Falls, Country, Disney, and Rock till we drop

Hi all

Well as you can see we've been away for the last three weeks and we have just had a blast!!!!

Derwent6 got put on the back burner for a while, as we just did our roadie bit, touring with Bon Jovi (and chilling out a bit)

It started in Toronto, Canada with us going to Niagara falls with temperatures in the 75's, a great sight.

Checking out the glass floor at the CN Tower..this is me laying down with Al standing over me, Scary stuff!

From there we moved onto Nashville, Tennessee with the temperatures still in the high 70's and what a place...music coming out your ears from every bar in town....It's five o clock somewhere so rude not to try them all,

and finishing with Jovi playing in the Sommet Centre that night.

From there we went onto the Country music Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry

Then on to follow the band at Fort Laurderdale, Florida. Here we met up with a friend Al used to work with, and had a really good night out (Thanks Louise and great ribs)

Next day beach and boats.....We chilled out on the beach in the morning and hired a plastic tub in the afternoon around the mansions on the Fort Laurderdale canals. The guy was well impressed when we told him we owned a 65 foot boat and let us go off into the yonder in his well powerful speed boat....He He !!

Hardly canals though, but some lovely places owned by Madonna and Gloria Estefan with a small boat to pop to the shops in.

with Jovi that evening!!

After that we took a drive across the Everglades on our way up to Tampa, dodging the gators in the canals and the flies hitting the screen on cruise control.

With Bon Jovi that evening we just had enough time to throw our cases down and head of to St Petes Times Forum with Al's greatest moment with Jon high fiving us both (well lets face it he knew us well by now) and us capturing it on video.(see below)

From then we moved on to Orlando and the Kingdom of Mickey Mouse, weather now in the low 90's. It made us realise how much we love winters in England, but we had a great time.

Oh! and by the way we are now back down to earth with a splash!!!!!!

Boat, Boxes and Bon Jovi

Sorry we haven't blogged for a long time, but God it's been manic here.......

We have been updating Fernwood on the boat and trying to sort out the house with everything going into boxes and moving stuff to friends and family.

And as you may or may not know, Alison is one of the biggest Bon Jovi fans on the planet. So we are trying to organise our tour with them this year around the USA and UK. This kicks off with seeing them next week in Nashville and Florida.

As for Derwent6, we don't seem to have seen much progress, but the vent holes have now been cut out in the roof and while we were there, she was being sanded down for the undercoat to go on the roof.

The other good thing was that the engine arrived while we were there.

You can see this was very well protected and took some manovering to get it in the workshop.

When we opened the box there was not much to see, but Beta had supplied the two spare belts we asked for. Well done guys!

So we are trying to find homes for all our furniture and belongings for when we move out of our house, (hopefully at the end of May) and Ebay has helped. We have also been trying to arrange our holiday trip to America, with hotels and car hire etc, and on top of all that, make arrangements for our leaving party with all our friends and family.

It's so exciting!!!!

Car in the locker

The lockers have now been made up and the bikes tried and tested in them. Blimey! we won't have a car (how green is that)........ The floor was mocked up over the waste tank and we got a good idea of how the engine room will look.

You actually got a good feeling of space in this room and it will make a great office or laundry area, and the bikes were not too difficult to get in and out. We were very pleased with the outcome...

As we turned up, so did a lorry load of slabs,the ballast for Derwent6. These were then laid in the boat and onto the base plate. It was great to see so much going on.........

We have so much going on at the moment, our feet haven't touched the ground. What with the house move, solicitors, selling house items, arranging the big party, and to sort out our holiday which was our present to each other for Our 25th Wedding Anniversary. All good fun!

While we were in the boat, we noticed these two cuddling right above where our bed will be, our favourite place to cuddle. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Sold (we hope)

Well today an offer was made on the house and we have accepted. We are so pleased, as this is difficult times for everyone.
We still have to sign contracts, but the couple who are buying can't wait so there shouldn't be any problems, as it is a very small chain.

This should move things along nicely, as we will soon be able to get on with selling our furniture to all our friends and family. (They will be pleased)

Quick Quick Slow (guess who the slow is!)

Fernwood were working fast to get one boat out of the workshop three weeks ago, and then it was all speed ahead to get the Whitefield boat (which was shown on Waterworld) out last week.

But Derwent6 is still coming on very slowly.....not much has happened over the last three weeks as Fernwood have still been trying to get another boat out, and doing snagging on the ones which have gone out. The good news is that that boat is near completion, and for some, is that it has now made some space in the workshop, but there is alot of work to do for those who are waiting to get in the workshop.
As for Derwent6 the waste tank had been put into place, but thats about it.

As for us we have been busy. What with our Wedding Anniversary and planning our holiday and selling the house, let alone building a boat.

All good fun!!!!!!!!!!!

Surprise!!!!!!!!!!

And there we were, thinking we were going to have a nice quite Wedding Anniversary....Not!

The plan was that we were going to be taken out for a nice meal with our friends, Rich and Lisa but on arriving at our favorite beeches restaurant , it turned out we had a party of twenty.. What a lovely surprise!

So much work had gone into this since December last year and we knew nothing about it... We thank you all...................

What did we learn? All friends and family are liers.............

This was the best thing that could of happened to us, as we always wanted to have a bit of a bash, and boy did we get it.

We would just like to thank everyone who made this day so special for us, and it will remain a memory for ever.

It was the icing on the cake!

Reminisce the best day of our lives

What did we do for our Silver wedding anniversary then...

We had a lovely day, starting with a early morning bike ride around the lakes next to where we live, (at the moment,) and then onto our local gym for a sauna and a swim.

After something to eat we went on to the church we got married in. We were fortunate to find that it was open, and were able to go inside and reminisce the ceremony 25 years ago.

It was such a nice thing to do as we had the time to look at everything inside, in great detail, and found out a bit more history about the church, which has been around since 1242. You don't get time for this on your wedding day, or any service for that matter.

After walking around the village all afternoon, using the paths we used to go courting on, we made our way back to Alison's parents. There we got out all our wedding photos and paper cuttings and reminisced again. It was quite moving to see photos of our wedding cake, with the same flowers as Alison's parent's wedding cake photos, when they got married,(something borrowed, and old I believe)

In the evening we went out for a meal to the old resturant we had our reception in (the Monte Carlo) This used to be a Italian resturant, but is now a Indian (aren't they all), but what a fantastic night we had. With plenty to drink and a live band we reminisced again all through the night.

We now plan to reminisce the honeymoon!!!!!!!!!

25th Wedding Anniversary

It's our 25th Wedding Anniversary Today

Special memories, so much laughter and fun, and a new adventure hopefully for the next 25 years.

One out of three ain't bad (but it's driving us mad)

Well one out of the three boats at Fernwood is in the water. They are still working on the other two which should be out by April. The boat in the water looks just great and we bet that the owners will be over the moon with it.
As for Derwent6 things are still a bit slow (well not fast enough for us) as Fernwood have been working on these two other boats......We have been updated, but there has not been enough work carried out for us to travel up and take pictures....(so there aren't any!)

We should know more this week as we are making a visit to get an update, and we do feel that progress will move on quickly, very soon.

Lets hope so!!!!!! (fingers crossed)

Slow but sure

Not much to report on Derwent6 this week as Fernwood are concentrating (and rightly so) on getting two of their completed boats out and on the water One of those boats going out is whitefield's ( the boat shown on last weeks ITV's Central Waterworld at 7.30).

News this week ...... is that RedDiesel is here to stay, all be it with different pricing.

Freezing Fog on the Aire & Calder

We have been busy travelling all over the country, so it's nice to be back home.(although we could get used to it)

We haven't got much to report on Derwent6 as Fernwood are still working hard on those nearly finished boats they have in the workshop. We think they want to get them all finished so that the lifting crane can be used to move all three in one day. Derwent6 will also be moved, so it will be in prime position to be the next boat they crack on with when these other boats go out. The people behind us must be spitting feathers

The bulkheads are being made to go in and the floor fitted, but these are being worked on with what time is left in the day.

On our travels we popped down to have a look at the Aire and Calder, as this is where the two canals meet, and as you can see the conditions were none too clever. It was minus four when this photo was taken.

Gingerly going along and breaking the ice and then one of these comes towards you, a bit daunting don't you think.....................

Though we have got to say the towpaths were very good, and cycling from here into Leeds would not be a problem.

These guys don't seem to be bothered with any of it.

The best and most used room on Derwent6

Here is the bedroom sketch. As you can see the headboard will be carved into the bulkhead panel and there will be an end post, which will pull out to extend into a five foot wide bed.

The reason behind the chest of drawers was that it gave us flexibility in the bulkheads because you could easily lose six inches in the size of the drawers. There will be storage in the top lockers and in the wardrobe beside the chest of drawers, and also under the bed.

The space under the bed has to be well vented to stop condensation, so the bed base may be slatted. The rear under bed space is where the batteries will sit, but there will still be room for long term storage under here.

There will be porthole bungs which will block the portholes at night and these will act as cushions during the day. These will match the throw over the bed and there will be also be fly screens to fit in the double glazed portholes for those hot summer nights.

We have also fitted two LED reading lights in the overhead lockers over the headboard.

We intend to be spending alot of time in this room (for sleeping of course!).

Reasons for doing this!

Over last weekend we went for a walk along the Welford arm just took a few photos

Ain't this canal world just stunning........

The Derwent6 Grotto

We first got a picture text from Julia at Fernwood with a shot of the foam insulation taking place by Websters, which was very reassuring and excellent customer service.

We then couldn't wait to see for ourselves.....Fernwood only use top quality suppliers and we were really pleased with the foam work carried out on Derwent6.

When you went inside it was like walking into Santa's grotto and had a really warm feel to it. The echo and tinny effect had gone and a solid feeling of a home had appeared. Websters had done a great job, with an even layer all over the steel work, so not much cutting to do when the side panels are added. We were left alone for half a hour while we soaked it all up, running up and down like a couple of excited kids.

Because we had done a rough layout of the wiring requirements, Fernwood were able to run most of the cables before the foaming took place.

The plastic bags hanging down is the wiring which has been weighted to get it in the right position, and to allow the foam to get all around the wires at their foam exit point, and to protect the ends (and plugs) from getting foam all over them.

Here you can see the starboard bow corner in the saloon where the hifi and DVD equipment will go.

and where the television will be fitted.

The floor has been cutout to show the area where the shower tray will be fitted. This is to allow for a sunken shower tray, so we get maximum height in the shower.

So the next stage is that a mockup of the folding bike cupboard is going to be made so we can check the space available in the engine room, Stuart checked the measurements of the bikes so we have a realistic size required and the bulkheads can be adjusted accordingly.

The waxoil is now going to be added to the steel floor base plate and a rough floor fitted so it will be easier to work.

Bigger freezer

You can now see the dayroom/dining area drawings with the table up.... We are now also going to have a bigger freezer under the end cushion, which will now be 37 litre capacity. The slot in the leg is to allow for the pipe work which goes under the lockers and also if anything electrical is put on that end seat, it will reach the plug socket, even with the bed in the made up position.

Hopefully the foam insulation (foaming) will be done this week, so more pictures of that soon.

Engine room design

This is how we see the engine room....



It will hold the washing machine, tumble drier and the two folding mountain bikes. It will be done in the traditional style of roses and castles with a darker wooden floor, it will also be a den which we can use for computer work and other hobbies. A table will drop down over the washing machine and tumble drier to form a large table. We still have to find a compact computer chair to fit in this room, and space will need to be found for tools and sack barrow etc.

Here we have the same room with the doors closed on the bikes cupboard. This room has had to be extended to just over 10 foot and hopefully these compact machines will fit through the stern doors and in their places. (if not we'll just have to cut a hole in the roof to get them in) lol