On Schedule !

The Inaugural Trip

The inaugural trip was remarkably uneventful, thank goodness!

We travelled to Stockton by road the day after the launch, pausing en route to leave a car at Bugbrooke. We arrived at Stockton at 7.15am and unlocked and opened the rear door. Imagine our surprise when we found water in the bilge.

Our surveyor had visited the boat two days earlier and pointed out that there had been some over enthusiastic spraying of the foam insulation. This had blocked the rear deck drainage channel and, with the heavy rain overnight, the water had nowhere to go, other than the bilge. Some of the windows had also leaked. This was down to us because we'd made it known that the windows would be removed fairly shortly, when the boat was painted and leaving some of the rivets out would make that job a bit easier.

We'd started the engine the day before, to move On Schedule ! so we knew that it worked! We soon had the engine started again and within a few minutes of doing so, having already loaded some last minute supplies on board, we cast off and began our journey. Our friend Tony, who had been with us the day before, had joined us again for the first leg of the journey.

Calcutt Locks were soon encountered and cleared. Then it was a case of trying to make a temporary platform over the rear of the engine to make access between the cabin and the rear deck easier. Whilst I set about this construction task, the other two crew members kept the boat moving. As a result, I stayed dry whilst they got a bit of a soaking - the only significant rain that we had throughout the journey.

We arrived at Braunston before construction was complete. This was because I'd managed to break the only drill bit that I had with me and I'd also made several errors in cutting the timber for the platform. It was certainly a case of more haste, less speed. We bought what will be all the wire supplies, at Braunston and, whilst moored, took the opportunity to have some soup and a bacon sandwich each before setting off again.

We'd cleared Braunston flight without trouble and had the temporary tunnel light clamped onto the cabin roof before we got to the tunnel. A slight tweak in the position and that saw us through the tunnel. We managed to clear the Buckby flight in a little over an hour and arrived at Bugbrooke just before darkness fell. We tied up, secured the boat and jumped into the car that we'd left there earlier. We retraced our steps to Stockton by road to collect the other car and headed for home from there.

We had a slightly later start the following morning. We were on our own for the first hour or so. Then, at Blisworth, we were joined by two friends who wanted a trip through the tunnel. They also helped us down the Stoke Bruerne flight of locks where, at the bottom, we moored up briefly for lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent travelling to Milton Keynes from where we were collected by our daughter. We had some food and then went back to Bugbrooke to collect the car. However, we then took the car to our final destination, to save having to spend time the following day moving cars around before we started cruising.

We were accompanied by our daughter for the final day of our journey. Fortunately we were able to walk to the boat in the morning. The day passed off reasonably uneventful. We had lunch at Leighton Buzzard and arrived at our destination at 4.30pm. We were on schedule, even if we were a day late! We headed for home after a small celebration drink with some of our friends. We're not sure whether we were celebrating our arrival, our acquisition or the start of what will no doubt be a fairly long job.

Inventory

We've included a list of the things that we took with us on our trip for the benefit of anyone planning a similar excursion. The list is not in any specific order and only the hacksaw, fire extinguisher and First Aid kit were not used.

(Bed) Sheets, not for sleeping, but to screen off the portable toilet! Drawing Pins - for holding up the sheets. Toilet paper. We took two gas burners and some spare gas cylinders for cooking and a kettle, saucepan and frying pan. Numerous mugs - china and paper plus paper plates. Tea, coffee and sugar. Spoons and knives - we had sandwiches so didn't need forks! Biscuits, soup and cake - we used the paper mugs for the soup to save washing up and the need for (soup) spoons. Hand and Tea Towels, the latter for the odd bit of washing up. We took most of the washing up home each evening. Bacon, bread and margarine. Hand Gel and wipes for washing hands and, thus, limiting the use of water for which we would have had to stop for. A sharp knife (for cutting the bacon and bread) and a chopping board to cut food on. A washing up bowl, milk, tongs, bin bags, dishcloth, scourer, kitchen roll, tissues, ladle, wooden spoon and sauce. We also added a small table to make cooking more comfortable and a second would have been useful. We took two small water containers - ex 6 pint milk containers. These were small enough to be able to take home each day to refill but they didn't actually provide enough water and we had to top up at a few places.

We had a spare battery to power the tunnel light that we took with us. The light was secured to a block of wood that we clamped to the roof as required. The light had been pre-wired with a couple of clamps that were a push fit onto the battery. We had mooring stakes and three ropes - fore, mid and aft - and a lump hammer. We bought a boat pole and a boat hook en route and had to use the former on the Saturday when the wind kept trying hard to keep us against the bank. My tool box went as well although it only saw use whilst building the temporary platform over the engine. The same applied to a battery drill / driver and a hand saw, together with some G cramps and a fistful of screws. The amount of wood needed for the platform was assessed on our pre-launch visit to the builder but any building work was left until we were under way. Make sure that you take a single piece of suitable wood for the platform itself. We used a couple of 30cm wide boards lengthwise and, even though they were supported in both length and width, they were not really suitable and had to be supplemented with a piece of plywood that was fixed over the top. The G cramps were used to secure the platform supports to the metalwork without the need to drill any holes. The platform assembly will be dismantled once we no longer need to use it to access the inside of the boat.

We took a First Aid kit and a fire extinguisher that will now stay on the boat, even when most of the rest of the items have been removed whilst we remove the excesses of the spray foam and are varnishing the plywood that we will use to line the boat. We had our waterproofs with us as well. We took, but didn't use a hacksaw, just in case we needed to clear the prop. We also took a few spare padlocks to secure the side hatch and the front doors. However, we temporarily lost the key to one padlock and had to break the lock to open the doors - the key was found the following day in one of the two folding seats that we also took. The moral of this story is to make sure that you take a spare key for each padlock. On our second day we took a mop and bucket to remove the water from the bilge. The overflow from the drainage channel was noticeable but not enough to be picked up by the bilge pump that had been supplied but not wired in. We took a couple of torches and a small gas powered lantern that we only lit whilst passing through tunnels.

A temporary control panel had been installed by our engine fitter, as had a single control lever. This lever was a little too low and will be raised when the permanent panel is installed. We had our cameras with us but never got round to using them whilst under way. We also took windlasses and most certainly used them! We had our Nicholson's guide and also a print out taken from Canalplan AC. This was quite useful because it was something that could be kept in a pocket and referred to at will. One option allows you to include times and this is useful when your plans go slightly awry and you're playing catch-up.

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