Ashton Boatman

This n that.

In my last post I hoped that "Southam" wouldn't get stuck in a lock. Of course, she did. We set off with a boatload of sponsors and everything went fine until we got to the first lock, where "Southam" jammed. We could probably have got her through with lots of flushing and pulling, but, with lots of elderly people in the fore end, this seemed unwise. Instead we unjammed her and unloaded our guests, then worked "Lilith", the butty, through and bowhauled her to Mossley and back, leaving a couple of volunteers to mind "Southam". On our way we met a former volunteer who I hadn't seen for years. He offered to pull the boat, and helped us to bowhaul all the way back to Stalybridge after we'd winded at Mossley.

One of the sponsors said it was the best sponsors trip ever. It's funny how people seem to enjoy things going wrong.

Stuart has now left for warmer climes in India. The Hughes family are going to travel all round India before going to Nepal to build an orphanage..

Martin is making a great job of building "Hazel"s back cabin. Her hull is being caulked and today Mike Carter, the surveyor, came to have a look. He seemed pleased with what he saw. I was busy for most of the morning dealing with visitors, some of them potential volunteers. We're going to need a lot more organisational help getting the project up and running once the boatbuilding side of things is finished.

Hello Again

Sorry I've been away for so long. I've just been struggling to get everything done as I am working all day on rebuilding "Hazel", then there's so much extra to squeeze into each evening. I've decided to try to do an update each Friday. There's now 3 of us working full time on "Hazel". Stuart is off to India at the end of the month so Martin Lowe has come to help finish the job. The hull is now completely replanked so it's mostly cabin building and fitting out to do. Martin is really good at these kind of jobs. He impressed us all today with the way that the new back cabin side fitted when we steamed it to shape. Originally the cabin sides were each formed of one piece of pitch pine about 1.5 inches thick. New good quality pitch pine is now very rare, but we bought a reclaimed pitch pine beam and cut it up with the chainmill. This wasn't quite wide enough to do it in one, so Martin has joined pieces together. When it's finished I doubt you'll be able to see the join.

We've got the sponsors day in a fortnight. They're coming to have a look at the boat, a buffet in the Bulls Head, then a trip up to Mossley on one of the boats. There's a rumour that "Spey" will be attending. Hazel sponsors are great people who have stuck with us for years while the boat's restoration was just a dream, each putting their contribution in each year until it grew into a useful fund. More sponsors are needed. It doesn't cost the Earth and your contributions will be much appreciated. Have a look at the website. http://wcbs.org.uk/?p=393

Stuart has been busy with what in his yachtie way he calls "flogging off" the sides. This means planing them down so that they are smooth. The side he's done certainly looks good.