At the front of the Heritage Boatyard we made a nice garden. During the difficult years through covid etc, when we had hardly any volunteers, it got rather unruly. Over the last year or two working parties have tamed the foliage and got some nice flowers growing. It could do with a volunteer to visit weekly to deal with weeds and remove the litter so kindly donated by passers by. Any offers?
With the cabinside repaired it was time to finish the roof. It narrows towards the front so it was possible to use one of the roof panels lengthwise instead of across, which saved waste. One of the offcuts finished the job off.
With that done I changed jobs and went up to Stalybridge for a day to finish re-assembling "Forget me Not"s gearbox. Another day was spent fitting it but at the end of the day I tried rotating the engine via the shaft and gearbox. This worked in forward but didn't seem to work in reverse. Dismayed, I took the box off again, thinking I'd missed something and would have to take it all to bits again. We could do with a volunteer chief engineer as mechanics is not really my forte.
I tried turning the gears from the input end, and it worked in both directions. I decided the only thing to do would be to put the box back on, put oil in the engine, start it and see what happens. The down side of this is that, if the gearbox does need to come off again I have to drain the oil out of the engine again. The Albin is unusual in that the engine and gearbox share the same oil rather than having separate sumps..
I had been feeling tired, achey and had a sore throat for all of the day. I'd had some sort of lurgi for a few days but it seemed to have reached its zenith. After my frustrating day I went home to Em, who had also been feeling poorly, and did a convincing impression of Eeyore on my arrival. Em did not appreciate this.
My plan had been to get "Forget me Not" running and use her to carry all the clutter that had built up on the bank as well as tow "Hazel" back to Portland Basin. This wasn't going to happen now, but I was very aware of the down sides of being under the bridge. Not only did I have to organise boat sitters to keep her safe, but charging her batteries from a generator is a long, noisy, expensive and carbon hungry process. Just to complicate things, Elizabeth, her weekend boatsitter, had needed to let the fire go out because the central heating was making disturbing noises.
After a good long sleep I woke up on Monday morning full of beans. The lurgi had departed in the night. I was expecting a visit from Danny to do some finishing off work. I'd also had a message from Chris Gladwin to say that she would be visiting and would bring a friend.
I decided to start clearing the clutter anyway and enlisted Aaron to help with this. When Chris and her friend, Dave, arrived they quickly set to work with Aaron carrying stuff up the slope and shoving it into the trailer. I was amazed at how much they managed to jam in. More immediately useful stuff went into "Hazel" and in next to no time the area was cleared.
Kim arrived in a timely manner after spending the day working with Dave to replace the old pedestrian gate at Knowl St boatyard. He gave me the keys to the new lock, which I absent mindedly put somewhere. He offered to tow "Hazel" to Ashton, thus robbing Aaron of his excuse to show off his equine strength by bowhauling the trip.
Soon we were bowling along the canal with Dave having his first go at butty steering, which he did very well. Chris, Dave and I walked back along the towpath to collect vehicles. On the way I showed off the various trees that we've planted over the years.
The trailer was jam full of useful wood, firewood, tarpaulins, recyclables and rubbish. In the morning I drove this to the boatyard to unload. It will be sorted out at some future date.
When I got there I realised that I hadn't got the key to the new lock. In fact, I had no recollection of where I had put it. We've made unauthorised access to the boatyard pretty difficult, but I managed to climb in. Luckily I have a key for the vehicle gates, but these have to be unlocked from the inside.
Trailer emptied, I headed back to Ashton, where Aaron and Nessie were preparing to move "Hazel" to the Marina, for a pump out, then to Dixon & Smith (Motor Engineers) for battery charging. As the batteries charged me and Nessie worked on re-fitting lights etc that had been taken off to allow the work to be done.
It's just over a week now since we winded (that's canalspeak for turned round) "Hazel" so that we could work on the left hand side (port to sealubbers). We all have our different languages. The main job has been replacing the front section of cabin side and the two forward windows. We've invested in new double glazed windows as that end of the boat has sometimes felt cold, in spite of the woodstove. The windows are on order and should be ready soon. The old ones won't be wasted. They'll probably go into "Southam" when we finally get her cabin sorted out.
Danny and Charlie didn't come for a week as Danny had back trouble, but they came today. Charlie started on the huge task of sorting out the paintwork while Danny finished the job of renewing the castle panels on the back cabin doors. Sadly the lovely panels that Maxine painted had to be removed as the wood was rotting. Oddly, they were made of elm. A strange and not very long lasting choice of wood. I didn't have much to do with fitting out the back cabin, leaving it to Martin, who, other than this, did a very good job.
Nessie has been busy cleaning and fitting solar panels, on the days that he's not running the shop.
I've stayed in the back cabin on odd nights when no-one else wants to boatsit. It's a bit chilly in the mornings still so, with the aid of a nightlog of compressed bark I'm doing my best to keep the range burning all night. Each evening I'm lulled to sleep by the song of a blackbird. Each morning I'm woken by a wonderful dawn chorus. This is in spite of being tied under a concrete bridge next to a busy motorway junction.
This week Charlie and Danny have been coming to work on "Hazel" most days. Charlie is getting frustrated by the amount of dust that blows around messing up her painting. One side is nearly done so we've now winded the boat to concentrate on the other side. Should be returning to Portland Basin soon. Then there won't be so much dust around but we'll have to dodge the rain, though a lot of the work will be inside.
We have windows again rather than holes in the cabin side. The new roof covering is going on. The back cabin is getting repainted and a new step fitted. Thank you all the volunteers who have been helping.
And thank you Tameside Council for these new roof coverings, formerly display boards around Ashton market. Better than landfilling them eh!
Last night I stayed aboard "Hazel". I like to stay in her back cabin. This is the space, about 8' X 6'6" X 5' where the family who worked the boat carrying salt or coal used to live. Small, yes, but wonderfully well designed as a tiny home. I've shared a back cabin with a partner, though I'm not sure I'd like to have kids in one. Anyway, for me to spend the night guarding the boat it's perfect. The range keeps it nice and snug and I enjoy lying in bed listening to the radio. If you fill the firebox up and add in a bark log or coffee log last thing at night the range will still be alight in the morning. I usually fill a flask from the kettle last thing so that I'm sure of a cup of coffee in bed in the morning.
With her tatty hull seen to on dock, we tied Hazel under the motorway link road bridge to carry out some cabin repairs. A new top layer is going on the roof to keep the water out. Sections of cabin sides are being renewed with extra insulation.The back cabin is getting a new step and a repaint. Lots of new volunteers are helping to get her back into shape ready for a busy summer. Here's some photos-
The weather was kind to us during the docking so we were able to get the necessary jobs done in good time. That makes a change. So often the end of a docking involves a desperate rush to finish jobs so that the boat will actually float by the deadline. The last few days just involved adding a few extra coats of tar and clearing up the clutter around the boat.
The day of the launch came, and it all went smoothly. Aaron, strong as an ox, took the role of horse again to bowhaul us up to Portland Basin
Iain steered while Vicki filmed.
Hazel's docking has gone well so far. We've had lots of new volunteers and dry, largely sunny weather. Luke was here over the weekend and Iain and Vicki came on Sunday and Monday. Kim and Aaron have been helping pretty much every day. All the new plating is done, one side is tarred.
All that is left to do is odd jobs like filling a few bolt holes, tarring the other side, tidying up a bit of shoeing etc.
She goes back into the water on Sunday - then we start on the cabin! No rest for the wicked. I must have been very bad!
A week on dock and we've done lots, with help from Kim, Nessie, Luke, Vicki, Iain and of course the faithful Aaron. I've mostly been minding the chalico stove mixing heady brews of pitch, tar and horse manure. The stove has been sitting unused in a corner of the Heritage Boatyard for the last few years and when we moved it it nearly fell apart because of corrosion. I bodged it up with clay to stop it drawing too much cold air but it will need to be repaired properly after this docking.
We've renewed the shoeing (sacrificial metal edging which protects the ends of the bottoms) and fitted plating to the bow where it was getting a lot of hammer entering locks etc. We've also plated part of the side to protect a plank that had a few splits, repitched seams, done a bit of caulking etc. Tomorrow we start tarring the sides.
