Summer cruise 1

Arrived, packed the boat and departed for Stourport on Wednesday. A cold uneventful cruise up the Severn and an easy passage through the locks to the basin. Pump out and fuel at Limekiln Chandlery and a new rear button fender. Also wanted a new bow fender but apparently an urgent order from a Liverpool boat builder had cleared their stock. Moored above York Street lock for the night.
Away to Sainsbury Kidderminster to top up supplies and on to moor just short of the 24 hour moorings at Kinver. The morning gave a clear view of the Astra satellites back down the canal.
Friday, cruised to above Bratch. Straight in and through. The lock keeper confirmed our impression that the canal was very quiet. We were the 7th boat through all day. Mooring provided neither digital nor satellite TV, as I miss read the app. Apart from this Dish Align is a useful aid to finding the Astra satellite. Rain early evening and heavy rain overnight.
Woke to rain but set off after a late breakfast when it eased. Uneventful cruise to Compton Lock for a lunch stop and milk. Noticed the new closer Sainsburys Local only on the way back from the Spar. Rain increased over lunch and decided to stay. Limited TV reception on the stick ariel.
Sunday, a fine sunny day and a quiet cruise until the engine cut out after lunch. Obvious symptoms of a blocked fuel filter. Checking my records I changed the filter 100 hour and 9 months previously! I thought I had changed it since then otherwise would have done it earlier. After a 30 minute emergency stop set off with a replacement filter. With J wanting to see the last episode of Home Fires, moored about 1.5 miles past Gnosall at a location that promised a clear view of the Astra satellite. On the bank with my iPad, for the first time that day, I had a 3G signal enabling the app to indicate the direction of the satellite. It was a poor mooring with the boat away from the bank. However, the stick ariel detected 202 TV stations, so no need for the satellite, but no 3G signal. Eventually discovered that if I stood by the canal mile post there was a 3G signal. 10m either way no signal.
Monday, a quiet cruise in cool sunshine to the top of Adderley Locks. Stopped for lunch and passed by 2 boats. A very slow passage through the 5 locks behind a single handler and a bad decision by the boat immediately ahead to open the gates of the last lock to allow a distant approaching boat to enter before the single handed. Delayed by being caught on the side before the last lock. One foot in the canal a a scrapped shin getting off it. Moored at the closest Market Drayton moorings. No reception on the stick ariel but a clear view of the satellite down the canal.

A very normal start to our cruise to Liverpool.

Hanbury to Worcester - Days 6 & 7

A walk around Hanbury Junction and a lazy afternoon. We decided to cruise straight back to Worcester the next day.
Lunch at Saffron's and home on day 8.

Droitwich to Hanbury - Day 5

Time has moved on and not being able to cruise the river we have recast our plans. There's not time to do the Stourport -Wolverhampton-Stourbridge ring that we intended and J is not well. We have decide to take our time getting back to Worcester, so 2 nights at Hanbury and maybe a stop at Tibberton.
Uneventful cruise on the Droitwich Junction Canal, calling in at Droitwich Marina for a pompous and fuel. Apparently they are full and the office/lounge/chandlery building has just been completed. Service very slick.
At the top lock there's a board with lights indicating the states of the Rivers Salwarpe and Severn but, so a volunteer said, it does not work. CRT is certainly sending out confusing information regarding the state of the River Severn
... a traffic light system that does not work,
... a stoppage notice closing the river, a clear message that it is not safe,
... water level indicator boards, Red, Amber, Green.
Talking to boats, both private and hire, heading for the Severn, the response was always the same, "We heard the river was closed but it is now open," whilst the water level was still at Red!

Hawford to Droitwich - Day 4

Returned to Droitwich. Although the river was opened yesterday, the indicator was still in the red and the water level had not changed since yesterday afternoon. Looked at the river and decided to return to Droitwich. Turned the boat on the river pontoon and the speed at which the boat came round suggested we had made the right decision. Maybe would have considered a swift passage down river but our plan was to go up river and that would have been a long slog against the stream. Now considering a really idle cruise, all within about 10 miles!
At least this gave me another opportunity of getting round the sharp bend at Salwarpe with some dignity, having on the way down cut the corner and run aground. I did it but only just and I have now concluded that the only way travelling towards Droitwich is to stop on the corner and then turn.

Hawford Lock - Day 3

Expected to be here all day. The river has gone down about 250mm but still flowing strongly.
 Yesterday  Today  Surprised by CRT unlocking the lock at about 1430. Two boats when through but both going to Worcester expecting to moor at the race course. Told them the moorings were underwater when we passed Wednesday and told then about the pontoon below the WBC lock moorings. We decided to stay as we would not make the last lock before Stourport before the river locks closed at 1800. We'll leave tomorrow morning and hope the river will be lower still.

Droitwich to Hawford - Day 2

 The locked lock gates at Hawford. We shopped in Droitwich this morning and set out for Hawford before lunch. We had expected it so it was no surprise to receive an email notifying that the River Severn from Gloucester to Stourport is closed because of strong flows. We had already decided to stop at Hawford and expected we may be there for a day or two ... hopefully not much more.
Met first two hire oats reversing from Hawford to Droitwich and then a private boat. I had though that it was wide enough for shorter boats to turn before Hawford locks but apparently it was thought not possible. However, helped a 48' boat to turn and then discovered we knew them ... result a very pleasant pre diner drinks. They had expected to be able to turn in the pound between the 2 Hawford locks ... they had spoken to CRT and had this confirmed ... however, finding lock number 2 locked meant they could not do this. Poor CRT customer relations.

Worcester to Doitwich - Day 1

Away on our Easter cruise. Unusually not planned but including Strourbridge and Netherton Tunnel. arrived at the boat yesterday after a day out with N at the Avoncroft museum of buildings. Pizza Express for dinner and away early this morning and breakfast on the river. No lights at Diglis and I forgot to check the boards as we entered the Severn. Stong stream and managed 3mph though Worcester but this decreased to 2mph when the river narrowed North of the city.
Arrived at the lock to find a hire boat detained on the moorings. Lock keeper let us though but warned us that the river was rising and to keep well left to avoid the pull of the weir. Speed down to 1mph approaching the Doitwich Canal river lock but some power in reserve.
Found hire boat White's Thrush in the lock. Transpired their hire company had refused permission to go on the river to Worcester but the only way to turn the boat was on the river. The most dangerous manouvred completed they were back in the lock. It would have been safer for then to cruise to Worcester despite the turn there into the WB Canal!
Uneventful cruise to Droitwich sharing locks with White's Thrush. Early in the year so the reeds have not grown across the canal. However, it appears that much work has been done to dredge or clear the reeds with the spoil on the bank. Made an outstanding mess at Salwarpe Corner only just backing off the bank before hitting it before the bridge. Arrived safely at the mooring to find one unoccupied boat and White's Thrush taking on water, but otherwise empty visitors' moorings.
N departs this evening after meal out with us and parents.

Short Maintenance Visit

Half day visit and fitted the altered sump pump mounting.

Also changed the 55amp alternator for the 70amp alternator, to improve recharging time. Fitted a new inner belt but confused about which are my new belts so did not replace the outer.  This will have to wait for a later visit.

Planning our 2015 long cruise

I had thought we would go south to the K & A. We started out with this I tension a couple of years back but turned round at Oxford because of unremitting bad weather and then enjoyed fabulous weather all the way back. However, J suggested Liverpool so looked up the detail of our previous cruise there. Eventually found the spreadsheet, 2009, six years ago!

Now booked for Liverpool Link for late June. Press reports of online booking and changes to the access routine seem premature. The only change since our last visit is that boats transit from Hancocks Bridge to Malthouse Dock in one day (in 2009 boats were required to stop overnight at Eldonian Port).

Maintenance Visit

Visited for 2 nights, part maintenance and part leisure. Weather forecast was not good but turned out dry and sunny, but cold. Difficulties lighting the diesel stove seemed to be over now that the catalyser has been replaced.

When we took the boat round for a pump out the over voltage alarm on the Smartgauge was activated. I bought a replacement voltage regulator with a field wire fitted on eBay and replaced the faulty one. Running the engine pre and post fitting the new unit demonstrated the fault was fixed.

I had brought the 5 domestic batteries home when last visited the boat. One had a faulty cell and two more failed to hold the fully charged voltage. Refitted the remaining 2 and 3 new ones.

When new the engine had one alternator and the sump oil pump was at the front of the engine. When I fitted a second alternator the pump has moved to the side and mounted on a steel plate bolted to the side of the engine. The pump was held in place by 2 large cable clamps secured by bolts on the plate. A few years back I noticed that the cable clamps had broken and, although still in place, the pump was loose. Attempting to replace these I first ordered the same size cable clamps on eBay. Unfortunately, although the right size for the pump the holding holes did not align with the bolts on the plate. Then I ordered two cable clamps from Beta Marine but they supplied the wrong size. I gave up trying to correct this and the pump has been held on with just the one cable clamp. I was never happy that the pump could come loose if the single cable clamp broke. I have now modified the plate.

The picture on the left shows the remodelled plate with the clamps fitted. The picture on the right shows the new bolt, nearest, and the cut off bolt just to the right of the new one. After cutting off the old bolt, a new hole was drilled and tapped. The new bolt was screwed in and welded on place at the back.

J's new top accidentally left behind so extra visit now planned to bring it home. Plan to replace the domestic 55amp alternator with the 70amp alternator and fit the new pump plate. We're almost ready for the next cruising season.

Start of Winter Maintenace

With thoughts now turning to cruising it's time to start the jobs to get Ada ready for the coming season. Today, put in the new diesel strove chatyliser. Whether it was just luck or the new part, there was no difficulty lighting it and it seemed boil the kettle faster ...

The other job was to bring home the domestic batteries. As the batteries are always fully charged I could do the checks onboard but I would still need to take out the batteries as it's not possible to check and top up 3 of the 5 without removing them all ... so I've brought them home to do the checks here.

It took longer than I planned as I wanted to leave the shore charger powering the boat but could not work out which where the cables from the charger ... there seemed to be only one cable and not two (Domestics and starter). Then I realised how clever I'd been when fitting the charger, the charging cable for the domestic batteries is connected to the distribution connection by the fuse box. Attached some cable labels to help in the future.

A very pleasant day and it I'd checked the weather forecast I'd have planned to do more.