One Thing After Another...

Well, after a lot of delays - irritating ones at that, we finally got away from Stretford Marina this morning. It wasn't a triumphant journey, nor did we have anything to feel pleased about really despite the engine having been fully re-mounted. Here are the new engine mounts - x4 at £50 a piece! Whilst the engine has been fixed into place and is working, we are aware now of the exhaust silencer having a split in it - apparently where the engine moved forward during it's divorce from the base plate, and has slightly torn away from the main exhaust pipe. This is going to cost us a further £250 ++ on top of what we have already paid - it's seriously depressing. The work in progress - engine disconnected from exhaust and propellor shaft: Not only that, but of course we also had to pay Stretford Marina for the pleasure of mooring there for the last 8 or 9 days. The whole thing has been a nightmare - and the boat still looks like it's in pieces. There's...

With some good food last night (and red wine, of course!) and a lovely comment from a reader, as well as texts from boating friends, I woke up today in a much more positive frame of mind. Pawel is off work today too, although he still isn't feeling the best about everything. We called the guy from RCR this morning to check if he would be coming today, and as I suspected , the answer was no. He did tell me though that he will definitely be coming tomorrow.....we'll see! In the meantime, with Pav being off, we headed into town this morning to get a few bits and pieces so we can get the clean up started in the engine room. We left our 'wet n dry' vac back on our mooring in Poynton which is a bit of a pain as we have a lot of water that has collected in the engine bilge after the incident last Wednesday! There's also a lot of oil that's discharged - not sure where that has come from still at this stage. There doesn't seem to be any leaks or splits anywhere but i...

It's not great being in Stretford - the marina and surroundings are nice but the place in general isn't that great at all - it's making me feel really depressed! Every day now I've come into the city centre just to get away from it all - the boat, the problems and Stretford. Not only that but we only have shoreline on during the day which is switched off at 4:30PM so I'm also trying to reserve electricity where I can, so if I come into Manchester and get a coffee from Costa, I can bring the iPad and phone here to charge them as well as do a blog post! I'm hoping that the guy from RCR comes tomorrow to complete the work and we can be on our way, but I've just got a funny feeling we'll have a call telling us he can't come and it's likely to be later on in the week.... My gut feelings are usually spot on, but I really hope not this time. I just want it done and sorted now! There's nothing like being in limbo is there?! I have a list of job...

There's always a problem isn't there? Especially when it comes to people working on your boat! Basically, we were told this morning that the guy wouldn't be returning today to work on the boat as his van had broken down.... Hmmm. Now we must wait until Monday or Tuesday before he can come back which isn't great as it means we will have to keep making a nuisance of ourselves at Stretford and I hate laying things on people really who don't really have anything to do with it. Poor Malcolm! The good news is that during the day, we have got access to shoreline and I managed to sneak a wash load on today, so that's one plus. Another is that the marina is actually really quiet so we're getting some good sleep! We also topped our water tank up today too and it's in a really handy place - right next to the deck of our boat! Bonus! I'm already thinking of the next job to do (and fork out on!) I want to replace the deck tiles on the front well deck. We ...

Yesterday, Malcolm from Stretford Marine had managed to get hold of a guy that works for RCR who said he would be coming this morning - we thought he'd be here just after 9 so were up quite early to get breakfast out of the way and get tidied up in time. I think the shock of it all had finally worn off by morning as last night we both just felt completely numb. Not upset, angry or anything else, but just numb. So many things have gone wrong this last month, it's unbelievable! People say it would be the same in a house, but I'm not so sure. I've never had so many things going wrong in the house or apartment in 10 years of home ownership all at the time same, like on the boat! However, I suppose I'm starting to feel a little more positive. After all, everything that could possibly go wrong, really has by now. So, clean slate, right?! I suppose the only other thing that could go wrong is a flood or the place sinks - perhaps I shouldn't jest - knowing us, t...

Yesterday was our final day in Dunham Massey before we had to head back and the day started at 5:30AM! I woke up first at that time to the sound of heavy rain and the side of the boat "crunching" against the towpath - usually a sign that the ropes aren't tight enough. Anyway, after waking-up fully, I could heard the sound of strong wind (it wasn't Pav!) but like it was high above, rather than affecting us directly. Things soon progressed and before we knew it, the boat was moving around like a really turbulent plane flight! That made the crunching/banging even worse so we had no choice but to head outside to re-tie the boat. We decided to cut the ropes completely and move the boat forward along the towpath a little bit as there was more of a bank there for us to gain a bit of protection from - the wind was horrendous! Seriously eery too as we were the only ones moored there and it was absolutely pitch black, with the high-pitched whistle of the wind made only mor...

We decided last week that we would go away for a couple of days on Sunday as Pawel had Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off and isn't back in work until tomorrow afternoon. We set off mid-afternoon on Sunday despite there being heavy showers and a strong wind. We were just desperate to get on the back deck and get the boat moving...We were determined that nothing would stop us! We were headed for one of our favourite places of all time - Dunham Massey - and were quite excited as we had never been here at this time of year before. I love Autumn and I couldn't wait to get up here to see all the changing colours of the trees and the falling leaves on the ground and floating on the canal like confetti. It hasn't disappointed. We really have had a lovely few days - even the cruise up here on Sunday, despite being chilly and a bit wet,was really memorable. Our mooring: We did have a few problems once we arrived on Sunday though. For a few weeks now, we've noticed that the engine ha...

I haven't felt like blogging really this week, although that's not entirely true, it's more a case of I've not had much time for it either as I've spent the week arguing with people! There'll be more about that later... On a positive front, we have finally, FINALLY bought a generator. It's not ideal, lugging it in and out of the engine room but it means we can now use our washing machine! Since we've been away from the mooring for nearly 6 months, we've been wandering the streets with bags and suitcases of washing hunting down launderettes and it was getting depressing! Not only that, but I felt that walking around with socks and dirty tea towels sticking out of the bags was only contributing to the "gypsy central" stereotype boaters get labelled with all the time! Enough was enough so we bit the bullet and decided to buy a generator. We decided that seeing as we don't always have shoreline it will also double up as an extra securi...

It's certainly been a busy week. There's been plenty of jobs as always onboard as well as a Royal visit! Well OK, almost....but not quite! I had my grandmother over for a visit as she has never seen the boat before in the 4 years that we've had it, so it was quite an exciting time, if a little nerve wracking, bearing in mind she is 84! Anyway, we had a really good few days together and plenty of quality time on the boat with good food, wine and conversation - and what can be better than that? However, as always, it's good to get back to normal and Pav and I are still a bit worn out. Yesterday and today have seen us just chill out, apart from popping into town for a bit of shopping or taking Eddie out for a walk. Just before the visit, we had a new carpet laid, but there seems to be a defect with it whereby right in the middle, there is a huge line running from side to side - it almost looks like a join, but upon closer inspection, you can see it's where the machine ...