Easter Tidal Cruise

Having spent a very blustery Easter Monday top side of Holme Pierrepont, we headed back down river for an overnight stay in Newark before heading back down to Cromwell for Wednesday.  We had a very quick run with over 3 knots of current helping us due to the river being in flood.

 

Water Level, Nether Lock

Narrowboat sunk due to unattended
mooring lines, Nether Lock

We departed Cromwell on Wednesday afternoon onto a very high tide way with 12ft of fresh water which meant only a 2ft drop in the lock. The Torksey cut moorings were deserted upon our arrival.

Water Level, Cromwell Lock

Water Level, Tidal Side
Cromwell Lock

 

Early Thursday morning met our departure from these moorings with fog and a hard frost which soon cleared by Knaith. With all the flood water coming down river and only neap tides we carried the ebb down to Flixborough with plenty of depth. We planed from Burton Stather once the flood started running up, where we enjoyed a pleasant run to Hull Marina.

 

Leaving Torksey cut

West Butterwick

 

Having spent a few relaxing days within Hull Marina we were ready to move again. We had a fast run to Grimsby to finish off our week away, and the lower Humber was very busy with commercial shipping movements with it being high water. 

On Sunday we headed back up river to return back to base at Goole Boathouse, where hopefully within the next few weeks we can sort out Moonshine's bow thruster woes.

 

Grimsby Fish Dock

Zealand Alexia
 

Grimsby Fish Dock

Grimsby Fish Dock

We have been in contact with the editor of Motorboat Owner magazine regarding where to obtain spares for our Volvo Penta QL CT600 bow thruster. We are aware that these thrusters were made for Volvo by a Norwegian firm but since Volvo no longer support the product they advised that Sleipner Motor Uk should be able to assist us.  

Interestingly upon our arrival in Hull Marina, the same fate had befallen a Princess V45 after drawing in debris, requiring a lift out, a replacement propeller, shear pin and a 400 amp fuse on an overnight delivery. The skipper on that particular vessel is of the same mind as us, that a bow thruster on a large fast planing hull is a necessity as once the bow starts swinging with drives right aft, there is very little leverage to correct the manoeuvre and there is a lot of weight when things go wrong. 

We hope to obtain spares this coming week.