Week One of our time away.

As anyone reading this diary of Hadar knows were were off North for a few weeks until Yard Lock in Stone was open.
This is an account and photographs of our adventures. We were away 3 weeks so I will give you a week at a time, before adding another week in a day or two.
Many thanks for all the messages left for us, it is lovely to know people have been in and read our diary.

Monday 28th January.

The day finally arrived when we would be starting the first day of the rest of our lives aboard Hadar, continuously cruising the waterways of the UK. Neither of us could not wait, as more recently we have had the urge to get moving, but as you all know we have had engine problems and it has taken time to repair being a 1945 engine, you cannot go and buy the parts off of the shelf like with the newer engines in boats today. But as our boat is a working boat based on a boat my husband used to work on, we needed the engine to look the part and now it does. So today I had a visit to the vets with Marmite for her check up after she had been spayed, thankfully all was well, she was given the all clear. So having done a few things, including ringing the BW people to book a passage through the Harecastle Tunnel, we set off at 10.30am heading for Wedgwood bridge. The weather was lovely, there was not a breath of wind and the sun was out for most of the journey. We did not encounter any other boats on the move it was all quiet. We did the Meaford Locks and past through Barlaston, before mooring up at 12.50pm the north side of Wedgwood Bridge. We were greeted by the Canada Geese, who were pairing up ready for breeding. I heated up the homemade Vegetable soup I had made the night before and we had that with chocolate cake for afters. Keith and I then decided to have a walk around the Wedgwood factory.


We last went for a visit some 3 years ago, so it was nice to see that it is all change at the site. They have built a brand new Museum which will be open later on this year. They now also take you by mini bus to the production line at the factory, where you can walk around a set route and see how the china is made. It is truly amazing to see the process and the paintwork that goes into the final product. I spoke to one gentleman who has worked their since leaving school. He was painting Pegasus with a warrior onboard. He was telling me that it takes 50 hours to paint and £12,000 to buy, but it is a limited edition. We both found the place wonderful and will go back again sometime once the new state of the art museum is open. I reckon it is well worth the £8.25 entrance fee.
The day ended with us watching a little TV before having and early night.

Tuesday 29th January.

We had no plans as to what time we would leave our mooring at Wedgewood Bridge, but having woken up early we had breakfast and set off at 9am. I walked Paddy to Trentham Lock so he could do what all doggies do. I then set the lock for our boat. On through Trentham our friends Sheila & Chris were out in their garden as we passed by so we had a quick natter before heading on towards Stoke, we passed by the Britannia Stadium the home of Stoke City Football Club. Although it was a dull morning again there was no wind and it felt very mild. We arrived at Stoke Locks with a cruiser named Pickled Egg following us and a surprise awaited us at the lock as there was a scaffold plank wedged across the lock entrance, so unless Keith had taken a run at the lock there was no way of removing it or breaking it, the only way to remove it was to tie the bow rope around the plank and reverse the boat, this pulled the plank free and allowed us into the lock. As the cruiser was heading the same way we were, I set the locks for him as we exited them, he was on his own so it was the right thing to do. We had a pleasant cruise through the locks up to Etruria and on towards Harecastle Tunnel where we moored up for the night. We are booked to go through the tunnel in the morning. It turned out that we moored up just in time as the rain began to fall.

Here was my rant for the day. The one thing that was evident on our trip today was the amount of rubbish in the canal; some of this rubbish was from a couple of building sites close to the canal. I seriously think that something needs to be done about building contractors who allow their rubbish to pollute the canals. There should be fines in place for such disregard for the environment and wildlife. We came across, large plastic sheets, timber pallets, insulation and much more. It really seriously annoys me that they get away with this, not only that, coming through Stoke there are some warehouses, and they have allowed plastic and wooden pallets to fall into the canal. Surely someone out there should be making sure this does not happen again and that they are made to pull them out of the water. Ok rant over for today.

Wednesday 30th January.

Both Keith and I were awake early but did not get up until 8am; we could hear the rain pounding on the cabin roof, so we knew we were probably in for a wet trip once out of the tunnel. At 8.45am came a “Hello anyone on board” it was the tunnel guy, who had come over to check us in, give us a leaflet on tunnel safety, which we already knew from previous trips through Harecastle Tunnel, but it never hurts to re-educate ones self on the do’s and don’ts. He wanted us ready to go through the tunnel for 9am and was going to set the fans going to blow out the cobwebs, his words not mine. Paddy had a quick walk to relieve himself, whilst Keith did the boat checks, putting on the rear light, headlight and lights inside the boat, before starting the engine. As asked we were at the tunnel entrance for 9am, the rain was now pouring down.

Behind us was the little cruiser Pickled Egg who had followed us the day before. He was asked to go behind us as he had a petrol engine. Keith put in his ear plugs (yes you read right) because we knew that our engine would be very loud through the tunnel. We should have supplied the guy on the cruiser with some hahaha. So off we went, I stayed inside taking photos from the engine room. I was also watching the cruiser who at times was right up our stern. The problem with that was he was getting our wash, constantly he kept hitting the sides of the tunnel, his boat was weaving from side to side, at one point I heard a loud crack as his bike which was on the bow of the boat hit the tunnel wall, maybe next time he will stay further back as told by the tunnel keeper. Keith was more than happy with the way Hadar went through the tunnel, he said “she handled like a dream”. This was more than could be said for the cruiser behind us. As we exited at the North end of the tunnel the sun was out, it was like a different world, we moored up to put the chimneys back on allowing the cruiser to pass. He had an awful lot of damage to his cabin top corners, I could not see if his bike had suffered as well, but it would not have surprised me.

So the tunnel was behind us as we headed for Harding’s Wood Junction onto the Macclesfield Canal,

The cruiser was heading on down the Trent & Mersey canal thankfully. Moored up on its permanent mooring was our old boat Misty Lady, which we had sold last year. Andrew her owner was no where to be seen.

The Macclesfield is such a beautiful canal, lots of fields and trees, plenty of beautiful scenery including a distant view of Mow Cop. It looked as though BW had been busy over the winter as there was a new towpath along the canal; they had certainly made a lovely job of it. Our destination was Congleton to see friends, who live there but also have their own boat Pavo. I only had one lock to do at Hall Green and that is only about a foot deep so it was no hardship, before we cruised onto Congleton. We had our first sighting this year of a Kingfisher.

With no leaves on trees and bushes they are so much easier to see. With their vibrant plumage it was easy to spot. Throughout the journey we only met one other moving boat Willow an Elton Moss boat heading in the other direction, it was so peaceful. There were a few fishermen on the towpath who commented on how wonderful our engine sounded. It is so nice that the thump, thump of this 1945 engine is enjoyed, by others and not just us.

We reached Congleton at 12.50 pm and a mooring at the Wharf, there was no other boat there so we had the place to ourselves. The only noise we could hear once we turned off the engine was someone practicing on their drum kit. They probably got it for Christmas LOL. Whoever was playing the drums was actually pretty good. After some lunch I rang Win and she came and collected us to take us down to Morrison’s to get some provisions, we also had a look around the town, which has quite a few charity shops, our favourite shops LOL. We spent the evening at Ian & Win’s, Win cooked a lovely meal, whilst we caught up on all the news. It really felt quite odd being in a house for any length of time; we are so used to visiting friends on their boats. I know for sure I could not live in a house again, but one should never say never. It was a wonderful evening and we know we will see them on the cut when they take their boat Pavo out during the warmer months

Thursday 31st January.

Omg it was blowing a hooley outside. The forecaster said it would be bad that day and they were not kidding. I was woken up in the early hours by the waves on the canal lapping against the stern of the boat. The rain was lashing down, so I dressed for a wet walk with Paddy. Just as we were about to exit the boat the heavens opened with rain, hale and gusts of wind which would have knocked me off my feet, so we waited for it to blow over. Some 10 minutes later the sun appeared and Paddy and I made our way out of the back cabin. On the back counter the hale stone had piled up against the door, brrrrrrrrrrr it sent a shiver through me. Paddy looked very unhappy with the fact that he would have to walk in all of this, but a dog has to do what a dog has to do, so with a huge leap he jumped off of the stern. Walking in new places is always lovely and even Paddy gets to enjoy new smells. After his 30 minute walk we were back on the boat in the dry and warm, with breakfast ready and waiting for me.
Due to the wind we were not planning on moving, so it was a good time to get some chores done. Keith was busy in the engine room checking pipe work for any leaks and making sure joints were all done up. I on the other hand, made a stewing steak casserole, plus a bread and butter pudding for afters. I then had some washing to do, so we ran the generator for half an hour. It also gave us the chance to charge up our laptops and torch. We have been listening to the local radio and on the news it told of the death of Jeremy Beadle at the age of 59, geesh that sure puts life into perspective. I used to love watching him on his TV programs. They also gave out the weather forecast for tomorrow it is not great, they are forecasting snow yipppppeeeeee. We have already had a heavy snow shower.

I was so looking forward to having some snow on Hadar, for those wintry photographs. I want to get together enough photos for my next poetry book, which will have Hadar in it and on the front cover. But these things take time as I want the photos to be right. So bring on the snow yayyyyyyyyyyy. The washing finished so I had it hanging in the back cabin which was very hot, as I was cooking the casserole in the oven, as for the rest of the washing it was in the engine room, and would dry in a day or two depending on whether we have the engine running or not. Lunchtime consisted of Cheese on toast and a cup of coffee, the remaining bread went to a pair of swans who seem to know if they tap on your window they will get fed.

The cob actually had his head in through my galley window, making noises at me as if to say "feed us, come on, we know you have bread over". They even took the bread out of my hand, so it is fair to say they are used to this sort of thing from other boaters. .

Friday 1st February.

It may have been the beginning of February, but that did not improve the weather prospects. Constantly throughout the night I was woken up by the howling wind. My biggest fear was that if someone cut our ropes or untied us we would be blown into the wharf building on the other side of the canal. Stupid I know but one never knows these days. Anyway we were awake at 7am, so I got up and made us a cup of tea to have back in bed. We sat drinking tea and listening to the wind. It was certain we would not be moving again as the forecast was for strong winds and snow showers. Paddy however needed his walk, so it was waterproofs on and off we wet with the wind in our faces. To my surprise whilst walking back to the boat, I saw in the water a Koi Carp.

It was swimming close to the surface, on its merry way. It had to be at least one and half feet long, and goodness knows how much it would have weighed. It looked well fed hahahaha. Paddy found it very interesting. Back on the boat Keith and I decided that we would take a walk down to Congleton town centre for a change. So we donned our coats and hats for the short walk. As always when we are out it was the charity shops that we were interested in more than anything else. So I was pleased to pick up a white cotton tablecloth with around 4 metres of lace around the edge. Just what I was looking for to go in the back cabin, and at £3.50 it was cheap, as lace can be expensive at times. Keith bought brass cooking utensils and a rack that you hang them on, which is now hung in our galley looking very smart. We went to the Bread and Basil deli for a coffee and hot sausage roll. It is all very relaxing now that we do not have to be anywhere at a certain time, which is how canal life should be. Having been out for a couple of hours we walked back to the boat just as it began sleeting. The wind was definitely picking up so we were glad to be back in the warmth of the back cabin.

Keith had to run the generator for an hour to charge the batteries, and we will not be moving far for the afternoon as it has turned foul and Hadar is being thrown about a bit in the strong wind and hail falling.

Saturday 2nd February.

The forecasters got it right yet again, we had snow overnight, so as I opened the back cabin doors and saw a blanket of white yayyyyyyyy. Hadar has her snow blanket. It looked really beautiful when I left the boat with Paddy for his walk.

Paddy loves the snow. He loves to run around getting his nose covered in the white stuff. He has little thought of what maybe under the snow. When it snows everything always looks clean and fresh and brand new.

We were going to head back this morning as the strong winds had calmed down thankfully. So Keith got the boat ready for an about turn.

The plan was to head back to Harding’s Wood junction and head north down through the Red Bull flight. The canal had ice on it in patches. Hadar bow ploughed through quite happily.

We stopped for lunch at 12.25pm on the aqueduct, before heading to the junction at 1.00pm, where little blighters were waiting on the bridge with snowballs. I was armed with my camera as always. But they thought it funny ducking down on the bridge. We then left them behind as we went down through the first lock, we stopped at the Red Bull sanitary station to empty the loo and get rid of a bag of rubbish, before heading to the next lock, in the distance we could see another boat coming up so I left the gates ready for them. As they approached we could see it was Satellite a small Woolwich, built in 1935, she was then a butty, and these days she has a new top and is no longer a butty. We cruised on watching Mow Cop disappear into the distance. At 2.40pm we decided to call it a day as the wind was getting up. We moored at a designated mooring place just below the Red Bull flight at Church Lawton. I got a few boat chores done we then settled in for the evening. Come 6.30pm the church bells began to ring out, we thought it must be bell ringing practice for tomorrow’s service. The weather forecast was not promising for Sunday.

Sunday 3rd February.

There seems to be no let up in the weather, with yet more strong winds this morning. We decided not to move down through the locks at Church Lawton. Paddy enjoyed a good run in a field alongside the boat; it gave him a chance to stretch his legs.
Back at the boat we had breakfast and then did a few boat jobs. Keith was sorting the thermostat; he ran the engine for a couple of hours to see if he could get it to work properly but to no avail. The engine was running way to hot, so it meant stripping it down again and we will run her cold without the thermostat until we get back to Stone. I on the other hand did some baking, making a lemon cake and some chocolate crunchies. I also managed to make a few cards for birthdays and next Christmas. I love to recycle old cards and bits and bobs, to make brand new homemade cards. After that it was time for lunch and then an afternoon of movies. I was going to take a walk up to Church Lawton Church, but the weather is so cold and foul, I had second thoughts. Later we ran the generator for a while so I could have a shower, whilst I showered we did a bedding wash, the bedding will dry in the engine room. Because we are running the engine cold we have no hot water to hand so I have the kettles on both the back stove and the saloon stove to use for washing up and making drinks. It actually works well because if the kettle is already hot it takes less time to boil on the gas, so that helps us to save gas. I brought some logs in from the hold to burn on the salon stove, although to begin with the wind was blowing so much, it was blowing the smoke back down the chimney and out into the saloon (cough, cough). Burning logs saves on coal, even though we have a hold full, the more we can save the better. Logs are easy to find because when BW cut back trees and bushes they usually leave the logs for boaters to pick up along the way. We have a chain saw and an axe for anything to big.
Our first week out over and it had been fantastic. Stay tuned for week two.

It's time for us to set off.

The time has finally come for us to leave Roger Fuller's Boat Yard and head off on our adventures with Hadar. We took on 3ton of coal from Harrisons Coal Merchants, as you can see it was a joint effort loading the coal from the lorry into Rogers railway wagons.

Roger then drove the first lot of coal around to Hadar, and he and keith off loaded it by the hold, before coming back for more.

Keith then took the last load round with Steve (welder) and I on the wagons for good measure.

We then had the hard task of loading all 120 bags into the hold, making sure to keep the load as even as possible and as far back to make sure the bow did not dip to far into the water.
It was a success thanks to the help of Roger and Steve, thanks guys.

So Keith and I are off this coming Thursday to begin the dream that keith has had for almost 40 years. That dream has been made possible by Roger and those that work at the yard, the two Steve's and Tina the boat painter. On Friday we opened a bottle of champagne to toast the finishing of our boat and to wish everyone at the yard well for the coming year. We will always think of Roger and the gang with fondness as they have been wonderful throughout the whole build of our boat. We wll be coming back to see everyone, so they cannot get rid of us that easily hahaha.

With Yard Lock closed until the 11th February our plan is to go up on to the Macc for a short while until we can get down South on to the Oxford, so if you see us out and about please say hello or give us a wave, better still if we are moored up come and share a brew with us.

We will be keeping hadar's diary going, but a lot will depend on connection, so please continue to pop in from time to time to see how we are getting on.

See you on the cut somewhere.

Hadar’s Test Run........ The Aftermath.

As yesterday we were busy showing some prospective customers for Roger around Hadar, today was the 1st opportunity Keith had to set about retorqueing the head as planned and to correct any problems we had experienced whilst away. Once he had retorqued the head he fitted a new thermostat to the engine, as the one that had been fitted by the engine restorers was too low a temperature setting at 60C! Keith ran the engine to warm it up to do an oil change, the new thermostat works well, and now the temperature gauge that he fitted also works properly. Keith then drained the oil out and put some new in. During our test run we had noticed that the domestic alternator was not charging the domestic batteries. Keith checked various things and eventually traced the cabling and discovered that they had accidentally wired this alternator to the start battery, no wonder the domestic batteries were not charging, mind you the starter battery was well charged! A quick change of the wire connection and everything is now charging correctly.

Upon Rogers return with the tug which had been used for some canal maintenance Roger made the wood plate we need to cover the coal skuttle to stop Marmite from using it as a litter tray!

Keith managed to loosen up the slide hatch, and this now just needs a small block to stop it riding too far forward when closing it. All that now remains is to find the leak we have in the generator cooling pipework tomorrow and everything is not only completed but functioning correctly. All we need now is the extra 3 tons of coal we have ordered to arrive tomorrow or Friday, and then we will be ready to set off on our adventures as soon as Yard Lock is repaired and we can head South on our big adventure. We will be sad to say goodbye to those people who have become good friends at the boatyard, but we will be back in October for the Stone Food and Drinks Festival, so they cannot get rid of that easily hahaha. We hope that you will continue to follow our adventures around the canal system.

Hadar’s Test Run.

Day One.
Wednesday 16th January.

Well today we managed to get the last few jobs completed on Hadar and we set off at 3:00pm heading north.

Part way up the Meaford Flight we met another boat 'Morning Mist' coming down, and as Keith was sitting on the lock gates waiting to go up, he had to reverse back to let them out of the lock,

Hadar reversed perfectly. Once we cleared the last lock, we headed for the Wedgewood Factory at Barlaston for an overnight mooring. This section was a great chance to see how she handled through bends, and along the straight bits. She behaved just like we hoped, she followed the channel, and basically steered her own course, which is just how it should be. She needed very little steerage to go round bends. Full marks to Roger, he has built a great boat. She handles just like a small Northwich should.

We made it to the moorings at the Wedgewood factory, just as the light and weather was failing, and moored up for our first real night away from the Boatyard.


Hadar’s Test Run, Day 2.

Thursday, January 17.

We started the day with a cooked breakfast, sort of a treat for finally getting away. Keith loves cooking a cooked breakfast, Poached eggs on toast, with grilled bacon, grilled mushrooms and grilled tomato. We would have had sausages, but I forgot to take them out of the freezer last night, oops.

We set off on what was to be a short run through Trentham Lock. Above the lock we sold 4 bags of coal to a narrowboat 'Antler' who was coming down, unexpected but welcome all the same. Then onto Trentham, where our friends have a canalside property with a mooring long enough for Hadar to fit. We chatted for quite a while over coffee before having a late lunch. We stayed on their mooring for the night.

Hadar’s Test Run, Day 3.

Friday 18th, January.

The weather had not improved much, it was still raining, but at least it was not hammering it down, as it had over night. Well we had intended on leaving our friends mooring and winding at the winding point not far from their property. It needs dredging, so we carried on to the next one. Well one look and no way were going to wind there, so we pressed on up through the Stoke Flight and stopped at Westport lake for lunch.

After lunch we continued on up to Harecastle Tunnel where we winded, and moored up for the night. It had been getting quite blowy so we were glad to be moored up in the shelter of the cutting on the south side of the tunnel.

Hadar’s Test Run, Day 4.

Saturday 19th, January.

Well an earlyish start from Harecastle Tunnel, and we arrived at the Wedgewood Factory for lunch. We surveyed the weather and decided to carry on back to Stone, whilst it was not too bad, not knowing what the weather would be like tomorrow. We are moored up on the towpath awaiting to go back into the Basin for Monday. Good thing we did continue on, looking at the weather forecast at 6:00pm on th TV for tomorrow. Both Keith and I enjoyed our few days out on Hadar, we cannot wait now to get moving on our continuous cruising and the adventures it will bring.

Bloggers meeting.

In this age of networking and blogging, we all get to keep in touch with what other boaters are up to and where they are cruising to and from. What is exciting is when you get the chance to actually meet up in person with a fellow boating blogger. Today was such a day for Keith and I.

I received an e-mail from Sue on NB No Problem. Both Vic and Sue were moored up below Star Lock in Stone, so we agreed to meet up. Sue very kindly came and found us at the boatyard, as I am not walking to far at the moment after putting my back out on Thursday. Meeting up with Sue and the collie's Lucy and Meg was like meeting a dear long time friend, she is a truly lovely lady (no blushing now Sue). I could sit and natter to her for ages without any problem at all. I felt it was as if we had known each other for many years.

We sat and had a natter over a cup of coffee as you do when you meet up with other boaters, before Sue headed off back to No Problem. We sincerely hope that we will meet up with them again very soon, so we can sit down and have another good old chinwag.

Happy cruising Sue and Vic, see you very soon I hope.

New Year, New Water Pump

The New Water Pumped Installed.

Happy New Year everyone. Christmas and New Year for us was very quiet, just how we like it.
Yesterday Roger fitted the new water pump for the engine. Today Keith ran the engine and everything was working well. In fact he ran the engine for 4 hours. We are looking forward to taking Hadar out for a test run next week. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE

So we have said goodbye to 2007 and hello to 2008. Lets hope it is a good year for us all. We all have places to see and people to meet along the way. We are looking forward to getting underway, so we may enjoy cruising the waterways with our new boat.
We hope that 2008 will bring good health, peace and happiness to everyone we have already met and to those people we have yet to make our friends. May Roger Fuller, Tina (boat painter)and the two Steve's (welders) have a prosperous 2008 at the boatyard.
See you on the waterways.

Merry Christmas to Everyone.

Merry Christmas Comment Graphics

May we take this opportunity to wish all our friends, family

and everyone who has been following our journey with Hadar

a Very Merry Christmas and All the Very Best For 2008.

We will see you on the cut in 2008 no doubt.


Merry Christmas Comment Graphics

Engine Update.

Due to a very busy time with the engine we have not had anytime to post, so I have added all the updates in one post.

The new oil rings arrived so it was hoped that Keith and Roger could restart rebuilding the engine.

New Head Gasket Fitted.

They refitted the pistons with the new oil rings. Then one of the 2 new head gaskets was put in place and then the refurbished head was refitted. The head was torqued down ready for the fitting of the rockers etc. to the head.

Refurbished Head Fitted.

Adjusting the Tappets.

With an early start they soon had all the rockers, injectors, oil pipes etc. fitted to the head. Then the tappets were adjusted.

Almost Ready for Testing.

It was now a matter of attaching all the water cooling and exhaust. But as they now knew this engine inside out and back to front they soon had that sorted.

Just the Exhaust Needs to be Fitted.

Then before adding any water they went for a dry run. They turned the engine over by hand with no compression to pump fuel up to the injectors and to start circulating oil around the engine. Once they were both satisfied with this, the compression was turned on and the starter motor engaged. She fired up 1st time, it was a glorious sound.

The 1st Puff of Smoke.

They ran her for a short time only just to check that everything was functioning ok. The exhaust was very clean after the initial blast out of all the residue oil etc. from within the cylinders. The engine was running as sweet as a bird, with a constant note from both cylinders, unlike prior to the rebuild where one cylinder sounded a bit soft. Roger asked Keith to check the oil pressure at the gauge on the roof, he looked and the needle was resoundly on the zero!
But on a second closer look it was actually the wrong side of the stop, it had gone right round the gauge, as the oil pressure was higher than before, and we fitted a new gauge, in fact the original one that was mounted on the engine, which had a higher range, which cured that problem. Roger was very pleased with the result as this is the 1st time he has carried out such a major rebuild on a customers engine. They then filled the engine with water to test the water pump, but alas this still leaks, and the head leaks still.

A Very Happy Roger.

Head Gasket.

On the 12th December they intended to run the engine up to operating temperature and then let it cool down to retorque the head. However as the head was still leaking quite badly they decided to take the head off again to check everything. Good thing they did too, as they discovered that the head gasket for some reason had ripples in it, indicating that it wasn't tightening down properly, but as this was late in the day they decided to leave it overnight and mull over it.

The Solution.
It was now the 13th December and Roger was looking rather pleased with himself, he had solved the problem. It was obviously really when you weigh up all the facts. 2 of the studs had pulled out when they undid all the head nuts, these 2 studs had captive nuts on, and they were the only ones. The ripples in the head gasket were between these 2 studs. Any clues yet? Well remember that they have had the head skimmed, and no doubt it has been skimmed before, reducing the height of the head, have you solved it yet?
Well the captive nuts were bottoming out on the studs and not tightening down onto the head. Obvious when you look at the wider picture. So they took a couple of mm off the top of the 2 studs, and bingo problem solved, the head tightens down properly now. Keith would then be left to run the engine up to temperature and let it cool down before retorquing. On the 14th Dec we were off to see the pantomine Cinderella in Stoke-on-Trent.

Cinderella.
14th December Keith and I went to see the pantomine Cinderella. It was brilliant. Jonathon Wilkes was the main star, with Shobna Gulati (from Coronation St and Dinner Ladies), West End singing sensation Louise Dearman and Andy Goulding of Signal1's radio breakfast show. www.theambassadors.com/regent/index.html

Water Pump Blues.

Today 20th December we gave up on trying to repair the water pump on the engine. Both Roger and Keith have been working on it most of this week trying to stop it leaking without much success. They decided today that apart from totally replacing all the part of the pump they will never get it to stop leaking. So they decided to abandon it and to fit a Jabsco pump driven from the crankshaft of the engine. Keith refitted the original pump casing, minus the internals, for aesthetic reasons with the water inlet/outlets blocked off.
We will have to wait until after Xmas now before obtaining the pump and the necessary pipework, so It looks like it definitely will be the new year before we can go for a test run.

Both Roger and Keith have worked extremely hard on rebuilding our engine. Keith and I are so happy with how things have gone. We really appreciate the time and effort Roger has put into getting us up and running. Hadar's engine now sounds fantastic, so we look forward to 2008 with renewed positivity.

Thank You Roger and Tina for all you help.

The Problem is Solved.

The solution.

Well the overnight brain cells did the trick. Roger came up with a solution. He used a section of tube, with a slot cut in it, and a groove at one end to take the piston rings in. Once this is placed in the chuck of the lathe, as seen in the photo above, and the chuck is tightened up, this squeezes the tube enough to grip the piston ring whilst in a fully compressed state. This then allowed the required thickness the be removed from the inner edge of the ring. Excellent. You can see the slot in the tube running diagonally across the lower side.

As of lunchtime today (I am typing this in as I eat, hahahaha) the 1st piston is fully installed with all the piston rings fitting inside the liners, and the big end connected. The 2nd piston is in place in the liner ready for the piston rings to be fitted.

Unfortunately after lunch we discovered that the oil rings are not the right ones, so we have had to order some different ones, which should take about a week to arrive.

Pistons Go In.

Cleaning the Pistons before Installation.

Having successfully installed the Liners yesterday, we set about installing the pistons. First the piston and con rod assembly was cleaned up very carefully. Then the lowest oil ring was fitted to the piston as once it is in the engine the piston will not come up high enough to fit this lower ring. The piston and con rod were then installed into the engine.
However things were going too well. We then fitted the remaining oil ring and 3 piston rings. We worked the oil ring into the liner, but the 1st of the piston rings proved to be a tad difficult. We removed the rings and Roger checked their thickness, they were too thick! A quick phone call to the supplier and he said they were all he had. An overnight plan had to be formulated.

1st Piston in Place.

Fitting the New Liners

'O' Ring Fitted to Liner.

With the arrival of all the new parts last week, Roger and Keith set about fitting the new liners today. First they had to fit the 'O' rings to the liners. The 'O' ring creates the water seal at the bottom of the liner.

Lowering the New Liner into Place.

The liners were then lowered into the engine block.

Tightening the Liner Down to Compress the 'O' Ring.

Then the liners needed to be pushed down the final bit to compress the 'O' ring into the block. Roger made a device for this, which worked well.

Testing for Leaks.

They then half filled the water jacket with water to check for leaks, so far so good. They will leave it overnight to make sure there is absolutely no trace of leakage.

The 2 New Liners Fitted.

The New Liners Arrive.

Well Wrapped Up.

The new liners for the engine have arrived, and very nice they look too. Roger has managed to obtain some 'O' rings to fit the new liners. These 'O' rings create the watertight seal between the water jacket and the oil sump, which is where the water was leaking and we decided to strip the engine down to discover there were no 'O' rings forming the seal, just some silicone sealant.

One of the New Liners Next to an Old Liner.

Yesterday the new piston rings arrived, so we now have everything ready to start rebuilding the engine next week. So we look forward to the rebuild of our engine and the prospect of cruising again.

Bonfire Night.

Our Guy.

Having been given the pleasure of organising Bonfire Night. Tina and I decided what the bonfire needed was a nice looking guy. So we found some trousers, a shirt, a hat, scarf and a jacket and set about stuffing our guy with any rubbish to hand. We recycled a chair that was destined for the bonfire anyway, and roped our guy to it. Poor thing he did look like he knew his destiny. But although I say it myself, I think Tina and I did an excellent job of the guy and getting the evening organised.

Firework contributions.

People coming to the bonfire do, contributed some fireworks for the display and as you can see we had more than enough for an excellent display.

Bar-b-que.

Tina and I had spent the early part of the day organising where everything was going to go, including the bar-b-que. With people arriving at 7pm we made sure the bar-b-que was up and running for everyone to place their offering onto it. Friends bought burgers, sausages, a pot of soup, and a pot of chilli, plenty of bread rolls and of course plenty to drink. We had all three grills going, so there was plenty of room to lay out the food. No one went without throughout the evening, it was a huge success.

The Guy.

Every guy knows his destiny, and our guy was no different, well unless you count his LED eye's which Roger's brother Martin fitted. Whilst he burnt everyone was taking bets on how long the eyes would keep going. if i recall they lasted 9 minutes from what we could see in between the smoke and fire from the bonfire.

One very happy engine driver.

Keith really enjoyed driving one of Roger's engines. It has given him a lot of pleasure helping to restore the wagons and the adding new track.

All aboard.

Train Rides for everyone.

Everyone enjoyed a train ride around the boatyard.

Fireworks Display.

Keith, Roger and a few helpers gave us all a fantastic firework display.

Around the bonfire.

A wonderful evening was had by all those who attended, we finished up sitting around the fire chatting. No there was no singing, it would of probably put the fire out LOL.

Narrowboat Oakley

Well it has been a busy couple of weeks, too busy to even have time to update this blog. We are awaiting the return of the liners for our engine, so in the mean time Keith has been busy helping Roger with his railway as seen in the previous posting. Once the brake van was completed they set about repairing the track and adding a new section which now allows 2 trains to be run at the same time. A small platform has been added between the new and old tracks. Which Tina and I helped with, moving soil about and we did a bit of landscaping, so it looks nice. I will take some photographs once it is all complete.

Oakley arriving at the yard.

In between this work Keith has helped one of Roger's steel workers restore the narrowboat Oakley, a 1936 big Northwich of the G.U.C.C.Co. Whilst serving with BWB she was shortened to 60ft for use on maintenance work on the Leeds & Liverpool. He has a lot of work ahead but he has the skills and the facilities here. There is a website following this restoration at www.nboakley.blogspot.com so please go and have a look at Oakley's progress.