Monday, February 04, 2019

Minus 10

Minus six yesterday! and believe it or not Del did the brasses!!
Derwent6 is also coated in polish and we are wintered and watered up to the hilt. Its a good job because last night we reached minus 10 and the wood burner kept us alive.



We are so pleased we made it to a marina where we have the creature comforts of shoreline, well Tooty likes it.
We think we have spoilt ourselves a bit over the Christmas period, just enjoying the life and keeping out of the muddy towpaths. The benefits outweigh the ties, if you know what we mean!

So because we are not moving at the moment, we will be giving this blog a bit of a rest, unless we have something to blog about of course!

40 Years Together today

Yep on the 3rd of February 1979 Del asked Al out at Shoreham Village Hall in Kent. Who would have thought we would have had the adventures we have had..
We have both worked hard and feel we are reaping the rewards from that, lets just hope we keep healthy and get a few more adventures in..
We had another cold night and relaxed in the morning before we decided to go for a walk to the pub for a Sunday lunch celebration.

It wasn't that muddy as we walked across the fields as it was frozen, but you did have to mind your ankles.
The canal was rock solid so no movement there.
We got to the pub where we had booked a table, and they didn't let us down with great service and fantastic food..

We then walked back and it had warmed up quite a bit which made it boggy under foot.
Del then watched the football while Al sorted out some clothes ready for the Spring all under a watchful eye..
 

Sunday, February 03, 2019

Getting colder, but warm and snug

Well it was a good job we did the antifreeze as temperature's dropped to minus six over night.
We did get a sprinkle of snow which was freezing as it hit the ground. It did manage to stop our tv signal as it clogged up the dish on the roof, but a little bit of WD40 sorted that out..
It was a nice sunny day today but still cold with 0 degrees showing on the gauge.. Got some nice pics though..

Saturday, February 02, 2019

Bilge painting!

So while we are in the marina and the temperatures are so low at minus six, its time to get some of those jobs done that you keep leaving.
On Derwent6 we always keep the bilge clean. This is the bit at the back of the boat which collects the water from the stern gland where the propeller shaft goes through the hull. The block is where Del's tool box sits..
This had gone very rusty and was worse around the welds so a clean and inspection was required. You can see this around the starter battery.
After taking off the surface rust it was clear to see that it was just paint peeling from before.. So with a good clean up back to metal and then some hammerite paint, Derwent6 was shipshape again..

We did some other jobs as well. We had a window which was leaking water when it rained and Del run some sealer round the joints where he found a hair line crack.. He had some special Capt. Tolley's sealer for this.


So keeping warm was the order of the day as we can hear the ice cracking as we move around the boat.