Wet and warm to Weston

It was gone 11 by the time we got away today, I had a few things to do before we could start out.
Just a couple of hundred yards took us to Sandon Lock, which was a lot quieter than earlier. The boats must have left at the same time, a continuous convoy in both directions for an hour or so.

Waiting for the lock at Sandon
It’s a shame we have to hang a dirty great rope fender off the front end. It looks a lot better without! I left it off so I could flat the cants (again) later today.

The day started muggy but bright, but by the time we got moving the rain had arrived and we had on and off showers most of the day, some heavier than others.

One of the heavy showers….

….followed by a bright sunny spell where everything looked sparkling clean.

Looking back as we approached Weston I spotted this structure on the hillside.
The location is Sandon Park, and the building is the Trentham Belvedere, built in the mid-19th century by Sir Charles Barry at Trentham Hall. When Trentham was demolished in 1911 the belvedere was moved, stone by stone, to Sandon.

Incidentally, according to the online dictionary.com, a belvedere (in this case) is defined as being “a building, or architectural feature of a building, designed and situated to look out upon a pleasing scene.”
It’s from the Latin - bellus = fine,  and vidëre = to see. 

Another clever, although somewhat smaller, structure in a garden in Weston village.

We pulled in just below Weston Lock at around 1 o’clock. There’s been a few boats about this afternoon but it’s gone quiet now. The bustle of Great Haywood awaits tomorrow.

Hi KevinToo, I think an “open day” would be a bit over the top, eh? But we’re always pleased to have visitors…

I think (with Carol’s permission) I might use one of her post pictures as my header. What do you reckon, Carol?

Hi, Del and Al. Better make a firm booking; my diary is filling up fast…. Anyway, the way you look after your paintwork it’ll still look as good as new in 5 years!

Locks 2, miles 3

More bits and pieces, and counting the cost.

Well, we’re almost done. I’ve still both handrails to recoat following the disastrous use of cheapo masking tape, and the front deck cants are going to need rubbing down and repainting. I got the final coat on yesterday, an hour before a two-minute shower which gave the finish a bad case of acne....

But all the door frames are done, and I made a start on the bow flare decoration.
The off-white panel will have a red inset, then the diamonds and circle will be applied over that. It will take a few days to complete.

We moved from Burston the short distance to Sandon on Monday. Here there are good moorings above the lock and a winding hole, so I can turn the boat around to get at either side.

The mains socket and a ventilator are mounted on the rear cabin panel, and are crossed by the coachline around the “mouse’s ear’oles”.
Rather than paint them in just one colour I decided to try to camouflage them…
I think it worked out rather well. The offset of the stripe on the socket is because of the depth of the case. Viewed straight on it lines up… honest!
Now do you believe me!

Tomorrow we’ll head off to Great Haywood, I expect we’ll meet up with “The Lifers” there.

I’ve been through all the receipts I’ve saved since I started this job, and am able to make a pretty accurate assessment of what it’s actually cost. So here goes…

Paint, including primer, undercoat and topcoat.     £368.65
Brushes and rollers                                                £36.18
Abrasives, discs for orbital sander and
wet & dry paper                                                      £20.62
Sundries (white spirit, masking tape etc.)               £108.21
Hire of paint shed for a week                                  £210
Signwriting, 2 days work                                         £400 

Total                                                                      £1143.66 

Just about smack on budget. Of course, there’s the aching shoulders, sore back, rubbed-off fingerprints, tender knees and hour after hour of graft, but they’re all free…

I didn’t keep a record of hours worked, I didn’t dare. But I started in early June on the roof, and have worked on the job most days to a greater or lesser extent, weather permitting.

  Finally, lessons learned.

DON’T USE CHEAP MASKING TAPE
I‘ll say that again… DON’T USE CHEAP MASKING TAPE!!!
It’s liable to lift the fresh paint, just like on the handrails. They’d be done by now, otherwise. Use quality low-tack stuff.

 If you’re painting to a masked edge, don’t stick it all down. Use a tough, flexible blade (Rob gave me a tool used to apply vinyl lettering) or a thumbnail to just press down the edge. That way it’ll come off with less risk, and the edge will still be sharp.

Towards the end of the job you’ll be using a can of paint for the odds and ends. Be aware that this paint will slowly deteriorate as the solvent evaporates each time the can is opened. It will be less and less likely to flow out and give a good finish. Also, if you’re dipping in with a brush (I know, you shouldn’t) the rim of the can will develop a crust of semi-dried paint which will inevitably finish up on the brush and from there to the finished job, in the form of lumps in the surface. If you’ve got a bit to do that’s particularly obvious, bite the bullet, open a new can and unwrap a new brush, or use one that’s been thoroughly cleaned. That’s what I’ll be doing when I repaint the fore end cants…

On the subject of brushes, use quality no-loss brushes, the best on offer, and for the big panels lay-off with the largest you can manage, I used a 3”, after putting the paint on with a mini-roller. If your favourite brush starts to look like an afro, bin it!

I know it was nearly 20% of the cost, but the use of the paint shed meant I could crack on from sparrow fart till owl hoot, and not have to worry about dew, rain, dust, bird poo, dead leaves… Well worth it, to my mind.

And finally, personal preference, but I preferred to top the job off with a professional signwriter. It makes the finished job look great.

No apologies for sticking Rob up here again. He couldn’t have done a better job for us. 

Locks 0, miles 1

 

Working through a job list.

We moved out of Stone yesterday, mooring up behind NB Rock’n’Roll near Burston at around noon.

Dropping down Aston Lock

Coming up to join George and Carol at Burston

George broke out the barbeque and we had a great evening chatting and reminiscing over an abundance of food and a few bottles of wine, only clearing up as the sun dipped down below the horizon.

Not a good picture, this. George has disappeared somewhere, Carol is looking the other way and Mags looks half asleep!

George and Carol left us here this morning, moving off the 6 miles down to Great Haywood.

Bye Carol. Another one where she’s looking the other way, and no sign of George as he’s walking down to set up Sandon Lock.

Today I set to knocking off items on my to-do list. I worked my way around the boat, making a note of what still needs painting and what colour. That way, while I’ve got a wet brush I should be able to do everything in that colour.

So today I got a coat of black on the right gunwale, another on the counter above the tank, a final coat of grey on the foredeck and the door frames and edges I can get at this way around.

Tomorrow we’ll be moving, but only down to the winding hole above Sandon Lock so we can turn around to get at the other side.

Getting there now…

Thanks everyone for the encouraging comments. It's been hard graft, but worth it. And I can see light at the end of the tunnel. Back to training for the Great North Run now....

Locks 2, miles 3

We’re out but not quite done yet…

Another busy day yesterday saw quite a bit of the smaller bits of paintwork done, but there’s still some remaining.

Rob worked through the day too, painting in the shadowing on the lettering, then recoating the letters themselves to give them more depth.

Hard at work.

It’s fascinating watching him work. Just a rough layout is chalked on the panel in chinagraph pencil, then it’s all freehand.

Job done, and a satisfied signwriter.

And a very satisfied customer! If you need signwriting, this is the go-to guy. Very pleasant, reasonable price and some good ideas. Thanks again, Rob.

Meanwhile I was working around the panels, repainting the coach lines. The low-tack masking tape did the job, just maybe half a dozen very small areas where the grey paint lifted with the tape. They’ll easily touch in.

George and Carol arrived around lunchtime, after a busy few days heading down from the Bridgewater Canal. They came around after mooring up below Star Lock to see how we were doing, and offered to bring round fish and chips for supper. So I had an early finish for a change. We had a great evening catching up.

I’d left the two name panels to redo the coachlines on, and both gunwales. So this morning was another early start to get some work done before we moved out of the dock.
I only did the panel and the gunwale on the left side, between here and Rugeley the towpath is on the right, so, weather permitting, I can get the remaining bits done from the bank. There’s also the decoration on the bow flare to start yet.

It took me longer than expected to refit the “furniture” and bow and stern fenders, and with a trip to the shops thrown in as well it was past noon by the time we reversed into daylight for the first time in a week.

Mags waiting above Yard Lock 

It certainly looks different from this time last week! I think the colours work well together.
Compare this photo with the one at the top of the blog, which was taken nearly seven years ago when Seyella was new. That reminds me, I’ll have to sort out a new header photo…

The repaired cratch cover was returned last night. It needed new zips and a bit of adjustment now I’ve moved the board forward. Cheryl, who I got to do the work, has done a fine job. Not only doing the bits I asked for, but also mending some weak areas where I’d had a go at a repair in the past. She advertises in Great Haywood Marina, and can be contacted on 07944 994772. She not only does repairs but is happy to make a new cover from scratch.

The job has gone pretty well overall, thanks mainly to advice from other boaters (thanks Tony!), and folk I’ve contracted out work to doing what I wanted and when.

Although the paint shed a Canal Cruising isn’t state of the art, it did the job, keeping the boat dry and fly-free, and allowing me to work late at night under artificial light.

We were going to head out of Stone to join George and Carol who’d moved off to near Burston, but I had some more shopping to do (the cupboards had been thoroughly depleted in the last week), and by the time that was done and we’d had a late lunch it was almost 3 o’clock. So we decided to stay here between Yard and Star Locks for the night. We’ll join Rock’n’Roll tomorrow.

Tomorrow it’ll be exactly 7 years since we set out on our maiden voyage from Orchard Marina near Northwich when we went up to Preston Brook for our shake-down and snagging cruise. We had to spend another 24 hours back at the boatyard to sort out a few problems before heading off on our voyages properly, south down the Trent and Mersey to the Trent and the Soar.

Locks 1, miles, just a bit. Daylight, lots of wonderful daylight! 

I promised something different… (Boat Painting, Day 5)

Remember. yesterday? Something other than shiny panels for today?
Well, here you are…

Rob Wagg hard at work this morning

Part finished, graduated shadows to be applied tomorrow.

And we’ve got these on the front half too.

And a little C&RT swan.

What do you think? Smart, eh.

Rob has been working hard, and I’ve not been lazing about, either.

First thing the rear hatch slide got it’s final coat, as did the inside of the cratch board and the panel inside the well deck.

Then the fore-end cants and hatch got their first coat…
…Followed by the front doors and the swan’s neck.

Stone has two hardware stores, how about that. The other one had some low-tack masking tape. I say had, I’ve got it all now!

So this afternoon I set to masking off the finished paint to final coat the coachlines. After the paint was on I started to remove the tape with much trepidation, but it came off cleanly apart from a couple of tiny areas where it just lifted a bit of the grey. I got two panels done on the left side, just another 4 to do.

Early start again tomorrow to flat back the fore-end and the front doors for another coat, then I can maybe get a coat of black on the gunwales and the counter above the fuel tank later. I’ll try to fit in a coat of red on the handrails too. And finish the coachlines...

This will be the last full day I have left; we’re due out of the paint shed on Friday morning. I wonder what it looks like in daylight…

Thanks for all the comments, Tom, I'm NOT taking ANY bookings at the moment!!!

Ann, Chas. Welcome home, see you soon. You get moths out of chrysalises, too.....

Hiya Sue, don't worry about the birthday wishes, you've enough on your plate at the moment. I hope you get sorted this week. Good luck.
TTFN

Boat Painting, Day 4

Whoops, missed day 3! Actually it was gone 10 by the time I’d got the final colour coats on the cabin sides, and I just wanted to go to bed.

After 4 hours of hand-flatting, washing down, spirit wipe then tacking off, followed by another 5 hours of putting the grey and blue paint on, my shoulders, back and knees were killing me.
Still, it was worth it…

Not quite a mirror finish…
 

Today I’ve finished off the rear cabin panel, put another coat of grey on the fore-end, first coat of blue on the rear hatch slide and inside of the cratch board and well deck.




I ran out of low-tack masking tape, so used ordinary stuff from the local DIY shop on the handrail before applying the grey. DON’T DO THIS! At this stage the paint isn’t as tough as the adhesive on the tape!

It’s frustrating, but not desperate. I intended to put another coat on here and the coach lines anyway. I guess now it’ll take more than one…
But I’ve got to get some more low-tack before then. There’s no way I want to risk this happening to the grey and blue! It’s amazing just how much masking tape you get through on a job like this.
The chandlery has run out, but there’s some due either tomorrow or Thursday. If I have to finish this bit after we leave on Friday so be it.

Rob Wagg is coming tomorrow, so there should be more than photos of shiny panels to look at on tomorrow’s post.

Thanks for the comments, folks. Yes KevinToo, I can't wait to see it from a distance in daylight, as well. Not least because the bloody thing will be finished!

Carol, we'll wave a lot so you recognise us...

Tony, Scothcloths great, tape not quite so good!

Snigsnig, Hmm, 70 foot. That's nearly a quarter as much again of rubbing down, cleaning, flatting, painting... Glad we stuck to 57 foot! Good luck!

TTFN

Boat Painting, day 2

It’s been quiet here today after 2 days of frantic activity by the boatyard staff, turning around the hire boats for this week’s clients.
Just one boat overnighting, obviously a fairly late arrival, Dutch, I think. They left at around 9 this morning.

Tony, NB Timewarp, introduced me to Scotchcloths, an abrasive sheet very similar to a nylon pan scourer. With these you can abrade the surface of fresh paint to provide a key, and also to remove any foreign bodies (flies!) from the finish. Used dry, they certainly save time over wet and dry.

I used one this morning, wiped down and set to on the second coats of paint on the cabin. All on by 2:30 and we had a late lunch/early dinner while it tacked off, then I removed the masking tape painstakingly applied yesterday morning.

A taster of what the finished article will look like.

Mags has come out to inspect the job, I think she’s pleased.



We’re a way from finished, though. In the morning I’ll be flatting the all of the paint again, to give as smooth a surface for the third and final coats as possible.

Then I’ve to repeat the masking off, before applying the paint.

Before I knocked off for the evening I got a coat of grey on the fore-end and cratch board.


The raised cants and hatch cover, still in undercoat, will be blue. The top bend or flare will also have a blue background, with an ivory panel on which will be a design of a circle and diamonds, as I did before.

Adam, I decided on a local chap, well, from Stoke, anyway. Robin Wagg comes recommended, is available and has some good ideas.

TTFN

Boat painting, day 1

I said I should be posting more often, well I intend to do a post a day while we’re here in the paint shed in Stone. But first, a catch up from the last few days.

Tuesday I concentrated on prepping the gunwales for repainting, just as well as Wednesday’s weather was not exactly outside work-friendly. In fact it rained all day.

I took Meg for a walk up the canal in the morning and met Maggie and Mark (NB Forever Young) heading up to Sandon, and we caught up with them at the lock on the way back. They had a bit of a hold up, we couldn’t get the bottom gates to close.
Mark’s groping around with a boathook revealed an obstruction on the cill, but try as he might he couldn’t lift it out. We bowed to the inevitable and called C&RT, who promised assistance in an hour.

Quite a queue had formed, above and below the lock, by now.

It’s amazing how interesting a man poking about with a long pole can be….

It was Mark, working off the counter of Forever Young, who finally got the offending article out, using a keb off the van. A keb, by the way, is a garden rake on steroids, extra long tines make hooking debris out of the cut a doddle. We should all have one…

Triumphant Mark

On the roof to dry out for the winter, now.

On the way again. Good to see you both.

Thursday morning was dry and bright and I got a bit more gunwale rubbing done before we set off back to Stone.

Quite a mixed grill in the field opposite.

Not sure this guy can see where he’s going… I hope he watches out for low bridges.

We got moored up for the night below Star Lock, and made the acquaintance of Diane and Ray on NB Ferndale, and Phil and Lyn on NB Valentine. Hi all.

Friday was the big day; into the paint shed at Canal Cruising above Star Lock. So we were up early, dumped the rubbish, topped up with water below Star Lock, and arrived outside the boatyard soon after 10 o’clock.

It was a bit busy, several hire boats had to be moved, then NB Antelope moved out before we could get in.

Boat shuffling

That’s it, we’re in.

The rest of Friday was spent in removing the “furniture” from the shell; foot-steps, cratch cover clips, ventilators, fairleads, fenders, in fact anything that was screwed down! Then the shell got a thorough scrubbing with sugar soap and a pan scourer before rinsing off with plenty of clean water.

This morning the cabin was wiped down and the handrail and coachlines masked off. It doesn’t sound much if you say it fast, but it took me the best part of 4 hours, and three rolls of tape, before I was satisfied.

All masked up, nowhere to go.

Next job was to sort out the paint, stirring sticks, brushes, paint trays and rollers, as well as white spirit and receptacles for washing brushes. All this paraphinalia was assembled on a cleared area on a bench. Then we were off!

The grey background was the first to put on, and this took longer than I expected. It was only the strip around the outside of the coach lines, but the side hatch doors are also grey and there’s the fiddly job of the hinges. Then there’s the surround around the ear’oles on the back, and the front panel. Anyway, by 5 o’clock that was done.

First coat of grey on, next job the panels 

Another 2 hours and the blue was on as well.

Ooh, two-tone!

This is the first time we’d seen the shade of blue “in the flesh”, and I’m really rather pleased with it. Also, both colours went on well although the grey covered better than the blue. Not a problem, both are getting two more coats.

And look at that finish!

Second coat tomorrow morning, then removal of the masking tape.
Monday morning the whole lot will get flatted with 400 Grit wet and dry, then masked again for the final coat. The last job, on the sides anyway, will be remasking in reverse to put another coat on the coachlines and handrail. That should be Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday morning. Then it’s down to the signwriter to finish off the name panels.
Oh, and in between I’ve got the fore-end, well-deck, cratch board, hatches and counter to paint.  Not forgetting the gunwales…. Doddle.

Time for bed.

Since last post – Locks 3, miles 4

Great Haywood for the weekend

I really should try to post more regularly; by the time I get around to it I’ve forgotten what we’ve done!

We stayed near Burston till Thursday, more work done on the right hand gunwale and the rear hatch slide. The slide is very heavy, I’ve had it off it’s runners only once before, but couldn’t actually lift it, I just rolled it over onto it’s top face. This time I decided to raise it on wooden blocks to clear the brass rails it runs on. I had to take them off to de-rust, prime and paint under them. That done they were refitted. Another job done.

Thursday we headed off to join Chas and Ann at Great Haywood. We keep saying goodbye, then meeting up again!

Hotel boats Snipe and Taurus at Sandon Lock

It was the last of the reliably fine days, before this current series of thundery showers rolled in.

Even the horses were sunbathing

Some fine elderly boats at Weston Wharf

We moored overnight near the road bridge, opposite the farm shop, then in the morning moved around onto the Staffs and Worcester, mooring on the straight before Swivel Bridge.

Local neighbourhood watch….

Yesterday we had an excellent lunch on board Moore2Life and later Ann and Chas brought round a birthday cake for me, a week early but we’re not going to be together after today, we’re heading back to Stone, they’re heading home, leaving M2L in Great Haywood Marina for a week.

So today we headed off at around 08:45, down to Tixall Wide to turn around, then back to the junction and mayhem around the service point.

Tixall Wide this morning

Coming back past M2L, Ann….

…and Chas

I thought that getting off a little earlier than normal we might have missed the crowds, but, as usual, the water point was thronged. We waited for about 40 minutes on the offside for the opportunity to fill up, deliberately aground so we didn’t drift about in the breeze.

Great Haywood Junction



After filling and emptying, I then set myself the task of reversing for diesel on the Anglo-Welsh wharf. Those who know the junction will understand the challenge, for those who don’t, it required backing off the water point, then a 90° turn to go under the bridge, still in reverse, and another turn onto the wharf. And I didn’t touch the sides anywhere. Smart a**e.

Fueled up, watered up, rubbish and loos emptied, the last job was a bit of grocery shopping. Although it’s dearer, I decided to pop across to the farm shop rather than trail up the village to the Spar shop. We pulled up behind Tony and Jacqui on NB Timewarp just through the road bridge.

Tony and Jacqui

Tony gave me a bit of a confidence boost; he’s got a lot of experience of painting boats and was very happy with the preparation I’d done, and the plan going forward. He also gave me some valuable advice when it comes to the final coats. Thanks, both, see you again soon.

This is what it’s all about… Bridge 81 and Leatop Farm on Ox Hill. Beautiful.

Sunshine and showers was the order of the day, but it was still very pleasant and we finished up going further than planned, ending up mooring above Sandon Lock.

Some fine cloudscapes today



My first job was securing a couple of boats that were only tied at one end, mooring pins having been pulled out of the soft bank by passing boats.
I just made it before the heavens opened as a short but intense thunderstorm passed over. It’s brightened up since, and turned into a fine evening.

We’ll spend a couple of days here, there’s a winding hole just ahead so I can turn around and do a bit of work on the right hand side, then we’ll head up to Stone on Thursday.

Locks 3, miles 6