It’s a good job it’s spring with light mornings as this is helping us to wake before the alarm goes off each morning. Today we needed to be up and ready for the off by 7.30am, we were ready and waiting when the lock light turned green. The Lock Keeper came over to check everyone was okay and where we were all heading to, all three boats were hoping to reach Cromwell today. With an early start and a high tide it would be possible, but we all had the idea that if we’d had enough we could stop at Torksey for the night.

Once the road swing bridge was open we pulled in to one side of the lock, NB Lazy Jayne the other and then NB Anchor Management slotted themselves in between us both. There was lots of chat going on as the water started to be emptied out of the lock. Then shouts from the chap on NB Lazy Jayne, he thought that his rope was caught and his boat was starting to list. Everyone shouted and Mick bipped our very loud horn to alert the Lockie. The paddles were dropped and the boat sat at quite an angle, it wasn’t the rope, but it was hung up on something. Then whatever had held it gave way and the boat righted itself with a jolt. It was a horrible feeling for us, never mind for the couple who owned it! Everyone was okay, no time to have a restorative cuppa, the tide wouldn’t wait.

NB Anchor Management led the way and we brought up the rear of our flotilla. We’ve been out of Keadby once before back in 2015 when the Trent was a mill pond and we got sunburn, today there’d be no sunburn just windburn. Having said that there were moments where the river was wonderfully calm, but then a bend would take us straight into the wind and white horses faced us. Before the A18 bridge NB Lazy Jayne passed NB Anchor Management then soon after the bridge they waved us past. The last we saw of them was around Owston Ferry.

Our VHF radio sprung to life as two cruisers came into view ahead, they were informing each other of our presence and both slowed down. Downstream of Gainsborough there isn’t a speed limit so they had both been ‘riding the plane’. Their wake was the biggest we’ve ever encountered, hitting it with the bow of Oleanna had spray coming onto the roof. It was like the end of an episode of Hawaii Five O! It really is a good job I’m not prone to seasickness! As soon as they felt they were at a suitable distance they opened the throttle back up and sped away. Their wake continued for quite sometime, keeping us bouncing around, listening to the prop in the changing water for a good 15 minutes. Then turning round one bend the water calmed down again.

At West Stockwith a cruiser came out from the lock surprising NB Lazy Jayne, both boats slowed down and then the cruiser crossed in front of us and headed towards Keadby. A mile further on and we’d reached the halfway point to Torksey. We’d been told that if we reached Torksey between 11.30 and 12.30 we’d be fine to reach Cromwell, we were well on track. The channel through Gainsborough gets quite narrow, this has the effect of speeding the incoming tide up. Mick checked his speedo ap on his phone, we were doing 9mph. Good job there were no moored boats about!

Approaching Torksey we decided that we’d continue, NB Lazy Jayne carried on too. From here we kept a closer eye on our Trent charts, sholes, sunken islands hide waiting to catch you out, although with the depth of water we now had we were unlikely to have any problems. One problem we did have was as I opened the hatch to go below, Our second mate had decided to elevate her cruising position and sit on our Nicholsons shelf, it’s a tight squeeze, but the highest feline position in our new inside.

At about 10km to go the tide stopped coming in, it just stopped. Our speed had already dropped, but now we pootled along. With 5km to go I noticed a cruiser behind us, then another. They both sat patiently behind us as the river bends a lot along the last stretch before Cromwell and we’d all end up sharing the lock anyway, so why hurry. The cruiser that pulled in behind us in the lock was Naughty Cal, we knew we’d come across them today as they had come down Torksey Lock at lunchtime. So Mick had a chat as I tried clinging on for dear life at the front of Oleanna. I strongly suspect Cromwell lock has grated off some of the paint on our rubbing strips! Oh well it was going to happen sooner than later.

There was space for us on the inside of the pontoon as well as NB Lazy Jayne. We were all moored up almost a day ahead of schedule by 2.45pm. Today is the furthest we’ve ever travelled by narrowboat in a day, so a record for us. Mick walked to the local shop (A1 service station) for our Saturday paper and some milk, NB Anchor Management was just coming up the lock almost two hours behind us.

2 locks, 44.34 miles, 1 swing, 2 close for comfort, 2ft waves, 7 going that way, 2 slices Tidal Trent Toast, 9 mph, 1 ski jump, 2nd mate being cheeky, 1 blogging boat, 3 cruisers on the outside, 1 thin bow rope, 1 bad grip, 1 sunk yacht, 2 hours behind, 2 racing boats, 2 red wind burnt grinning faces.

Bramwith Junction to Keadby Lock

Waking in the morning to a view is great. Todays view did however mean that we would be seeing some rain during the day. We did allow ourselves a bit of a lull in bed before a quick breakfast and pushing off at 8.45am.

Not far to our first lock, back onto short wide locks. Mick went ahead to fill the lock and just as I was untying Oleanna a huge widebeam pulled out and started to reverse towards the water point opposite me. A couple of minutes and I’d have been out of his way and in the lock, but instead I did my best to cling onto Oleanna (which is harder than normal at the moment) whilst he toed and froed back and forth. As soon as I thought there was enough space for me to pull out I did. Gosh the lock was short, yesterday I could motor in and have plenty of time to stop, today I gingerly edged Oleanna forward to be clear of the cil.

The first of todays many bridges was just up ahead where there was a boat waiting to come through. So we obliged by pressing the buttons for them so they didn’t have to come out of their wheel house in the rain, we were starting to get wet anyway. On we pootled through the wooded section where the towpath looks like it has had the pot holes filled to improve the ride for the local motorbikes.

Much sooner than we thought we were approaching Thorne. Yesterday I’d called ahead to check on diesel prices, Staniland 75p Thorne Boating Services 72p, so we continued on past Staniland to the lock. Here there is a swing bridge just before the lock and the two are interlinked, so you have to fill the lock and open the gates (all button operated) before you can swing the bridge. Since we were last here some alterations have been made to the controls. No longer is there a hole dissertation on the side of the control panel for you to fathom your way through, it is much easier.

A crane came into view at Thorne Boating Services, they were preparing to lift a boat out so we reversed into one of the service moorings to wait. When we were given the all clear Mick brought us round, only to be told that the hose wouldn’t reach. So back we went to the services to wind, which of course meant that we had to wind again after we’d finished.

The diesel tank was filled to the top for the first time in it’s life. Ricky had said that this would calibrate the gauge, however it still doesn’t read full. With gas heating we are not sure how long a 13kg bottle will last. On Lillian we change a bottle every three months, but that was only used for cooking. So we decided to pay the deposit on a second bottle of gas. If we come across an empty bottle or two somewhere we’ll pick them up and trade them back in for the deposit. Two new float keyrings and some weed hatch tape for our fender hooks were our other purchases, shame we forgot to get a bag of coal!

Due to waiting for the flying boats we were a bit behind and canalplan had suggested it would take us nearly four hours to reach Keadby, so no time to stop for lunch as we were meeting friends. The two times we’ve done this stretch I’ve had problems with Thorne Bridge, the barriers have been a bit temperamental and so were the lights on the panel. Mick went armed with this information and I expected to have to wait for a while. When he turned the key there was a ticking from the barriers, this stopped when all were shut, a new feature! Someone has at last solved the problems on this bridge, they were most probably getting bored of the phone calls.

Then we worked our way through more bridges, one lift the others swing, each one a bit different to the others. Our waterproofs earnt their keep as the heavens kept opening. The railway hugs onto the side of the cut for most of the way and the skyline is filled with wind turbines. With the deep grey clouds and the bright yellow rape seed the view was still a jolly even if wet.

As we approached the last of the swing bridges we could see another boat ahead, would they wait for us? No we were quite a distance behind. Just after the swing bridge is Vazon Sliding Rail Bridge which is operated from the signal box. As I was just bringing Oleanna through the swing bridge and Mick was starting to close it I could hear the sirens going that indicate that the sliding bridge was about to open. Before we’ve had to wait five ten minutes, but today as Mick stepped on the stern the bridge started to slide to open up the cut for us.

Just as we were finishing tying up at the moorings two familiar faces were walking towards us. Bridget and Storm from NB Blackbird had come to meet NB Oleanna. Many things were inspected and we may have helped them find some good door furniture for their new house. A cuppa and catching up was done along with some toilet talk, I forgot to ask how their grandsons first birthday party was last weekend. We also reaffirmed plans of doing the Ribble link together later this year. Thank you very much for the presents Bridget.

Oleanna had reached 25 engine hours today, the gear box oil needed changing. So Mick got into the engine bay and gave her a freshen up. Several other boats have turned up ready to go down the lock tomorrow. We will be one of three going to Torksey or beyond if we are making good time. The anchor has been attached, so all we need now is a good nights sleep if the visitors to the car park allow.

2 locks, 15.06 miles, 1 lift bridge, 8 swing bridges, 1 sliding bridge, 13 held up plus 2 dogs, 2 wet boaters, 80 litres diesel, 2 key floats, 1m tape, £40 deposit, 1 low flying boat, 1 wire twist extension, 9 trains, 2 visitors, 4 bean plants, 2.5 litres oil, 1 anchor, 1 boat ready, 1 Mark out of 3, 2 grins, 3 motorbikes already.

This is a dual post with NB Lillyanne’s Blog.

Our blogs will be changing, as we now have built our boat and NB Lillyanne will be up for sale in a few weeks. We’ll let you know what is happening once we know.

Yesterday we had short wide locks, but today we were into the big commercial locks of the South Yorkshire Navigation. These locks are operated by using the key of power (C&RT key), they have a panel at each end which operates the gates and sluices at that end. So once your boat is in the lock with the gates and sluices closed you have to walk the 60m or so to the other end to empty or fill it.

Most locks reset themselves to being full after you have passed through them, but Eastwood Lock for some reason is always empty. There is no speeding up the operation of the sluices from the panels lock side, I suspect a lock keeper can though from their observational control rooms. So it takes forever to fill these huge olympic sized locks to then spend ages emptying them, but at least they are easy to operate.

Today we had stretches of river interspersed with locks, flood locks and cuts. I stayed at the helm apart from at two locks, well I don’t want to hog all the manoeuvring of Oleanna and Mick could so easily get out of practice!  Our second lock today was Aldwarke Lock which takes you down onto a river section. I decided that I’d like to press the buttons on this one and stretch my legs, nothing to do with the lock landing being a bit awkward to get to round the corner. A C&RT chap was there painting the bollards. Now I know how it feels when people think they are being really original and funny when they say “You missed a bit!”, but this chap really had. I could envisage his frustration when he stood back to check his handywork after tidying away to see half a post still white.

Once on the first stretch of river Mick decided to open up the throttle to see how Oleanna’s engine coped with higher revs, a kind of sea test before we hit the Tidal Trent on Saturday. She did well as we’d expected, looking behind our wash was minimal, but that could also have been due to the depth of water.

Kilnhurst Flood Lock was level at both ends, but you still have to go through the motions of opening and closing gates to walk to the other end to do the same there. Around here was where we were meant to have reached yesterday, so we were only 1.5 hours behind.

Through Waddington Lock where all the old work boats sit waiting for something to happen. One of them would make a gigantic home for someone, but I’d hate to think what a licence would cost. Between the Mexborough Locks we passed familiar boats, one of which may well have been in exactly the same position last year on the very long lock landing.

The next stretch was long, so there was time to make a cuppa and put the dishwasher on. The batteries need to have recovered before things like the dish washer are put on and having a stretch where the engine wouldn’t be idling was useful. Our new cooker is excelling itself, it only takes marginally longer to use the stove top kettle than the electric. No more waiting around for 10 minutes for it to boil! Just wonder how much gas it’s getting through though.

At Sprotbrough we thought of our friends Alison and Laura on NB Large Marge. They sing the praises of the butchers there every time we see them. We however had got side tracked at looking at the architecture of the church and missed the butchers completely. But then who appears on Google Street view, Mick at the stern, me by the bow and is that Tilly in a window!

Doncaster Lock was closed for a month during the maintenance period and has very new bottom gates to show for it. We had toyed with bringing Lillian back to Sheffield to swap boats there, but this closure got in the way and was possibly going to delay things. With hindsight it would have worked out for us.

We pootled on a bit further under Barnby Dun lift bridge to where the New Junction Canal heads off north and the Stainforth and Keadby goes east. We are back in the land of big skys with views in both directions, we do like our new windows. After two days of seeing no moving boats this afternoon that has changed. Boats have been motoring past us from Doncaster, four in one convoy. They headed up the New Junction so if they take it in turns to work the bridges they’ll zoom along.

9 locks, 19.06 miles, 1 lift bridge holding up 27, 1 shouting cat, 0 people listening! 6 grease incidents, 1 set of new gates, 2 trains, 1 parcel, 10 inch not 8, 1 set fire irons, 6 passing boats, 5% to loose, 1 familiar mooring, 2 grins.

This is a dual post with NB Lillyanne’s blog.
Our blogs will be changing, as we now have built our boat and NB Lillyanne will be up for sale in a few weeks. We’ll let you know what is happening once we know.

Sheffield Basin to Eastwood Lock

Up early, it would have been earlier if Tilly had had her way! A mug of tea each and a bowl of cereal we pushed off to the water point to top up Oleanna’s tank. Because she has a bowthruster our water tank is quite a bit smaller (500L) than Lilllian’s (800L) but we no longer have a flushing toilet so we should save quite a bit of water there. At the moment it looks like we get through around 100L a day, almost a quarter of the tank, we have a gauge now!

Once full we pootled through the swing bridge and on to Oleanna’s birth place, Mick beeped the horn, it really is loud! The chaps at the yard couldn’t ignore it and most came out to wave us goodbye. Johnathan wished us well as we passed and we thanked him. No time to stop, we had a rendez vous with a Lock Keeper.

As we reached Shirland Winding Hole Mick gave Oleanna a bit more umph to make sure she wouldn’t just slow and turn around. From here on it is new water for her. That’s better a changing view again!

The top lock of the flight was open and ready for us, Mick brought Oleanna into it and then stepped off, she was all mine now for the flight. The Lockie asked how long we were, 58ft 6in is what we asked for and hopefully are. Once Oleanna’s bow was past the walkway on the bottom lock gates I could nudge her further away from the cil markers. There is only one cil that you actually get to see on this flight and that is at lock 7&8 which is deep.

She is that bit easier to drive than Lillian, the morse control is less stiff and she responds quicker. Although I do seem to be developing a certain stance whilst looking down the port side of her. Lillian has no back doors on the cruiser stern, Oleanna does, so even though opened fully there is a bit less room for me to stand out on the back and be able to move the tiller. So I have to stand and lean backwards to see where the gunnel is compared to lock gates. This may change in time especially when my right foot is better.

David saw us down the first section of locks. He had an electric bike which he rode back and forth up the main section of the flight. All the locks have to be unlocked then locked after we’d gone through. He was quite chatty and although he spends his days unlocking locks and replacing signs that have been shot at he feels lucky to have a nice flight to look after where he gets no bother, “I can just look after you boaters”. He waved us goodbye after Lock 9.

Under the M1 to Lock 10 Mick took over the helm to let me sit down for a few minutes. Here Gary was waiting for us a second Lockie. As Mick stepped off I warned him that this was the chap who just opens paddles as soon as he gets to them without checking to see if you are ready. He drove his van down to the next two locks and then waved us goodbye at the bottom lock of the flight.

Mick took over the helm again along the river section. The next lock is a flood lock and last year we were left to operate it ourselves, but it is now kept locked so we were met by Nigel our third Lockie of the day. He said to stay on board and he’d work us down which he also did at Holmes Lock, giving me chance for a longer sit down.

Now on our own we pootled on to Ickles Lock. A Humber Keel had taken up residency on the lock landing, very helpful on a windy day! No option but to drop mick off on the offside. The mouth of the lock was full of rubbish, Mick tried to open each gate but had no luck. So our boat hook was employed for the first time to clear enough rubbish so that the gate would open. This was of course the side that was partly blocked by the Keel. The girlie button came in useful to achieve the steep angle that was needed to get into the lock.

Rotherham Lock was also surrounded by rubbish and the wind was doing a good job of holding Oleanna into the side. I managed to get her into a good position but too early as the lock wasn’t set so had to back up even more to swing her round through all the footballs and beer cans. Once through we decided that we’d pull up for some lunch and remove whatever had wrapped itself around the prop, we continued on to moor above Eastwood Lock.

Mick had asked David where Exol Pride was at the moment, this is a large commercial barge that works between Rotherham and Hull, you know when it’s coming your way! We were in luck as it had left Rotherham this morning, it was unlikely that we’d catch it up.

The wind got stronger and stronger which didn’t seem to bother the swans at the huge winding hole, but it was starting to bother us as white horses were showing their heads. We pulled in and had some lunch hoping that it would calm down. But it didn’t. Our aim had been to go for at least another hour before mooring up for the day, maybe even get as far as Sprotbrough. So we’ll have to make up time tomorrow with an earlier start than planned and hope that the wind is kind to us.

Several jobs have been seen to this afternoon whilst I’ve been resting my foot. Mick has solved a problem we’ve been having with the freezer. As you pull the drawer out the cable was getting caught on the drawer runners and pulling the spade connectors out. A small cuphook screwed to the underside of the frame now holds the cable up out of the way. He has also crafted lengths of hose so that we can now empty our yellow water tank (wee tank). We have a 20 L tank under the floor in the bathroom where the urine from our composting toilet goes to. There is a gulper pump to help empty the tank which has an outlet on the gunnel a bit like with a pump out, except we pump out ourselves. The system has been tested and our tank is now empty.

15 locks, 7.42 miles, 1 swing bridge, 1 BIG THANK YOU to all at Finesse and Jonathan Wilson, 1 emotional moment, 3 lock keepers, 1 maiden voyage, 1st spotting, 3 gunnel scuffs! 2 much rubbish, 1 leaning helmswoman, 3 open drawers, 1 outside moved, 0 exol pride, 49 swans, 2 much wind, 1 early stop, 1st trip down the weedhatch, 2 wee hoses, 1 Tom in a drawer, 1 freezer sorted, 0 fire irons, 2 grins.

This is a dual post with NB Lillyanne’s blog.

Our blogs will be changing, as we now have built our boat and NB Lillyanne will be up for sale in a few weeks. We’ll let you know what is happening once we know.

10th April

Over the weekend we’ve been compiling a list of snagging jobs and we returned to the boat yard in the morning.

Ricky was in a meeting with some clients but popped out to check on things and have a quick check through our list. Soon we had Kris and Chris/Kev (he’s called Chris but everyone calls him Kev) on board armed with tools. They worked quickly through our list.

With four people on board on Sunday and things now in cupboards and drawers things were opening very easily as the boat moved. Just pushing off from the side would open drawers so Kris fixed a couple of magnetic catches on the top ones. We’ll have to see if this fully holds them in place once we start cruising properly.

Kris fixed a bin that we’d bought at the weekend on the cupboard door under the sink. On our old boat we’ve made do with an Ikea box hung on screws, but this one is far superior. It took him all of a minute to do, rather than an hour by us.

On Sunday morning Mick had had a shower and when it was my turn I noticed that there was a small puddle on the bathroom floor. Mick said he’d already mopped it up, maybe he’d missed a bit. So I did a thorough girl mop and made sure everywhere was dry before I had my shower. The puddle had returned so I mopped it again only for it to come back. Possibly there was a little bit of flex on the shower tray and the sealant hadn’t held. Kris scraped off the old sealant with a wedge of wood. I’d not see this before, but it worked far better than a stanley blade as there was little chance of it marking the shower tray or the doors, just a bit of brute force needed. Then a wider bead of sealant was applied. This will need at least eight hours to go off before either of us has a shower.

We had ordered a barge pole and boat hook through CV Marine at the basin. Of course the hook had come as a pole and a hook separately and the pole needed to be chamfered down to be able to fix the hook on. Kris took this away for us and returned with it all sorted for us.

Meanwhile Chris/Kev got on with problems we were having elsewhere. As we’d been on shore power we’d tried to use the immersion water heater, but it didn’t want to work. A nosy at the calorifier found the problem quickly, the thermostat on it had been turned right down so it wasn’t going to produce any heat. Once turned up we were put on a shore line and the immersion was turned on, after a couple of hours the water was definitely hot.

The freezer under the dinette had power but didn’t want to do anything. The cause was that the voltage had been reversed, easily solved. Although since this was solved we’ve discovered that the cable to the power socket has a tendency to get caught on the back of the drawer runners as you pull it out, this means that the spade connectors get pulled out. A little bit of thought needs to go into solving that one. We also suspect some ventilation holes will be needed to help keep the freezer cool.

The radio was receiving FM but not DAB. With the cricket season having started this would be very important to get solved. Mick didn’t know how to remove the radio from it’s housing so Chris/Kev managed to pull it out and an adaptor was needed to connect the aerial cable. Once one of these was sourced it all worked fine.

I’d spotted a big paint chip down to the steel on the well deck which got touched in with a blob of blue paint. One of our poppered blinds for the bow doors had lost a popper which meant it couldn’t be rolled up, this was redone, a bit like a rivet.The TV aerial had arrived but we were lacking the right connectors for it. Chris said he would pop to Maplins on his way home and get some that we could pick up the following day. We were given a rather nice looking cap for the stove flue, we’ll use this in summer to keep the rain out.

When we’d lit the stove the night before with a small fire we’d had quite a lot of smoke come off it. This is normal as the paint and cement need heat to help them cure. The first few fires should be small ones to help with this, then we can have a bigger fire and keep it in longer. Having checked through the instructions for the stove we’d noticed that we were lacking a riddler (this agitates the grate to remove ash from the fire into the ash box) and poker that should have come with the stove. A call was made to the manufacturers and they would be sent arriving on Wednesday. Ricky would catch up with us to deliver them as we were planning to move off down the Tinsley flight by then.

The gaps under the bathroom doors had on Friday caused me some concern as our cat Tilly had managed to squeeze herself under the door into the cabin from the bathroom. Later on in the day I had checked the height of each door to see if the gaps were the same. Luckily they weren’t, the one to the bedroom was lower, too low for her. I had been toying with asking if it would be possible to put a thin rod across the openings, not reducing the ventilation of them but barring any cat limbo dancing. But with one door capable of being a barrier we should be alright.

Ken and Julia had been in meetings with clients and when they finished they came over to have a look round and meet Tilly. We hadn’t seen Julia since October and I’m not sure she’d seen the interior finished. With all the jobs done Chris came on board with a huge hamper full of goodies for the three of us, yes Tilly had treats and a toy too.

On Tuesday we’ll pick up the adaptors for the TV aerial, Wednesday Ricky will deliver the fire irons and then that just leaves the lithium batteries. Once these arrive Ricky will bring them to meet us and swap them for the AGM batteries and reprogram the invertor. This hopefully will be in a couple of weeks time.

It was certainly worth staying in the basin for a few days getting to use everything and finding any problems as this meant they were a lot easier to solve at the yard rather than the boat being miles away.

Tomorrow we will start our cruise southwards.

9th April

As we haven’t had a launch as such we have decided to have several celebrations on our cruise to Crick.

After spending Saturday shopping and tidying up we had the first guests on board Oleanna. Friends, Steve and Frank, drove down from Scarborough to spend the afternoon with us. After plenty of chatting inside over cups of tea, sausage rolls and boat biscuits we went outside to officially give NB Oleanna her name.

A 1979 bottle of Bollinger champagne was opened and then poured over the bow. Sadly we already knew that this vintage bottle would be undrinkable but it was a suitable bottle for the job. We then opened a bottle that Frank had brought with him to toast Oleanna, it didn’t take long to finish it!

Steve and Frank were both impressed with her. Frank a skilled carpenter by trade gave the woodwork a big thumbs up. We now have the Matthews seal of approval. We’ll be happy to stop and share some bubbles with people on our cruise south.

7th April

Up early to finish packing and loading the van. We had originally only planned on taking the essentials for cruising, but having a van meant we could take a bit more of everything. So with about a third of our possessions we drove up to Sheffield arriving at about 12.30 pm our final stage payment having beaten us to Finesse as planned.

On arriving the first thing was to let Tilly our cat out of her carrier. With a bathroom door closed either side of us I let her out of the carrier and put out some food and some litter. Naturally nervous of the situation Tilly was running around all over and somehow managed to squeeze herself under the door leading into the main cabin. Fortunately the stern doors were closed and I was able to pick her up. A large box was put in front of the gap to save any escapes whilst our belongings came on board.

Most of the jobs had been completed on board ready for our arrival. The TV aerial and hook up cable were on order and not due to arrive until Monday.We were also missing fire extinguishers. The Boat Safety Examiner had said we’d need three large ones due to our boiler being inside the cabin, on most boats the boiler is in the engine bay. Paul one of the carpenters came on board and we found positions for two of them. Both went in the nearest cupboard to the doors, out of sight, they will need a label on the outside of the door. The position of the fire blanket was chosen on the triangular shelves next to the cooker. Here it won’t be in your eye line, but is very handy for swift deployment. We will have to think about the third extinguisher as there is nowhere obvious for it.

On board we now have two 12volt 100AH AGM batteries these will be on loan until our second Lithium battery arrives which should be in a couple of weeks. The original battery has been taken off and will be given a full charge and brought to meet us with the new one. This will mean that both batteries start at the same level of charge as each other.

Our plan was to stay in the basin for the weekend and work our way through NB Oleanna finding any glitches so that we could compile a snagging list. So with hook up possible in the basin we needed a cable. Ricky headed off to pick one up for us locally, whilst we went to the winding hole to wind. I stayed below with Tilly trying to calm the situation as Mick pushed off down the cut. I heard a short blast of the bow thruster and then we were off. At the winding hole Mick turned her without using the girlie button and returned us to the boat yard.

Below I wasn’t aware that the bow thruster had actually stopped working as we pulled out, so Mick hadn’t the option to use it as he turned. After we’d moored up he tried pressing the buttons, but still nothing. Chris and Ricky came to have a look. Ricky first checked the isolation switch in the bowthruster locker, it was off. Turned on, problem solved, phew!

With a hook up cable now on board we could move off to the basin. Except Oleanna wouldn’t start! Ricky returned and started to eliminate causes, she had started every time up to now. Isolation switches were turned off then on, engine board lifted. A look in the electrics cupboard behind all the isolation switches and a bit of waggling of cables. One was loose, a check with a volt meter confirmed it needed re-terminating. Huge bolt cutters were brought in to chop the connector off the cable, then it was re-crimped back on, this time with a crimper that took both Ricky and Chris to operate. Everything back to how it should be the engine started. Switched off and then it wouldn’t start again! Another cable needed re-terminating too. These two cables had been done by the chap who fits the engines and it seems his crimper isn’t up to scratch.

With the engine started we cruised into the basin with me at the helm and Mick operating the swing bridge. Over the weekend we would be unpacking and make a snagging list, then return on Monday to have things sorted and pick up the TV aerial.

After almost five years we were finally cruising with our very own boat built to our spec, admittedly it wasn’t very far. A bottle of bubbly was opened in the evening once we’d found enough room to sit down amongst all our bags and Tilly decided that she should sit all neat and tidy in her new home.

Visit 5th April

Today we headed back to Sheffield to have a detailed walk through and check on anything that still needed doing. The AGM batteries were due to arrive today so would be fitted on Thursday and all being well we would then get the keys on Friday.

We have decided to cruise her away from Sheffield, my ankle is improving and standing at the helm in locks will be achievable, so we’ll be saving on transportation and craning. Just hope that the weather stays good for our trip on the rivers Trent and Soar.

The hooks on the back doors have been adjusted so locker lids don’t interfere with them anymore. The bolts holding the back doors closed are still to be extended or a catch added so that we can cruise with the back doors closed. The radio aerial needs an adaptor so that it can be plugged into the socket on the stern. A TV aerial will be ordered in for us. The plank and pole rack position was discussed and decided on. The black band on the stern still needs painting black to separate the cream and red bands.

Ricky talked Mick and myself through everything in the electrics cupboard. Alde boiler control, inverter, battery monitor. A lot of information to take in, I think we got more than the basics and will soon understand it all after going through the reading matter.

I walked through the whole of the interior checking that cupboards and drawers opened correctly. Only a couple were sticking a little, just small tweaks to hinges.

The cabin floor had been given a coat of oil. It had been covered in cardboard for protection for so long that it had gone dull and one or two marks showed up. But as I’d hoped when I chose the flooring a coat of oil brought it back to life and any small marks disappeared.

As we will be cruising NB Oleanna to Crick the first two servicing jobs will need doing. At 25 hours of running in gear the gear box oil will need changing and at 50 hours the engine oil and filter will need changing. Mick had a good look round in the engine bay. He currently services Lillyanne which has a Barrus Shire, Oleanna has a Beta 43 so things are in different places. He asked Ricky if he could get in the correct oil and filters for the services, this will not only save time on our cruise south but having actual filters means we’ll have good references for the future.

We have ended up ordering poles through Paul at CV Marine in Sheffield, this saves us worrying how to get them from Crick to Sheffield in a car. Prices of planks were extortionate so we plan on buying a scaff plank which I will paint and antislip at some point. We’ll also need a hook up cable so we asked Ricky if they could order one in for us. The diesel tank will have enough in it for us to get to Thorne where we will fill her up. She has a fuel gauge which will need to be recalibrated when we do this as the tank hasn’t as yet been filled. Then we’ll need two gas bottles, we may end up having to pay the deposit on two unless we see a some lying around!

All the jobs would be done for Friday when we can pick her up and sail her away!

With this in mind we stopped at some services on our way back to Crick so that we could make arrangements. NB Lillyanne would need to be put into the marina whilst we are away, Noel said he’d find room for us. A one way car hire was sorted to be picked up on Thursday swapping it for the van we currently had. This would give us a day to pack essentials for a two week cruise. Insurance and Licence needed paying for and then it would be the final stage payment to Finesse.

Visit 28th March
With a hire car potentially sitting around doing nothing for the day we had contacted Ricky at Finesse to see if it would be possible to do a test cruise. A few things were happening at the yard on Tuesday, but as long as they had been able to take NB Oleanna out themselves to check her out then we’d be welcome.
Ricky had heard from the battery distributors. The good news was that a battery had been made, but it was going to take longer to arrive than first thought! So the two week deadline couldn’t be met. However they were offering to loan us two AGM 12 volt 100 amp hour batteries that would fit in the existing battery tray until the lithium one arrives. This we thought on over night.
On arriving in Sheffield the yard felt bare. Whenever we’ve visited before there have been shells everywhere, but today it felt quite empty. An old narrowboat had arrived, this had been bought by the owner of NB Muddy Waters along with it’s mooring in London. This boat was now surplus to his requirements so was going to be blacked and then put up for sale.Only one other boat was on hard standing, but then there were two in the fabrication shed, two in fit out and we didn’t get to see the paint shed.
NB Oleanna had been turned round in the morning and was waiting for us. A coat of paint had been applied to the inside of the weed hatch. Our current weed hatch opens into the engine bay and the locking lid is above water level. However on Tyler Wilson shells the weed hatch is totally separate to the engine bay and the locking lid is below the water level. This means that there is no way you would be able to flood your engine bay having left the lid loose as on our current boat. Also the lid being under water helps reduce noise.
Chris handed over the ignition key to Mick, no float on it, he had to be careful not to drop it in the cut. Once we were on the stern, Mick started her up, a quieter engine than NB Lillyanne our current boat. Chris untied the bow and gave her a push, Ricky the stern. Once all four of us were on board Mick put her in gear. The test cruise wasn’t far about 2.5 miles round trip towards the top of the Tinsley flight.

In tick over she glided through the water effortlessly with very little wake, the bow wave was almost non existent. This may change when her water tank is full though. Increasing the revs brought with it a bit of singing from below. Ricky thought that the stern gland greaser might need an extra turn as it was all bedding in. The engine hours only read 1.6 when we set out. With the revs higher the noise vanished.
The morse control was easier than our current one which in comparison is quite stiff. In fact watching Mick it seemed like he was hardly making any effort at the helm and she was responding. He also had a very big smile on his face, we were at last moving on our long awaited for boat.
Reaching the winding hole the bow thruster had to be tested, so the girlie button was pressed for the first time by us, Ricky had used it a lot to turn her in the basin earlier in the day. Sorry to those from our old syndicate of NB Winding Down, but NB Oleannas’ bow thruster is far more powerful and she responded, turning with just two very short blasts.
On our return Mick brought her to a halt and then popped her in reverse. After a little bit of initial straightening up she moved through the water as straight as a die in reverse, we were impressed as that never happens, it might be the only time!
By the time we returned there was a little bit of rudder judder, most probably something around the prop, but she still responded well. Mick brought her in very slowly and carefully so as not to leave any marks on the gunnels. A very enjoyable test even if it had started to rain part way. It was a shame that I’d not had a turn on the tiller, but as I’m still wearing a protective boot on my broken foot and on crutches it would have been a bit hard.
When it had started to rain I closed the back doors into the cabin and pulled the hatch shut. This did make me realise that the only way to have both doors shut was if they were locked either with the yale or bolted from inside. We don’t cruise with the back doors open due to our cat (she’s not trusted up on deck) and it would be a pain to always have to have a key with us. So Ricky and Chris are going to see if they can add a catch or a bolt that is accessible from the top of the doors to keep them closed.
We chatted through the battery situation again. Having two AGM batteries would mean that we could move on board, we’d soon work out if our power needs exceeded what they could supply us with. Running the batteries low wouldn’t be a problem to us in the long run as we’d be handing them back. When the second battery arrives someone from Finesse would come out to meet us to fit them, most probably have to adjust the ballast. At least it would mean that the engine bay wouldn’t have to be reorganised around different batteries. So decision made.

We checked through various items with Ricky to see if they were included. The plank and pole rest should arrive in the next few days, but because of Health and Safety we need to provide our own planks and poles. She comes with bow and stern fenders and ropes (but no centre line), Pipe fenders on each side attached to the gunnels. These are fine when you are moored and help protect the paint work when coming in to moor, but we have gained at least three of these around our prop from others that have lost them whilst in locks. We could lift them onto the gunnel, but I have to say we’re more likely to remove them and attach them to fender hooks and hang them from the grab rail once moored so there is no chance of loosing them or them getting in the way. So a shopping list has been made.
Not far off now, a few small jobs before handover. We just have to decide on how to get her to meet NB Lillyanne. No boats are due to be craned in or out in Sheffield so that would mean we couldn’t split the cost of a crane at one end. With transport and two cranes we are likely to be looking at around £2000 to move her. Another option is to hire a car or van and move cruising essentials on board (including the cat) and cruise her down the country. This however is dependant on the recovery of my broken ankle, as I don’t want to miss out on her first cruise, I need to be able to stand at the helm and drive with confidence. This however will mean we have to think creatively about her launch and how to celebrate with our friends.

Visit 15th March
An early start for us today turned out to not be quite early enough.

In Sheffield a crane had been brought in to move several boats, one of which was to be NB Oleanna. it turned out that she needed to be moved first and things had started very early. We could see the crane as we approached from a distance. Sadly we missed the strops being adjusted to get Oleanna centred for the lift, the nail biting moments of her being lifted into the air, swung over and then gently lowered into the cut. When we arrived we stood on Cadman Bridge where you can over look the yard and not get in the way. There was NB Oleanna sitting with quite a list in the water. She was having steel ballast added to the starboard side to level her up some.

Her ballast under the floor had been positioned to compensate for much of the internal fit out being on the starboard side. Just about all our storage is on this side so therefore we will be adding weight when we move on to her. Later on in the day we discussed with Ricky how much weight we would be adding, we had no idea really, but a figure of around 100kgs was thought suitable. The extra ballast added can be adjusted when we’ve moved on, being positioned under the galley units and elsewhere we’ll be shown how to get at it all.

We watched as NB Sheffield Maid was prepared and then craned out and swung right over onto a lorry to be moved to the other end of the yard. The crane was then retracted and repositioned so that it could lift NB Sheffield Maid off the lorry and be positioned by the paintshop. Then a sailaway Sheffield Keel was craned onto another lorry, this was heading to Scotland. NB Muddy Waters a Finesse boat was then craned out of the cut onto another lorry, this was heading to London. All this took some time with the repositioning of the crane, strapping down of boats. We did our best to keep out of the way.

When we got chance between crane moves, we walked down into the yard. With NB Oleanna now on the water getting on was going to be difficult for me as I am currently on crutches. With the help of a fork lift and a pallet I was assisted over the gap where I could then shuffle on board. Ricky wanted to show us the jobs that had been ticked off the list from our visit last week and we also wanted to look at the sofa bed that had arrived on Monday.

A double electric socket has been added into the rear port cupboard in the galley, this is so that we can have our hand held vacuum hidden away charging.

A yale lock has been added to the sliding hatch. As Oleanna is a reverse layout boat we really wanted some means of being able to lock the back doors from outside instead of only being able to do it from inside.

A couple of detectors have been put up on the ceiling. We are not sure if these are just smoke or Carbon Monoxide as well.

A slot in the back of the freezer drawer has been cut and the table legs now fit in there nicely.

Walking around on her in the water was very strange. She will be left to settle in the water for a few days and then all the cupboards and drawers will be checked to see if they are still square and that they open and close properly.  One thing that was obvious was that the freezer drawer would need a catch so that it doesn’t slide open. This will be done with magnetic catches so that the drawer can still sit flush.

The sofa bed had arrived on Monday afternoon from Sofabed Barn. Michael had adapted their Hampton sofa and pouffe for us. Made to fit into the space we had the sofa is just a little bit shorter than their 1400 one. The pouffe is normally the same length as the sofa and when made up into a bed the sofa lays flat and the pouffe extends it to the full width of your boat.

But we don’t have the luxury of all that space, the TV would be in the way and so would the pouffe. So he has made us a squarer one which pushes in under some shelving to keep the doorway clear. Then if you want to use it as a seat or foot rest it pulls out. If left at the end of the sofa it makes it long enough to be a single bed. The pouffe has a hinged lid so can be used for storage and the seat of the sofa can be lifted to reveal more storage below.

Once things had calmed down a bit with the moving of boats we sat down with Ricky to discuss the battery situation. He was now in touch with the main man at the UK distributors. Several phone calls were had whilst we were there, but still no solution was offered from them.
Now that she is in the water the final few jobs can be done and then we can take her out for a test, likely to be in about ten days time. Once this has been done and she is signed off we can arrange to get her to Crick for her launch where we are currently waiting on NB Lillyanne.

16th March phone call.

Ricky has at last heard back from the battery distributor today. They are saying that a battery is being manufactured for us in the States and will be air freighted over due to arrive in two weeks. We have all heard something similar to this several times before from them. So they are being given a deadline of when it has to have arrived by. If it does not arrive the original battery we’ve had since October will be returned and the battery trays will be removed, made bigger and AGM batteries will be installed instead.