Author Archives: Mick

Spaghetti Western. 16th September

Nearish No 4 Swing Bridge

You could tell the wind direction had changed this morning. Last night we went to bed in the warmth left from the day, this morning the temperature had dropped by at least 10 degrees, the north easterly bringing with it the need for jumpers and long trousers.

A check on the possibility of rain during the day, which was slight meant I hoped to be able to get a top coat on the stern. Mick also wanted time in the engine bay, so after breakfast he got to lift the engine boards for a while as I tinkered with other things.

Contemplating

Our bilge pump is meant to be automatic and should go off if the water level rises. For ages it has gone off every couple of minutes for a second or two, no matter what the water level is in the bilge under the stern gland. Mick suspects that the sensor is clogged with grease, so he disconnected it from being automatic to being a manual on off switch months ago. This morning he had a go at cleaning the pump, but not knowing where the sensor is doesn’t help. A new one will need to be purchased. A width of pipe was noted to aid buying the correct one.

The pipe’s that wide. 19mm

With him out of the way and the front doors open for Tilly to come and go I got the stern to myself. A rub down of undercoat and surrounding areas then a wipe down.

I checked on the quantity of black Epifanes paint that I use for the gunnels. If I had enough the stern counter would be painted in this, if not the whole area would be painted blue. This is how she was originally painted, blue then with a coat of black over the top. This was for ease of touch up! Well that worked didn’t it! Too busy boating is my excuse.

Sanded down ready

The tin of black paint last year was replaced by tupperware. The seal had gone/been too strong which necessitated so much leverage to get the tin open it would no longer close with a good seal. In hindsight this wasn’t the best method of storage as the outside of the paint sets, leaving a giant blister of paint, at least there was still liquid inside.

Lovely again

The blue coach paint went on like a dream, just a shame I couldn’t lean over quite far enough and missed a little bit on the underside of the rubbing strake. I did my best to leave a clean cut edge where the blue would meet the black.

Ready for the black

The black paint needed a touch thinning, so I added a glug of Owatrol to the roller tray to aid it’s flow. Edges cut in first then the central area rollered. Job done, at last! Yes I could apply a second coat of black, but todays temperatures were not suitable for the paint to have gone off sufficiently. This can be a touch up coat come the spring instead.

At long last

Now all there was left to do was keep Tilly off the wet paint for the rest of the day.

We decided to go for a walk. I changed out of painty clothes and Tilly and I first headed that way. Today the shooting range has been active again. The last two days has been silent round here, but today the echo that has followed every shot is as though we are in a 1960’s western. If you follow this link to the Colt 1851 Navy, Fire 3 ,we’ve been waiting for Clint to ride by.

Time to get out of the painty clothes

We followed the path in the grass up to a gate, here is where I decided it would be good to turn around quite a distance from Oleanna who was out of sight. Tilly was quite happily trotting further along the path that went off to the side, ignoring my calls to turn back. Well She’s the one who wanted to go for a walk!

Eventually she twigged that I wasn’t going any further, so she shouted for me, a slight panic in her meow. She then launched herself over the friendly cover to find where I was and came dashing with tail bushed right out. Our progress back was slower, well I needed to pay a call! Once this was done it was loony running back to the boat.

I can see it from here!

I pushed on further in the opposite direction, a now slightly puffed Tilly still following. It must be hard work down there with all the long grass. We reached where I think the kingfisher hangs out. This was confirmed as it didn’t like Tilly being about, so we retreated to leave it in peace.

The cooler weather meant the stove got lit and that we didn’t have to fend off quite so many midges this evening, just as well as we both have getting on for 20 new bites each. Is it that this year we are that bit more tasty? Is this the week for all the female midges to come out and get their hit of blood before laying eggs and we’ve missed it for the last six years? Are we just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Has the lack of pollution earlier this year increased their numbers? What ever the reason, we don’t like it.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 grey chilly day, 1 bilge pump needing replacement, 1 coat blue, 1 blister popped, 1 coat black, 1 stern almost as good as new, 3, 1 hour proof reading, 2 white items, 857 peeeeows! 1 reluctant cat, 1km walk, 1 comfort break, 2 jacket potatoes cooked in the stove, yum.

Red Hand Gang. 15th September

Nearish No 4 Swing Bridge

Another hot day. A layer of dew clung to everything this morning so whilst we had breakfast I hoped that all the woodwork I’d worked on yesterday would dry off so that I could apply a second coat of woodskin.

Don’t stand on the dew

Meanwhile Tilly was given another 9 hours of shore leave, the first part of which was spent inspecting my work from yesterday, I so hoped that everything had dried fully!

A quick wipe down to remove any stubborn drops of water and any unfortunate insects that happened to have landed yesterday whilst things were still sticky. Luckily this didn’t include Tilly, although there did seem to be a paw print visible on the locker lids as I started to wizz on the second coat. Locker lids and the wood at the stern were done first before the cratch so that hopefully by the end of the day they could be brought back on board.

Soaking up

Meanwhile Mick popped on his boiler suit and climbed down into the engine bay. The water and anti-freeze from the leak the other day needed cleaning up. He first pumped out into a bucket. Then what? There was quite a lot of it. In the past we’ve found it hard to dispose of old coolant/antifreeze, some council tips you have to make an appointment to dispose of such things. Nappies were used to soak up the liquid and gradually bin bags were filled with them. We now have three black bags of nappies awaiting disposal, one nappy left and still some liquid in the sump below the engine.

Second coat drying

I decided to revisit the red paint that I’d touched up whilst in Naburn a few weeks ago. The horrible red paint that had dried almost instantaneously as soon as I’d got any on my brush!

Red

I masked off the areas and gave them a sand down. The dust produced quickly clogged the sandpaper and clung to my hands, little left on the surface to clean off. One small patch on the starboard side got a sand down too, this didn’t receive the horrid red paint before as it was on the offside in Naburn. Today though I braved the offside gunnel. The cabin side being dark blue had spent the morning absorbing the sunshine and blimey it was HOT, almost burning my leg as I lent against it.

The wrong red

After lunch, the last of the treat cheese being consumed, I mixed up the wrong red paint on purpose. This is the red I had mixed to the RAL number in Oleanna’s bible. Last year when at Finesse the painter confirmed my suspicions saying that it was a different red than that had been used, a touch darker. But this wrong red flows properly and doesn’t go off within seconds of opening the tin.

Our grab rail is very faded now and will want a repaint next year, so making it a touch of a patchwork right now to protect it this winter is fine in my mind, just so long as we can take time out from boating when the weather is good enough to do the job properly in the spring and maybe after a trip through Standedge Tunnel.

Before

The paint went on like a dream, luckily the rail not too hot for the lengths I was painting. The sunlight on the smooth finish picking out the blemishes I’d not spent enough time on! Oh well, it’s better protected now.

As I stood on the offside again, toasting my legs, I heard a high pitched cheep. Then flying past at speed low to the water a Kingfisher it’s latest catch still in it’s mouth. Oh to have a motion sensor camera set up, it was quite a sight.

After

Tilly took a bit of persuading to come in, she was found about to pounce at the far end of the open towpath. The pounce proved fruitless so she followed me back to Oleanna for dingding. This now meant I could get some undercoat on the stern, the primer/filler sanded down once Mick had finished in the engine bay. As I applied the paint, two fishermen packed up a short distance behind us, only for our local Kingfisher to dive in in front of them to retrieve a fish.

You can’t see me!

We’d just settled down to watch Des, the dramatisation of Dennis Nilsen a serial killer played by David Tennant, when Mick checked the weather. It was due to rain. Time to lift everything in off the towpath carefully. Mick tip toed around the wet undercoat on the stern to bring the locker lids back in whilst I carefully, in the dark, poppered back on the cratch cover. I’d have preferred it to have another night drying off, but it was better to get everything covered up again. We then sat and listened to the rain whilst we swatted this evenings blood thirsty midges!

0 locks, 0 miles, 2nd coat, 3 buckets! 25 nappies! still more to soak up, 2nd coat, 2 red hands, 1 nice coat, 1 undercoat, 1 hour homework, 2 kingfishers, 1st episode, 4, 10 new bites each, 2 rain showers, 24 items on the new list of jobs.

A New Coat. 14th September

Pollington Visitor Moorings to Nearish the Site of No 4 Swing Bridge

Firstly I got something wrong yesterday. The occasion where Oleanna’s engine decided to empty water all over the bilges was actually when we were moored at Eynsham and Mick noticed the large amount of water where it shouldn’t be before the alarm went off. We’ve just had a discussion as whether it matters that I got it wrong, who would notice? Well possibly Paul as on that occasion it was the thermostat. But more importantly when we look back to the blog in years to come to clarify our fading memories things should be correct.

Anyhow.

Winding at Pollington

As soon as breakfast was done we rolled back the covers and pushed off, time to find better internet! With temperatures set to be high today we’d thought of seeking some shade. But on such wide waterways any trees tend to be set back from the waters edge, reducing their shade factor. Mick identified a possible location so we went to have a look.

This’ll do

The trees were tall enough to cast shade on the water but their location was not really one we’d want to be for too long. Between Crowcroft Bridge and Balne Croft Swing Bridge (which is no more) proved to be a touch too close to the Bridge cottage where the St Bernard woofer never runs out of puff! So we decided to aim for some solar power rather than shade and hopefully not too close to the shooting range.

Who is that down there?

About a quarter of a mile further on, on the north bank a stretch of bank looked quite appealing, we’d have to use spikes to moor as there was no beam to tie to. We pulled in almost halfway between the barking St Bernard and the shooting range, little footfall and plenty of friendly cover to keep Tilly amused for the rest of the day.

If it’s white it’s wet!

Time for jobs. The primer on the stern had dried fine overnight, so this now got a coat of primer filler and everyone was told to avoid the white bits on the stern. Luckily Tilly was too occupied elsewhere so it had more or less dried before she forgot!

Masked off and sanded

The front poppers on the cratch cover were undone and the whole cover pulled back away from the cratch board. I think it was a couple of years ago when I gave the frame a fresh coat of woodskin and recently I’d noticed it getting a touch thin. Time for a freshen up.

Locker lids

If I was doing the cratch board I may as well give the stern locker lids a coat and the shelf above the morse control. Areas were masked off, washed down and then sanded. Another rinse down and they were left to dry whilst we had lunch.

Stirred and ready

A coat of woodskin was applied to everything in the afternoon, the masking tape removed. The stern was by now very dry so this got a sanding back. The filler hadn’t quite brought everything up to a smooth level so another coat was applied.

Mick took the bowthruster locker lid up so that he could check on the batteries that sit below. The endoscope came out to help check the levels in the cells and all was fine. The bow deck got a clean out, the rope and chain from the anchor stowed and the pins put back to keep the anchor held tight to the front bulk head. This did mean that Mick got to see the state of the rust on the underside of the locker lid. This is already a job on my to do list, but as it and the bow locker lids are sort of inside (under the cratch cover) they can wait for another opportune time, proper outside outside jobs first.

Is that Tilly?
All the way up there!

Still rather warm in the evening we sat for as long as we dared with the doors and windows open. But sadly the hand held hoover had to come out and we sat swatting at midges hopefully before they bit us!

Checking on progress

0 locks, 1.09 miles, 1 wind, 0 trees of any use, 1 very sunny spot, 2 coats primer filler, 1st coat woodskin, 1 cratch board, 2 locker lids, 7 hours shore leave, 5, 100% internet, 1 shade seeking cat, 1 vat of chilli, 1 boat full of midges again, 2 bowls chilled medication.

Before finding shade again