Moving home and office is something we know all about as boaters – we do it regularly, casting off our mooring ropes and cruising to new places week in, week out. But leaving our home and casting ourselves off the boat is something we don’t normally do.
In the past two and a bit years since we moved to live and work afloat full time as continuous cruisers, travelling the waterways of England and Wales, we have only left the boat for family holidays. Now though, our beloved home is not floating – she’s in dry dock undergoing major work. This is work we’ve been planning for years. There’s a saying in the boating world, whatever the boat, that BOAT stands for Bring Out Another Thousand, and this is work involving lots of noughts… It has taken time to plan and save, to decide what had to be done now, and what we would like done, and what can wait for another day.
We’ve been hovering around the Middlewich area for over a month now, cruising gently along the Shropshire Union, the Middlewich Branch and onto the Trent and Mersey making sure we could meet our arrival time at the dry dock of 31 October without getting caught by stoppages and closures.
Dry weather and damage led to the closures of the Cheshire Flight in October so we were glad we had avoided that, but then some downpours allowed many canals stopped because of a lack of water, to reopen to allow people to at least get to winter moorings if they intend to stay put for the winter. We don’t – once we get the boat back we will be happy to get back to our normal routine of continuously cruising, ceasing only if ice on the canal stops play (ice is damaging to hulls and their protection if you move through it). There’s also the need to consider the winter stoppages programme which will comes into effect this month, and runs until March 2023. This is the planned maintnce programme which Canal and River Trust publish in advance after consultations. Some of that work was completed during drought stoppages which means updates and amendments to review. More on that in a future blog (moving about in the winter requires advance planning!).
We had originally thought to take the boat back to the River Soar and Sileby Mill boatyard, but the time of year and knowledge of the river made us rethink that plan early in the Spring. That was a good call – we would have struggled not only to get up to the boatyard because navigation has been closed or not advised several times in the past month due to heavy rainfall, trees down and other issues. We could also have struggled to get off the river once work was completed.
So Middlewich was decided upon, situated as it is on a canal, so less prone to sudden fluctuations in water levels. On Monday morning early we set off in mild temperatures and late autumn sunshine for the final 3 locks of our long awaited arrival at the dry dock. Having had a week moored on the edge of the town on the outside of a bend we had an interesting time trying to get off the mooring. Many passing boats out for half term had sent silt our way as they passed us and we were well wedged, requiring some enthusastic shoving with a barge pole!
Up through Big Lock and then into the narrow bottom two locks of the Middlewich Three Locks flight, before we paused in the pound between locks two and three to fill the dry dock, float out the boat that was in there, and take her place through the narrow angled entrance on a bend! Steve ably steered Preaux into the (wet) dry dock at Middlewich for her work to begin.
Cola left the boat before we got into the dry dock fortunately – he would not have made the required leap from the stern to the shore. We offloaded all we thought we needed for a fortnight away once the boat was docked.
We need to leave the boat because the work being done involves cleaning and repainting the sides of the hull with two pack epoxy blacking (to protect the metal for another 4 years), and the water tank needs emptying, opening, cleaning, resealing and we are having a water gauge fitted so we are no longer just guessing how much water we have on board at any point! There are also some welding jobs that need doing, and having now got her out of the water we can see she needs six new anodes. These are sacrifical metal ingots welded to the hull underwater. Electrolysis in the water from boats around corrodes the anode rather than our hull or propellor. Essential but more noughts on the bill.
I lnow it looks like we took a ridiculous amount of stuff off the boat before we left, but we need clothes, computers, clothes, bedding and food for three of us. We also took the opportunity to take duvets and pillows for cleaning. In planning our time off the boat we have tried to spare the feelings of family. Visitors are lovely but like fish, they can go off after a few days, so we’ve tried to spread ourselves around and not impose too much!
I found a small, ideally placed holiday cottage in the glorious Staffordshire Moorlands bookable for 4 days. It’s near enough to the boat to be able to pop back but not too near to drive the team doing the work up the wall. Our main requirements were a bath and pet allowed! Cottage duly found and we are already both pink and crinkly from long soaks in said bath. Showers are great but it’s a treat to be able to bathe once in a while! The cottage also has wifi but we have brought our portable modem and sim anyway because we will use that for work as we travel.
After the cottage we move to Leicestershire to celebrate two family birthdays – our superhero is 5 and another family member slightly older. Then we head north to Yorkshire for more family reunions, before turning south again to stay with more family, and meet up with a valued friend to complete the annual Seagrave Wolds Challenge. This 16ish mile run/walk (often through a lot of mud at this time of the year) across the Leicestershire Wolds is in aid of charity. Last year turned out to be rather more than 16 miles but they assure us this year is slightly under… we shall see! Then it will be back to the boat…hopefully with all work sorted, a new BSS certificate for 4 years and happily afloat once more.
We are trying to keep busy to stop worrying about the work and the boat, but always on the end of a phone in case Paul at Middlewch Wharf needs us to query anything, and particularly so he can let us know the outcome of the BSS – Boat Safety (MOT if you like). Some boat safety examiners don’t mind owners hovering around them whilst they check the boat, others prefer to just get on in peace. We’re providing the latter for our examiner this year but still want to know his findings immediately. We aren’t expecting any issues but you never know. The BSS will be carried out next week when the dry dock work is completed and she’s safely afloat again.
We shall be on tenterhooks until we know the outcome.
Pickingupducks 