It is hard to believe, but the boat has been idle for 6 months, apart that is for a short maintenance excursion out of the marina and back again as part of an oil change and battery swap. During this time occasional visits have been made, of course, to check on the boat, run the engine and finally winterise it in anticipation of the big freeze which we had at the turn of the year. Last weekend I flushed out the water tank to get rid of the antifreeze and with some bleach too in the hope of getting rid of any bugs should there be any. Today we resolved to brave the forecast of rain and the blustery cold wind and take the boat two locks up the canal for lunch at the Coy Carp (Coppermill).
I set the Eberspacher to come on half an hour before we left home so that the boat would be not quite so cold. The Squirrel Stove was in a bit of a sorry state with rust around the collar at the junction with the flue. Lighting it produced a lot of smoke in the cabin leaking from around the collar. It occurs to me now that the boat is seven years old and the flue has never been cleaned. Slap on wrist! This will be a priority for our next visit. All in all though the boat was otherwise functional, the engine started without fuss and we eventually set off taking the locks in a very relaxed fashion. The weather was no where near as bad as the forecast would have implied. We moored up below the road bridge in the strong current from the river using an extra rope to the concrete piling rail as a precaution.
The Coy Carp does quite a busy lunchtime trade with a good menu and a lovely log fire to stay warm by.
Returning to the boat I let it drift back fter pushing the stern towards the apex of the winding hole and the current and wind turned us round very efficiently. Back in the marina we made a list of future work and our next visit will be combined maintenance with the stove and new chimney top priority.
