I've just come across some photos of Southam on a recycling trip in summer 2012. Work on resurrecting her is currently paused while we concentrate on Hazel, but will soon resume.
Sorry! I'm afraid I haven't been posting much lately. To be honest, I've been a bit down and depressed. Usually irrepressibly optimistic, all I've been able to see is all the things that are wrong, starting with me, not having the energy that I used to have, and going out into the whole world, which seems to be increasingly run by psychopaths intent on destroying eveyrthing that is beautiful.
While my pessimism may be, as pesseimists always claim, mere realism, staying in that mindset is counter productive. You drive all the positive people away and find yourself surrounded with Eeyors.
Nevertheless, we've been making good use of the sunny weather to get on with work on the boats.
Work started on fitting Southam's missing top strake.
We started boarding Southam's Conversion.
Tony and Nessie got the plank fitted.
Unfortunately further stripping uncovered more problems with the conversion.
Tony has mostly been working on Forget me Not, particularly painting.
The sitting room window had been leaking on Hazel so that was taken out and refitted.
Joe the tree surgeon moved his boat Benevolence to Knowl St, Stalybridge. He winded above lock 7 and backed the rest of the way to the boatyard.
The electricity cupboard under Hazel's foredeck had to be stripped out. The wood was deteriorating and has to be replaced and the main batteries need renewing after 10 years. The opportunity is being taken to make it a bit more ergonomic as the switches and fuses used to be very inaccessible.
Nessie set to work removing the cabinside by the bathroom as some of the wood was getting soft.
The side bedroom window had been refitted and well sealed. Extra insulation was added to the inside.
The old AGM batteries had lasted well. They were removed from the boat to be replaced by LiFePo batteries.
The gaping hole in the side of the bathroom was a bit of a surprise for Helen when she came to stay.
But it's now been filled in.
About every 3 months we run a short trip so that a man with a long squirty pole can clean the windows at Cavendish Mill, which is now flats. There's no towpath access since the retaining wall started to collapse in 2002. Since then CRT (previously BWB) and Tameside council have been arguing about who should pay to repair it. For the most recent trip, on Thursday, John Tickner came to take some of his excellent photos. As the gearbox is stil not quite ready I had to shaft the boat there and back.
On this occasion, Matt, the window cleaner, forgot to turn on a valve in his van, so I had to climb out over a spiky fence to turn it on for him. I'm not complaining but it may occur to some people that it was the 72 year old cancer survivor who did the climbing. Anyway, here's John's photos. They're his copyright.
Today we ran a trip to Hyde and back, stopping for a while at Jet Amber Fields. The crew was me, Aaron Booth and new recruit Sharon Watson.
Jet Amber Fields.
Leaving Jet Amber.
Sunshine in Dukinfield!
Over the past few weeks we've had to cancel or postpone trip after trip on "Hazel" for various reasons, mostly weather related but health problems of guests have figured too. Today I thought at last we had it right. The weather was nice and we had guests on board for an overnight trip. It was a bit windy but nothing like we have experienced lately. Everything was readt so me and Aaron started to back the pair, breasted, into the basin ready to swing round and head off up the Peak Forest canal. All of a sudden the engine stalled. I restarted it but, as soon as I engaged reverse gear it stalled again. I had a look inside the gearbox to discover that it was jammed in forward gear. The gear change mechanism was working correctly but the forward gear clutch simply wouldn't disengage, so, when you put it into reverse it's trying to go forward and backwards at the same time. This means I'm going to have to take the gearbox out and get it professionally looked at. How long this will take and what it will cost I know not.
Our guests seemed to have a nice afternoon chatting and exchanging life experiences. One is staying tonight and another has asked if she can come and stay on board with her dog sometime, which, of course, she can.
Here's a couple of photos of me and Aaron reversing the boats just before it all went wrong. Photographer Cheryl Louise Dinsdale.
I'm disappointed! I was promised something that would
Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow! You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks! You sulphurous and thought-executing fires, Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts, Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder, Smite flat the thick rotundity o' the world! Crack nature's moulds, an germens spill at once, That make ingrateful man!
What's actually happening is that it's a bit breezy and it's raining on and off. A sort of normal
winter day in Ashton really.I actually postponed a trip because of the weather warnings.
This, it seems, is Storm Eunice. She was supposed to be far worse
than Storm Dudley. I was at the Knowl St boatyard with Cheryl Dinsdale when Dudley struck on
Thursday. He at least got us soaked and blew things about a bit. When I got back to Portland Basin
I found that "Lilith"s cloths had blown off. Nessie has since put them back on.
I haven't taken any photos for a while, so, here's a nice picture of
"Lilith" on a sunny day. Photo by Jay Jengba.
Tomorrow we have wellbeing guests arriving for a trip up the Peak Forest canal to Marple aqueduct. We'll stay there overnight then come back on Monday. Me and Aaron have spent most of the day cleaning and sorting her out after her use as a film location. We took her over the Tame aqueduct to charge her batteries at the workshop of Dixon & Smith (Motor Engineers) in Dukinfield. She goes there by people power, on this occasion me and Aaron. The reason they built canals was that they enabled huge loads to be moved for very little energy expenditure. "Hazel" weighs about 20 tons but she's no problem for us to move.
Aaron keeps warm and dry in his new dayglo ski suit.
We've had a very pleasant couple from Worksop staying on "Hazel" for a week and they booked a trip up the Peak Forest. We went up to Marple on Friday, a glorious summers day, winded and returned as far as Chadkirk. The crew were me, Aaron, Liz and Darren. We all wore masks whenever we had to come close to each other, maintained strict separation from our guests and sanitised the tiller etc when we changed steerers.
Aaron, Liz and Darren cycled home once we had tied for the night. I stayed aboard "Forget me Not". The crew returned for a 2pm departure on Saturday to bring the pair back to Portland Basin. Liz's husband Pete came too.The weather wasn't quite as good but still an enjoyable trip.
A good turn out today on the recycling trip, and a chance for trainees to practice boat steering. The actual collection was disappointing. I think a lot of people had gone out to enjoy the sunshine.
"Hazel" had 2 airbnb bookings in Manchester on consecutive weekends, both with groups of Germans. We took her down the locks on Thursday with a guest on board, then got her tidied up for our guests on Friday. I stayed to look after things and we had a problem with the macerator toilet. It turned out a turnbutton off one of the cupboards had gone down it and caused a very unpleasant internal blockage. We also had engine problems, largely my fault as I made a cock up of a minor repair which necessitated a more major repair ( Volunteer chief engineer needed, any offers?)
On Tuesday, loaded with well being guests, we moved again, down the Rochdale 9 and onward to Sale Cruising Club moorings in proper Perter Kay rain. The helpful people at Sale filled us up with water and electricity. We planned to move on Wednesday morning but another engine problem blew up (as it were). This necessitated two return cycle trips to Stockport to get parts repaired. Our guests seemed to enjoy their sojourn in Sale. On Thursday morning we went on as far as the next winding hole, winded, then headed back into Manchester, getting pumped out at the very friendly Stretford Marina.
We tied below the locks at Castlefield, then Aaron, Shaun and Phil helped with the ascent of the 9. We tied among the steampunk building sites at Picadilly basin.
