting an engine into the boat next to us. Luckily he didn’t arrive till 7am but I still didn’t sleep great. The dry dock isn’t the nicest of places to stay and I’m happy that this was our only night. We asked Matt what happened to the 4am start and he asked us if we minded going out at lunch time. We still had a long list of things to do, so this fitted in perfectly with us. The original time was 8.30am, on Saturday this had changed to 10.30am and now to 1pm. In the next 5 hours Si went to Sharpness to collect the trade plates and diesel funnel from Paul, we filled the tank with diesel, re filled the jerry can, checked the engine, angle grinded 2 portholes, put the 2 port holes in and it was now 12.30pm.

Matt started to fill the dock, while we went to settle our bill with A & D Marine….let’s just say a lot of money but we knew it was coming! We both jumped aboard, put on Nessies life jacket, much to her disapproval. Matt also jumped aboard to help Si steer the boat round, as we were pulling out of the dry dock I was walking through the cabin. I heard Matt shout at the guy who was supposed to be directing out the bow and then bang, scrape! I caught the bow rope not wanting to look at the damage. Matt set us up in line with another boat and told us to keep her straight, as he jumped off ours onto another moored boat. Very James Bond although we were only going at 4mph but still very impressive! The weather was windy and dull with the occasional strong gust, perfect for us novices and just the two of us. We admitted to each other we both felt physically sick with nerves. We managed to go under the first 3 bridges but then the fun and games start. We passed through one bridge and the keeper said you may have a wait at the next one as they’ve got divers repairing the bridge. Damn, what was worse? We may have to pull over, or the fact that someone was going to see my blacking with bits of roller in the paintwork! We approached the next bridge with caution, through the binoculars we could see the bridge was open but the light remained on red and there were lots of people leaning over the water. So here went our first stop, I went to the bow armed with rope, mooring pin and mallet. From the course Rod told us you can not tell the driver what to do, you can only assist with information (apparently this stops arguments). As we approached the gap I tried to let Si know the distance till we collided in feet. This wasn’t the best idea as I don’t use feet but he doesn’t use metres. We did approach a little too fast and I did shout reverse, we did bump the side slightly but luckily it hit the black, not the new paint work.

We moored up and I went off down the tow path to find out what was happening. Eventually I spotted a British Waterways shirt and asked the lady wearing it, she apologised for not seeing us and said we could go through now as the divers were taking their lunch now…..phew, they won’t see the hull then! As I walked back, I phoned Si to tell him what was happening, I was a little shocked when Shufty answered the phone. Luckily I wasn’t blonde enough to ask him why he was on the boat but realised I had phoned Si’s work number instead of his mobile. I did get hold of Si in the end to let him know. We set off in the Rod style rather than the text book method…push the bow off first and we were away. We passed the first bridge and 50 metres on another bridge, where we saw a familiar face, Papa. We started to feel a little more confident and the weather was improving to be a nice day. We passed Ann & Grahams old and new boat, though no one was home, then we passed Izzadora’s boat, so we shouted for her. Izzy popped her head through her hatch and said “nice colour, good you went for pink” and said she’d lost our numbers. At the next bridge all three of my family were there Nana, Mama and Papa. I shouted to them if they could walk up the tow path to the pink and turquoise boat to give Izzy our numbers. My dad walked up, so we missed them at the next few bridges. We were starting to relax now, enough to be able to eat and were now starting to really enjoy the cruise. We were cruising past fantastic scenery and several people commented on how beautiful our boat was, one guy even ran out onto his back deck to let us know. We took it in turns to cruise her but I did let Si take her through the bridges whilst we worked out a method of measurement. Going through the bridges I would check both sides and let him know a proportion out of 10, for example 6 on port and 4 on starboard.

I was steering as we approached Sharpness and Si checked out the mooring through the bino’s….to his horror there was a welcoming party of seven! We were going to turn her around to moor upstream but decided it wasn’t worth the embarrassment, so decided to take her in straight. I kept on saying to Si, slow her down to a near stop, as I feel he still goes in too fast. Just as we passed the marina entrance we saw my dad on the tow path side taking photo’s, I gave a nervous wave and then concentrated on coming in. When I heard Brian make the comment they’re coming in a little too fast I shouted at Si “REVERSE”. We were lucky as if it hadn’t been for Richard, Brian and Paul we would have hit the side quite hard and because it is 2 feet higher than the gunnels we would have made quite a mess of the paint work. The problem being that because Si is almost 60 feet away, he doesn’t see the speed as much as if you standing on the bow with the side approaching very fast! It is something we need to practice! Brian, Paul and Richard helped to tie us up, although Si had left her just ticking over forwards, he was promptly reminded and went back to put her in neutral.

It had been an exceedingly stressful few days. We were tired, stressed from the boat and emotional from receiving bad news of a friend passing away on the previous Friday (RIP Brian). We stood and chatted to the others, learned more of the fate of Mr & Mrs Collins’s boat (an ex Simpsons and now ex Big Fish customer, plus Mr Collins had passed away two weeks earlier) Brian was taking on the management of her boat build with the help of others. Basically she has lost money with both companies, putting neither into a good light! He was about to start the process of chasing her engine, a very similar situation to ours. Brian should be up for a good people award. Ness also got attacked by Molly, Paul’s Jack Russell. Molly showed her vicious side, but so did my mother by kicking her away…..go Mama! My parents then took Si back to Gloucester to collect the van while I took the opportunity to write this blog. On his return he angle grinded the remaining two portholes, sparks flying outwards this time, unlike when in the dry dock! I created blinds out of newspaper and masking tape while reading interesting articles to Si. We had made the decision to stay the night and to phone work in the morning, we were too tired to drive all the way home, it was getting late already. We put the porthole windows in, although this did mean Si was on the outside hanging from the gunnels, one false move and he would have been rather cold and wet. We suddenly realised the time, we had 10 minutes to get to the Dockers for food. With 3 minutes to spare we ordered our faggots……no faggots! We reordered, sat down and both zoned out to the large TV. On return to the boat it was straight to bed.

 17 C     37 miles

We left early as we knew we had a lot to do. We went via B&Q in Gloucester for another packet of short piled 4 inch rollers, as I wanted to use up the last of the 2 tins of bitumen. It should be 1 tin per coat. Normally people put it on in two coats, I think today would be our fourth! We arrived and Si put in a few more windows while I made a start on painting. I didn’t want to pour white spirit over the floor like Ann so I put the rollers into a plastic cup and poured white spirit in to soak them. Unfortunately I over soaked them and spent some time trying to dry up the white spirit. I eventually started, concentrating on the flat sides of the hull as this appeared to be the thinnest.

Si made a start on the Houdini hatch first, using the same tape as on the windows to seal it and then started on the Mushroom vents. Si used his punch to mark the first hole, drilled that and then punched the next and drilled that and continued until all the holes were done. He also started with a smaller drill bit and worked his way up, this was to avoid any mistakes and makes drilling easier, and the hole cleaner. We don’t want to chip our lovely new paint work! Once all the roof holes were drilled and I’d used up the last of the bitumen, I helped Si by gluing the base of the mushroom vents, passing them up through the Houdini hatch for Si to put in place. We made the decision to use white Sikaflex on the roof so any spillages wouldn’t be too obvious on the pink roof, black Sikaflex on the areas of graphite grey. It was an extremely nerve racking time but slowly the roof was coming together. I made a start on the louver vents while Si completed screwing the roof in. I needed to use masking tape on and around the vent to make sure any glue squeezing out of the sides could be taken away with the removal of the masking tape. I kept on matching the upright control tower vent to the holes but there was still a gap, then suddenly realised that the holes were in the wrong place! How to approach this with Si? I checked the other 3 vents and they were all fine. Eventually I had to plunge him into a bad mood, I tried to say it was the first holes that he attempted, at least the engine bay has more ventilation etc. He re-drilled the holes, although this brought another set of problems, although he used the same size drill bit, the holes were larger and the screws had no purchase in the steel. So in the end we had to go Sikaflex mad and clamp them. Si stayed with me to do the rest of the vents as it turned into a 2 man job.

We eventually started on the windows at 5pm, now knowing that it was going to be a long night. We put in a few more 3ft windows and decided a change was required so went for the first 4ft……..you guessed it, it didn’t fit. The steel needed the angle grinder. I decided it would be a good time to take Ness for a walk down the tow path on the opposite side of the canal. We both stood and watched Si through the doors of A & D with sparks flying everywhere. By the time I got back Si said he’d tried the window again and it still didn’t fit, so decided to try the other 4ft window and it fitted. He checked the first 4ft window would go in the other hole and it did…..excellent. We put in another 3ft window and I stupidly said lets have a change and tried a porthole, to cut a short story even shorter…..none of them bloody fitted!!! It was now too late to use the angle grinder (9pm), so we made the next best decision……food and beer! Si set up the gas stove on the side of the dry dock and then took the van to Tesco Express up the road. It was at this point that the chilli started to boil, Ness decided she needed a ‘busy busy’ (a No 2) and was stuck on the stern deck which I couldn’t get her down from and then my parents called. Desperately hoping Si would return back soon, the van rolled up and I blurted out the crisis unfolding. In Si’s usual fashion he strolled in, placed the beers down on the side, opened one for himself, turned the gas down, took Ness off the back deck, went inside the cabin to get the cutlery and crockery as I took Ness across the road.

On my return, he was sat on the back deck with Nachos, Chilli and Dr Pepper waiting for me. It was now 10pm, and we still had 5 windows to do. We kept on going but I could feel my sense of humour failing at midnight. I only lasted another 30 minutes before going to bed, Si stayed up another hour, but this is usually how it works. As I’m typing this I’ve been awake two hours and Si is still asleep, but I went to bed at 10pm last night and he came to bed 2 hours later after a few more beers and some fishing. I’m an early bird and he’s not.

 
 17 C     140 miles

We set off from home later than planned and decided to take the route we took last Monday night, via Cirencester. The plan paid off as we arrived at A & D Marine in 2 hours, just before twelve. Both of us were nervous as to what the boat looked like, as we pulled up we couldn’t see through the door. On entering Ann & Graham were sat on the side. Wow! She had her name, the flowers, the oyster grey line, their scroll. We had asked for the scroll to be put on, this is Ann & Grahams “signature”. It is quite traditional but Ann & Graham are somewhat legends round these parts. The pink seemed to have been toned down by the rest of the decor. We both had a walk around her, even the back decks were shining Hammerite silver. We sat and chatted for a short while then Ann asked “so you putting another coat of black on today?” We thought we’d finished but apparently they thought the Bitumen was a bit too thin. Ann gave me a couple of 4 inch short pile rollers they use, then she poured white spirit over them and rubbed it in as apparently they tend to shed. We paid Ann & Graham the balance of the money and then I called my father to ask for his assistance in painting.

We visited the chandlers before it closed as we needed screws to put the chrome accessories on. Si brought in the Houdini, a mushroom vent and a louver vent to check sizes. After putting numerous packets of screws on the tab, it was time to start the scary part…..hole making. To put the scary part off for a little longer we attempted to put in the first window. The Worcester S windows are a much easier system than normal windows as there is no drilling required, just lots of clamps although these did need a lot of brut force. My father arrived at 2pm and while he was taking the girls for a quick walk I prepared our paint trays and rollers. The aim of this coat was to be a thicker layer. Papa started at the bow and I made a start at the stern. Si all alone on the boat started to drill holes for the louver vents first. Papa and I seemed to be making good progress, the only disheartening fact was that the rollers were still shedding, but by that point we thought what the hell, the average person isn’t going to see this, only if they had scuba diving gear. Father and I had managed to do the whole boat in less than 2 hours and decided to reward the three girls with a walk for being so patient, plus we needed to get dinner on the way home. We hung around for a little while as Si had started using the angle grinder because the Houdini hatch hole wasn’t square. In the end Si persuaded us he was a big enough boy. I was more worried he was by himself (Matt had gone home) than incapable of using the tool.

Father & I jumped into the 4 x 4 with Ness on my lap, not very comfortable for several reasons. In the back Nessie would have been too excited and jumped all over the other two, they would have responded in a manner involving teeth and she would have found herself with no legs for the walk. We went via Sainsbury’s to get Pizza and Pud and then onto Crickley Hill by the Air Balloon at Birdlip to walk the dogs. It has amazing views across Gloucester, Cheltenham and all the way to the Malvern hills. I did receive a text while walking from Si ‘Beau, still in one piece and all Hammerited, love you xxx’. On the return journey we attempted all 3 dogs on the back seat because they were now tired. It worked in the sense that they didn’t fight, but Nessie was a pain and kept strangling herself with the seat belt. We arrived home at 8pm with Si following on 10 minutes later. We stuffed our faces full of pizza, garlic bread and éclairs….Nice!

 22 C     154 miles

We left Chris and Sandy’s at 10.30am and went via Budgens for a sausage baguette. We arrived at A & D marine and realised that I needed more brushes and rollers as my parents were coming to help paint the second coat of black. I drove to B&Q reminiscing of the time I lived and worked in Gloucester, this weekend was turning into a trip down memory lane. Anyway B&Q was bank holiday crazy and I realised I had just turned into a statistic my boss had told me about, that more people go to DIY shops on August bank holiday Monday than any other time of year. B&Q seemed to have many offers, plus 15% off everything in store. I picked up what I needed and went to the check out, the queues were 10 deep, so I decided to take myself off for a browse, dangerous! To cut the story short I came out with a Dulux Paint Pod, bargain £42.50, normally retail at £70+.

On my return my parents phoned, so I informed my father of our purchase as my mother was going halves of which he was totally unaware. We will need it to paint the ceiling ply white and the feature bulkheads aubergine, duck egg blue any colour that will match the pink boat (what? – Ed)! My parents arrived at 2pm and provided us with a picnic on the bank of A & D Marine. We started the mammoth task of blacking the whole boat, but there were 3 of us on the job with Si inside continuing battening. We were making good progress, although my mother was getting in such a mess. Papa started the bow, mama did underneath the stern and I did the straights and the back end. In total it took us 3 hours with 3 of us. Although Si did inform me that we were going to have to move the first bulkhead as it wasn’t straight…..damn wonky boats! We cleared up and packed the car said our goodbyes and we were both off. We decided to take a different route home. From Gloucester onto the A419 to Swindon via Cirencester which spits you out at junction 15 of the M4…..a record: 1hr 50 minutes.   

 18 C     80 miles

It’s hard building a boat, but so is writing this blog, so at the moment all I want to say is, we went to the boat, saw it was still pink and went home again. But I need to say exactly what happened if we ever decide to turn our story into a book, even if it is just for our memories, so the blog must continue!!! We left parents so early (8.50 am) my parents were still in their dressing gowns. We needed to meet Ann and Graham to discuss the name, script and flowers but also they were going to tape the bottom of the gloss so I could black right up to it, as when we did the last coat we’d left an inch not painted. Si and I continued with more of the bulkhead and I realised I’d better start painting the top rim, we presumed 30 minutes for each side, an hour max…..three hours later. We should always remember the rule, a job takes four times as long as you think it will. Tonight we were staying at Si’s parents but by the time we got there it was 9.50pm. Sandy reheated our dinner which was just what we needed and had bought us cheesecake for desert. By the time we had eaten last orders had been called in the pub so Si’s dad was a bit miffed. Sandy still had beers in the fridge for Si but I had a non alcohol day…..go me! Considering we were so tired we went to bed quite late, midnight.

 19 C     73 miles

After several pints and good food we were in bed by 11pm, so we had a good 8 hours sleep. We went down for breakfast, even the breakfast wasn’t bog standard. We paid up and got back into the car heading towards A & D Marine. We arrived at 10.30am to find our boat with the roof painted in the Kashmir Grey…….PINK! Ann and Graham kept on telling us it’s the lights but all we saw was a lilac expanse. The jokes of Si holding the tiller loosely made us laugh, but what had we done? This is why we hate making decisions, in case we make a fatal mistake! The only thing that made us feel better, is when you looked at the boat from the outside in, the daylight made the Kashmir grey more grey. The panel of Graphite grey was covered up, so all we could see was PINK! We picked up the Houdini and the chrome louver vents from the chandlery attached to the dry dock. The dock is never quiet but today it was the turn of the canal to be loud with screaming coxes. It was Gloucester’s 2 day rowing regatta. It took me back to my days coxing Staffordshire Universities 1^st Four and reminded me of many good times with Ed, Adam, Jeremy and especially Alex ( a friend who is no longer with us). Ness also enjoyed people watching, especially if the cheering crowds had 4 legged mascots.

With Ness amused we started the first bulk head (a wall to non boating people). To start we had to move the stacks of ply, soon becoming a tedious task. We started with the floor batten and slowly but surely a wall frame emerged. We did have fun trying to get the battens straight as the spirit level was useless as the boat wasn’t flat. We did most of it by eye with a few measurements thrown in for good measure…….we’ve come to regret that decision. We didn’t make it a long day as my parents were probably Nessied out. We arrived home with a better greeting than last week. We had a fantastic pork joint with all the trimmings plus sticky toffee pudding for desert. We enjoyed a good bottle of wine and we were off to bed.

 16 C     157 miles

We drove up to parents last night as they had kindly offered to have Ness for the next 48 hours. We left our baby girl and the house at 7.20am. We were heading to Stourport on Severn for a RYA Helmsman’s Course with the Cruising School. An expense we thought would give us more confidence on the waterways. We took the back roads cross country arriving in good time for 8.30am. We met Rod Fox, a retired pilot (Vulcans & 747’s) and this was now his hobby, teaching others to cruise. The weather report the night before showed occasional showers, so we took our waterproofs, just in case. We had a theory lesson inside the cabin and then on to the outside of the boat, where the occasional showers turned into heavy rain. Enough to make me go back to the car to get my gloves and hat! Unfortunately Si’s weren’t there, so he borrowed a cap from Rod. The August weather decided heavy rain and winds weren’t quite enough so decided to hail!!!! AUGUST…..a summer month!!!!

Luckily the weather eased so I pushed off the bow with Si at the helm. Si took the 60ft narrow boat ‘Enigma’ through the tight marina and we parked the boat just before the bridge. We left the engine running and jumped off for Rod to show us how to open the locks and the safety rules. We let another narrow boat go ahead which enabled Rod to show us what not to do. Once the narrow boat had passed Si and Rod went back to the boat and I was left to work the locks. Not an easy job, but Si was also rather nervous to. He steered it in to the lock with 3 inches either side, while I let the water in. As I was doing this a gentlemen (or more aptly a grumpy man) walked over to Si and Rod and I knew he wasn’t happy, I couldn’t hear what was going on, but saw the body actions of Rod telling him to go away. Basically he thought we had pinched the lock which should have been his, that wasn’t the case but Rods handling of the situation was excellent. Once out of the lock, we passed Mr Grumpy, who had since put up a large Jolly Roger flag on his back deck, I think that’s what you call delusions of grandeur.

We were now on the Staffs & Worcester canal, very pretty but extremely narrow. In some places you could only fit one boat through. Si navigated some very tight bridges with tight bends straight after. I told Rod I was very nervous about taking the boat and before I knew it, it was my turn. I had the same problem as on our first voyage, I couldn’t see over the boat, so Rod piled matting and a plank of wood, perfect. I also navigated some narrow parts too, Si took over the controls as we approached a winding hole, basically to do a 3 point turn. We placed the bow firmly into the reeds and on the muddy bottom and used it as a pivot point, slowly we began to turn. Once completed it was my turn but just as I started to turn the engine started to make a funny noise, something was stuck round the propeller, I had the tiller for 3 seconds! Rod turned off the engine, key out, took off the weed hatch and arm in the canal. He said it was a cloth and then after a good minute of grappling with murky water, he changed the description to a towel possibly a bath sheet. Once free I took the helm and met my first obstacle another boat….frightening! Rod did mention that when you pass another boat that it is a natural phenomenon for your boat to get sucked towards the other boat and this puts you back into the middle of the canal, the best place to be. After he said this I had visions of a vortex that sucks you in to a parallel universe. Need I say Rod was correct and we passed with out a problem. We were heading back to the marina as it was approaching lunch so Rod took over the parking as spaces were very limited. The only one left had 2 feet either end of Enigma, Rod parked this boat beautifully. The cabin smelt great with quiches warming in the oven and baguettes baking, accompanied by a salad. We sat down and chatted, gobbled far too much food and decided an afternoon nap would be perfect. Unlucky!

We practised a few handy knots and lassoing before setting off to face my first attempt at a lock. To cut a long story short, I was over an inch to the right so bumped on the right, then on the left, but I’ll blame the wind. I took it through the lock, once out I kept the boat stationary for Si to jump on. Now his turn, the wind was picking up as we headed towards the stair lock to the river. The marina was ridiculously tight and Rod said we will just hold back as there is someone in front in difficulty. Neither Si or I could see it at all, but he was right, it became apparent a bright yellow hire boat was being turned around by the wind, a total novice wasn’t coping very well. Si reversed back as we watched him bang into other boats, we pulled up on a pontoon to wait for the crisis to be over. It was now our turn, I was instructed to jump off the bow as soon as I felt it safe enough to, we headed to the jetty and I decided not to jump as I thought we were going to hit and we did….. hard. To be fair to Si, Rod was instructing him to welly it, the engine and the tiller…not the jetty. We made another attempt and made it round. A chap came out to help, plus to see who had just spilt his tea. He had a bit of banter with Rod and asked if his bow thrusters weren’t working. He explained that we would not have one on our boat, so he wasn’t using it.  

We eventually got into the lock and down to the next. Between the next two was a tiny dog leg, so you couldn’t come straight out of the lock you were in and into the other. Apparently the story goes that there used to be a factory straight in front, so they built the next part of the stair as close the factory as possible, the factory doesn’t exist anymore…demolished. There was a boat coming up, so we came out of the lock and used the wind to push us onto the side. Once clear, Si pulled the boat by rope into the entrance of the lock, with the help of me using the engine. Si took us through the next two and I ran to the front to check the River Severn was clear for us to pull out. It now felt like we were on an ocean compared to the canal, we had a nice trip down to a large manned lock. Si took us in, which we shared with a large cruiser, the water was drained and we were off again. We immediately turned around and it was my turn. Once on the river again we practiced man over board, with a bucket and a buoy. We were asked who we wanted it to be, we said Jonathan Mills (Simpsons Boss). We threw him in and returned to get him. Neither of us had put much thought into this and asked if we could leave him in the river (or run him over!), unfortunately not. I was sent to the bow with a hook and pole. It wasn’t that easy as the bucket was full of water with the boat moving forwards, I did rescue him but I’m sure he would have ended up with a few injuries from the pole, never mind. We pulled up at the jetty, tied up and went to go and see if the lock was clear ahead. Si stayed to fill the locks, Rod and I went back to the boat to find the stern 12 feet away, the rope was too loose. Let’s just say I tied the bow!

I cruised the boat from the river into a sharp 90 degree lock under a bridge and almost received a round of applause from the couple on the bridge as I squeezed her in with 3 inches on both sides with no bumps! I will confess it was under heavy guidance from Rod, but a massive confidence boost. As we headed up the stairs the weather took a turn for the worse and the heavens opened. We finally got it back into the basin……all 3 of us drenched. We went back inside hung our waterproofs in the shower, finished with a bit of theory and were awarded our certificates. Although we had been drenched twice, mainly it was sunny enough to put on sun cream. A knackering 9 hours but extremely enjoyable and well worth the money. Rod is an excellent teacher and did wonders for our confidence levels. We bid our farewells and went back to the car. I know this blog has turned into an epic so I will cut the next part extremely short. We drove to our hotel I’d booked for a bargain on lateroom.com. The Crown and Sandy Arms near Droitwich, fantastic rooms and exquisite food, an overnight stop that ended up a romantic escape.

 22 C      160 miles

We left parents early without breakfast to try and make up for yesterdays slacking. Today the family was back together, the three of us, although we knew exactly where Ness would prefer to be. We arrived at the boat for 10.30am with the plan to cut all the larger holes not to ruin Ann and Grahams paint work in the future. We had numerous plans up our sleeves, angle grinder, drill, jigsaw. The chandlers didn’t have chrome Louvre vents in the sizes we required, so we borrowed a couple of brass ones to use for measurements.

We had a surprise visit from Ann and Graham to check the areas to be painted and were persuaded to have a thin coach line to make a distinction between the two greys. We measured the first hole on the control tower and measured again and again. In the week Si and I had worked out the sizes we require to meet the RCD on engine bay and cabin ventilation. Also I’d emailed our surveyor earlier in the week to double check my figures and our understanding of them, he replied phoning us just before we started. I needed to know that the cabin ventilation is worked out on all the appliances on at the same, apparently it is, the figures are done on your Christmas Day (everything to excess). The calculation has flued, unflued appliances and people. Our flued stove is 5kw, our cooker with both ovens and 4 hobs nearly reaching 13 kw plus 10 to 12 people. Probably never going to happen! Si attempted to use the angle grinder with a cutting blade, this seemed to leave a hole with a 5mm width and not really cutting, more grooving. Matt from A & D Marine realised we were struggling to get through the metal so lent Si a very thin blade, it  worked a treat. Before we knew it Si had all 4 sides done, now to work out the corners. We came up with a plan of using the circular cutters, this would work really well, but we couldn’t get it exactly in the right place. The jigsaw was next, this worked reasonable well but quite a few blades bit the dust. In the end Si went to Screw fix for more cutting blades. On his return we attempted the two cabin 6 x 9 louvre vents. We put Nessie indoors, the sparks from the angle grinder were spraying across the back deck. It wasn’t really a comfort that the sparks were also coming indoors due to the now gaping holes....fingers crossed we measured correctly.

The intention was to have two 6 x 9 in the control tower, but the difficulty of getting in to cut on the port side made our decision we would be having one 6 x 9 and the other 9 x 6, not so symmetrical as originally planned. We had our second surprise visitors of the day, my parents and Nana, we had forgotten some stuff plus I think they wanted a sneak peek at the dock to! Finally the rectangle holes were done with a sigh of relief, just the water filler to go. This was fun and games in its self. We had to drill through the deck, and use an LED torch to see if we were close. It took two attempts to decide its location and a torch. We made the plunge knowing we could move the water tank slightly....spot on. With these being the only holes we were sure of their sizes meant we had come to an end, so decided to head home.

Once again, a job we thought wouldn’t take very long took the whole day. The journey home ended up being 3 hours due to an accident on the M4, we managed to cut through to the M3 via the A34 but so did everyone else…

 20 C     70 miles

This morning was a slow one, we didn’t leave till 11.30am, but did manage to have one of my father’s fantastic cooked breakfasts. My parents also offered to have Ness for the day, we jumped at the opportunity and if Ness had the ability to talk she would be saying yes please. The dry dock isn’t the greatest of places for her and after she nearly pulled a gas canister on her head so desperately trying to get out, it was the best place for her. Without Ness we went via B&Q to make a final decision on outdoor LED’s because we were armed with another 15% off voucher I’d reprinted. Yesterday we met Steve randomly and today was the turn of Richard (self build narrow boat at Sharpness) in the outdoor light isle.

We finally arrived at the boat for 2pm unfortunately missing Anne and Graham. We unpacked the tool boxes, drills etc. and started the preparation work for blacking the starboard side of the hull, although this came to a halt as I recognized the sound of Sandy and Chris 3.2 Litre Alpha. It was the first time they had seen the dry dock. We chatted for a short time, but realising time was getting on I started painting from the bow. Chris and Sandy didn’t stay long, so soon Si was helping starting from the stern with the plan to meet somewhere in the middle. The CD player managed to get another lesson in trance music, eventually with us finishing at 6pm. We decided not to start the other side due to the time and the port side hadn’t fully dried.  We were starting to feel guilty only spending 3 hours at the boat and promised ourselves to be more productive tomorrow.

We went back to my folks via Sainsbury’s for puddings, wine and flowers. On arrival Nessie’s greeting wasn’t much more of an acknowledgement...thanks Ness! The evening was a pleasant affair, with a fantastic dinner, puds, wine and chatting. Si escaped with father sitting down to watch Match of the Day.

 18 C     150 miles
 

We drove to my folks last night, we didn’t arrive till 9pm but we knew we had our bed to sleep in. We left the house at 10am with my mum who was on her way to work. We drove to Cheltenham’s B& Q because I had received an email with a 15% off voucher over the weekend. We knew exactly what we wanted, typically though they didn’t have the outdoor LED lights, in the end we just bought paint trays and foam rollers. It’s always the way when you want to spend money….. Anyway we drove to A & D marine through Gloucester. I used to live there 10 years ago and was quite surprised when we drove past an even bigger B&Q 1 mile from the dry dock. There is now a whole new shopping mall; it used to be a cattle market in my day! We arrived to peek through the door to see our boat all red, there were 4 of them hand sanding the red oxide primer. We had a quick chat with Ann & Graham before starting our quest of errands.

First we went to the bank to withdraw the money for the windows but nothings ever straightforward. On Si returning to the van he received a phone call from Martin ‘Your windows aren’t in brass are they……didn’t think so!’ As Si was arranging a new date for our chrome windows we recognised a familiar walk. Steve from Big Fish, he recognised the van too, so we stopped him for a chat. Si returned the money to the bank and we decided Pizza Hut, for a takeaway lunch. This was in preparation for a long night, returning late to parents and no dinner. We sat outside munching away talking about the “demographics” of the area, we decided: Gloucester Five Bellies. It did great for our self esteem, there we were, pigging out on heavy cheese loaded pizza while feeling like models!!! We returned to the boat via Travis Perkins to by 2 x 2 battens to start the bulkheads. Si knew the process from buying last time so I waited in the van with Ness. Si came back and said it would have been £160 rather than the £60 from last time because he forgot to mention trade discount. So if you’re the general public, that’s an extra £100 please! Disgusting. When we did finally return to the boat, parts had now changed colour to grey - the undercoat. I know we chose a dark and light grey colour scheme, we were struggling to get away from whether it was the grey or red colour. We sat and chatted to Graham and Anne regarding the 3 names we had short listed.

Last night Si and I went through the names list on the website with my parents. My mother came up with the idea it should be a positive name, rather than Up The Creek or Ship Happens, because once we finally move onto the boat we should look forward to the future and not dwell on the past. So, the 3 names short listed (just imagine a drum roll)….Once Upon A Time…..If Fishes Were Wishes and September Air. Graham and Anne liked the last option. We came up with the name driving back last weekend. Everything happens in September, we signed the contract September 2007, we started the self build in September 2008 and will (hopefully) cruise it fully painted in September 2009. Our favourite holiday of the year is our time surfing in the Gower in September, we had a trip of a lifetime wild camping around the Outer Hebrides in September… and there is definitely a smell in the air that you know you’re on holiday…hence September Air.

We started to de-rust the hull, it was quite amazing how much rust the jet wash had removed but the port side was the worst side. Anne lent us one of her lads to help de-rust, it was taking ages and we where not getting very far so Si got the angle grinder and wire bevel out. The painting gang left at 17:30, and I did a final brush down to start painting with the Bitumen. While I was slapping on the tar Si was around the other side making a hell of a noise. Luckily it didn’t take him that long, so he started painting from the stern. We utilised A & D’s CD player and blasted out some trance, this help speed the time up. We finally put our paint brushes down at 9pm and within 10 minutes were changed and in the van. We arrived back to an empty house because my parents were picking up my Grandmother, they arrived 30 minutes after us. We sat and chatted for a while but it didn’t take long for us to head to bed.

 21 C     134 miles

The next morning we were woken by a wake caused by a wide beam who must have been hammering it to cause such a swell. Si got up to check the mooring pins and came back to bed. It wasn’t long before I got up to let Ness out for her first busy of the day. We got dressed, tidied the boat and sat on the back deck still deciding colours. There’s nothing like leaving it to the last minute, hoping that the decisions left to the last minute are often the best. We took it in turns to use our infamous toilet. Si went second, luckily we’d put the ply board over the door, as Matt from A & D marine came over to us in his Rib to say it would probably be 30 to 45 minutes. Si then informed me the flush on the toilet was broken, the plastic was crumbling away. I suppose not surprising after 35 years use. We continued to look at colours and deciding more on the warmer greys. Matt came back and attached the rib onto the stern and we were off. Si steering and Matt doing the controls, we were amazed how much control you had at very high revs. We passed the dry dock and received a big wave from Ann and a shout ‘I hope it’s not red!’ We swung the boat (expertly, with instruction from Matt!) around several times and then were on our way into the dock. We pulled in and I passed the rope to Graham.

We all disembarked and went to speak to Ann and Graham about the colours. We showed them our choice and they agreed on one warm grey but not two and to decide on the name and the details later. A & D marine slowly drained the water away, it takes an hour! Unfortunately the other narrow boat wasn’t sitting on its beams properly, so they had to let some water back in and re-drain it. Si made a start taking off the tarp and removing our Perspex windows, while I taped up the windows up on the inside. We both cut the green polythene to put over the windows to hide the contents of our boat. We ordered a few bits and pieces from A & D (well, about £700 quids worth!) and then were on our way back to Sharpness to give Paul his trade plates back. We had a chat with Paul and then took Ness for a walk. For the first time we saw one of the huge ships in the port actually in the estuary coming in to the docks, so we hung around watching that. After tiring out Ness we got back into the car to head home, arriving there at 8.30pm….early for us!       

 18 C     22 miles

    

The big day had arrived! Both Si and I were on tender hooks. I went off to have a shower…I know - unheard of! On my return I went into the shop to purchase 2 mooring pins. By the time I’d returned to the boat Nick and Laura weren’t that far behind me. Nick and Laura climbed aboard where I gave then their choice of badges for the day. Laura chose Admiral (although we did want to write Rear at the top; we still find it highly amusing Rear Admiral is a very high ranking Navy officer). That meant Nick got left with Cabin Boy, although Si wanted to cross Cabin out and put Rent…real mature!!! To complicate things on our first cruise we had a boat on the outside of us. Richard offered to help us pull out and re-tie the narrow boat. Before we knew it the engine was on, Ness had her life jacket on and we were pulling out from Sharpness.

Si slowly steered her on course for the main canal - we were off! I gave Si a drink as he said his mouth was so dry from fear, my heart was certainly pounding. I was snapping away as we were seeing the views we were all too familiar with but from the water. Ness was running around on the back deck leaning far too much over the edge for my liking, but she seemed quite happy. It wasn’t long before the first bridge, all the bridges are operated, but we cruised past a sign reading “sound your horn to notify the bridge keeper”. Damn we don’t have a horn, we had looked at the gas canister horns on Friday, but thought if anyone got in our way I could shout. We approached the bridge but still nothing, the traffic light was on red. We started to panic slightly so tried to reverse, we started swinging around broadside and there were far too many fibre glass boats around us we could cause damage to. Luckily the red light started to flash, Laura made the decision this must mean an amber (get ready), so we decided to go forwards. The bridge did open and we went through very slowly. We asked the bridge keeper how many to the closed bridge and he said another 3. There was another bridge 200 metres after that one so where did we start counting 3 from? Was it the next one, the one after that or the one after that? We were told it was one of the early bridges, so we thought we’d reach it in plenty of time. We cranked up the speed (to roughly 4 knots!) as we had started extremely slowly.

On the Friday we had purchase a Gloucester and Sharpness guide book which had a fantastic map of the river, miles covered and names of the bridges, we just didn’t know the name of the bridge that was closed. We all took in turns to steer, every time I took over, Nick would show a smile. We were travelling very slowly but it felt like a white knuckle ride as I was gripping the tiller so hard. Every time another boat came towards us I’d change the direction every second. Occasionally I would get confused, especially immediately taking over from someone, as you point the tiller in the opposite way you want to go. There were many great names and colour schemes on the other boats, we were looking quite intently as we still have not chosen either. A boat called Luvley Jubley with Peckham written underneath. Weir Tide, we changed to Weir Broke. We approached a turquoise and pink boat and there is only one of those….Isadora’s boat! She is an ex Simpsons customer with a fantastic spirit and zest for life which puts most of us to shame. We stated shouting Izzy and she appeared in her bedroom window (sorry Izzy if we woke you up!). She waved back and stuck her thumbs up. Had we known how to control the boat we would have stopped for a chat. Twelve o clock came and went and still we were not sure which bridge it was that was closed, then on the 5^th bridge the bridge keeper said it’s the next one. We started to approach and panicked where to park the beast, there were a few gaps but all next to fibreglass cruisers. We chose our spot and went for it, a steep bank totally overgrown…..no going back now. Nick was on the bow, Si driving and Laura and myself instructing Si, different instructions, so he was in a dilemma who to listen to - me or Laura! Nick jumped onto the bank and a friendly man help us at the stern end. Everyone got off to hammer in the mooring pins and to tie up. Ness made an attempt to get off when I’d asked her to wait, she ended up slipping and going between the boat and bank, luckily I grabbed her just in time.

We left the boat and decided to take a walk to the pub, as we had 90 minutes to kill till the bridge opened. I received a phone call from my folks seeing where we were, they were already in Gloucester, I wasn’t expecting them till Seviour time……….basically the other end. Had we managed to get through the bridge at 12pm, they would have seen us travelling for the last hour. They joined us at the pub and we had one more drink before 6 adults and 3 dogs walked back to the boat. We descended back onto the boat and checked the engine bay briefly, all seemed fine. Several boats were starting to queue and play the chicken came, which side was the bridge keeper going to let through first. Us! We were now on green! We started her up and before we knew it had untied the ropes and were off, and then bump, the wind pushed the stern back into the bank. Laura made every effort to push us away with the pole but because we were moving made it rather difficult. In the end we gave up and took a few blackberry bushes with us. We waved goodbye to my folks and they attempted to walk up to the next bridge. Mama disappeared out of site but father kept a high speed walk on to keep up with us and then waved us goodbye. It was only when I caught Ness eating blackberries did I realise the mess on the back deck….Mmm, maybe a possible colour? Now a little more confident I took the tiller, did I mention that I struggled because I couldn’t see the canal that well. I presume they thought I needed my glasses as I kept on using the binoculars to see whether the bridges were opening. Si then came down to my eye level and said ‘You’re not joking, you can’t actually see the water - just the roof!’. We tried a box but I found it difficult to steer being up higher. We saw my parents at regular intervals, at one bridge they had McDonald’s coffee in their hands. We were growing in confidence, enough to have a roll, cake and tea. I’d filled up the thermal flasks before we left. The last two bridges were high enough for us to fit under and then we were there! We approached the bank with care, a little bump and that was it. We moored up to see my parents waving on the other side in a petrol station. Eventually my father arrived at the boat after driving across the bridges to get to us. We thanked Nick and Laura for being awesome crewmates, keeping us calm throughout. We realised we couldn’t have done it without them.

After 16 miles, 4 hours 20 minutes cruising time we were finally there, this day had been coming for a long time. Si, Nick and Laura left to get back to Sharpness to collect their car. While they were gone I thought I’d have a look at the engine, wish I hadn’t….what a mess. Two diesel leeks, grease gunk and leaking coolant. My parents and the 2 dogs came aboard, Si returned about an hour after that. We decided our Chilli would be off, due to not being able to keep the fridge cool so we decided on Pizza. I ordered online with my dongle…….aaaahhhhh technology. Si and my dad went to collect it, as mother and I discussed colour schemes. The hunter gatherers returned with 2 large pizza’s and garlic bread. The light was fading fast, so my parents made a move home. This left us, sat on bow deck armed with head torches going through the colour swatches. We wanted to stay up as long as possible, as both of us were a little unnerved being moored up in a random, industrial part of Gloucester next to a tow path. We did eventually go to bed, exhausted!

 21 C     23 miles

We woke early and tried getting up without disturbing Nick and Laura, but realised this was not possible in a house built in the 1850’s. So in the end Nick and Laura waved us off. We arrived at the boat in good time and waited for Paul Smith (the surveyor) to arrive. Mr & Mrs Volta were getting ready to leave, Steve filled us in on his water pump problem. He couldn’t work out why the pump was making noises but no water was coming out until he put a tissue near the tap and it sucked it up; the pump was installed the wrong way. Plus his control lever was also the wrong way, so reverse was forwards etc. I’d like to say it was Simpson’s but unfortunately not.

We knew this could end up being an expensive morning (the surveyor charges by the hour), but we had so many questions to ask we thought this was the best method. We primed Paul with a hot drink before we plunged into the nitty gritty. Nearly 4 hours later we were brain dead and had many written notes that probably won’t make sense later. So what’s the short story, well there isn’t one. The one that annoyed us the most was our suspicions that the engine wasn’t put in very well and we are not surveyors. Suspicions were aroused when Si spoke to a chap called Tim last weekend and he came to have a look at it in the week. Where to start, the engine’s mounts are not facing forwards, so will probably only last a year not ten. He hadn’t put in an Aglomerator (RCD compliant), the silencer wasn’t lagged….the list went on. So what do you do get him back to fix his mistakes and risk more mistakes or write off the £1400 as another lesson of life! Other things we learnt was the engine needed ventilation, so did the cabin (lower & higher), we needed an extinguishing hole for the engine bay. We learnt a lot about 12 V electrics, especially our 12V deck lights will have to run on 240V with the transformer because their wattage is too high for 12V. The new regulations for putting in a wood burning stove. Paul showed us how to start the engine, good start for tomorrow’s big day. We were concerned at first because the smoke was quite white. Apparently, white smoke means water in the diesel, blue smoke is oil and black is dirty fuel. Eventually the white puffs improved. By the time Paul left it was early afternoon.

We still needed to fill up our new Jerry can with diesel. The first time the 3 of us went to the garage and via the co-op for supplies for tomorrow. Out of desperation we were also looking for a new gas canister as we’d brought the wrong one with us. We needed it to heat the chilli Sunday night and Si’s religious cup of Tea for Monday morning because we’d have no power at all. On our return to the boat we tried to poor the diesel in to the tank but lots of splash back went onto the deck and into the canal. We needed a funnel, so I fashioned a piece of green tarp I’d cut in a circle with a slit up the side, stuck together with duck tape to make a funnel. It worked rather well but both of us were devastated at the diesel in the water. Si went off by himself to refill the can with more fuel; apparently you work on 1 gallon for an hour cruising, so we should have enough in the tank and have a spare 5 gallons. Brian came over and we mentioned the diesel and he said ’not to worry, do you have any fairy liquid?’ Amazing! You just squirt a few drops onto the diesel and it just vanishes.

Time was getting on and before we knew it Si’s parents had arrived. Si and his Dad took the cars up to A & D marine, so we’d have one up there to bring Nick and Laura home tomorrow. Chris drove Si back while Sandy and I were taking Ness for a long walk (the usual circle route). We had a lovely time just chatting and Sandy seeing the views, we arrived at the Dockers before it had even opened. Once opened we were inside for 5 minutes when the men turned up. We ordered our food, I had the faggots, Si had the curry and Sandy and Chris both went for Ham, Egg, Chips and Beans. The portion sizes are humungous and we all over ate. Sandy and Chris left at 9pm, so Chris could make it home in time for the pub. We only had one more as the last thing we needed was to be hung over tomorrow!  

 20 C     200 miles

We had taken the day off work to visit two chandlers, typically in different parts of the country, the first near Northampton and the second in Stourport on Severn. By the time we had packed the car it was 10.30am, so we made the decision to only visit the one chandlers. We had a busy day ahead and lots of driving because after the chandlers we needed to go via the boat, screwfix and finally arrive for a meal with our future crewmates in North Nibley. We thought it would be wise to grab some lunch before getting onto the motorway, but even that wasn’t simple. Just as we were leaving the petrol station Ness started being sick, so we stopped the car to get her out. As we were doing that we heard a commotion and proceeded to watch a hit and run. Eventually we joined the M3, M25, M40, M42, M5 till we arrived outside the chandlers in Stourport. Typically the sign on the door said ‘Back in 30 minutes’. We took the opportunity to walk Ness around the river and canal and to clear up more sick (that we hadn’t heard)….poor girl!

Limekiln Chandlers re-opened so the 3 of us went in. We came out of there spending over £90, mainly in preparation for the maiden voyage on Sunday: tiller arm and handle, map etc. Back on the road again down the M5 to Screwfix; outside we sat in the car and confirmed the list. Si came out with the goods and then proceeded to go back again twice. The first time was the deck lights we’d bought weren’t in the best condition and the second time we forgot the cable ties. On the road again, this time heading to Sharpness. We arrived at the boat just in time before Paul went off camping, we were using his trade plates, as he will now be working on our boat. This made us legal to go up to Gloucester on Sunday. Mr & Mrs Volta were there (ex Simpson’s), they were planning to cruise Volta back closer to home, as there was no point in Volta staying there since Big Fish had gone. Steve was having trouble with his water pump, so we had a quick chat with them, Paul and Brian. Brian let us know that there was a swing bridge that was only opening at 9am, 12pm, 3pm and 6pm, due to electronic problems.

We jumped once again in the car and I navigated us to Laura and Nicks house, they had recently moved from our work to the West Country and were now only 7 miles away. There house is fantastic and made both of us think ‘Why are we building a boat?!’. We had a fantastic dinner, marinated lamb from the local farm shop (very country!!!). We spent the rest of the night drinking and chatting till nearly 1am. Ness amused herself with the steep wooden stairs, she could go up but not come down, the sheep doorstops and especially the gold fish. The plan wasn’t to stay as we needed to be at the boat early tomorrow, but we were glad of not having to get back in the car for at least 12 hours.

 21 C     124 miles

Unfortunately it’s the enjoyable evenings that end in a rotten morning. It was a slow start, with lots more fishing. We eventually did start work after more discussions of different angles for the 4^th step and what we were going to achieve with the overall look. I was back in the engine bay, Si was in the cabin and Ness had the best option of being in her paddling pool. We had to make several visits to the marina toilets taking up to 15 minutes out at a time. Si continued with his angles and I continued putting the second coat on the silencer parts. I also had to rectify the stuck tissue to the floor of the engine bay. I sanded this down and repainted.

I eventually finished the engine bay and thought I deserved fishing time. I went onto the bow put a new piece of sweet corn on and plonk my rod in. A couple of minutes later I was starting to get bored, I started to take my rod out when I thought it had caught round a reed. I kept on tugging, but to my surprise so did the wire. That’s when I saw the fish!!!!!! I shouted out for Si who came to me in a very casual style, as there was no way I was taking it off the hook. I ran back inside to grab my camera (proof), when I heard him say, sorry it fell off the hook…..yeah right! Saboteur! It was a 20 cm perch and I had won the competition!!!

Si put his rods in to make the score even, when we heard a car horn. It was Si’s dad, he had spoken to him earlier and mention that the toilet had been taken away. So Si’s father went up into the loft and found their old camping toilet, it’s the same age as Si…….old! Chris had a look at the boat and then went on his way, although he did comment on the less fishing more work. We decided to call it a day and packed the van and got ready to take Ness for a much deserved walk. We had a lovely stroll, before getting back to the car. The M4 was rather busy, with many annoying middle lane hoggers, but for the first time we got back in under 2 hours.

 22 C     0 miles

I awoke early to a glorious morning, Ness needed to go out for her first busy of the day (we call it business…get it!) Anyway it was only as I tried to get out of bed did I realise the toll yesterday had taken on my muscles. The morning started with more fishing, before getting on with the days jobs, Si creating more steps and myself painting the engine bay. The temperature was rising, Si definitely had the better deal of shorts and flip flops, while I was in the engine bay with thick overalls and trainers. I sweated absolute buckets to the point I thought I required a shower. Very unusual for us to have showers, it’s not that I never write about this cleansing ritual in the blog, it’s basically we never have showers, sometimes up to 4 days. We joke what a pair of grebo’s we are, but we are used to camping and surfing. So by the time I had finished as much painting as I could manage with out painting myself in, and Si had finished his 3^rd step and was working out the 4^th, we decided to call it a day.

We walked Ness to the toilets in the marina where I stayed to have my first shower, not bad at all. Si went for a quick walk to find out what was happening with the food at the Dockers, as it was the Vindi Boy reunion (put in website). On his return I was dressed and clean again, we walked back to the Dockers and sat outside. The place was heaving, it was their annual general meeting, so no normal food just a barbecue. As we’d had bacon baps earlier in the day, we decided to cook pasta instead back at the boat. We sat outside and got talking to a fantastic family, Heather and Freddy with their daughter Jess and their dog Pepper. Freddy was taking their boat out with a mate on to the sea the next day. We got talking about boats, family life and had a lovely chat with a beautiful happy family. After a few pints we decided to go back, but just as we arrived we decided maybe one more trip to the marina loos. On the way we passed a bit of a party of people sat in camping chairs lined up against the jetty, we politely said hello, but this was now the fourth time we’d probably seen them today. On the way back, they started chatting to us and offered us a glass of wine, we politely said no thank you but carried on chatting. It was now dark, Ness had made two friends Coco the chocolate lab and Eric the boxer, Si & I were talking to different couples and then we were offered another drink, so we thought what the hell! Two hours later and rather drunk we decided it was time to come on home. Dinner ended up being a packet of crisps and a chocolate bar. Not quite the night we had expected, but often these are the best nights. We’d really enjoyed ourselves!

 20 C     145 miles

We drove up last night to avoid major road works on the M4, although we ended up missing them as our journey started on the M3. I had a pre-wedding photography meet with a couple in Hook. While I was showing them my portfolio, Si went for a walk with Ness in the rain, on my return to the van, there was a distinct damp smell, I’m not sure who was worse! The rest of the journey was hard work, as the weather was filthy. We arrived at 10pm, loaded the bare minimum onto the boat as it was still peeing it down.

The following morning was a stark contrast to the night before, with the sun emerging with blue sky. It didn’t take us long to be on the bow deck with our rods……the competition resumed! I was once again in the shallows watching the fish, I kept on seeing what I thought was a piece of plastic sheet moving around……….not plastic, a massive carp! Not sure what needs improving my glasses or my fish knowledge. We eventually started work, after fishing and chatting to Neil. Neil gave us a number of a chap called Tim, who does electrics, plumbing, but more to the point engines, as we are not totally convinced about certain parts of our engine fitting. Si gave him a call, and he said he would be able to come down Tuesday to have a look and quote for the plumbing. Andy the electrician arrived to fit the bilge pump in the engine bay, while he was in there he had a look at the engine and said he wasn’t to sure about a few things, plus showed us some drips of diesel in there and coolant. It didn’t take Andy that long and he even asked for a dustpan and brush. I thought this was because he was a conscientious guy, Si presumed he was scared of me and my obsession of my clean engine bay. While Andy was in the engine bay, I resurrected the paddling pool for Ness to cool down in. With Andy finished I started de-rusting the part I didn’t do last week, as I had spoken to Bob and he said I could paint the silencer parts with hammerite. Si carried on with the 3^rd step after much discussion.

When we arrived last night, we noticed the Big Fish portable toilet had gone, but there was another one, nicer and cleaner outside Brian and Tilly’s caravan. In the afternoon a pick up turned up and to our horror took the toilet away. This was confirmed when I asked Tilly where the nearest toilet was and she replied the marina. I was starting to get desperate, so had to make the walk. Just as I walked up the yard, the timber turned up at 5pm. The driver asked did we have a fork lift, as they were on pallets. His face when we said there isn’t one and realised he was going to have to manually lift them off. I left them to it as nature was now calling with a mega phone. On the way back I decided to time how long it took to walk….5 mins! That’s nearer a third of a mile….And I was walking quickly! On my return Si and the lorry driver had unloaded the ply at the top end of the yard, Si signed for it and we attempted to take one sheet down to the boat…….only 65 to go, this was going to be a long night. Then our hero arrived, Brian and asked us if we wanted a hand with his fork lift. So off he went, to start it up and we guided him underneath the pile. He took them down to outside the boat, we couldn’t thank him enough, but he secretly was having a whale of a time. As he drove off to put the fork lift back, he had a smile that said it all….boys with toys! Just the last job to do, to get all 65 sheets into the boat. At first it took us a while to understand and the logistics of getting them on board, but in the end it almost turned into a dance routine. We became very familiar with port and starboard, as we had to keep swapping the boards angle of entry to protect the ash faced side. 3 hours later, yep 3 hours later since the lorry turned up, all were present and correct inside in 3 piles.

It was way too late to go to the pub for food, as there was a gathering at the dockers, with their land rammed with tents, caravans and motorhomes. So we decided the fish & chip shop would be better, with a bit of fishing for desert. It wasn’t a late night, as we felt physically shattered.

 20 C     124 miles

We did learn a lot from John, but not so sure why we had to drink at the same time. Killer hangover and I’m supposed to be on antibiotics……..the leaflet says nothing about alcohol consumption and especially excessive alcohol consumption, so I’m sure I’ll be fine. Si became my hero by going into Berkley to get me Dr Pepper and breakfast to soak up the fumes. It did the trick as before long I was discussing with Si the stair case, I know these are the most talked about stairs, but we need to get them right….yeah right.

Si had a plan so I went off into the engine bay to give the steel from the other week a second coat. This just hurtled me into a foul mood……..devil women! I spent an hour trying to hoover and clean the engine bay. It was filthy with rust, filings and dirt. I decided to only do half, due to wanting to speak to the engine fitter about the rusty components coming from the silencer and the chips on our rusty engine. I swore and mumbled but got on with it, just now anyone wanting to enter the engine bay will have to do so with plastic bags over their feet. I was pleased to finish as I was sweating buckets from being dressed in overalls and being in a confined steel space. I joined Si who was making good progress until we started discussing again. Before we knew it, it was 7pm and we still had Ness to walk, but did have a last try at fishing, this time with sweet corn. We left the marina for the M4 at 8pm leaving a note for one of the boat builders to see if he had the number for some of the Big Fish lads.

 17 C     124 miles

We didn’t leave the flat till 3.30pm, we were waiting for Nessie’s stomach to calm down. She’d obviously eaten something that didn’t agree with her and instead of a nightmare situation in the van on the M4, we sensibly decided to wait till it came out the other end. Sorry for being graphic, but that’s how it was! Anyway we arrived at the boat, to check what had changed. It was only the padlocks on Big Fishes office and workshops that gave away their demise. We originally thought this was the administrators doing, but apparently it was British Waterways.

The running list for the evening was to heat the stew, discuss the step configuration and to compete in fishing. We took it in turns to stir the stew while trying to organise our fishing rods. Si was using his fishing kit, where as I had to improvise. I possibly looked rather stupid, but I knew that Si had never caught anything in the dangerous infested waters of Sharpness canal. On putting my rod (wood off-cut) in, the fish were nibbling the meat (left over stew). We took different approaches, Si went for deep water and watched his float remain stationary, I went for the shallows watching the fish. Unfortunately they were all too small, but I did learn the difference between a roach and a perch….one of them had stripes, can’t remember which one. Then I saw a sleek, foot long, submarine fish in stealth mode, so I said to Si ‘what’s that?’. ‘A Pike, but you don’t want to catch one of those, very sharp teeth!’. I realised that fishing could be a dangerous sport, hooks through the thumbs, potential man eating fish. So we watched the pike for a little longer and decided that as it was getting dark it was time to take Ness out. The sky was stunning, amazing colours. We arrived at the Dockers and started chatting to a chap called John who had cruised for 8 years and now had a boat at the marina. Fascinating stories, useful advice, so much so we didn’t leave the Dockers till 11.45pm.

Today we received a phone call to tell us Big Fish had gone into administration. We thought we’d had the nod a few weeks back that they may be in difficulty and sadly they obviously were. Nearly exactly a year since Simpson’s went bust, the very sorry thing is two of their customers were ex Simpson’s. Glad we went this alone now.

 17 C     174 miles

Si left the house at a reasonable time to get to the boat. He spent the day making the base of the stair frame and drawing the different options. We spoke several times, talking measurements and the latest ideas. It wasn’t long before I got the phone call at 6.30pm to say he was leaving. I was going to stay at my folks to return to their doctors as I needed more antibiotics and our flat is still damp. So poor Si had to return to the quiet damp flat to return to work……my hero!!!

 21 C     100 miles

Si disappeared from the house at 11am to meet the electrician. My parents thought it would be nice to visit the boat, as they hadn’t seen it since it had been put back in the water. Plus the fresh air and to stop cabin fever would do me some good…I know rubbish pun! So once again I was chauffeur driven to the boat but this time with 3 dogs. We arrived at 3pm and all climbed aboard, well all the two legged ones and Ness. Mama did have difficulty as her legs are quite a bit shorter than mine and she was a little tentative the boat was moving further away. Once inside, parents had a good nose and I ran through the supposed layout with mother as she’s the creative one in the family. We discussed in length the stern stairs configuration. We now know exactly what we would like, but we’ve changed the side of the stairs are on, for logical reasons. The problem being the inspection hatch is now in the wrong place and it’s almost impossible to put another one in. As the floor boards are screwed in under glued bulkhead battens. We need to get the washing machine and freezer in, while trying to see the inspection hatch.

Parents took all 3 dogs for the usual walk while Si and I discussed further. On their return we sat on the bow deck with Mais and Ness, Lily was staying in the car and refusing to come out. Maisie wasn’t 100% confident, but she soon settled down with Ness showing her how. We packed up the boat and Ness & I returned in the van as parents were going via Sainsbury’s in Gloucester. Once at home I went straight to bed just exhausted, I was woken later to eat dinner. It didn’t take long for us to be in bed.

 20 C     174 miles

Si drove up to my folks last night where I have been staying. I’ve been there since Monday evening. I went into work on Monday and by 11am my chest was becoming very tight, so I was sent home on the agreement I’d book a doctors appointment, which I did. I was slightly shocked when he prescribed me antibiotics, signed me off work for the week and told me to find somewhere else to stay than our damp flat with fungal mould. So to cut a long story short, Ness & I ended up in the Cotswolds with my parents, who have been looking after me. On the Wednesday my sister and her husband flew in from Oz. So I was entertained while convalescing. Ness was having a whale of time and probably liked the fact I was ill. She spent most of her time in the garden and trying to make Maisie play. Lily (now known as Grumps) wasn’t so pleased we were there. Anyway Si left around 10.30am and toddled off to the boat to meet the electrician and the engine fitter (who is a jack of all trades and is doing the heating and plumbing.

Me, Beccy & Kevin (Sis & hubby) arrived at the boat in their hire car at 1pm. This is the first time they had seen the boat, typically just as we arrived so did Bob. We jumped aboard to the ding of Si grinding back the steel to the same level as the battens around the bow door. We showed Beccy and Kevin the boat, running through what it hopefully will look like. Si started chatting to Bob which I joined as two pairs of ears are better than one. We raised a few questions which ended up with Bob roping in Ben (electrician for Big Fish). Ben gave fantastic info but it did turn into a comedy sketch. “Well I would go for a Sterling Inverter” said Bob. “No, a Victron is better” said Ben. Bob replied “Well I’ve had four Victrons break on me and you have to send them to Holland to be repaired and I’ve never had a bad Sterling.” Ben comes back with “I’ve never know a Victron to break but I’ve had bad Sterlings”. This progressed to them talking in riddles, well - electrician speak. I’ve understood more in a different language.

At this point it seemed a good time to escape and show Beccy and Kevin the marina and Severn. It would have been nice to do the big walk but a full on chest infection put a stop to that. We still got to the end of the marina to show Kevin narrow boats, as in Oz they have nothing similar. The Severn was impressive as ever with sun beaming down on the northern part and raining on us. By the time we had returned Bob & Ben (the flower pot men) had disappeared. We all sat on the bow deck soaking up the infrequent rays and took a few photos, unfortunately with phones as we’d all forgotten our cameras. We left at 4pm and Si followed on an hour later to my parents for fish and chips.

 17 C     124 miles

We awoke to it still raining and feeling very damp. We heard one car but that was all, there seemed to be no sign of any of the Big Fish workers. We had left the stern doors open with the clear umbrella over the top……..a cheap pram hood (a boating term for the cover that goes over the stern deck). We saw Andy the electrician had arrived plus Mr Bean, Voltas owner had arrived. Andy came aboard and we spent the next hour talking 12V and 240V. Andy is going to get a quote together for doing the electrics in the engine bay, the inverter and connecting up the electrics. We are going to have a go at doing the looms. It didn’t take us long to pack up the van as the rain had stopped for a brief time. We had a chat with Steve, Volta’s owner about Simpsons, Big Fish, both of our time frames and then were on our way. We didn’t have much to do on the boat plus the damp wasn’t helping my symptoms so we made a decision to go to my parents for the night as they were away on holiday and their house doesn’t suffer from damp, unlike the boat or our flat.

 17 C     124 miles

Today was the big day. We arrived last night at the boat but I wasn’t too well, so literally as we arrived I was straight into bed. We were woken by a beeping noise……not Si’s alarm, believe me there is a difference. Currently Si’s alarm is trance and you know when the alarm is going off! The beeping noise was the crane reversing in at 7am!!! At 7.30am Si was up, checking on the activity outside. The crane required its own ballast which had to be taken off another lorry, on hearing it was going to take a while, I continued to sleep. Eventually I got up as the activity in the yard was too noisy. Brian the marina owner was up and about and already to help us. It wasn’t long before I took Ness off the stern deck and put her in the van. I tried to stay away as much as possible as I didn’t want to pass on my lurgy. It didn’t take long for the straps to be around our boat and the crane taking the weight. It was a slightly different set up from the crane the other week, the crane drivers job was to lift us straight into the water, with no care in the world. On the first lift the front strap was a little to much towards the aft and the boat had an alarming forwards tilt. At this point we had 5 of the Big Fish team plus Brian and Bill helping us. We tried to put her down and move the strap forwards but the boat fell back onto the sleepers, catching the slings. Big Fish Steve seemed calm enough standing there with his coffee mug and said it will be fine to lift. With the driver happy to lift like that, the nod from Steve and Brian, up she went. She didn’t get too much height and gently swung over the side into the water. The crane driver held off a ton, so we could check for leaks, all seemed fine, so the slings were released. With a bit of to-ing and froing and moving Hugh’s narrow boat our baby was on the water by 8.45am.

The boat sat 5/6 inches lower than last time, according to the Martin each ton is roughly an inch further into the water. The crane driver said ours was now 19 tons. It was originally 12 tonnes, we put 4.5 tonnes of bricks in, plus the floor, wood, engine…….makes sense. It looks like we need another 4 tonnes so the stern sits in the water properly. We may need to add a few sandbags to go up to Gloucester. The next job for the crane was to take the roof of Big Fish bays off and then lift the boat up and out, this was more impressive as the 22 ton boat was at least 20 foot of the ground. While this was going on Martin the welder, drilled out our 4 inch mushroom vent holes, welded on our centre eye and measured our windows. The next boat to be lifted was a narrow boat which arrived on the back of a lorry, Si offered his help while I had a rest. Although we thought the other week when we spent all day preparing for the crane to lift the boat and it couldn’t was a waste of time, in actual fact it prepared us more for today. Si started sweeping the iron filings off, the roof as they cause almost instant rust. I cut up some polythene and duct taped the new holes up before hosing the roof down, to make sure all the filings had gone.

While I was doing this Si’s parents had driven across the bridge, parked up and were now on the phone to him. We were a little worried about me passing anything on to them, so they were keeping their distance, which was a shame as it was Chris’s Birthday. If I’d had more time I would have created a banner, so Chris I’m afraid it’s just a mention on the blog…..HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS!!! We did want to paint the centre eye but the rain looked like it was coming so we pulled the tarp back over. On the arrival of the rain Si’s parents waved goodbye. We had to wait for Big Fish to put their roof back on before we could move the van.

The afternoon consisted of visiting a pharmacy, who gave us the number for A&E who passed us to an Access Centre for me to get a diagnosis on my heavy chest and shorter breaths. We ended up in a not so posh area of Gloucester, but I did see a very good GP, who diagnosed me with a lower respiratory tract infection. It did put my mind at ease as I have never had anything like this before. We drove back to the boat where Si cooked me soup, my first meal in 3 days and did a fantastic job of playing the role of Dr White. I ended back in bed while Si made attempts to fish, but with the rain coming down heavy the boat started to get a damp feel, not doing anything for my chest. So we ended up in the Dockers, but for the first time in a long time I drank Pepsi made easier with a tube of Smarties. We only stayed till 10pm but being in the warmth did help me, we walked back to the boat, I changed into my PJ’s and went to bed with the Screwfix catalogue. It had been a long day but a massive hurdle overcome!

 20 C     124 miles

We woke quite early, still raining, so snuggled back into the sleeping bag. By the time we got out of bed the rain had finally stopped. Breakfast was supposed to be bacon butties, but we just can’t be bothered so normally end up being a chocolate bar. I organised myself……tray, brush, roller, paint, paint tin opener, ladle, stirring stick, shower cap, gloves and made a start back in the bow locker. I was only in there for 30 minutes, so moved onto the engine bay. This was a little more tricky as with the silencer in place I had to put one leg in and then swing the other over the engine. An interesting manoeuvre, not very lady like! Si made a start on cutting the supporting struts for the bow steps frame. On my return, I helped him screw them in. In no time we had a set of steps, we placed some ply on them to interest Ness to attempt to use them. It took a while but she eventually got to the bow deck, though coming down was more of a base jump. Andy the electrician texted to say he wasn’t able to come as his son was ill, so we rearranged to meet on Friday. In the ended it suited us as we managed to finish all we’d set out to do. Before we knew it, it was time to leave, so we packed the car and prepared Ness for a much needed walk. The M4 was it’s usual…..dull and arrived home at 9.30pm.

 22 C     124 miles

Although we had a day off work yesterday, it didn’t make us get up any earlier. Once again we were taking my car. We packed the car, walked the pooch and were on the road for 10.45am. The traffic was heavy for the first half of the M4, with numerous middle lane hoggers. We made it in good time, especially as we were sat at 90mph, at this point I did remind Si that we were travelling in a glorified bake bean tin…….no offence to fellow Aygo drivers, but you know what I mean! We arrived at 1pm, the first thing we noticed was the brass fittings the engine fitter had put on our boat. The fittings looked very nice, only we asked for chrome!!! We lifted the engine hatch to see the adaptations that had been made to fit the engine, bits cut out, bits welded on…….not too pretty but it is an engine bay. The control panel is in…….brass screws! A few packages had arrived from Screwfix and Axminster.

We had planned to see Andy the electrician but by the time we texted him it was quite late, so arranged to meet tomorrow. Over lunch we discussed the new configuration of tarp and ropes for on the water. We paid £130 for the green tarp, it is more hardcore than the original blue one but now is rather holey. Si cleaned the part in the bow locker that was still rusty that I didn’t paint last week, before I climbed in to start painting. It didn’t take long for the dark clouds to start spitting and then a down pour. Si came to my rescue by giving me an umbrella, thanks honey! It did make my job harder having an umbrella handle sticking in the bow locker, so it meant I couldn’t paint one side of the triangle and all the floor. I came in to the dry and we made a start on the frame for the bow stairs. We ran the planed wood we bought by mistake from Travis Perkins at the beginning of battening out to create square timbers. We had measured the steps from one of Big Fishes boats and worked out the outer frames measurements with 10 inch steps. We both helped to create the frame and were quite pleased with our efforts, although we had the urge to finish our creation we realised we needed to walk Ness and get to the Dockers early enough to be in for a chance to order Penny’s Faggots.

Poor Nessie’s walk was from the yard to the Dockers as the weather was filthy.  We had a nice evening and left at a sensible time of 10.30pm, arriving back at the boat still pouring with rain. We got the laptop out and put on Harry Potter No 4 (£5 from Tesco’s), next to the bed, although at some points it was difficult to hear over the rain. The film didn’t finish till 1am but it was nice to go to sleep with dreams waving wands to complete the boat!

 
 20 C     124 miles

I was up at 7am as we went to bed so early. I sorted Ness out and continued to measure the boat while Si slept. Si and Ness were snoring in harmony as I sat on the end of the bed drawing different bathroom configurations. We know exactly which bath we’d like, however the problem is our bathroom resembles the outside dimensions of the tardis inside and out! By the time Si woke I had 4 designs but only one included the bath, the others were all showers. The other dilemma was the kitchen, we had no cupboard space due to all the white goods; we couldn’t fit the stove and boiler anywhere and are now wondering how people got all this in a narrow boat. We’ve come to the conclusion narrow boats are excellent for storage because they have so many nooks and crannies. For example, a narrow boats seating is usually   built in, creating storage space underneath. In a wide beam you have a regular sofa. I originally thought this was to resemble more of a house but now I think you have one because you can and gloat over narrow boats. Having a wide beam for us was about more storage space, in actual fact a wide beam is more to do with space.

So now we had no bath, still not sure where to put the washing machine, mushroom vents, lights, freezer, stove and boiler. We did have an original layout when we designed our boat with Simpsons (dirty word), but we’ve learnt so much more and seen so much more. Basically the rest of the day was planning, pretending to sit on the loo, wash up, watching TV but by the end of the day although no physical work had been done, we were winning mentally. Layout complete!

We packed up the car and drove up to the Dockers to take Ness for a walk, the reason being the darkest clouds looming over us. We started Ness’ walk and by the time we got to the old docks it had started spitting, we climbed the hill up to the pub when the heavens opened and we were running from tree to tree. We could see the car but you just knew that the short distance was the same as jumping into a swimming pool fully clothed. Just as we reached the car a black lab spotted us, he charged over and made getting Ness into the car an extra challenge. In the end I intervened, threw her in the car, shouted at the lab and jumped in myself. So on the way home we had 2 hours of a damp dog aroma, although the journey did improve by stopping at a service station and buying pick a mix!

  23 C     124 miles

We decided to take my car for several reasons; the first being we’ve caned the vans mileage and second the fuel is much cheaper in my car. The first hurdle though was to see if we could get everything in the car including the dog. The car was rather full, but it’s amazing what you can get in to an Aygo. We were just about to get on the road when Si received a phone call, an emergency at work, so we had to go via work. Eventually we were on the road but didn’t arrive till 1pm. We had a look in the engine bay, it was still wrapped up but you could blatantly see how the mounts were sticking over the bearers by at least 3 inches.

Inside the cabin there was a surprise package, four porthole windows from Martin the welder. He said he had a few left over and could do us a deal. I started by cutting Celotex while Si took the sander to the bow locker. No Jack Ass today, you’d have to be mad to get the angle grinder in there! Now it was my turn to paint silver Hammerite in the locker and Si took over cutting Celotex. The reason I’m painting the bow locker is purely down to the fact that I’m smaller, so more flexible in my manoeuvres. Once in there it was the puzzle of how do I paint my way out of this but still get one coat on everything? Luckily it being warm the paint was drying very quickly, so when I did accidentally touch one of the 3 sides it was just tacky. I finally had painted everything apart from where I was squatting, so I carefully climbed out and leant back in with my legs sticking out to finish the floor. I was nice and sweaty by now, I mean really sweaty, being confined inside a steel box with overalls and a shower cap isn’t the coolest of jobs. Si had managed to create a jigsaw puzzle with the Celotex trying to be thrifty by using the scraps, as the last full sheet we use as the base for our bed.

We drove into Berkeley to get dinner. The original plan was Chinese but we realised we had no knifes and forks (in the van!) so decided on fish & chips. Although we still needed cutlery as Si opted for fish, luckily the co op is stocked with picnic items. We returned to the boat ate our dinner and opened the beers, we did have a bottle of bubbly as it was our 100^th anniversary of coming to the boat. That is nearly a third of the year!!!!!! Being the classy couple we stuck to the beer. The next few hours were spent measuring and working out 12V lighting circuits.

Si received a phone call from the engine fitter late last night, saying that the engine didn't fit! Apparently the engine bearers aren't wide enough and it needs more adapting, but the engine is already in. Honestly we are just so peed off, the tone of the conversation last night was let’s finish this bloody thing and sell it!

We have spoken to Big Fish regarding a larger crane and their next one is the 16th July, which is good news but it does mean that the boat will be on the water for a month and from the outside still looks very similar to last August. So I think you’re getting the mood of todays blog. On a lighter note, a friend came up with the name 'Ship Happens', pretty spot on. Yesterday I came up with 'Up the Creek (without an engine)', now it should be 'Up the Creek' (without an engine and when we do finally get it, it doesn't fit!!!!).

  
  29 C     124 miles

Hungover…..need I say more. We were woken with heavy rain and I mean heavy, it lasted for 3 hours from 6am. I did get up to do a quick leak check, but I didn’t look too hard gladly as that meant I would have had to do something about it! It was difficult to sleep with a thumping headache, the rain and we had Nessie sleeping with us, that was Si’s fault. In the middle of the night he got up to go to the loo in a drunken state without a torch and walked straight into Nessies pen, frightening the poor girl into running towards me as he stumbled on past. I eventually got up at 8.30am and tried to persuade Si to do the same but this was a challenge, in the end constant pestering from the two women in his life worked. I was unsure whether the crane was going to arrive due to the weather, but it didn’t take long for the ground to dry up and the sun to become too hot.

Brian the marina owner was in his overalls preparing for the arrival of the crane and at 11.45am it chugged into the yard. An impressive bit of kit, we had plenty of time to survey the crane as there was a lot of conflab how they were going to get the 15 ton cruiser into the water. While this was going on, Si glued more battens to the bow bulkhead, planed the uneven roof battens and we both started on a temporary door, as the rain had soaked the celotex (last nights temporary door) and battens. By this time it was decided the cruiser had to be moved in a two lift process. We watched as the crane repositioned itself, the legs came out, the arm went up and then it took a while to attach the straps to the hook. As they lifted the creaking sound of the fibre glass hull was quite unnerving. The boat slowly moved up but far too quickly towards our boat, in the end Si had to lend a hand with another chap being human fenders to protect our boat. Ness and I were in and out of the office, as it was the coolest place for her and I could watch from the safety of a porta cabin. To cut a long, drawn out, sweltering few hours, it eventually was placed in the water.

Now our turn The crane moved again to position itself where the cruiser had been theses last 6 months, Brian, Si and Richard (another self build chap, who lent a hand all day) were on our roof attaching the straps. Si was moving around railway sleepers by himself to create a level platform to put the boat on. Everyone cleared the area as the crane took the slack, then beep, beep, beep and a shake of the head from the crane driver. It was far too heavy for the crane, apparently over 17 tonnes. We were both exhausted, our hangovers hadn’t improved, the sun was still unbearable, the list goes on. We were told we needed the bigger crane, but this is going to cost us in the region of £1000. So it now looks like we will be blacking it mostly in the dry dock. The crane was packed up and left at 5pm, we went into the boat laid down on the lilo and went to sleep, 30 minutes later we gave in as the number of flys were doubling and buzzing around us. We decide to pack the van and go straight home as it was still to hot to take Ness for a walk. The journey wasn’t too painful but the stuffiness of the flat wasn’t great on our return.

  25 C     0 miles

We awoke to being buzzed by flys and eventually had to get up, we could already feel how hot it was outside, so in preparation for Ness and our feet I topped up the paddling pool. Si cooked fantastic bacon rolls and before we knew it we were starting work and it wasn’t even 10am. Si continued with battening the bow bulkhead, while I worked on battening around the Houdini hatch. While Si was attempting to clamp a batten to the shell, a long tailed tit landed on the end of the clamp. I missed this but thought it was worth taking a few photographs of the event. I decided to pay a visit to the ponging (due to the heat!!!) portaloo, on my return Si was like an over excited child, a Reed Warbler or as I like to call them a Ree Dwarbler flew through the bow entrance and flew out the other end, typical I’m in the loo when it happened.

The temperature kept on rising, so we would take it turns to put Ness in the paddling pool, bring her back looked like a drowned decomposing rat and leaving her to dry off in the shade on the back deck. Even Si ended up working in just his boxers, while I was in reverse to yesterday by keeping my shorts and wearing a bikini top. The jobs today seemed to be taking us a long time but there were a lot of angles and measurements to do, but by the end of the day the roof was looking impressive. During the day we had more discussions on names, as its getting closer to August and a decision needs to be made. A few more we came up with was Bob, Bob & Bob, Wave Rider, Freespirit. Also through the day I spent a lot of time with a fly swat in my hand as the numbers were ridiculous. Once you’d killed 15, another 15 would arrive in minutes. The locals believe it is since a recycling plant opened, about 300 meters from the yard. The sky was starting to cloud over, but it wasn’t cooling. We decided at 6pm to call it a day after being on our feet for 9 hours.

The order for tonight was barbecue, walk Ness and a few pints in the pub before bed. We lit the barbecue and within 10 minutes it started to lightly rain, Si came to the rescue with his fishing umbrella, we still sat out in it as it was more refreshing than annoying. We enjoyed burgers and frankfurter sausages, we did have pudding planned but we’d filled up on mains. We took Ness for her usual perambulation in the light rain and finished at the pub. Before we knew it we were chatting to the locals about boats and met John again from when our boat was abandoned on the cut. His boat was originally a sailaway barge and is looking very impressive from the outside now. We ended up going inside the pub and having far too many drinks. We arrived back at the boat at 23.45 with, unfortunately, still one more job to do…….fly killing. In our drunken state we pranced around the cabin pretending to be Ninja’s…..I blame it on the sun!!! Unfortunately there is photographic evidence, see the June gallery.

  23 C     129 miles

This morning wasn’t as fast paced as we’d hoped, but when is it. We eventually left the flat at 11am but didn’t arrive at the boat till 2pm as we went via Tesco’s and Screwfix. We had done our food shopping for the weekend already but I thought it would be good to get Ness a proper paddling pool and a fan. You may think we are spoiling the dog, but even though she’s had a hair cut, she over heats so quickly. There was success with an inflatable paddling pool at £2.97 but no fan. We decided to try the Reading Screwfix as it isn’t a major detour off the motorway. When arriving there were massive posters outside advertising pressure washers, we succumbed and became marketing suckers and bought a Bosch pressure washer on an impulse buy and got a free t-shirt - but no fan…..out of stock.

Eventually getting to the boat, we made a start by blowing up Nessie’s new paddling pool. This went down very well, so we left her too it. We made a start on putting up the outer roof battens, this was a quick process with two of us. Both of us decided it was two hot for exteme boat building and wussed out by putting t-shirts on, with me modeling the new Screwfix t-shirt. The boat was like an oven and in the end I ended up in the new t-shirt and my knickers, although the t-shirt was more like a dress on me, so it’s not as bad as it sounds (! – Ed.) Si made a start on figuring out the bow bulkhead battening while I concentrated on battening around the Houdini hatch.

We worked through till 6.30pm and decided it was cool enough to walk Ness followed by the pub for dinner and a few pints. We did the usual walk around the marina and the old docks. The Severn was very impressive, we are now seeing it on a regular basis but no two times ever looks the same, as the tide reshapes the river bed differently every time. We enjoyed the pub grub, Si had ham, egg & chips and I had the famous faggots and chips. We ate these outside and then came in for a little while before making a move at 10.30am. I was in bed pretty much as we arrived back with Si following on 30 minutes later.

  22C     124 miles    

The alarms went off early for our standards as it was a working day in the yard, so we had to change out of our PJ’s before the first visit to the lavatory. We were expecting a crane, well we were told the boat would be swung around to make better use of the space, but we were only told last Saturday whilst walking to the Dockers by Fitter Paul. As we hadn’t had a phone call from anyone from the marina we were sceptical. It would make our lives easer to grind back the rust and re paint the bitchumen without having to use a harness and rope to paint the bow which is hanging over the water. We were told by the Big Fish lads they also thought a crane was coming today but with no sign of Big Fishes Seth or Fitter Paul we were definitely doubting the cranes arrival. We were hoping we could buy a sheet of ash faced ply from Big Fish to continue with the batten extensions but we were forced to try the rubbish ply from B & Q. To our amazement the new 40 tpi blade on the saw cut it perfectly with no splinter rips, so once again quality tools make the difference.

We attached the last few and decided to make the most of it being a working day because we needed to take 15mm off 12 battens. We had to choose the battens in the straight department as some resembled bananas and others the letter S. We attached the hoover directly to the circular saw to stop the sawdust coating our lungs. All was going quite well till the 8^th batten when a knot broke off and flew at high speed and hit Si, so we were both back to extreme boat building. Our blood pressured was considerably reduced once we had cut batten number 12. We made an attempt to put one roof batten up but it was only when Si went to screw the batten in that we realised the screws were too long as the battens were 15mm thinner………..deeeerrrrrrhhhhhh!!!  Feeling a little frustrated we made an attempt on the middle battens which retained their full dimensions. On the first batten both of us were screeching with pain, as the hot filings fell on to me as the batten holder and on Si as the driller. I decided to take the wuss approach and put on a long sleeve top with hood. Si carried on being the hard man drilling without a t-shirt, but he did squeal when the metal filings dropped  into his shorts. I was a little delayed in my rescue attempts through laughing. After a row of battens went up we started on another can of spray foam before packing up and taking Nessie for a long walk. We climbed in the van and arrived home at 9.30pm, not bad for 124 miles in 2 hours.

  17 C      50 miles + 74 (yesterday)    

Last night we drove to my parents due to Si not arriving back in London till 3pm from deep sea fishing in Cornwall. We could have had a weekend off but the boat is definitely booked in for its paint job on the 17^th August so we need to press on now more than ever. To make it worth while going to the boat we have taken tomorrow off work. It did make a nice change travelling on the M40 rather than the M4. We all had an enjoyable evening, Nessie with the garden, us for a great dinner and one of mother’s experimental puddings (definitely not a slimming world recipe). Parents enjoyed the Wii Fit, their fit ages were better than mine. Mother was plus 3 years, Papa was -3 years and I was +17 the first time I used it! Thankfully I’ve reduced that to +4.

We did leave a little later than planned this morning and by the time we had gone via Screwfix in Gloucester we didn’t arrive till 1pm.We were aware it was Sunday and the noise pollution that the circular saw gives out, but we needed to cut strips of ply to nail to the battens to make them protrude past the insulation. The circular saw is a frightening piece of kit, with very large sharp teeth at high speed. Armed with our safety goggles and the desire to keep our fingers we created a routine that seemed as safe as it could be. Frequently I shouted ‘fingers’ to Si as I thought 4 inches was too close for comfort. We also shared the job of nailing the strips to the battens, I would hold, Si would press the trigger several times and I would follow on behind with a hammer to make them flush with the wood. The nailer does work well, when it fires. It’s a little like nailing roulette, you finally get it to fire, so you repeat the exact process again and nothing.

To finish off the 6 hour day we opened a can of spray foam to fill more gaps, when it was just gas coming out and making us high we prepared the boat for bed. The original plan was to eat at the Dockers but they only do food at lunch time on a Sunday, so it was a trip to Berkeley for either Chinese or Indian. We settled on Chinese. It was cheaper and tastier than our local but they were also on country time to cook the food, 35 minutes. We returned to the boat to eat then went for a long walk to tire Ness out, before retiring to the Dockers to talk colour swatches and Screwfix.

 21 C     124 miles

We woke around 7am but made the decision (?) to drift in and out of sleep, finally getting up as the temperature in the boat started to make the sleeping bags more like sweat bags. Si went to Berkley for a few essential supplies and I took Nessie for a walk before the temperature was too high for our fluff bucket. Anne and Graham were supposed to be arriving at lunch time, but at 10.30am I saw their yellow van crawl across the bridge. I went to open the gate as Si finished off his last mouthful of his bacon bap and put the kettle on, as that was one of Anne’s stipulations. We took a pew on the waters edge and discussed our boat and their work. Anne and Graham are characters, they are certainly experienced in boat painting with Graham having 50 years of experience. So you now can have a guess at their age! They work 7 days a week and have not had a holiday in 25 years. There is no need for them to advertise as its all by word of mouth. The only advertising they have is on the side of their van. Graham painted his details on and went shopping in Gloucester before it had even dried, they returned home to find an answer machine message asking for a sign writer. We had a look at their colour swatches and discussed different types of décor. We originally wanted to be ultra modern i.e. no coach lines, just the name. But the longer we are building the boat the more we are seduced by the traditional narrow boating passion and the history. We mentioned a few name ideas to Anne and Graham and they had a giggle at ‘A Pair of Mugs’. After their cup of coffee they left to see to another customer in the marina.

We made a start on the central roof battens, as we needed to spray foam a few gaps in the celotex but you have to use the can all in one go. Putting up the battens meant there was plenty to spray foam. It was a team effort, I had to hold while Si drilled the first two holes and put the screws in so I could let go. I’d follow up behind putting a screw into every hole he drilled. Before we knew it we’d done two runs and stopped for lunch. After lunch I created Nessie’s paddling pool to cool her down and climbed into the engine bay, hopefully for the last time. It only took me about an hour to do the parts I couldn’t do yesterday. I went back into the cabin and made a start on spray foaming the gaps.

It took me a long time to get the knack but I was slightly distracted by a full scale argument happening across the cut. Basically the short story….narrow boat turns around, permanent Dutch barge owner screams at him ‘how close do you want to get’, then accuses them of hitting his boat…narrow boat say they weren’t anywhere near it. They moor up just down from the marina and horizontally challenged bloke goes storming off down the towpath shouting at them ‘You hit my bloody boat’ and a lot of finger pointing. I had a great seat looking through the bow doors, Si was at the other end of the cabin and was asking for regular updates, as it did go on for over 30 minutes. I never heard a bang and couldn’t see any damage on the barge but then on a later walk around the marina the narrow boat had many a scratch down it’s side from many altercations with other objects. I’m not going to judge though as I’ve never driven a boat. Si came to my rescue with the spray foam, as I’d made it look like all the white dog poo’s of the 80’s had re-emerged on our floor. We packed up the van and took Nessie for another perambulation before the 2 hour journey home. It seemed everyone was in a hurry, as we were the slowest on the motorway at 80mph.

 20 C     124 miles

So much had happened during the week. Si was off work for two days and a much needed visit to his osteopath. The van blew up, luckily only costing £100, it could have been a lot worse! We received quotes from A & D marine £4500 + VAT to do the lot except sign writing, so need to add another £500, so it looked like I was winning the bet. It would have been nicer if the eternal optimist could have been right and it costing nearer to £3000. The couple we wanted - Anne & Graham, who are very well known in the trade said they were originally too busy to do the job but then left us a message on my answer phone on Tuesday to say they were mistaken and they did have a slot. Si phoned back and had a chat with Anne and arranged for them to meet us on the Sunday.

Anyway, although I woke early I ended up playing on our new purchase - a Wii Fit, instead of packing. We have been meaning to get one for a while as my consultants believe this will help my knees. Anyway it meant by the time we’d filled up with fuel we weren’t on the motorway till 10.45am. We had one toilet stop on the motorway so didn’t arrive till 1pm. Neither of us had checked the weather and started to regret that we hadn’t bought shorts or flip flops for Si. I had jeans on and the socks I’d chosen were my thick winter socks. Due to Si’s back still being fragile, I pulled the short straw of painting the engine bay I had visions of painting in my knickers and bra. I made a start while Si continued to tape up more of the celotex…why didn’t we spray foam!!!!!! But saying that, this will be one of the best insulated boats on the Thames. I ended up in engine bay in my overalls as the sun was pouring in, and due to me burning by looking at the sun for a nano second, I thought covering up was the best option. In an attempt to cool myself down I wore my bikini under my overalls. To paint the engine bay required a puzzle busters mind, I needed to paint the whole thing, but still be able to stand in it. I came up with an action plan and steamed on. My mood swayed towards the grumpy, being in confined space with sauna like temperatures and an aching right arm. By the time I’d manage to paint my way out of the engine bay, Si had made good progress on the taping.

At 6.30pm we tidied up and gathered Nessie’s walking and pub apparatus (she needs a long straw!). The aim was a lengthy walk to tire her out to have a quiet pub time, we did achieve that but also knackered ourselves in the process. We enjoyed several pints, dinner and chatting to the locals. We returned to the boat and ended up having an early night.

 15 C      173 miles

We left my parents house at a reasonable 9.45am, heading towards Gloucester to visit A & D Marine. I had spoken to them, and other dry docks the week previous, it seemed that A & D Marine were the only ones who could meet our needs. Driving through the not so salubrious area of Gloucester, we had to do a U turn as we’d missed 338 Bristol Road. The original plan was to leave Nessie in the van, but on a quick glance round checking out the area we thought it was best to bring her with us.

We asked the chandlery whether we could bring Nessie in which they were fine with, I did try to hold her for as long as possible so she didn’t cause any mischief, but she’s now well over 10kg and rather leggy, so I ended up putting her down. There were 3 chaps behind the counter, one of them had my details already written down on a piece of paper but had no phone number to call me to say the dates they had provisionally said had gone. They gave us different options, but as the conversation got more involved, it was looking less likely we would be able to do any part ourselves. We mentioned paying for dry docking, and grit blasting it ourselves, they asked where were we going to hire the blaster from. We said we’d seen a Wolf one that stated it could do the job, the look we got was a ‘complete novice’ look. Apparently it would take us 3 weeks just to grit blast with a 50L compressor, luckily we hadn’t ordered it yet as it was out of stock…..a close one. They gave us a few dates, costs of preparing and said they would contact us in a few days with quotes of painting. They did suggest we could get someone else into paint after they’ve prepared the boat. We ran back to the van, sat inside and started to smile, which was a considerable mood change from entering A & D marine. The reason for the smile was the idea of getting some one else to do the painting, which means we wouldn’t be on the boat for 2 to 3 weeks………..Holiday!!! We had a little bet on how much the quote was going to be, Si went for £3000 I went for nearer £6000 (ever the pessimist). We drove to the boat on the A38 rather than getting back on to the motorway and were surprised how quickly we arrived.

On arrival we noticed that there was a puddle forming in the middle of the boat under the Houdini from last nights rain. Si took residence on the lilo with Nessie as his back was worsening. I continued to stick and tape to seal the celotex installation while listening to the rain and snoring. Occasionally there would be heavy down pours, it was quite amazing how much the celotex sound proofs the roof. What it didn’t quieten was the thunder, which started the conversation, what happens if a boat gets struck by lightening? Answers on a postcard! I decided the safest place was to join Si and Nessie on the lilo. We decided to call it a day and I started to pack the van as the invalid couldn’t walk upright. We drove home arriving 9.30pm and I carried all the stuff into the flat. Somehow I had an inkling that Si wasn’t going to be going to work tomorrow.

 15 C     81 miles

We had a slower start, especially with Si’s old man impression. I was all for going home but Mr Stubborn still wanted to go to the boat. I loaded the van up and we said our goodbyes. We arrived at the boat for 12.00pm, I unloaded the van and opened the hatch, which was a little struggle as there are no runners on the steel yet, you have to lift it over the doors to gain entrance. I’m just 6cm to small, but luckily with the help of two bricks I just managed to open it.

I started on more gluing, while Si and Nessie sat on the lilo. Si made efforts to cut the aluminium tape to the right width while Nessie hindered by chewing the end of the tape, making a good team. I continued to stick the insulation and tape over the edges, Si attempted to cut expanding foam back, cut more tape, more insulation and made our sandwiches. That was a little two much for Si’s back and before I knew it, he and Nessie were fast asleep on the lilo for over an hour. I carried on with more taping, and managed to finish one side which I was quite pleased with. Once awake, we packed up the van and travelled to my parents. We were greeted by a Sunday roast and amazing chocolate puddings. We had a quiet evening, Nessie on the other hand made the most of the garden and Lily’s & Maisies toy box.

 15 C     153 miles

Neither of us set an alarm, so the first time we were aware it was morning was 9am, we made every effort to move quick sharpish, but the amount we take to the boat doesn’t really change if we go for one night or five. We put everything into the van, walked Nessie and then made our way to the M4 via the garden centre (birthday present needed). We arrived at the boat for 1:15pm, both of us felt it wasn’t really worth it because we would be leaving at 5pm to get to Si’s folks for 6pm for his mum’s birthday dinner.

The weather was horrid, so we thought we could have had an even longer lye in and just driven straight to Nailsea. Anyway we carried on with more insulation, aluminium taping and duct taping. When doing this there is a repetitive conversation, why didn’t we spray foam? Unfortunately our boat is not the usual design and it took us so long to do the battening, we would have been struggling to control the condensation / rust. As the day went on Si’s back was starting to play up but he was being rather stubborn and not giving in. Before we knew it, it was 5pm, so we climbed in the van to head south. We arrived on time and joined the family for a Chinese, unfortunately Si’s back then really went, so now we were in doubt whether we would be going to the boat tomorrow.

 24 C     124 miles

We awoke to being bugged by bugs, well flies. It didn’t matter how much you pulled the sleeping bag up they’d still manage to land on the small part of you visible. So we decided to get our own back with letting Nessie lye on the bed. Si made a start on breakfast cooking on the back deck….bacon baguettes, not a bad way to start the morning. We opened the bow doors to let the air circulate through the boat and put Nessie on the back to watch the world go buy.

Si made a start on the next coat of the engine bay while I started to cut and glue the bubble wrap foil insulation. The glue Si had bought from Screw Fix ‘No Nonsense Contact Adhesive’, seemed to be doing the job, but when you purchase these items you can’t read the back of the can and if we had we probably wouldn’t have bought it. The glue looked similar to lemon curd but the stench of noxious gases certainly wasn’t sweet! There are more orange warning signs on the bottle than the number of times the engine bay has been painted... It’s irritant, flammable, harmful etc. You have to coat both surfaces and the instructions said to wait 10 – 20 minutes to wait till it goes tacky before sticking together, luckily the heat of the steel made it pretty instant. But my favourite line on the bottle was ‘If swallowed rinse out with water immediately (unless unconscious)’. So armed with a long sleeve top, gloves, mask and glasses to protect myself in a steel oven from being gassed…..I started off in a good mood. It didn’t take long for Si to finish the 1L tin, so he came in to help me out with duck taping the foil insulation. We were starting to get a rhythm going and before we knew it was 6.00pm, so we decided to pack up and take Ness for a walk, as the temperature had started to cool. It was a pleasant walk and both of us were starting to wish we’d taken tomorrow off from work to stay another night. We reluctantly climbed into the van to start the M4 journey.

 

 23 C     124 miles



With only 3 days at work and 4 nights at home we were off again onto the M4, once again we planned to leave earlier but hey why break a habit of a lifetime. The M4 wasn’t its usual quiet run, lots of traffic and lots of accidents, we managed to get to the boat in 2 ½ hours, not bad considering. The sun was already high in the sky on arrival, we knew what we had to do…..the engine bay. Unfortunately the engine bay can only fit one person in, plus I was under strict instructions to take it easy by my physio and boss…..damn! The boat certainly needed airing as it was extremely humid, we put Nessie on the bow deck, this she found thoroughly entertaining to watch the ducks, the people, the ducks and more ducks. Si started with the angle grinder in the engine bay, I thought this was more of a show case for ‘Jack Ass’, metal strips flying off at 22,000rpm then hitting a confined steel box flying back at you……believe me I was nowhere near. I cut strips of foil insulation, cut more spray foam back and proceeded to be quite useless, the heat was just too much in the boat.

Fitter Paul came over with the bitchumen he had ordered on our behalf and for a quick chat. The plan at the moment is to get the boat to Gloucester and in to a covered dry dock to paint it at the end of July, to do this we have to take the boat up the canal…….scary, so we were asking Paul for his advice. The day seemed to pass quickly and before we knew it Si had finished coating the bare steel and himself with hammerite. He looked more like a spaceman from tipping the full tray over and the only way to get it off was by rollering himself. We cleaned up the boat, Si started the barbecue and I prepared the bed and the food. I’d bought a Tesco’s disposable barbecue, but in the end we had to light an old one we had in the van as it was more than useless. If I have time I will complain to Tesco’s, the area to cook on was ridiculously small and not much heat output. We eventually got our dinner and very much enjoyed the lamb burgers and chicken kebabs. We had forgotten Nessies wet food, so to con her into eating her dinner we sacrificed some of our chicken to mix into her dry food…..she’s so easy!

The temperature had finally dropped, so we prepared her for a walk, while we were organising ourselves all we could hear was screeching tires, Si thought they were in one of the compounds further away but as we walked round the corner to open the marina gate there were two Mitsubishis and a Nissan Skyline. The lads were young but were quite happy to chat, Si was in heaven talking of past cars, possible future cars……drooling. We walked up onto the bridge to watch the awesome donuting, dust flying and rubber burning, it was like being in ‘Fast and Furious’ but a West Country version.  We walked down to the Severn with the light fading, the Severn bridges were twinkling in the distance with the M48 resembling 2 Eiffel Towers sparkling. We walked backed to the boat and consumed a little more, I took myself to bed and Nessie joined me, Si stayed up with his fishing rods and beer. He finally came to bed at 12.45am, admitting defeat and that his only catch of the day was a 57ft narrow boat called ‘Betty Eccles’.

 16 C     173 miles

We left my parents early, it could have been earlier but we were holding off waking them, they did eventually wake and they waved us off, all 3 in their dressing gowns. We arrived at the boat and did some impressive intelligence work that the man we didn’t recognise in blue overalls must be Bob the engine fitter. He was busy on other boats for the time being so Si started on more spray foam and I went into the Big Fish office to utilise their catalogues as most of the chandlery websites are rubbish and painful to use. Si’s parents phoned to see if they could pop in to see the progress, they arrived an hour later. Sandy and I had a good natter while the boys talked boat.

Bob came over whilst Si’s parents sat in the car and had lunch. Bob was a character, he thought the messed up tank was ok, the part he was worried about was the prop height and also wondered why our control tower was at a 45 degree angle, our answer….who knows! We checked the engine over with Bob, to do this we had to take the wrapping off. He worked out the calculations and thought the height difference of the engine was do-able. After Bob left, Si’s parents disappeared to, Si went back into the cabin and I returned to the office. Nearer 16.30pm I packed up my laptop and went back into the boat, Nessie was lying on the lilo, so I lay down next to her, then Si joined us, before we knew it we’d fallen asleep. On waking we decided to take Nessie for a walk before the journey home but it was also to take a look at a green narrow boat on the other side of the canal that had caught our eye. We returned a short while later and climbed into the van, arriving home at 8.45pm.

 16 C     118 miles

Today was a day off from the boat, well kind of….we were at the Crick Boat show in Northamptonshire. My parents kindly offered to look after the monster for the day and we left at 8.45am to beat the crowds. We were kindly given guest passes by Big Fish who met us at the gate. We jumped onto a few wide beams on the hard standing, they were the lower end of the market but had some nifty ideas. We then went down to the marina and stumbled on Tracey’s boat ‘Buffalo’, we’d seen it from the outside but not the inside, one word: Wow! A very well thought out, classic, stylish boat, certainly one of the best we’ve seen. Tracey had a Heritage stove, an amazing stove that did the central heating as well - she said that Heritage had a stand on site. So we went wandering across the stalls and came across Worcester windows, midland chandlery and Heritage. The guy at Heritage was great, really sold us the compact version and then Si asked the price £5,840. What else can you say to that figure….apart from smile nicely and say ‘right’.

It tried to rain a couple of times but it didn’t dampen our lunch, I had a burger and Si had hog roast with a Mr Whippy Ice Cream for desert. We didn’t get on a lot of boats as many were appointment only, we think this is wrong, we understand some people want serious talks with boat builders, but there are often people who don’t want the pressure, so I think an hour of appointments, then an hour of an open boat. Although we did get the chance to see an array of boat colours. After being at the show for 5 hours our bodies were slowly giving up, so we went via Big Fish to say farewell and then the Crepe van. On the way home we had many conversations, we sounded upbeat even after the knackering 3 days of de-rusting and painting. We were home by 4.30pm and by 5.30pm were having a nap, just absolutely shattered. We had a lovely dinner and retired to the conservatory when we decided to see how much the larger items were going to cost us, a shock when we found out the windows and trims totalled £4500, the ply £1000, the engine fitting £1500 etc…so no heritage stove, so we ended up going to bed down beat and cursing Mr Mills.

 21 C     4 miles

We woke up early again for a family toilet trip, although this time our bodies were obviously getting used to the hard labour. I won’t go as far as saying we were ache free, but just not as bad as yesterday. We went back to bed for a short while, we knew it was going to be a glorious day and it started off well looking at the silver celotex on the ceiling shimmering from the reflection of the water. Si went into Berkley for bacon and baguettes for another hearty breakfast. The choice was to do the whole roof again or the parts around the hatch and the inside of the hatch that we didn’t manage to finish yesterday. We were very aware that it was a Sunday and we needed to use the angle grinder so I went and checked with Tilly (Brians wife) to see if it would be ok just for an hour. She didn’t have a problem, so Ness and I left Si on the roof and we went for a wander around the marina. Along the route I kept on stopping to see if I could hear Si, but I couldn’t. I reported our findings on our return and Si said he’d only go for another 5 minutes anyway. Unfortunately the angle grinder couldn’t get into most of the areas under the hatch so I used the wire brush which then made a mess of the roof Si had just hoovered.

We used the black hammerite as our boat is going to have a red and black colour scheme(?). Let’s just say we should have taken the other option as it was just too hot, the paint kept on getting a skin on it and it wasn’t going on well. The steel was so hot you couldn’t let bare skin come in contact with it! We had to carry Ness across the back deck as it was too hot for her paws! We were worried she was over heating so we made a paddling pool out of the tray for her pen, she wasn’t too sure to begin with but then discovered a love for cool feet…..1 ½ hours later, she was still playing. Our moods plummeted as once we had done the second coat we knew we still had to go over with red primer for 2 reasons, the first being where the angle grinder had taken the paint off from yesterday and the most demoralising was that a stone had got into one of our shoe treads and had scraped the paint off back down to bare metal in over 20 places. By the time we had come to the end, we were so downbeat, demoralised and probably suffering from sun stroke. Our spirits did start to pick up as we put the tarp back on. We were both desperate for showers after being on the boat for 3 days and 2 nights, especially in this heat. We drove back and I think my parents realised we were struggling as we hobbled from the van. My knees had swollen to the size of melons, due to being on my knees for 3 days. I am wearing knee pads but since my operations I can’t really kneel, so Karl (my long suffering physio) if you are reading this, expect a visit soon! We had a fantastic meal and then it was pretty much bed for us.

 19 C     0 miles   

We woke at 7am and decided all 3 of us needed the toilet, a stunning morning especially as it was the first time we had seen the sun on the east side - says something about the time we get to the boat normally! It was an effort to get out of the boat, everything ached, who needs boot camps when you can work every muscle by de-rusting and painting. Who needs the vibrating plates in an expensive gym when you can use an orbital sander to tackle those bingo wings? We proceeded to go back to bed… waking again at 9am. Si cooked breakfast…..steak baguette…a good start to the day, topped off with left over birthday cake.

We took a brief walk down to the marina, Si went into the chandlery to test Brian the Marina co-owner about our noise plans for the weekend and to butter him up about it! I walked Nessie further round to give her a morning stroll before she spent most of the day stationary in her bed. Around 12pm we both started sanding, because when Si went to return Hugh’s orbital sander he’d gone home, perfect for us though. We were very conscious we were the most hated people in the marina, although someone did say they have a choice to go somewhere else, they have engines in their boats! Very true! We stopped at 1.15pm for half an hour to give the marina a break. Si went to mend the holes in the tarp with duck tape and thought we should approach the company to see if they would sponsor our boat for a small fee, not overly keen on the name ‘Duck Tape’, but if there’s a fee involved, I could possibly be persuaded.

We continued sanding till 3pm and then gave the marina another break. The waterway was becoming like the M25, everyone trying to moor-up by the marina, a few cruisers went through the swing bridge to go onto the Severn, rather them than us. In the pub last night we chatted to a guy ‘BlubTub’, that’s not being offensive, that is what his boat is called, he goes out on the Severn in his narrowboat. He was saying how the first bridge is fine (M48) but the new bridge (M4) makes the boat into a bullet when you go under it, due to the huge cills on the pillars. We carried on sanding till we finished the flat parts, Si took over with the angle grinder and I took Ness for a walk. Ness and I were jumping from shade to shade as it was full sun now. On our return Si kept going for another 15 minutes but it was now 6pm and we had to admit defeat before completing around the hatch. We brushed, wiped and white spirited the roof before starting painting - this was the biggest expanse so far. We also had a time restraint - the Dockers stopped doing food at 9pm! As we painted we watched boats coming and going, especially 3 boat who were together, 2 of which were huge cruisers trying to park, forwards, reverse, turn around, again and again. You do feel like saying get a boat you can handle, rich coming from us who are building a house boat and have never ever driven one before, but hey when we are still painting at 8pm and everyone else is sat on their decks with a glass of wine….I think we are allowed to bitch! We finished and packed up at 8.30pm and made our way to the Dockers for food and a few pints.

 16 C     50 miles

We set off a little later than planned and went into Berkley on route to pick up supplies as it was going to be our first night staying on the boat. We had many discussions involving painting and where to paint but finally we settled on the roof as we had plenty of red oxide primer. Si started using the angle grinder, lessons learnt from last time I made sure I was a safe enough distance away…..inside the boat. I continued duck taping, aluminium tape, cutting bubble wrap foil and foam. Once Si had finished using the angle grinder on the edges, I went up to sand, he did try and use the angle grinder for 30 seconds but realised that the looks behind him were much sharper than metal strands flying at you at 22,000rpm! As there were a few people milling around at Big Fish I asked Si to see if anyone had another orbital sander we could borrow….he came back with a fantastic Dewalt 6 inch sander, much more powerful than ours, something else to add to the shopping list. He had been lent it by a chap called Hugh who has a 1920 narrow boat being overhauled in the Dutch barn. This just proves that not all people are slippery as snakes and are willing to give you a helping hand or step up, we come back to the name ‘Snakes & Ladders’. With the two of us sanding we were starting to fly through, by 6pm we had finished, now to clean and paint. Si wasn’t too keen to clean the roof with white spirit, so used soapy water instead. Unfortunately we had to wash the soap away with more water and it just wasn’t drying quickly enough, so he had to aid with the drying, it then started to dry with an orange colour….instant rust! So in the end resorted to the trusty white spirit.

We eventually started painting; I’d made a conscious decision I would not turn into the devil women. I prepared the paint and had to mix white spirit with the last bit in the pot to get a better consistency, but as I started to roller the paint it had loads of bits in it. Calmly I ask Si to see what he thought, the decision to change trays and open the new tin, far better quality of paint, and we were off. I’m quite proud of myself, I kept cool and said positive stuff to keep Si upbeat. I thought he’d say something about not being the devil woman but he didn’t notice, even when we noticed that a bird had poo’d on the roof, just where we were supposed to be painting, it wasn’t just one poo, it was a cluster bomb, splatters everywhere!. We finally put our paintbrushes down at 8pm and tidied up. Si went off to the fish & chip shop while I sorted our bed and bedding out. On his return we ate our dinner, pulled the tarp back over and were ready to hit the ‘Dockers’…..the local! It was a good job it serves till midnight as we arrived at 10pm. We met several characters all with boats, had good chats and a good laugh, and obviously Ness was a big hit! We retired at 23.30 to our bed, the canal was still and there were stars in the sky……….amazing!

 16 C     100 miles

After far too much wine, I slept in till 9am but we were on the road 50 minutes later. We arrived at the yard and stayed in the van, as the heavens opened it seemed the best place to wait for a while. On route Si went into the garage to get us lunch but he did say he had bought me a surprise, I wasn’t too sure when he pulled out pork scratchings from the bag. Apparently they give you energy, well that was his excuse, so I thought to be polite I’d have one….delicious! After demolishing the pork scratchings the rain had ceased, so we loaded the boat up with our usual paraphernalia. We carried on with more spray foam, duck taping and stuff, it did feel like we weren’t making much progress but all of this work needs to be done.

We had a visitor, Andy our new electrician, he must have been on board for 90 minutes discussing with us all there is to 240V and 12V. He installed enough confidence in us to do the 240V ourselves, we just need to know exactly where we want our sockets and told us which appliances need separate loops. After Andy had left we carried on with more sticking, we had also purchased rolls of insulating bubble wrap foil stuff. The idea being this would cover the steel roof struts, I thought we were also putting this on the sides, so I was cutting a strip of bubbles to push into the gap. We had obviously had a communication breakdown, as Si thought we were just putting the aluminium tape on the sides, covered with duck tape. I thought this left an air gap we needed to fill, anyway we carried on to discuss heatedly what was best and ended up laughing as we’d thought of a new name for the boat ‘Heath Robinson’, well by the time we finish it is going to be held together by ? amount of glue and duct tape. We decided to call it quits and got back on the road to my folks, with a good greeting from parents but not from the dogs, it was more of a ‘Oh, you haven’t brought that thing again’! We had another good dinner and then Si and I joined in the conversation while cutting insulating foil into thin strips, the only problem being all of my parents scissors are left handed…..challenge!

 17 C     173 miles

Today is my Birthday! Feeling old, I’m convincing myself I’m 29 again. I woke this morning to a cake & candles and a cute puppy running into the bedroom with the string of a helium balloon in her mouth, the balloon: a heart with ‘I Love You’, it was so sweet I had tears in my eyes. Anyway after opening my cards and presents, we set off around 10.30am and arrived at the boat 2 hours later. It rained on the motorway, this is quite a major thing as it’s the curse of my birthday. So remember the 20^th May and never plan a party, a wedding, basically anything where you don’t want it to rain. On arrival we found the Screwfix order had finally turned up and minutes after arriving, so did the another one we had ordered yesterday. We made a start on spray foaming more gaps when there was a knock and a friendly “hello” It was Papa on his way back from a meeting in Bristol, worried I would not have their cards and presents, as the original plan was to stay on the boat.

Well, actually the original original plan was to wake up on my birthday morning on the boat, but as we only would have been at the flat for 2 nights since last being at the boat, we thought it was just a bit too much to organise for. Anyway we’d made the decision we would be heading back to my folks instead. After father and his colleague Steve left we carried on getting expanding foam everywhere. The main difficulty being the ceiling gaps, as you’d squirt it in and it would just keep expanding, until it dropped on the floor. It was more of a Russian roulette and the only way you’d be getting it out of your hair would be with a pair of scissors, so I took precautions…..a shower cap! While waiting for it to dry I took Nessie for a walk and Si made a start on de-rusting the bow deck floor. I put more screws in the 2x1 battens on the ceiling, cut the foam and made a start on duck taping the gaps in the celotex. By the time Si finished painting the deck with Hammerite and cleared up it was 7.20pm. We arrived at my parents a little later than I said, but as my mum hadn’t checked her text messages, she was none the wiser. My mother had cooked a fantastic roast and a birthday cake from heaven, what a way to finish off my 29^th birthday.

 10 C     153 miles

We were up and out by 9.30am. In actual fact we could have had more of a lye in, as we knew we would be struggling to find things to do. We attached the curved battens, started the bow bulkhead battening, stuck more celotex, brushed, hovered and played ball the length of the boat. We packed up at 2.30pm and got on the road, so we had spent a total of 24 hours at the boat, so was it worth it? We came up with a new name for the boat ‘Snakes & Ladders’, as we have met many snakes along the way but sometimes when you think you are making progress and ‘climbing a ladder’, something happens and you just feel like you’ve gone back to where you started.

 10 C     153 miles

This morning didn’t start off too well, the problem being lasts nights decision to go to the pub. Commonsense should have prevailed but we were only going for a couple, anyway the short story is we woke with killer hangovers and didn’t leave the flat till 11.30am.The journey was long, dull and it started to rain within a mile of Sharpness. We arrived at the boat on the hunt for a Screwfix package, in the boat, under the boat, in the engine bay…nowhere to be seen. In it were items we needed to get on with the next stage, screws, fine circular saw blade. We sat in the boat, our moods not improving. The stench outside wasn’t helping…..rotten fish, from the barnacles scraped off the boat that had been blacked last week. Then Nessie’s stomach started making loud growling noises, basically this normally ends in diarrhoea. Si decided a coffee was needed, all good and well but we forgot the boat bag with the mugs in it. The last straw was Si bumped into one of the co-owners of the marina and said he had received complaints about us sanding on Sunday and asked if we could do noisy work mid week. Well let’s just say I didn’t take it well…. a cross between a Jack Russell that goes for the ankles except in tears!

However, by 7.30pm we had managed to achieve, by putting up the 2 x1 outer roof batten using leftover screws and as we used these sparingly we will supplement these from the Screwfix order, when it finally arrives.  We’d cut and glued more celotex and I continued with the curving battens. I did have a set back when I cut a little too deep on one cut and when Si attempted to bend it…snap! We drove to Si’s parents, Nessie’s first visit! We had an enjoyable evening with a good hearty dinner and naughty pud, Si stayed in rather than going to the pub, so we had a good catch up with Si’s mum.

15 C     173 miles

We left the house and arrived at the boat for 11.30, the weather forecast said the weather was going to be sunny. So we peeled back a third of the tarp to start de-rusting. My tool was the orbital sander and Si’s weapon was the angle grinder with the steel knotted bevel. Weapon is not an understatement. We were both de-rusting quite happily at opposite ends of section when I got hit in the back, a whipping and stinging. I ignored it and carried on, then I felt a stab in my leg! I realised these were the steel strands flying off Si’s angle grinder. I tried to carry on, but was starting to get nervous when I was going to be stabbed and where! In the end I got too nervous, wimped out and decided we should take it in turns on the roof. I took Ness for a walk and on my return swapped with Si. The plan was to leave earlier, around 5pm, to get home, as we hadn’t been there for over 10 days. We wanted some time to sort ourselves out and prepare for the week ahead. Well 5pm came and we were still sanding, we’d been just a little over ambitious and bitten off more than we could do! Tracy and Stewart (the owners of Big Fish) arrived on site so we had a chat with Tracy. She told us that they might lose one of the warehouses they use for storage soon. Guess where our engine is? We are still trying to sort out what to do with the mess of our engine bay, but obviously with this news it’s a kick up the back side!

Finally at 6pm Si started cleaning down the roof while I got all the painting stuff prepared. We climbed back onto the roof to begin the painting and just as the roller hit the steel the wind started to pick up and typically all the dust and dandelion seeds. Si was extremely patient, as my patience had thrown a tantrum and disappeared! The devil woman was back in full swing, it didn’t help that our paint was drying in the trays so that a skin was forming. I was also uncomfortable as my knees don’t do kneeling, even with knee pads on. We’d backed ourselves up near the edge and Si said he’d finish off the painting - probably just needed the peace. So I tried to get off the roof but my knees seized and I was stuck and now in a foul temper. Si helped me down and as soon as I got into the boat I could feel my anger levels reduce. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a perfectionist, and having no control of the temperature and wind ruins this, or maybe I just have a short fuse…! Who knows? We packed up leaving the tarp till last. Only 3 ½ hours late….we finally got on the road and arrived at home just after 10.30pm, there goes our early night!

15 C     100 miles

We were up, out of the house and on the road arriving by 11am. We knew what was first as we’d run through the program of todays events. We need to spray foam the gaps in the bricks around the inspection hatch, to stop them from moving. We chose the largest can, I went around with my water spray with Si following on with the spray can. It definitely makes the sound of squirty cream, it took a few runs but Si began to get the hang of it, to create not too much excess. But even when he knew what he had to do sometimes it would come out quicker than expected and start falling off the walls, so we’d end up catching blobs here there and everywhere. On one occasion we saw it fall, Si went to catch it, but we couldn’t see where it had landed, both of us looking around on the floor…nothing. Si stood up and turned towards me and there was a blob the size of an orange on his watch! I tried to tell him but I couldn’t stop laughing!!!

We decided to take Nessie for a walk, while the expanding foam was doing its job, we half expected not to be able to get in the boat on our return, as this stuff is pretty expandasious!  On our return I started cutting back the excess foam, having a competition with myself how long I could get the strips of pavalova before they break….I know - I should get out more. Si continued glueing battens on the port side and moved onto the starboard side. I swapped jobs to cutting celotex as my right arm was suffering, between us we bumbled our way through the next few hours until 6.30pm. On our return to my folks we discussed how we have had nearly 6 days on the boat but don’t feel like we’ve got anywhere. I know my enthusiasm has been wavering, just from being so knackered from Adventure Training, it’s lucky Si is the optimist out of the two of us. We returned home to my folks. They were out again at a party! Si cooked steak and chips, we sat down to watch Match of the Day while surfing the Screwfix Catalogue on the net…..old before our time!!!

13 C     106 miles

We were at the boat for 11.00 am, we’d had a severe weather journey with hail and sideways rain. The marina was dry although our pirate flag was firmly pointing east. According to the Met office the gusts were going up to 50mph today, so still no painting going to be happening. We were hoping today was going to be more productive than yesterday. We started off by making a makeshift table to stop us losing tools and knocking over white spirit. I continued to sort the boat out and tidy up. I cut a piece of celotex the shape of a 1200 x 900 shower to see how much room that would give us…. A lot more but still not enough to house the boiler. I made an attempt to stick the ply on the battens but because it was so rubbish and needed so many screws I thought this was pointless, as when we would be screwing in the faced 12mm ply we were bound to hit other screws. So I made an attempt at gluing them. That didn’t work either as it just slid off, so I ended up putting 3 screws in it still….so pointless! So I turned my attention to helping Si, he had re bitchumened the swim and was on the port side fixing battens with heaps of sikoflex (the strongest glue known to man). I glued while Si put in place, I thought at some point I’d be taking Nessie for a walk, but all she did was sleep all day. We are quite proud that our dog can sleep through compound and table saws when 10 feet away.

Anyway we worked our way through the jigsaw puzzle of cut 2x2 and celotex. Si’s comment of the day had to be “can you pass me that stick”, this is from the man that would like to take up carpentry as a new career, I’m not to sure if his teachers would appreciate him calling the batten he had “carved” into shape to fit as “a stick”. For me today was all about extreme boat building…..wearing flip flops! I stubbed my foot on a screw, I dropped the tape measure on to my foot and Si stood on me…..extreme. We started to look at the inspection hatch, as it had now moved due to us having a different stair layout. Si screwed the floor battens back in as everything was dry and we moved the bricks around to the closest we could get to the the centre of the boat. The inspection hatch is to check if there is any water in the boat, not at all alarming. It is normally at the stern end as the boat is heavy due to the engine and batteries. We cut out the hole in the floor panel and stared to make an elaborate hatch but called it a day at 18:30. Although we had to return after getting a mile down the road as Si had left the stern doors open…….derrrr! We went back to my folks via Sainsbury’s for dinner, as they were out gallivanting again!

15 C     134 miles

We left parents house after unloading the van of kayaks, surf boards and camping kit to make room for a trip to B & Q in Cheltenham. We needed screws, glue (Evo-Grip), Ply and a broom. We managed to get everything except battens, although we weren’t convinced of the quality of the 6mm ply. We arrived at the marina and loaded on our new purchases - well tried! First we knocked the full kettle full of boiling water over with the ply and on the second sheet the stool fell off the step and it was lucky Si had opened the hatch, so I had something to grab, otherwise it would have been a definite A & E visit. I took Ness for a long walk and on my return Si had cut a sheet of ply into strips to thicken the battens. Unfortunately the table saw had shredded the edges plus it didn’t cut them straight so they all had a slight curve. It was a job I was going to do by myself, but even with the strips at 4ft, it was impossible to hold and screw. With Si’s assistance, we used the newly bought screws but realised they were PZ1 heads unlike all of the titanium, gold and diamond coated PZ2’s we have. So Si decided to drive the opposite way on the M5 to Wickes at Cribbs Causeway to purchase some different screws, PZ1 screw bits and more 2x2 battens.

I made a start on cutting celotex to fit into the gaps of Si’s recently erected battening, this took some time as it was all at angles and weird shapes (deliberate obviously!). Within a few minutes of finishing Si returned. He brought the battens in and they were laid out to dry while I made an attempt with the new screws, although these were PZ2 heads they wouldn’t grip the wood and the heads were sticking out. So we made an attempt with the B & Q screws with the PZ1 bits he’d bought, better but still not great. Si re-painted the swim and we both decided to call it a day, not feeling very positive. Once again mother had pre-seen our mood and cooked more mood food….gammon and potato wedges.

15 C     100 miles

I woke up and let Ness out at 07:30 and stupidly went back to bed as I felt exhausted, to wake up at 09:15 with no Si. He was down stairs chatting to mother, I started getting the boat stuff organised when he said ‘why don’t you stay at home, you look shattered’. I hadn’t thought of this option but it seemed quite a good one! So Si jumped into ‘Da Dub’ and went off to Sharpness. I stayed in with mother, chatted, went back to bed, took the dogs for a marathon walk with Si returning shortly after. He had a mixed day, the good and the very bad. He had managed to finish the battening, which is a lengthy process. As we don’t have anywhere to screw the battens into and can only glue, so Si has been jointing each batten to rely on the strength of others. Quite long winded but makes the frame stronger, plus he’s in his element!

The very bad was that in the process he managed to knock over a jar full of brushes soaking in white spirit and didn’t notice immediately that it had poured over the top of the swim, the sides and under the floor. Basically for the ones that don’t know this is very very very bad, as white spirit dissolves the bitchumen, hence the new spelling of bitumen. He had to take up the floor panel, the floor support beams and the bricks to mop it up, so it now required drying out and 2 coats of bitchumen. You can imagine how sensitive he was on his return, believe me it wasn’t the time for jokes. Mama had made bolognaise which perked Si up and a steamed pud for deserts….mood food, plus they were requiring us to do wine tasting for a function they had coming up, it’s a hard life!

14 C     137 miles

Today we were returning from Brecon, Wales so still the M4 but a nicer journey. We had been away adventure training, between us we went climbing, kayaking, canoeing, surfing and walking and obviously adventure drinking. We’ve realised we have an adrenalin junky dog, as she preferred the fast flowing, white water parts of the river. We are both glad it is over however much we enjoyed it, it is one big stress to organise. Luckily the group realised and a committee will be set up for next year. We arrived at 2pm, to be greeted by a new boat in front of us and a crane. Fitter Paul had put one boat in and had put another next to ours to re-black.

We didn’t bother putting the pen in as Ness seemed quite tired so we just put her bed under the step. She seemed quite oblivious we were working around her and often she was in the way. We cut up some faced ply into 2 inch strips. The plan is to put the ply on the battens as some of the Celotex is thicker than the battens themselves and the 12mm lining ply needs to sit flush to the battens. So the idea is to face the battens, a good plan but once I had cut it all to the correct size, we didn’t have any correct screws. So I turned my effort to helping Si who was still battening the stern. I made a start on the curving battens that fit around the swim. This involves sawing a cut every 2 cm, 1cm deep over 150 cm of  batten, just a little labour intensive. We went to try it out, I was a little nervous it would snap, in actual fact I needed to go deeper with my 75 cuts. After getting this right I started the second, but was quite thankful it was time to leave as my arms were still aching from my 20 miles of paddling over the weekend…..no bingo wings insight, well at least not on my right arm! We returned to my folks, who were both just leaving for different meetings, so my mother had left us a scrummy chicken casserole. On their return we stayed up till the early hours of the morning chatting and obviously enjoying a tipple.

 15 C     137 miles

Not the best nights sleep as the temperature plummeted in the early hours. It didn’t help knowing my parents were across the way in a cosy caravan fit enough to live in full time. It was a beautiful sunny morning, so we made a start on packing the tent, only 10 hours after we put it up. Father had once again done us a cooked breakfast, although the setting was in my parent’s awning, rather than the dining room. We disappeared off to make a start on the boat, via Cam Tesco’s for dog food. Due to the non forecasted rain yesterday, I wanted to check the Met office report, I eventually did get the website loaded, and the dongle isn’t so quick in the country. The forecast said light rain at 7pm, this made our minds up on the task ahead…..painting. My parents joined us, so we made a start on the painting fest! My mother and I were on the bow, hammeriting a second coat, father was de-rusting the hatch and Si was battening the stern bulkhead. It didn’t take my mother and I long to paint the second coat, as you couldn’t see what you had or hadn’t painted, so we were quite generous in the thickness plus decided a 3^rd coat would be needed. By the time we had completed the painting, father had finished sanding the hatch. The 3 of us went for a walk with the 3 dogs, while Si stayed behind to paint the hatch. The clouds were rolling in, so we were a little worried the rain would be arriving sooner. On our return Si had nearly completed the hatch, with not much left to do, father started to de rust the fender eyes on the stern that were added as extras by the welder and never painted. Mother offered her assistance in painting, I now see where I get my ‘devil women’ painting from, just look at my dads face!

The rain did arrive at 6.45pm, just as we packed up. My parents left to return to their caravan and we followed them out of the gate but headed to the M4, knowing we wouldn’t be returning to the boat till the 5^th of May.

 16 C    57 miles

Not such an early start as my father wanted us to leave with a breakfast in us, so we had one of his awesome cooked breakfasts and then departed. We arrived at the boat for midday. As there is not much room on the bow and not enough tools, Si made a start on de-rusting the bow under the seat lockers, while I took Nessie for a walk. It wasn’t supposed to rain today, so on my return Si was almost there on both sides when the heavens opened. Luckily it was a southerly rain and the bow bulkhead was shielding the bow quite a bit. Unfortunately the stern did not favour as well, as we both went running down the boat to quickly shut the stern doors. Even Nessie was confused how she was getting wet inside the boat. The rain ceased after 20 minutes and Si carried on, after a wipe down we were pretty much ready to paint with Hammerite hammered black paint. Armed with one roller and two brushes we made a start each side. I came up with a cunning plan of using my vanity mirror to be able to see the parts obscured to the eye. A good plan, although one roller wasn’t enough, as the paint from the paintbrush was often dry when you put the roller over, so not the neatest of paint work. We could get upset by this but who really is going to see and after 2 hours of painting in cramped, harsh kneeling conditions….who cares! We didn’t have far for our accommodation tonight, as we were camping at Slimbridge with my parents. We arrived somewhat later than planned, on the way we picked up tonight’s dinner from Berkeley….fish & chips. We decided to eat them first in the comfort of my parent’s new caravan and put the tent up afterwards, shortly followed by a few pints.

  18C     102 miles

We were up and out of my parents house by 9 am, unfortunately not totally smooth running, as we thought we�d see what Lily would do when joining Maissie and Nessie in the garden. Nessie in her usual �Hello� greeting got attacked twice and then ran round the garden yelping. Anyway back to the boat, we arrived shortly after 10am, we set up Nessie�s pen on the back deck and I joined Si de-rusting. He had the angle grinder with the new attachment and I had the sander. The aim was to do the bow bulk head, the rest of the bow and the inside of the bow deck, except the floor. The two of us seemed to be making good progress, so at lunch we decided for both of us to take Nessie for a walk - the new one I had found yesterday, plus Si had never ever been around the life boat station.  On our return we carried on with the sanding. Everything started to ache, your right hand fingers from the vibration, your right arm from controlling the tool and your back and legs for the awkward positions you get yourself into. Nearing on 3pm we were coming to the end, Si started the cleaning prep while I took Nessie out for yet a different walk. On my return we cracked on with painting, although a local swarm of mini flies were trying to scupper this by landing on the fresh paint. There were two methods of dealing with this, either scrape off the fly with your finger and re-roller or add them to the boat by rolling straight over them and see how many bits you could break them into and flat you could get them. We hung around discussing while waiting for the paint to dry. We realised we needed to do a stock take, as we are always trying to think what we need, but in actual fact we are not sure what we�ve got! Because we haven�t painted for ages we didn�t realise we were short on foam rollers when we did the last Screwfix order, plus if you order over £50 delivery is free, so we tend to buy in bulk. We put the tarp back in place and were back in the van heading to my parents via Sainsburys to pick up dinner. We were going to stay on the boat but after staying in our bed for one night we wanted another. The plan is to camp tomorrow with my parents caravanning at Slimbridge tomorrow night, so not too far to travel.

  18 C     173 miles

We decided to take two days off work, this was to take advantage of the weather as it was supposed to be raining Saturday and Sunday. The plan was to leave by 9am but you know us 9.45am. The three of us were back on the road in the van, we stopped at a service station, I’m not sure if I was using Nessie as an excuse. We took Nessie onto the grass where Si came across a forgotten pair of glasses, they were very different from his normal style but oddly very cool. Anyway on our arrival at 12.30pm we bumped in to Steve Lacey the engine fitter who was working on another boat, we showed him the state of our engine bay. He was not impressed. He said the cooling tank was completely wrong and the engine bearers aren’t strong enough. You employ people who you think should know and someone else says something totally different. So who do you trust, the surveyor, the marine welder or the engine fitter? Answers on a postcard to... After the bad news Si started angle grinding the front deck to remove rust, I took Nessie for a walk around the marina and came across a new walk. On my return Si’s father had arrived, he was there to help with measuring all of our outlets and inlets to make sure we would be purchasing all the correct fittings. I made a start on cutting the end battens, Si and his father continued rust removing, while Nessie slept. I managed to get to a point and couldn’t do any more without screws and Si routering bits, so I took to de-matting Nessie. Si’s father disappeared off to find food, so I changed in to my overalls (felt like a long time since I’d put them on) Si had the roller and I used the brush. We were getting well underway nearing the end when Si’s father reappeared but this time with left over chips….nice! While Si was clearing up the paint, Chris departed and I started cutting celotex to fit in the gaps as no steel is allowed to show before we line out. We were back in the van at 7.15pm heading for my parents who had spaghetti carbanara, pavlova and wine waiting for us.

 14 C     173 miles

We had a good nights sleep in our bed. We were treated with a full English Breakfast, courtesy of my father. The best one we had since being away and the cheapest! We didn’t arrive at the boat till 1pm. Si got on with more noise pollution and painting while I took the walls down I created, marked out the bulkheads with duck tape and created celotex kitchen, sofa, stove and bath. You maybe thinking another pointless task, I will agree yesterdays celotex walls were pretty pointless, but this gave us a god idea of the layout. Or maybe a new layout! My parents turned up at 5pm with a late lunch and joined in the re-designing of the interior of the boat, due to it all being a little snug trying to put the stove in. I think we have some idea for the lounge, but the bathroom is a whole new ball game.

We’ve decided to go for side stairs, which allows us to put the washing machine underneath, giving us more kitchen cupboards. I’ve just re-looked at my drawing and it makes it look huge, believe me its not, I think I’ve been too over generous on the width of the boat.

In the bathroom we can get the bath and sink in but not the loo. We’ve looked at even putting the bathroom door in the second bedroom. It gives us more room in the bathroom, but a bizarre way of getting to it and basically loosing a whole wall in the 2^nd bedroom. Si finished his painting and we finally left at 8.30pm, the only problem with it being lighter in the evening. We jumped in the van for the M4 Bank Holiday traffic, we returned home just after 10.30pm, better than we expected. Unfortunately we will not be going to the boat next weekend as Si has to work. We should be back on the 24^th April. Although this does give us time to order more from Screwfix and drawing electric plans…in the pub!

 14 C     230 miles

This morning we drove up from Cornwall to the boat in the van. We had taken 4 days of our Easter to go camping and surfing. It was Nessies first time camping and ours for a while. We had a fantastic time away with the boys, good weather, alright surf and many pints. We arrived at the boat for 1pm and Si decided to crack on with tackling the rust on the bow. He spent the majority of the time annoying the marina with his angle grinder. While I spent time creating celotex walls and babysitting Nessie. It’s difficult for both of us to get stuck into the boat with little one around. I know we mention her a lot but she takes a big chunk of our time plus she’s very photogenic….well we think so.The celotex walls did give us an idea of how small this boat is going to be….lets starting planning the next. We finished around 6pm and travelled to my folks for Sunday Roast Beef!!! It was good to catch up with my folks, plus my nan was also there. Nessie played with her Auntie Mais and we made sure she avoided evil Auntie Lily (although my mother doesn’t like me using that name, so grumpy guts instead).

 

10 C     173 miles

It took us a while to gather our belongings plus Papa had cooked a scrummy breakfast, so we didn’t leave till 11.45am. The journey was a relaxing one as little one was asleep the entire time, this is from my parents having a large garden and Maisie who just wants to be outside all the time. Lily was starting to tolerate her more but we did joke she was at the bottom of the garden sharpening her teeth! We arrived at the boat, busy once again. We were a little unsure of what we were going to achieve today but it soon became a planning day. Seth (Big Fish) said we could jump on their boats to have a look. This was fantastic as it gives us such more of an idea of our next stages. Steve, Seth, Paul and Jack all gave us free advice, which is just excellent. We went back on our boat and while little one was fast asleep we worked out how we were going to batten the ceiling, where the light fittings were going etc. We packed up and started a walk around the marina to tire little one out for the usual M4 onslaught, typically it started raining, so it was a high speed walk, which did the trick. Although we are not fans of the M4, it is nice to do it in daylight. We are off surfing with friend for the next few days but should be back on the boat at the weekend for a couple of days.

12 C     79 miles

Today we were separate, as my father had lots of commitments so was unable to take me back to the boat. We thought it would be a good opportunity to toilet train Nessie, plus Si would get a lot more done without her being there. I spent my time designing the back of our works Adventure Training hoodies while Si cracked on with the floor. By the end of the day he had cut all the floor panels including the curved ones around the stern swims. I had finished the hoody design and gone on a lengthy walk keeping Nessie at least 3 feet away from the jaws of Evil Auntie Lily. What amazes all of us is Lily is the biggest softy in the world to humans. Anyway Nessie and I had a few fall outs and by the end of the day I needed a break, it got so bad at one point I offered Nessie to Lily as a starter before her dinner. Si returned home after 7pm broken from his hard day, and I was just mentally broken from dog psychology. Papa and I went to collect a Chinese (9 miles away) and we had a nice evening with Chinese and wine. You’ve probably gathered that my mum was away, hence the junk food fest!

12 C     159 miles

It took us a while to get moving, but luckily it wasn’t a bad journey and Nessie slept most of the way. On arrival the plan was to do more noggins and screw more floor panels down. We set the pen up on the back deck as the weather was pleasant if a little windy, but thought least Nessie could have a view. She wasn’t overly happy with the pen, so I took her on a walk around the marina, to get her used to jetties, boats and boaters! On my return Si had cut all of the noggins, we now just needed to hoover up the saw dust and drill them into the steel. Nessie was now asleep on the back deck, so we started with me screwing more floor panels down….no movement. We progressed onto the hoover…still no movement. Then we attempted the electric drill going through 2 inches of wood and 5 mm of steel….AWAKE! You can’t really blame her. After all the holes for the noggins were drilled I set to screwing them in and more flor panels. My father turned up to collect me as Si was going back to his folks for a family wedding, I was supposed to be going but Nessie unfortunately changes everything. It was also a chance for my parents dogs Maisie and Lily to meet their new niece. I have to say I did not work this out, this was all my sisters calculations. Anyway the walk started well, they ignored little one, till Lily decided to try and eat Nessie and not in a nice way. With a stressful journey back to my parents and once at home things didn’t improve. So Lily’s new name is Evil Auntie Lily and we’ve just kept them separate. I finished off the night with pizza, ice cream and wine while watching Police Interceptors with my dad. Si was enjoying a buffet and disco at his cousins evening do.

 12 C     173 miles

We packed the van back up, although we were only there two nights, its amazing how much stuff one puppy needs! We arrived at the boat for 12:15 although this would have been 11.15 had the clocks not gone forwards. Being a normal working day, Big Fishes yard was thriving. We lifted Ness onto the back deck and then into the main cabin. She wasn’t 100% convinced to start with, but as soon as she realised there was loads of stuff to chew that she shouldn’t, she was in her element. So that we could get some work done, we brought Nessie’s pen into the cabin. Si needed to use the bench saw, so I took Nessie for a walk around the marina. We returned and sat on the stern deck, just watching the world go by. Si continued creating more noggins and I managed to cut 3 pieces of celotex in between dog sitting. We were at the boat for 4 hours and decided it was long enough for Nessie’s first visit. A major hurdle over we had one more to go…the 2 hour journey home….Nessie’s longest.

 11C     173 miles

We drove to my parents last night, we were planning to go to the boat yesterday to give Nessie an introduction to the boat, but we are finding out that it is difficult to plan with a puppy. Unfortunately Nessie had a 2^nd bout of diarrhoea, luckily this time didn’t involve emergency vets and a £100 fee! But it did mean we had to wait for it to go through her before she was ready for a car journey. We took the van, so with the 3 of us in the front we were on our way to the Cotswold. Once again my parents were away, so we had the house to ourselves and Nessie’s first experience of a garden and different dog toys. We thought to get more done on the boat it would be easier for Si to go to the boat alone. He disappeared off around 11am with the intention to finish off more flooring before I knew it he was home again at 6.30pm. We had a fantastic dinner with chips, hash browns, onion rings and chicken dippers. Basically everything that is bad for you that you can cook in an oven, as we don’t have one in our flat, so we made the most of my parents.

 13 C     344 miles  

This weekend we were separated, Si went down to the boat while I stayed at home looking after the monster (in the nicest possible term). Her name is Nessie, she spent two days with us before we chose her name. We thought this was quite apt with her living on the houseboat. Si travelled down to the boat in the van, leaving me with the car to escape when required.  Si started on the 5^th & 6^th floor boards while I played, cleaned up after her and repeated off, no, off, no! By the end of the day Si had finished two more floor panels, more insulation glued to the ceiling and took over the title of the nogginator. Si travelled back to his folks for dinner and the usual pub. My night wasn’t anywhere over, as someone whined herself to sleep till 1am. Well I’m not too sure who fell asleep first. Si left his parents to return to the boat. My start consisted of a dog ankle deep in poo and projectile vomiting over the entire lounge and its contents from eating her own poo!

Si made a start on the the 7^th and 8^th floor panel, while I continued to say off, no, off, no! My day kept on improving by locking myself out of the house taking the poo/sick rubbish to the bin! Luckily I hadn’t quite shut the bay sash window from it being open earlier to remove the sick stench. I prised the window open a foot, crawled in across the sofa onto the floor with a very confused puppy! Down at the poo, wee, sick free zone at Sharpness, Si’s father turned up at the boat with the task to pressure test the water and diesel tank. Both past the 3psi required….something to finally celebrate. Si left the boat at 6pm, he’d managed to complete 4 floor panels, more noggins, only 6 roof panels to go, the tanks pressure tested and the cork tiles glued on. The only mess Si had cleared up was the coffee and Iron Bru that he and his father managed to spill onto the floor panels. Si returned around 8pm to be handed a puppy. Below are a few photo’s of the Ness Monster in the brief moments she wasn’t pooing, weeing or throwing up! So you decide who had the tougher weekend!!!

 

  7 C     159 miles

We were out of the door at 9am as we were meeting the surveyor Paul Smith at 10am. We arrived a few minutes before Paul. We showed him the work that had been done to meet surveying standard. He was happy with the bow locker, the roof strengtheners but not the cooling tank or the engine struts. I think you can say this was lost in translation. The cooling tank was only 60% of it’s cooling volume, the steel worker has increased its capacity by another 40%, rather than increasing the area of cooling. The surveyor recommended we speak to Isuzi to see what cooling requirement they require for the engines warranty to be covered. Paul seemed happy with the rest and made his way home to finish our report. We’d started back to work when we heard a familiar voice….Shuft with goodies (crisps, chocolate, drinks). 

We showed him around and had a natter, I went back to screwing the floor panels down, they continued to natter while watching me work with comments that women know their place. Shuft went for a walk around the Marina and on the tow path up to Pirton. On his eventual return we had our steak slices and cornish pasties. After lunch I carried on with screwing floorboards down, quite heavy going on your knees. Most girls want diamonds, I’d be quite happy with a stool with wheels. Si attempted to cut another floor board with the jigsaw, as the circular saws guide wouldn’t fit the 24 inches we wanted to cut off. Once again it came out with a wiggly line, so this time he took the router to it. Shufty vacated the cabin and I went down the other end, as Si has a history with routers or more to the point router bits flying off at 22,000 rpm. This method seemed to do the trick, although the board was a little shorter than originally measured. So we finally had a solution. Shuft made his way around 3pm and we carried on till 6.45pm. We had achieved 4 floor panels and a bit of fun….murder mystery.

Was the victim killed by the sealant gun, the drill or the dustpan and brush. Tonight we were heading to my parents as it was on route to collect the puppy. My mother had cooked a fantastic beef roast and apple cake pudding. We had a really nice night with the usual Seviour wine consumption during dinner. We went to bed knowing our lives were about to change for ever tomorrow!

 

  6 C     59 miles

We arrived at the boat for 10.45 with a quick detour for a sausage baguette…essential for all boat builders. We carried on with more noggins and cutting the floor panels that we'd laid down to size. The first attempt was with the jigsaw. This was fine for cutting the corner off for where the bow sweeps round, but for the end we wanted straight it was rubbish. Si had concocted a guide by clamping a straight piece of wood to the panel, but it was still wobbly. So we put that down to a lesson and started on the next panel. The next one we just needed 8 inches off the end, so we thought circular table saw. Quite a scary method, as the 8 x 4 sheet weighs a ton and with two of you trying to put it though a flimsy table saw with the most evil blade should be made into an extreme sport. This method worked very well, we were just unsure if we wanted to repeat it!

We were expecting several visitors today, Si’s parents and a Electric/Plumber/Surveyor and typically they all turned up within seconds of each other. Bob (finally someone not called Paul) was fantastic, he talked through the plumbing and electric scenarios, drew diagrams and made sense of what we thought was a complicated nightmare. Most boats builders fit wiring looms but these come in large trunking units, which you end up paying £1200 for the luxury. With our boat we’d have to do serious steel cutting to fit them in. Bob told us all we needed was 3mm wiring….sold! Bob also told us funny stories about his dogs on Saturday night. They decided to go out for a meal and dressed up in their smarts. He thought he’d let the dogs out just before they left. Unfortunately they’d moved the boat to the other side of the tow path….so the dog ran out turned left and splosh….nice smart clothes became very wet. After Bob left Chris & Sandy came aboard to see the latest, as they hadn’t seen it for a while. Sandy was really impressed how far we had progressed. After all our visitors we weren’t in the mood to carry on, so we left for Si’s folks via Pets at Home….for more puppy stuff! Tonights dinner was eggs, bacon, sausages and chips, just makes me hungry thinking about it. After dinner the men went to the pub….nothing changes and the girls stayed in having a good natter (about the men)....nothing changes!

 

  8 C     150 miles

This morning wasn’t a bad start, I was even up at 6.30am organising the flat for our new arrival on Saturday and packing. We left home heading towards the M3 motorway via Tesco’s for essential puppy shopping and then started the long journey on the M4. The sun was shining and we were cruising in the dub with shades and all. We arrived at the boat, Si went ahead while I stayed in the van trying to order puppy crates, pens… Unfortunately the crate we wanted no one had in stock, so I was trying to find an alternative online on the slowest dongle connection….1 ½ later I had succeeded.

By the time I’d got into the boat, he was well away with the end floor battens. I carried on making noggins to fit in the areas we were going to put the first floor boards. In between the noggins I was also cutting up the celotex to fit in the gaps for our floor insulation. I was having to take it easy as we only had 1 drill bit left and it doesn’t take much to snap or blunt them when your going through steel. We were getting a little nervous, as the Screwfix order still hadn't arrived. Si’s comment to one of the Big Fish lads asking had he seen anyone deliver yet as ‘his misses was getting through the drill bits at a rate of knots’. Don’t worry he paid for that comment! The delivery did finally arrive with loads of screws, drill bits etc. I was becoming quite skilled at the noggins…so I was renamed as the Nogginator! By the end of the day we had laid our first floor panel. Dance off!

We packed up and headed south to Si’s folks for the night, to be greeted by a fantastic dinner and pud and obviously the religious outing to the pub.

 

  11C     254 miles + a few extra!

You may be wondering where we’ve been? I’d like to say we’ve been away on a fantastic holiday to the Maldives, but I’d be completely lying. Last weekend we were working….hurray! So that still doesn’t account for only one day on the boat this weekend. Well yesterday the plan was to go to the boat first thing but the duvet pinned us in for a bit longer. We decided to take time out as the 12 day week had taken its toll. Instead we spent 7 hours in the car travelling across the Essex and Oxfordshire on a puppy hunt. Long Story! Anyway today started off badly, as we’d made a decision to purchase one of the dogs we had seen. We phoned up really excited, to be told they didn’t think we were interested as we hadn’t phoned back the night before and were having 2 more people come round today to look at the 2 bitches left…..gutted. We drove to the boat pretty much in silence.

On arrival nothing much had changed apart from the yard had been re-gravelled……….donuts!!!!! The weather was fantastic, the first we’d had all year to be able to paint outside. Si made a start on cleaning the engine gutter, before attacking it with the angle grinder, trying to remove the rust. I made a start on where I had left off with the floor battens and cutting noggins. We ate lunch outside while watching grebes doing the mating dance, the mutants ducks being mutant ducks and the coots falling out. Unfortunately basking in the sun doesn’t finish a boat, so we swiftly got back to the jobs in hand, although we’d swapped roles. I was now painting the engine gutter with silver Hamerite, while Si crafted angled noggins. When we received a phone call, saying that she would like us to have the bitch we’d fallen in love with. So the lack of concentration continued, just now it was the excitement.

We know the boat is commitment, but this is major we are now responsible for a Wheaten and she won’t be coming with a manual! For the rest of the afternoon the conversations started with boat….do I need to paint this bit?…..back to…..what about Poppy or Belle! We finished around 6.30pm and noticed we could just about see, can’t wait for the clocks to go forwards. The M4 journey was broken up with a Burger King…….healthy! Finally home and bed….Zzzzzz!