Ideally a wooden narrow boat is docked every couple of years. The last few years have not been ideal, so Hazel was well overdue for a docking. Today we took her a short journey to the Ashton Packet Boat Co's slipway at Guide Bridge and pulled her out of the water for the attention that she needs.
I had arranged to meet Aaron and Kim at the basin at 9am. Aaron said he'd come earlier to wind the boats so that Hazel would be tied on the outside ready to go. I arrived at 9 to find that the ship had sailed. I drove to Guide Bridge and walked back along the towpath where I met the boat. It seems that Aaron had set out about 8.30 shafting along. Kim and his partner Kath were walking up the towpath and met him along the way. Kim took over steering while Aaron bowhauled and Kath walked the towpath with their new little dog.
I climbed aboard and turned on the tap to start emptying the huge water tank which was weighing down the stern end. It's necessary to minimise the draft to make slipping easier.
We tied on the rings opposite the boatyard and waited for people to arrive. Soon they were there and started preparing the slip. We moved Hazel into the basin and the fun began of forcing the trolleys far enough into the mud so that they are deep enough for the boat to float over them.
The end two trolleys are pulled by an old steam winch, now running on compressed air because its boiler was condemned. The middle trolley is pulled by a hand winch.
The first attempt at slipping had to be aborted as the boat began to slew and the stern end was in danger of falling off the trolley. This was corrected and she emerged dripping from the water. As soon as she was secure me and Aaron got to work prising off the old shoeing.
Shoeing is sheet metal folded round the ends of the bottom boards to protect them from abrasion. It is a sacrificial layer to protect the wood and needs to be replaced every few years. If bottom boards are left unshoed for too long they wear away and the iron spikes that hold the bottoms on become exposed. This shoeing was fitted before Hazel's launch in 2013 so it was due for replacement.
Meanwhile, Kim got to work water jetting the slime and scum off the sides of the boat.
Throughout the day we were entertained by trains running up and down the narrow gauge railway, though the purpose for their movement was obscure.
By the time it started getting dark about 4pm all the shoeing, except the bits trapped where the boat sat on trolleys, was removed and gathered into a rusty pile of scrap.
