Boat Modifications

If you remember, a while back we were in dry dock and I mentioned that Roger had done some modifications to the stern gear to make the boat easier for me to handle.  This all came about after we'd helped our friend David up the Rochdale 9 back in April and I'd noticed that his boat was a lot more manoeuvrable than ours and was a lot lighter on the tiller. He'd done some modifications last time he'd been in dry dock so Roger based our mods on what he'd done.

We've now got removable flow plates

and baffles on the rudder.

The difference it's made to the boat handling is quite remarkable. Not only is it a lot lighter to steer but the rudder now self-centres and it's a doddle to reverse in a straight line. A success all round!

We've also gone solar powered. He installed these panels while we were in Castlefield last weekend and of course the sun then disappeared and we had 3 days of rain!

I've only got another week of radiotherapy left and then we'll be FREE!!!!  Continuous cruising here we come. I can't tell you how much we've hated being stuck in one area for the past few months. It's a good job there are so many of you writing blogs out there. It's kept me sane reading them but has also made me quite jealous as most of the boaters I follow have been happily doing everything we'd planned to do this year. Never mind, we'll do it next summer. At least now you've all "been and done it" we'll know all the best mooring places down on the Thames.

Oh, one last thing. Thanks to Paul & Elaine on n.b. Caxton for recommending my new camera. So many bloggers have now bought the Lumix DMC-TZ40 that maybe they should have bought shares in the company. I've now got to learn how to use it which could be a long job as I'm not very techno-savvy.

This is my first attempt at a panoramic shot. It's the view from our side hatch of Bridgewater Marina.