Back to Harefield

Part of the reason for this trip was to check out the performance of the new batteries.  After an afternoon moored up and an evening watching TV the voltage this morning was 12.2.   Much better. We were facing the wrong way, so rather than wind at Cowley we motored on to Packet boat Marina and turned at the entrance to the Slough Arm.  Fun, because the wind was right for a real winding.  By taking the extra hour we also would give the batteries a better charge.  We had to turn the first two locks around, but Denham Deep was open for us, a dutch barge having passed us by the gravel loading wharf.   Moreover, someone was waiting to come down so we had help with the opposite gate.   We have noticed that wide boats rarely close gates on exit from locks.   Considering that this barge had a crew of 5 there is rally no logical reason why they could not, but of course we like open gates, so I am not grumbling.    Back at the marina we made a hasty departure into the Sunday rush hour where all the world leaves home to have lunch with mother in law.

Comments

[Boat]

From Boat Cleaning, Marina Del Rey California- Found your blog on the canals of the UK enchanting.

I observed you cleaning and polishing your boat at various stops.

Here on the West Coast of the USA I always encourage by friends to stop doing boat cleaning and let a boat cleaning services company take over the job so they can enjoy their boats.

Boat bottom|hull cleaning here is paramount because boat hulls get fouled in 3-4 weeks depending on the season.

I found this website useful to refer my friends: boat cleaning marina del rey.

What's your boat bottom cleaning regimen?

Captain Jack
Boat Cleaning in Marina Del Rey, California
http://www.boatbottomcleaningmarinadelrey.com

[Mike]

Captain Jack,
Whilst I can understand your thoughts on boat cleaning, no such services are advertised as available here. In fact cleaning and polishing the boat is part of the pleasure of having one and is in keeping with the tradition of the old working canal boats. Our boats are mostly steel and keeping the rust at bay is a constant problem, solved ultimately at least by a very expensive (several thousand GBP).

Bottom cleaning is referred to as bottom blacking. We are not allowed to use anti fouling because of the potential toxicity to the aquatic life in our freshwater canals. Having said that there is usually nothing more than some greenery at the water interface to deal with. More important is the rust below the water line which is encouraged by galvanic corrosion and caused by damage to the hull after hitting underwater obsructions, either in the canal, bankside or in locks. Our activity is sometimes refered to as a "contact sport". Thus the "blacking", typically bitumen or in our case a more highly manufactured paint called "Comastic" with a Xylol solvent is there really to waterproof and protect the steel surface. If you want to spend a lot of money, you have your hull grit blasted and a couple of coats of two part epoxy paint applied. We prefer to do it ourselves using three coats of Comastic. The regime is essentially pressure wash, scrape and paint when dry. We allow a week for this, as it depends on the weather (done outside). We are off cruising next week, so watch for updates.

[Mike]

Sorry! The very expensive (several thousand GBP). above should refer to "Paint job".

Mike

[Boat]

Hi, Mike thanks for you reply on "bottom blacking".

Strange there is no market there for a boat cleaning service.

We too have problems with galvanic corrosion and electrolysis. We use sacrificial zinc anodes to help prevent this.

We use environmentally friendly anti-fouling bottom paint to help keep our hulls free of marina growth.

Here in the Marina Del Rey and Los Angeles, CA area off the coast of California we obviously are cruising in seawater.

However, I still maintain a boat cleaning services company makes the boat owning experience more enjoyable. Most of my friends do not live on their boats. Therefore this is a weekend and vacation past time.

Most didn't buy their boats to become full time deckhands.

In-water boat hull or bottom cleaning saves on haul out expenses.

Here is an article I found a little humorous that better expresses my thoughts on this ==>
http://www.boatbottomcleaningmarinadelrey.com/boat-cleaning-marina-del-rey.html.

I'll be looking forward to your updates.

Captain Jack

[air jordan 3 for sale]

It smacks of totalitarianism in the school system; the student is a commodity and the teacher is the factory line-worker producing shiny widgets. Lucy and Ethel on the chocolate conveyor belt were more successful in their production than a teacher could be based on very flawed set of criteria.

[supra shoes 2011]

The only negatives of our stay would be that the wi-fi wasn’t free and our TV didn’t work very well and there were only the basic five channels. If we were staying without BG it wouldn’t be an issue but with her going to bed at 7pm it was a struggle to keep ourselves entertained in the evening.