Monday, April 29, 2013

Back for Belt collection

We had a bit of a lay in this morning but got up after a boat had passed us.. We had breakfast and then noticed that Andy and Hilary were going.. We said our goodbyes and they went on their way..
We had some lunch and then decided to make our way back to Welford as we had to pick up our genny belt which had been delivered to Del's mum. It was in between showers and we even had halestones..
We got to the lock and then moored up.. 
We managed to get telly so that was us settled for the night....

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Belting along to the pub

Del was up early loading back up the gas locker as we hadn't any gas bottles connected for a cup of tea. It had now fully dried from blacking..
As we run the engine this morning we had another belt snap on us.. Del had to fit a spare incorrect sized belt to get us by after trying to renew all the belts supplied by Beta.. The generator belt was incorrect and Del had to fit his spare, but it was badly worn.. It didn't last long and in the process of breaking, ripped off the domestic belt .. So we were back on the phone to Beta marine and they are going to courier the correct one out for us tomorrow.. So Del had to refit the domestic belt so we could charge the batteries and we are running with no generator belt at he moment..
At midday we meet up with Andy and Hilary and walked into Welford with Cassie the dog.. The girls walked up the the local shop and the boys stopped at the pub..touch!
We ended up having a meal, and a good chat all afternoon chatting with everyone who came in.. After a few beers and full tummies we walked back, it done us all good.. Andy and Hilary came on Derwent6 for a coffee afterwards and we chatted about our plans for this years summer cruising..
In the evening we chilled out, chilled being the word, as we had to light the fire it had turned so cold. Lets hope our belt turns up tomorrow!! 

Gas Locker repairs

It was a nice warm morning for a change and we got up at our normal time of 8.00am.. Del set to work on the task in hand which was to get the gas locker blacked as it had gone rusty under the gas bottles..
After cleaning it out and rubbing it down it was blacked with the paint we had left from the hull blacking.. As it was so warm it dried after a couple of hours and we were able to put a another coat on..
We then decided to oil the cratch boards.. We had a new oil and was giving it a try..It went on white but soon soaked into the wood.. It turned out looking very good..
We had lunch in the sunshine and chilled in the afternoon while everything dried.. Later friends Andy and Hilary on n.b. Maisibert turned up..We soon got the chairs out and had a good chat.
We couldn't make a cup of tea as the gas bottles were on the towpath but Hilary kindly made one for us....
It started to get colder and we thought it might rain so we all went in, but the problem was the gas locker still wasn't dry, so we kept our fingers crossed that it stayed dry.....
In the evening we walked round to the n.b. Maisibert for a drink and more chats, getting back to Derwent6 for the second half of the football... 

Friday, April 26, 2013

Recovery on the cut

We had a bit of a lay in this morning and was woken up by the bin man at the pub, so we decided to skip breakfast and make our way out of Welford again. We had only gone two hundred metres when we bumped into Angela and John on n.b.Ellen. We ended up chatting for a hour or so..we met their new family member Lola and what a lovely little girl she is.....
We then made our move and ended up waiting at the lock as it was busy with boats..
We took it steady out to the end of the arm where we moored up.. It had just started to rain but it was only a shower, but it put paid to Del doing some jobs.. So maybe tomorrow..!!!


Belt change

Wow Sunshine!!  Del was up early cleaning the roof off .. As the sun was streaming in the stern doors he started on the belt changes on Derwent6. We ended up changing all three belts as they were all breaking up, and all three created a problem.. Half the problem was that Beta had supplied the wrong size belts.. the other half of the problem was that they never line up correctly with the jockey pulley. Del spent the best part of the morning sorting them out.. and he still will need to change the domestic belt again as we had to fit a second hand one.... After running the engine for a hour Del then set to work on painting the bilge, it had gone a bit rusty and needed rubbing down..
We had a visit from Del's mum at lunchtime and Del stopped for a cup of tea, and nothing got done after that.. We just chilled in the sunshine..Ooooo bring on summer!!


Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Ahhhhhh fresh air

Derwent6 spent the night drying as we tried to recover from all the hard work.. We were coming out the dry dock today so we had to be up early again to put the fenders back on and Del cleaned up the prop.. Les from Welford marina turned up at 8.00am and soon started on filling the dock.. It feels strange as you start to float again.. We have just stopped bumping into things walking around Derwent6 when it was not moving and now we are floating again..
We manoeuvred Derwent6 out of the dock and found a mooring outside again.. Del was soon getting all the dust off the roof and cleaning the outside.. Al had ordered an Asda delivery and they turned up at 11.30am....
It was a nice morning and we had lunch out in the cratch, but the weather was turning..We ended up lighting the fire again.... It feels nice to be back outside, you feel couped up in a shed with not much natural light and it always feels cold and damp.. but it is worth it!! We feel we did a good job and its satisfying that its got plenty of blacking on, so we did make the most of the time... 


Blacking done with extras

We felt we could have a lay in this morning but we still had a lot to do.. Del was up and out at 8.00am and thought an extra coat of blacking was required under the swim. Also the weed hatch could do with another coat..this is not a nice job as you are lying on your back painting upwards..It's like painting the ceiling but using paint that doesn't wash off.. Lovely!
It was then onto the tunnel bands and first the white and then the red got painted..
We were really frustrated that we couldn't prep the gunwales last week as we found we would have had time to paint them..Instead we tided them up a bit, still a job for the summer months..
We were all finished at 6.00pm and Al had cooked a lovely toad in the hole to look forward to..  As you can imaging we were shattered.... but we also felt satisfied.. We feel it could be another early night for us!!!! Still we've got another two years to get over it, before we do it all again!!!



Sunday, April 21, 2013

Long day with two coats

We were up early and I mean early.. Del was putting the first coat of blacking on Derwent6 at 5.45am.. We are using Colflex VT which is a Vinyl Tar. It has a drying time of four hours and has to be drying for 48 hours before it can go back in the water.. So we needed to get the first coat done by lunchtime to have a chance of getting the second one on..It would then have tonight and all day tomorrow to dry. Al came out at 8.30am and then helped..
We managed to get it done by lunchtime, but it was hard work.. Stopping for lunch was also not a good idea as we had trouble getting going again... In the afternoon Del was busy prepping up the tunnel bands (the two strips on the stern of the boat) and then we hit the second coat of blacking..
We managed to get it done by 6.30pm.. We both needed a shower but couldn't use the shower because the water outlet on Derwent6 is on the side and it would have gone over our fresh paintwork (even with pipes sticking out). So it was a wash in a bucket and chuck it, before we deserved a well earned pint and hot meal in the Wharf Inn pub.. It was a nice treat but we were both falling asleep at the table.. We got back to Derwent6 at 9.00pm and zonked into bed.. 

Where has two years gone

We were up at the crack of dawn...we needed to be full of water before we go into the dry dock for blacking, where has that two years gone.. It was still windy but we managed to get Derwent6 turned and reversed on to the mooring..
As we were filling on a slow tap another guy went on the water point and made us even slower.. We had some breakfast and then decided to make our move into the dry dock which was waiting for us..
After another tricky maneuver in the wind we got inside with just a small scratch to the gunwales....
As the water drained we sorted out all the paint and brushes and it was nice to be on shoreline again.. Al was quick to get the washing on and managed to get it all up to date.. When we were on the bottom we set to work.. Al got the scraping done while Del power washed the sides..
We then had to wait for it to dry and set about rubbing it all down and taking the barnacles off... we had forgotten how much hard work it is..
We were there till seven rubbing and scraping it all off.. Knackered we fell into bed knowing we had got an early start in the morning!!!

Go for it!!

We had a day waiting for the wind to drop.. Del was going to sort out the engine as we have a new set of belts to fit, but we decided to wait till after we have our blacking done..  The wind was supposed to die down at 4.00pm but it didn't.. We decided to go for it.. Del held Derwent6, while Al took the tiller, the wind did the rest..
We headed back up the Welford Arm, sideways.. We managed the lock alright and then found a mooring and was pleased to get moored up..
We couldn't get telly where we were but we wasn't bothered as we listened to music for a change..
It was bed early anyway as we had an early start...



Thursday, April 18, 2013

Peaceful Winds

With all good plans..
We moved to the end of the Welford arm so we could rub down the gunwales and prepare Derwent6 for painting.. Well the weather has been dry but the winds have been horrendous.. If you start to rub down the dust goes everywhere and if you get a primer pot out the paint blows off the brush and down the sides of Derwent6.. So a no go!!.
So it has been back to the routine jobs of porthole liners and putting things up we got on holiday.. We got a trivet and a sun and moon from Disney.


We have been watching boats try to move in these winds and I suppose they have to move.. Anyone who has moored up here has been blown to the other side of the cut and we have had to help them pull it back.. No good having a bow thruster here.. ...
It has been nice having the time on our own again and it is so peaceful.... but we wait for a call, and then it will be all systems go.....

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Moving again at last

We had itchy feet to move today and we are on a 48 hour mooring at Welford..
We got organised and then made our way out of the arm.. It was lovely to be moving again..
We were lucky enough to get a mooring on the rings and on the concrete.. Del plans to get some prepping done here as the gunwales are well above the water level...
Del then chopped up some wood and filled up the wood locker so we can have the fire roaring on those cold spring nights......

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Honeymoon revisited

Well we're back!!! We have had Derwent6 in a marina and gone to the U. S. of A... 
Remember back when Del's dad (Len) died, one of his wishes was that all the grand children went to Disneyworld, Florida, we also went just to see their faces.. It was all their first time on a plane and first time on foreign soil.
Terry (Del's stepmum) made it all happen for fifteen of us, and we all thank her so much for that, we also treated ourselves for our 30th Wedding Anniversary.. 30 years ago to the day, we had our honeymoon in Florida and it was also the first time we had flown, so it brought back a lot of memories.
We have had just a fabulous time and when asking the kids what their best day was the reply was "All of it"....
It just also happened to be Del's dads birthday while we were out there so we had a celebratory meal with lots of memories. We went to an Old American Diner called Manny's Chophouse ( http://www.mannyschophouse.com/index.php ) which dad would have loved.. 
We had a two week pass to Disney and all the parks, which included the water parks and rides. To see the kids faces as we walked through the gates of the Magic Kingdom was priceless. We also got to go to the West and East coast to sample the beach and the surf... We could go on about it for ever and the photos prove it, but this is a boating blog and Derwent6 never made the plane.. so we will tell you more when we see some of you..
It has been nice having a break from blogging but with so much going on it will be great to tell you all about it..
Did we miss Derwent6?   Yes of course we did. but we didn't miss all the bad weather you have had.. We have just got used to 82 degrees every day and we came back to six. So the fire has been going and the jet lag has kept us asleep but we are rearing to go..
We are now out of the marina and plan to get Derwent6 ready for blacking, watch this space!!!