We're out of dry dock

We spent two weeks in the dry dock. Roger applied three coats of blacking which had plenty of time to cure before the boat went back in the water. It never ceases to amaze me how many boaters spend lots of time and money blacking their boats and then launch them too soon. It clearly states on the tin that you should leave it to cure for a minimum of 2 days before it goes back in the water. And then they wonder why it doesn't seem to last very long..........

He also did some modifications to the stern gear to make the steering lighter and more responsive, which will make it easier for me to manage until I get my strength back. We haven't had chance to test it out much yet but first impressions are good. By the time we get down to Manchester in a couple of weeks I'll be able to tell you if it worked and go into more details about the alterations he made.

While I did very little apart from reading and playing hundreds of games of Solitaire Roger did lots of painting,  making good the battle scars we accumulated over the winter and the boat looks almost new again. Shame it won't last, especially with me driving through the locks.

It only takes 15 minutes to re-fill the dock and then we were pulled out.  Well actually we got stuck! The canal water level was about 6 inches lower than normal and we had a devil of a job getting out over the cill.

We're still here at Portland Basin Marina and will be staying for another week or so. There are hundreds of fish here, some are really quite big. It doesn't seem right to try and catch them so Roger is waiting till we get back out on the mainline before he does any fishing.

Yesterday we were invited out to lunch with some old friends. We met Sue and Vinnie who live in Macclesfield Marina along with Helga who used to live there a couple of years ago. It was Sue's birthday and we had a great time, finally being asked to leave at closing time. I hadn't realised the Boar's Head at Higher Poynton still closed in the afternoon, but it was probably a good job it does as otherwise we would still have been there at tea time as we had so much catching up to do.

Dry Dock

We're still here at Portland Basin Marina and today we moved into the dry dock. Normally we share the work blacking the boat between us by taking a side each, but this time Roger will be doing all the work. We'll be in the dock for two weeks so there's no rush and the work will fit in around my hospital visits.

This is the dock, it's covered and enclosed on two sides.

We were pulled in backwards by hand as using the engine to reverse in would have dragged in a load of mud and rubbish which ends up on the floor of the dock. This way very little flotsam found its way into the dock.

Once we were in position over the trestles the gravity drain was opened and the water emptied out in about 15 minutes.

While the final dregs of water were draining out, Roger started using the high pressure power washer to blast  all the loose blacking and other crap off the hull.

It's so long since we did any cruising that we had an underwater garden growing on the hull. 

The power washer quickly got rid of any weed and loose blacking and we were pleased to see that there is very little pitting in the steel plate.

Health and Safety is a big thing here at Portland Basin Marina and our walkway is extremely sturdy. Ever since we got stuck in the floods last year Chico's been very wary of walking down planks but he was quite happy walking on this. In fact he liked it so much I had to put the gate up to stop him wandering off to find Roger.

The planters have been taken off the roof so it can be painted and in the meantime we've lined them up alongside the dock. The tomatoes are growing well and have lots of flowers on them. Providing the slugs don't get to them while they're on the floor we should have a good crop this year. That's one major benefit of having a roof garden; the only pests we have problems with are caterpillars.

Quail Scotch Eggs

The dry dock took half an hour to fill and we were on our way by 10.30.

With the rental of the dry dock, hire of the power washer and all the materials including blacking and gloss paint, rollers etc. it costs us just under £400 to make the boat look like new again. The blacking should last 2 years, maybe even 3, so we consider it a bargain.

After filling up with water at Macclesfield we moored at Gurnett Aqueduct to wash the boat. We'd been moored under a sycamore tree at Marple last week and the sap had dropped all over the boat making it sticky and grey.

This afternoon I made quail scotch eggs, a real favourite of ours.

Boil the quail eggs for 4 mins. then cool quickly in cold water (so they don’t go grey round the yolk)

Remove the shells and roll egg in plain flour to help the sausage meat stick better.

Take the skins off sausages or buy sausage meat, 1 ½ thin sausages or 1 fat sausage per egg.

Make sausage meat into a flat patty in the palm of your hand, put a hard boiled egg in the centre and fold sausage meat around to totally cover it.

Beat an egg in a bowl and roll each sausage covered quail egg in it, then roll in fresh breadcrumbs to cover it all over.

Deep fry 3 at a time in a wok or saucepan for about 5 mins. till golden brown and crispy.

Drain on kitchen paper and leave to cool before eating. Delicious with a pint of Old Speckled Hen.

Dry Dock Day 5

It's finished! Looks like a new boat again and it's not been that difficult. The worst job has to be the power washing/jet blasting to remove the old blacking and loose rust. The blacking itself is simple to apply and it really can be a DIY job, especially with the amount these dry docks charge to do it for you. The main reason it's taken 5 days has been the drying times involved with all the painting/touching up we've done plus the 48 hours drying time for the final coating of blacking before the boat could go back in the water.

We'll be floating again tomorrow morning so now need to start planning where to go next.

Watch this space!!!