Nearly done.

Yesterday I had my hair cut and very nice it looks too and it cost £8, how much, I hear you cry how can you afford so much. Well I made Paul cut down on his fags for a day or two that's how.

Right then at my shoulder is the man himself so we are now going to go into the realms of "The Blacking" here goes.

We got the call from Dave Thursday afternoon to say we could come in early due to a cancellation. So it was up pins and we made our way down 2 locks to the wharf and the dry dock. Paul was on his own as I was in charge of that darn camera that never works for Paul, to record the events as they unfolded.






Here he is coming into the entrance of the wharf which had been cleared of boats for our arrival. Paul was taking it very slowly and in a couple of minutes he was at the dry dock entrance using power on tick over and the dock crew on ropes it all went very smoothly and Paul didn't hit anything going into the narrow entrance.

















Once the boat had been manoeuvred into place over the resting trestles the lock was shut and the dock drained of water. After half an hour she was resting on the trestles


Once all the water had gone Paul was checking the boat over and luckily found no damage below the water line apart from a few burrs on the prop.

Within 15 minutes of the dock being emptied the pressure steam cleaner was fired up and the hull was being washed down. The steam cleaner appeared to take everything off to leave a reasonable surface for re-blacking. The first coat wasn't being put on until Friday giving the hull time to completely dry. However there were a couple of other jobs to do. There was Paul down in the dock file in hand dressing the prop taking it back to its original cutting edge, meanwhile Dave was giving his expert attention to the worn out rudder stock bearing which was to be replaced.
















Friday morning the guys had an early start at 8am arriving with a large tin of black stuff, they had already started by the time Paul had had his cup of tea and first fag of the day. He was impressed that the bitumen was going on with a 6inch brush and not a roller, as using a brush gets the bitumen in all the nooks and crannies and puts on a thicker coat. Within two hours first coat was finished and that included the inside of the weed hatch so that was it for the day. Paul had discussions with Dave regarding the anodes and agreed to fit two extra ones to the bows as these had deteriorated more than the stern anodes which should be okay for a another few years. Paul used the drying time to clean all the fenders with white spirit and make good the lashings.





Himself then decided as it was a sunny afternoon that the red paint on the stern water line needed to be re coated as it had gone chalky, so without ado it was rubbed down and during the afternoon two coats applied returning it to its former glory.






The new 240v belt that was on order arrived and Dave brought it over as promised. Job for the morning.



Its now Saturday afternoon, first priority this morning was qualifying for the Grand Prix and while Paul was watching that the second coat of bitumen was applied

After qualifying (good old Jenson) sleeves were rolled up and Paul disappeared into the engine bay to tackle the changing of the belt which is a pain in the a***e as to remove the generator belt the domestic battery alternator belt has to come off as well to gain access. The job was done with in about an hour, while in the engine bay Paul found out what the rattle was that has been driving him mad for months (hopefully). As Paul had adjusted the belts 2 months ago and they were okay at the time he was curious as to why this belt started to disintegrate, obviously something had started it off and as the ribs ejected themselves the belt had started to slip causing more heat than necessary. But he has found it hard to find the original failure (could it have been my haidryer?) so now he will have to keep a close eye on it to see if the problem re-occurs. At £17 a time we hope not.




On a final check over of the hull Paul found the washing machine outlet partially blocked with an unknown foreign body I was told to empty the magic corner (note told not instructed) so himself could remove the fittings from inside. After much swearing again!!!!!!!!!!! it transpired that who ever had fitted the plastic drainage to the bronze skin fitting had lost the rubber O ring and decided to fill the joint with a tube of silicone, hence during its drying time it had virtually blocked the pipe, presumably the washing machine was given a test and they probably found that the water outlet overflowed, therefore a screwdriver or some other obnoxious implement was pierced through the silicone so that the outlet water flow was restricted (what a bodge up). Pipe work now all cleaned up new seal made so now there is full flow. Just the anodes to be fitted and the BSC inspector to arrive, hopefully out of here and on our way Monday. Kettles on I need Tea!!!!!!