‘Big Licks’

What was dubbed ‘the hottest May Day weekend on record’, gave us yet another enjoyable short break down in Hull.

We departed Ocean Lock on Saturday with four other Goole Boathouse cruisers and had a very smooth run down to Hull, with Nitty Gritty (Sealine S25) following closely behind Moonshine. 

We had a short wait to lock in at Hull, and managed to get one of the few available moorings left on the visitor pontoon.  

Hull Marina was a hive of activity all weekend, and was the busiest we have seen it in a long time. 

After a long weekend of relaxation and watching Peter polishing Moonshine’s superstructure we departed Hull on the Monday which was yet another lovely calm hot day. 

Moonshine penned out of Hull Marina with three other cruisers (two Trent bound), and we had to give her some ‘big licks’ to get clear of their combined wash.  Her engines were running at 3400 rpm to the Humber Bridge with no overheating issues on her starboard engine...the final thing we have done is rod the engine oil cooler through which must have done the trick.  We then eased back to 3050 rpm, passing M.V. Tharis at the Upper Whitton also bound for Goole. 

We had excellent service at Goole Docks penning in with Pipe Dream and Mijo whom had both come from Hull. 

Next week Moonshine is booked in for her annual week long long lift out....the paint has been ordered and delivered along with the anodes, fingers crossed that everything runs smoothly and for good weather again but not as hot would be good!

Wet,Wet,Wet

Since we hadn’t visited Hull in a while we decided this was where we would start our Easter week away with the intention of cruising to Lincoln later in the week.

On Good Friday we had an early start with prompt service penning out of Goole Docks. We soon got Moonshine up onto the plane to test there were no mechanical problems after the harsh winter period we have just endured. We dropped her down to displacement speed at Bank House as three tugs were assisting ‘Sky Vita’ to free herself after being grounded for two tides. 

We were soon again on our way, enjoying a calm and uneventful trip with good help from a strong ebb tide. 

During the Easter weekend it became increasingly obvious that the trip up the River Trent was off the cards, as a months worth of rain had fallen within two days in the catchment area. Easter Monday was especially wet and windy in Hull, so even a sea trip was out of the question. We therefore decided to just enjoy all that Hull has to offer for the week, and since visitors to the marina get a fifth night free with the loyalty card, it really didn’t make it an expensive week away.

After spending most of the week on B pontoon, on Thursday the weather had improved to go for a run out on the river. Despite it still being breezy, we transited Hull Marina Lock at high water and with wind with tide this made for a very pleasant run. We also noticed that due to the high spring tides the tidal barrier was down. We travelled at displacement speed just off Skitter Haven where we turned and returned back to the marina. 

Fortunately there was now room on the visitor pontoon for us to lay on, near ‘Odin’ another Seawings 355 visiting from Farndon whom had been out the previous week and couldn’t return to his home mooring due to the flood gates being closed at Newark.

Having had a full week in Hull, we decided to return back to Goole on Saturday on the am tide. River conditions were flat calm and made for a very smooth and fast run back, until Blacktoft where we had caught up with another Goole Boathouse vessel which was bound for Goole which was traveling at displacement speed following the M.V. Danica Hav which was also bound for Goole. Since we had already passed another two ships on the river which were inbound for Goole we knew we could potentially be in for a long wait to pen in, and was surprised to hear that the Dock Master had arranged for us to pen through Victoria Lock. We had a short wait whilst awaiting for M.V. Danica Hav to swing and once we were safely passed her, we entered Victoria Lock. Moonshine’s second passage through Victoria Lock was very smooth and Lowther Bridge was swung as soon as the top gates opened.... its a pity Goole Docks don’t use Victoria Lock more often when it is busy with shipping. 

Despite the drab wet weather at the beginning of the week, and Moonshine’s heater being on continuously we haven’t had a bad weeks holiday, well where else could a family of four stay for £167 in a city centre. Moonshine has run very well on what little has been expected of her, and hopefully next holiday the rivers won’t be in flood if we can’t get to sea. 

 We have spent a small fortune in the shops and also enjoyed the Vue Cinema watching the latest Tomb Raider movie in the Princes Quay shopping centre (however we have since discovered the Odeon and Reel cinema are cheaper, apart from Monday’s), along with a few meals out and plenty of dog walks.

Meal times on the boat have been interesting as Laura is now a vegetarian, and since I will tolerate vegetarian meals Peter and Natalie WILL NOT! Thank goodness for my airfryer to speed cooking times up (along with the ever faithful shore power), but not the added confusion of extra utensils to avoid food contamination.... not so easy when you have had a few pre dinner drinks....I am not the greatest cook in the world and after attempting to kid Peter and Natalie up that Falafels were meatballs, which didn’t go down well at all, well, I have had to give up!

New for Old

Over the past few months we have been quite busy with one thing or another, namely installing and fitting ourselves a light weight warm roof on our existing conservatory at home. This has made a massive difference both to its heat retention and its more visually appealing looks, and the plus side being it is a lot more low maintenance in the cleaning department.

Before and After

This is not to say Moonshine has been neglected during the cold months. Before Christmas she was (in Peter’s words) treated to a full engine service. He also treated her to a new set of horns as the originals were very poor. We have still left the existing horns on (working independently) to get the attention of crew rather than blasting them out with the new set which are rather impressively loud!

New Horns

We had noticed some of the woodwork under the forward bed had become loose where it was bonded to the Hull. This was rebonded with some spare fibreglass, but since it was a messy and smelly job Peter did this one weekend on his own.

Several months ago the windscreen demister heater unit’s motor seized up. The original unit was an Ardic 10kw Matrix Heater, and after investigation decided to renew the whole unit as it was not economically viable to repair. We decided to splash the cash and purchase a new unit, a Kalori Kinox. This is a direct replacement so it looks identical to the old unit. It is a very effective three speed fan and soon clears the screen when there is heat in the engine. 

New Windscreen Demister

Moonshine has also been treated to a new folding chrome effect tap in her wheelhouse wet bar sink. This is a massive improvement on the original plastic job that Hardy Marine saw fit to install. After a friend of ours (also with a 355) fitted one, it looked that good we had to get one too. It was a bit awkward to fit but the end result is more appealing. 

Before and After

This weekend, since the weather was more clement,  we ventured up to Sykehouse Lift Bridge moorings to give Moonshine a run.  This is the second outing we have enjoyed since Christmas as with work commitments and icy winter conditions have meant more time at home recently, however Moonshine ran well and we enjoyed a nice peaceful overnight stay.  Work again next weekend but with Easter fast approaching hopefully we will soon be back on tidal waters and are very much looking forward to the Easter break to stretch her legs once again.

Sykehouse Lift Bridge Moorings

Sykehouse Lock Keepers House All Completed

Up In The Air

Our plans for a trip to Hull this weekend were a bit up in the air at first, due to the forecast low pressure bringing strong winds for Saturday and Sunday. As the weekend approached the wind was forecast to be quite light on the Saturday but very windy come Sunday. 

We decided to brave the cold northerly wind and had a very pleasant fast run down, accompanied by another Goole boat ‘Lady Izzy’ arriving at Hull around lunch time. 

After an afternoon of shopping with the kids, whilst Peter tended to his boat checks and took the hounds for a long walk along the river, we were looking forward to an evening meal out. What we didn’t expect was the volume of visitors to Hull to see a City of Culture parade in the early evening, and people queuing out of the door at every food emporium! We then had to make an executive decision to get some food and eat on the boat, with a stroppy teenager in tow. A few pizzas and a bag of chips were quickly grabbed from the trusty Heron Foods store and said pizzas were chucked in the oven, and it gave us a great opportunity to use the cheap B&M air fryer bought a few weeks ago in Newark. It was the best meal we have had in a long time...well anything would be when you are ravenous! 

As predicted on the Sunday the wind had gotten up after dawn, and was blowing NW 6 when we left Hull. We had another two crew on Moonshine on the return trip, Keith and Mary from ‘Mar y sol’ who had crewed for ‘Lady Izzy’ on the way down, which is getting lifted out at Hull for her annual maintenance.

We decided to take the north channel so as to get a lee from the shore. It was quite rough from Hull to the bridge, and as it was calmer in the north channel we planed until cutting across to the main channel where we slowed as it was quite rough and then carried on at displacement speed until Apex Light, then again planing until Old Goole. We had a short wait to pen into Ocean Lock, and with the northerly wind over tide the waves were quite impressive in Goole Reach. 

Due to work and other commitments this will be our last tidal trip for awhile, but will give us chance to catch up on servicing maintenance jobs. 

A Frightening Dangerous Situation!

Mon 23rd Oct - Goole to Newark

What a difference a day makes after the weekends antics of storm ‘Brian’.
We received excellent service transiting Ocean Lock this morning. With a very light breeze we headed off into the sunrise at displacement speed and planed from Swinefleet, slowing down passing Keadby Lock and planed again to Owston Ferry where we again traveled at displacement speed so as not to beat the tide.

Having made very good progress with very little floating debris, we caught a thick barge mooring rope around the starboard propellers stalling its engine just outside West Stockwith Lock. Peter tried to turn Moonshine into the tide as we had now lost power steering to enable us to make the lock wall approach to tie up, however this manoeuvre resulted in said rope fouling the port propellers and disabling that engine also. We had to think very quick and deploy the anchor as we were fast approaching Stockwith bend on a very strong flood tide. The anchor bit just as we had rounded the bend fortunately mid stream, it was a frightening dangerous situation until Moonshine was under control. It took an hour of sawing at a blind arms length to release the rope. The West Stockwith Lock Keeper was very good and had arranged for a boat on standby to tow us in if necessary. We would most certainly have been in a pickle had we not had outdrives which lift up to work on. This has now taught us to practice regular anchor deployment drills, more for my benefit as I don’t handle stressful situations well at all, especially when boats and water are thrown into the mix. 

Now the rope was free, both engines were tested forward and astern before heaving the anchor in. Despite this delay we were now safe and still with plenty of time to make Cromwell we headed off towards Torksey where the dogs received a well deserved toilet break, before continuing on to Cromwell. We eventually arrived at Newark mid afternoon and was fortunate to moor on the Kiln moorings, and hook up to the electric on the pontoon. 

Tues 24th Oct - Newark
We spent two nice evenings on the Kiln pontoon in Newark, with plenty of dog walks and a bit of shopping thrown in for good measure (although I did have to restock up on whisky to steady my nerves...well that’s my excuse anyway!).

On a serious note we have also familiarised ourselves with the anchor winch operation, to ensure we are a bit more au fait with its rapid deployment should the need ever arise again in an emergency situation.

Wed 25th Oct - Newark to Gunthorpe 

We departed the moorings in Newark as soon as the lock keeper came on duty and headed upstream to Gunthorpe. Whilst transiting Gunthorpe Lock we advised the lock keeper of our intention to test our anchor and winch deployment, just in case he thought we were in trouble mid stream. 

The deployment test was successful mid stream and also I as crew have a good understanding now of how to manually deploy the anchor, which can be down in seconds should the need arise.  However, we need to ensure that we do periodic anchor drills to keep familiar with it. We would also urge others to ensure their crew can act quickly in an emergency.

Thurs 26th Oct - Gunthorpe to Torksey

This morning we departed Gunthorpe at 9.30 am just as the lock keeper came on duty. We had a nice steady run back downstream stopping on a very quiet Kiln Moorings in Newark once again for a little bit of shopping, before heading down towards Cromwell and heading back onto the tidal River Trent on the ebb arriving at Torksey cut around 4pm. Fortunately this part of the trip was uneventful, but fingers crossed for tomorrow mornings return trip back to Goole. 

Fri 27th Oct - Torksey to Goole Boathouse

After departing Torksey at 7.30am we had a very steady 6 knot run back down river on the ebb meeting the flood at Keadby, from where we then had enough water to plane back to Goole. The river being on neap tides wasn’t full of floating debris today and upon arriving at Goole we enjoyed excellent service from Ocean Lock penning Moonshine in quickly, and she was safely back in her berth at 11.48am. 

We have logged 141.1 nautical miles this week. 

Overall we have had a nice week away and the warm weather has certainly helped. 

Ensnaring a rope as we did is a rare occurrence. We try to use Moonshine as much as we can and this is the second time Peter has been in a situation like that (the first being a long time ago on his dad’s boat). But what this has taught us is that a good working anchor set up is essential when going tidal, when we had no engine power in a fast flowing spring tide you have very little time to react and you are at the rivers mercy. Hopefully we will never be in a situation like that again, but if we are we will ensure we are both quicker to react in future. 

Hooligan

This weekend saw the start of our half term holiday, however nothing has gone to plan due to storm ‘Brian’howling like a hooligan all weekend.

Our original intention was to let the strong southerly winds ease on the Saturday and spend an enjoyable day in port, and then head out on the river Trent on the Sunday when the wind was due to move to the west which would give us a smoother run.

We didn’t have a good nights sleep at all on Saturday night due to the ongoing ferocious winds and rain lashing the boat most of the night, so decided to cancel our booked pen until Monday when the winds will be significantly lighter. 

We will head towards Newark on Monday. We are not sure if we will head any further at this point, as we need to be back home on Friday. 

Taking The Long Way Around

We have been quite busy over the last few weekends with one thing or another.  Our eldest daughter has been dropped off and is nicely settled at university, not too far away from us in Leeds. It has been a mammoth task getting all her stuff bought in preparation for this whilst costing a small fortune, and despite the fact that she can request to return home at any point for her washing to be done...as was the case this weekend.

This weekend we are childless but not dogless! We decided on a trip to Sykehouse late on Saturday afternoon (5pm ish) to give Moonshine a quick run out. 

Sykehouse Road Bridge

After dropping said child off at university and battling through a very busy Leeds City Centre we then headed across to Goole Boathouse. Since South Dock Bridge is closed to road traffic this weekend and next weekend, this meant a lengthy detour via Crowle in the Isle of Axholme in North Lincolnshire... what a faff, suffice to say parking was extremely quiet on a weekend for Goole Boathouse upon our arrival!

Anyway after filling up with fresh water we made a quick departure and headed up to Sykehouse Road Bridge arriving approximately 6pm, with just enough time to walk the dogs before it was dark and settling down to an evening meal concoction of gammon, egg, mushrooms, noodles and salad along with the obligatory evening drinks.

This weekend also gave us the opportunity to check if another descale of the raw water side of the starboard engine heat exchanger had done the trick, which after using white vinegar and heating through (just like descaling a kettle) appears to have done some good. Not that we have had any overheating issues this year, but this starboard engine still runs marginally warmer...but we are aware this could be down to this engine running the calorifier, screen heater matrix and the power steering pump so this could be normal. 

Also the heat exchanger end cap is critical how it is fitted. The sea water passes the length of it four times and it looks like it had been fitted slightly out of its correct position. Even though we have had this cap off before, we have always refitted it in exactly the same position. So it may be that someone has inadvertently fitted it in the wrong position prior to our ownership of Moonshine. 

Humbrian Sea Heading Upstream

So all in all a nice quiet enjoyable end to what started out as a hectic weekend, and not forgetting to mention that the weather was quite decent. Next weekend due to work commitments and needing to tackle some jobs at home we will not visit the boat, but this is more to do with the lengthy detour the works on South Dock Bridge dictate.