Casette Toilet Trauma

This will be brief and there will be no photographs but i have to share to start the healing process…

I didn’t realise but the light to denote ‘full’ on our Thetford Cassette Toilet doesn’t work. That was the start of a traumatic day. The removal of the casette went OK and i put it in a bin bag to make sure no jobbies in the boat. Lucky i did.

Then it started to go wrong. We were a fair walk from a loo and the thing weighed sh*t-loads (haha) so i put it in the back of the pick-up and drove CAREFULLY around to the loo. When i got there the casette was floating in the bin bag and some of the contents had made their way into the back of the pick-up. So i put some newspaper up my nose and started dealing with the situation.

That’ll do. Bad day.

The day of the launch!

Today could have gone two ways and nearly went the way of badness! Definitely saved by the good will of lots of people today, restoring my faith in the kindness of strangers!

The plan for the day was to offload the boat at 9am, drop it in the River Carron at 11am and be in the canal by midday. It worked – but only after overcoming a strange obstacle…

We met the first of the friendly, helpful strangers at 9am – our lorry driver who had slept overnight with Marbeck at the entrance to the docks. Reversing into the dock and up to the crane, it was then that disaster (nearly) struck.

Steve, the second helpful stranger noticed the bottom of our boat was covered in Zebra Mussels – an invasive species definitely not welcome in the canals up here. A phone call to British Waterways confirmed that the boat would have to be scraped and steam-cleaned to remove the mussels and kill any larvae. This was with an hour to go until the intended launch. It looked like there was no way it could happen in time. Steve decided to lift the boat off the lorry and instead of putting it in the water, put it on blocks to wait til Monday to be put it. Bugger.

Not wanting to pay for another lift with the crane and delay things i got on the phone to all the hire companies but no joy. Then a trip out of the boatyard and success – a hire firm with one in. The next uber-helpful person pulled out all of the stops to get one up and running and deliver it to the boatyard within 30 minutes – it was on!

So it took only back-breaking 30 minutes to scrape the bottom (with horrible amounts of rust coming off too) and then steam-clean the bottom…

Somewhat surprisingly we had succeeded in turning our one-hour tea-break into a one-hour mission to rid Marbeck of Mussels and drop her into the River Carron.

At this point Donald (another helpfull stranger) from Grangemouth Sea Lock was to be with us in a RIB to take us up and through the low bridges, mud banks etc. But Donald was on a  bike ride to get breakfast So we decided fate was with us and set off up-stream. You have to get your timing exactly right to have the tide battling against the flow and alow the wee narrowboat engine to make headway. So we went for it, the engine started on second attempt and we were off unaided up the Carron.

A couple of bridges later and Donald came into view flying down and round us in the RIB. You could tell he liked his toy.

The rest of the trip up into the canal went fairly easy and i didn’t embarass myself too much with steering into the lock.

We had done it Moments after we moored up, our first neighbour came over to say hi.

As a wee one he was mauled by a dog and you can see one of his wings is just a collection of feather stumps

So excited to say our boat Marbeck is now at home on the Forth & Clyde canal woop woop!

The day of the survey

Went down to Marbeck’s current home today to see her out of the water and get the verdict from the surveyor – very nervous!

The first sight i was greeted with was a bit scary – seeing the underside of the boat covered in green growth and rust was a bit of a shock. But then the first feedback from the surveyor was that the hull was in good condition, just in desperate need of blacking phew.

The surveyor Rick was really friendly and talked through all the minor issues with the boat from rusty screws to empty fire extinguishers to water damage. Really useful…

The boat seems to have just about sailed through the survey for a 10-yr old boat. Some water getting in around some windows and the doors but nothing a bit of replacement wood and better sealing wouldn’t solve. The 3 main issues were:

1. Lack of RCD (safety cut-out) for the 240v socket powered by the inverter
2. Engine in need of service due to old oil
3. Hull in real need of blacking

All of the above were agreed to be done for the mere cost of half of the blacking fee. Result!

After agreeing everything with the brokers and the owners, Harry the owner came to join us and talk us through ‘his’ boat. It became clear how much love and attention he’d given the boat and it was great hearing him go through it all bit by bit so we could get to know the boat and its quirks. He did a complete refurb of the boat 5 years ago and an impressive job at that.

So now we wait to get a copy of the surveyor’s report through including the valuation. I’m a bit confused how the valuation could affect things as costs have been agreed and i think the valuation is more for insurance purposes and to make us feel good/bad about the price we paid.

So now have to wait for the final half of the money due to hit my account (scary last-minute loan applications eek) and then i believe we make payment and cross our fingers for the really scary bit – transportation and a tidal river as a first challenge.

Grrrr tides

Didn’t realise it but the way to get a narrow boat on to the canal up here is a bit hairy! Dropping by crane into a tidal river and then navigating some sand banks and bridges up and into the canal. On worrying piece of advice was ‘its all about turning the boat around before the tide gets you’ eek.

The other annoying thing is the tides and weather are meant to be bad for a while. Cue awkward conversation with the marina we are (hopefully!) buying Marbeck from and delaying the process until the next doable tide in a few weeks time. It was either that or rush everything through next week which would be a bit too stressful, especially if the survey comes back with issues.

So fingers crossed it’s going to be early October. In the meantime we can plan the change in colour-scheme to make it more boaty.

First blog for Marbeck – could be a jinx!

Well fingers crossed in about a week’s time we will be the official owners of a 57′ narrowboat called ‘Marbeck Phoenix’. We made an offer to buy it, then another which was accepted.

I didn’t want to put the word out until it was all official but want to start a wee blog for it from the very start and it feels like the story may have begun…

The scary things now are a) the boat getting surveyed to make sure it works b) raising the dosh to buy it and c) getting it transported to Scotland from Yorkshire. Oh and d) where we put it when it gets here.

I’m really excited and know there is going to be LOADS to learn along the way.