Exhausted

We finally got the Sierra back last night after her clutch of jobs, the last of which was fitting the Scorpion stainless steel exhaust system which we had bought off Ebay.

Now we were a little concerned that the exhaust would look a little silly as it was quite a bit larger diameter then the old original spec one, but we are quite pleased with it in the end, whilst it is larger it doesn't look out of place.

One thing we hadn't expected though was quite how load it would be. We knew it would be louder as it has one less silencer in the system, but jesus it is load when ticking over. There will be no sneaking away for work early in the morning any more!

We did manage to get to the car meet at The Waverley last night which gave us a chance to try out the car at motorway speeds and thankfully it does quieten itself down once cruising at 70mph. However we expect it will get just a tad annoying whilst driving around town.

I'm sure we will probably get used to the noise and eventually drown it out and learn to ignore it, but just now it is loud!

Jumping with Joy

So we are now happy that Naughty-Cal is ready for her trip to the Norfolk Broads and hopefully Southwold in a few short weeks. The run to West Stockwith proved that she is in fine form, pulling quickly and easily onto the plane. The new J4 props have certainly transformed how quickly she jumps up onto the plane and she is certainly getting to her top speed much quicker.

In the next couple of weekends we will start to pull together a few bits and bobs that we will need to make the trip, mainly restocking the food cupboard and ensuring we have a ready supply of beer on board and most importantly making sure that we refill the diesel tank which will be looking a bit on the empty side after this weekends trip and a trip planned for the weekend after. We only have about  quarter of a tank left at the moment as we want to ensure a fresh supply of fuel for the five hour jaunt from Boston to Lowestoft on the 16th July. 

West Stockwith June 2016 - Part 2

West Stockwith

 A storm is brewing.

 Quick run to the pub.

 Sunny morning in the basin.

 Looking across the basin.

 A flurry of activity as a pair of narrowboats are dropped back in.

 Naughty-Cal and her new buddy Sea Dancer.

 The dunny hidden in the gardens.

 Across the basin.

West Stockwith to Burton Waters.

Back on the river. 

 Chasing down Sea Dancer.

 Traffic problems before Gainsborough.

 Through Gainsborough Bridge and back to a steady plod.

 Heading upstream.

 Back on the ditch and past the Torksey moorings.

 A convoy on the ditch.

 Past the farm moorings at Saxilby.

 Busy visitors moorings at Saxilby. Unfortunately a lot of these narrowboats have been here well over the 72 hour mooring time limit now!.

 Back into Burton Waters.

And finally a few beers in the New Harbour Lights restaurant which is really very nice.

46 Miles 4 Locks

Totals for 2016 so far: 463 Miles 20 Locks

West Stockwith June 2016 - Part 1

Burton Waters to Torksey

 Setting Off

 Along the ditch.

 A storms a brewing.

 Threatening skies over Torksey.

 Almost at the lock.

 Torksey Lock.

Torksey to West Stockwith

 Waiting for the tide.

 Dredger in the lock cut.

 Cloudy day on the Trent.

 A steady plod downstream.

 Gainsborough bridge.

 Go go go

 Through the bends.

 Leaning in nicely.

Moored in the basin.

Patiently Waiting

We had a great evening in West Stockwith with another lovely meal at the White Hart.  I had a rabbit Carbanara and Liam had a seafood salad.

Then we had a nice evening in the yacht club listening to Special Brew who were really very good.

Now we are sat patiently waiting for our tide back to Torksey at lunchtime.

All Seems Well

We have enjoyed a lovely run down river to West Stockwith and are now happily moored in our usual sunny spot on the wall in the basin.

Naughty-Cal appears to be in fine form planing quickly and easily.

All Set

After last night's flurry of activity at the boat we are now ready to head off to West Stockwith this evening.

Naughty-Cal is scrubbed from top to bottom and has a full water tank and fridge full of beer. I might need to pick up a bit of food today mind, we can't survive on beer alone this weekend!

Liam finished servicing a friends boat so can now sit back and relax this weekend.

We are treating this weekend as a final test that Naughty-Cal is ready to head out onto the Norfolk coast in just three weeks time. Hopefully this run should highlight any potential problems that might need sorting out in the next few weeks, well two really, we set off on the 16th July.

After the flurry of activity last night we did eventually manage to site back and relax for an hour with a cold beer sat in the cockpit with the rain hammering on the canvas and occasional flashes of lightning illuminating the sky. After a quick dinner of steamed salmon and stir fried vegetables we decided to turn in early as we had an early start this morning to get back to work.

A Fleeting Visit

We will be making a fleeting visit to see Naughty-Cal this evening. We have a few bits and bobs that need finishing off at the marina if we are to make our intended trip to West Stockwith this weekend. 

First of all Liam needs to finish changing the belts on a friends boat, the wrong ones arrived last week which was slightly annoying but couldn't be helped. So whilst he is in the engine bay of another boat I am going to make myself busy washing Cal. She is looking a little grubby at the moment. For one reason or another we have not actually gotten around to washing her yet this year!

Hopefully Liam will finish his jobs this evening and then we will be free to set sail straight after work tomorrow evening. If not our tide isn't while lunchtime on Saturday so we have no rush to get going but we would like the weekend free to relax and unwind so aim to get everything finished and Naughty-Cal ready to go this evening.

Cheesed Off

It has been a while since I did a foody post. Not for any particular reason of course, just that things have been rather busy with the boat and the car.

Now as I'm sure regular readers will know we try wherever possible to make healthier choices when it comes to what food we are eating, not always mind, we enjoy a good meal out as much as the next person, but whilst at home or cooking on the boat we try to make an effort.

Last night at home we enjoyed a lovely veggie meal. We try TO mix and match with the meat eating and give ourselves a couple of days off the meat during the week. Last night it was grilled reduced fat halloumi drizzled with garlic oil, served with blanched butternut squash noodles and roasted vegetables (onion, mushroom, chilli, bell pepper, courgette and potatoe) in a jerk seasoning. 

Nice and simple but very tasty and very filling.

MOT Time

It is MOT time again for the Sierra today, it doesn't seem like almost a year ago that we were digging it out of the garage after a few years laid up and taking her for her test. How time flies.

Last week she had quite a lot of work done in the mechanical shop and whilst up in the air they had a good rummage around underneath to check all was in good order. So last night it was just a quick change of a headlight bulb which had failed and adjusting the windscreen washer jets which were aiming over the roof and she is ready.

We have dropped her off at the testing station this morning so we shall see shortly if she has passed again or if we have a bit more work to carry out.

The Recovery

Yesterday was a day for chilling out, resting and general recovery from the previous evenings, well early morning yesterday if we are truthful party in Bolsover. As great as the party was we were all very much worse for wear yesterday.

After a seemingly long drive back from to the boat, (it was really only half an hour but felt much longer!), we had a bite to eat from the Deli on the marina and then headed into Lincoln for a couple of beers and a wander around. In truth I only had a half pint of Coors Light in the two pubs we visited, alcohol wasn't going down well yesterday. After a small walk around town we headed back to the marina and across to Woodcocks for some much needed dinner.

Now fair play to Woodcocks, it was Fathers Day so it was very busy but they managed to squeeze us in even though we hadn't booked, we were served quickly and the food was really very good. I had a roast beef Sunday lunch with all of the trimmings and it was equally as good as many of the more expensive establishments in the area. Well worth the money. We shall be eating here more often this year I think.

Suffering

We are both feeling slightly delicate today following a cracking party at a friends house last night. We should be old enough to know better and avoid being in hot tubs until 3am!

A jaunt into Lincoln is in order to blow away a few cobwebs.

Time with the Jackets

As promised a little review on life on board with our new Seago Olympic Plus 180N life jackets which we purchased at the beginning of this season.

Well what can we say really other then they are proving to be very comfortable and we are finding that we wear them far more then we did with the old ones as a result, which can only be a good thing.

They fit far better then our old life jackets and are far less bulky and restrictive. They sit nice around the neck area and the crotch straps are unobtrusive. We barely even notice that we are wearing them.

So it is a big thumbs up from the both of us and we only wish that we had bought them sooner. All in all a well specced jacket for a very reasonable price that is actually comfortable and easy to wear.

Well done Seago.

The Wrong Vehicle

We had a trip to Nottingham last night after work to pick up a stainless steel exhaust system for the Sierra which Liam had won on Ebay. At times it felt  very much like we had taken the wrong vehicle and that Naughty-Cal would have been more at home on the M1 with torrential rain and standing water across all four lanes of the motorway. To make matters worse we were not in a vehicle familiar to us as we had to borrow an estate car large enough to fit the exhaust sections into. 

Needless to say there were still people driving like idiots and on the way back we drove past the scene of a very recent four car pile up in the outside two lanes of four. We drove past just as the police arrived on the scene, thankfully no one appeared to be hurt as they were all stood in the road hurling abuse at each other! We reckon if we had been another five minutes later the motorway would likely have been shut whilst they recovered the vehicles. A lucky escape on our part.

No doubt all of this excess water is now working its way downstream into the river network so the Trent will be responding and on the rise in the next day or so. It was already a good foot above normal summer level yesterday with a very noticeable increase in flow. The flood gates will be coming on as well no doubt.

Good old British summertime.

A Busy Time

We have in the line up a busy few weeks both on and off the boat.

On the boat preparations are under way for our upcoming trip to the Norfolk Broads next month, we can only hope that the weather is going to be better than for our last break.

Before we go we need to make sure that Naughty-Cal is in fine fettle and ready for the five hour coastal trip from Boston to Lowestoft. It is a bit of a long haul but we prefer to get it over and done with in one hit rather than breaking the trip at Wells on the way down.

As home we are busy getting the Sierra ready for it's annual MOT. This week she has been in the mechanics workshop having a few little bits and pieces sorted out that we have been meaning to sort but have been putting off. It was quite an extensive list by the time the mechanic had found a few more items to tinker with including, replacing the crankcase oil seal, cleaning up the oil the old seal had thrown around the engine bay, removing the viscous fan (which was doing nothing!), oil and filter change, air filter change, replacing the rocker cover gaskets, setting the valve clearances, resetting the handbrake, fitting poly bushes to the front anti roll bar, finding and fixing a minor coolant leak, finding and fixing a minor air leak on the fuel injection system and flushing the coolant through and replacing with new. Quite a list and he isn't finished yet, although the car is now back at home tucked up in her garage until next week.

Tonight we are heading to Nottingham to pick up a  stainless steel exhaust system that Liam has won on Ebay. Hopefully next week the mechanic will fit this, find the source of a blow from the manifolds and tune up the engine to get her running spot on. And then finally we have a few minor niggling jobs such a replacing a bulb and fixing a windscreen washer jet to finish off before MOT time early next week.

Oh and on top of this little lot the ever trusty Datsun decided to start playing up last week as well. However with a new crank sensor it does seem to be running well again. Fingers crossed that is now fixed.

Saxilby Meet Bollywood Part 2

A selection of other peoples photos from the Bollywood party we held at the weekend for you today.