Upon arriving at the visitors pontoon, it was a tight squeeze to get moored up as a vessel had moored inconsiderately and and was wandering about in the wind as it wasn't tied up properly.
We had two evenings at Hull before heading for the Trent.
We had a fantastic fast run from Hull to the Apex on Monday morning, where we slowed down to displacement speed to pass a Seamaster.
After passing this vessel, we followed a course of 152° to clear Island sand for the leading marks and intended to resume planing speed once again. It was then we heard said vessel put a mayday call out to VTS Humber, as he had lost power and had initially thought it was on fire. Fortunately it was just steam from an over heating engine. We promptly got him under tow, mindful of the coaster 'Dornum' which was entering the River Trent, so he wasn't a hazard. Once he was settled under tow, we contacted VTS to request assistance from Humber Rescue. We kept close to the west side while the coaster overtook, and then we rounded up and stemmed the tide whilst the coaster rounded up to moor at Grove Wharf. We ended up towing him to Keadby, where Humber Rescue arrived to resume the tow into Keadby Lock.
Once he was safe, we continued our passage to Torksey. At this stage we were at high water, so got very little help from the tide, but at least we had loads of depth.
We eventually made Torksey about an hour and a half after our estimated time of arrival. After a well earned dog walk for the hounds we continued onto Saxilby for the evening.
Tuesday morning we had a steady run into Lincoln, mooring on the new Brayford Trust visitor moorings for two nights. When visiting Lincoln we have always moored on the CRT visitor moorings, and use the generator to top up the batteries and water heating etc. However, to save us the hassle, noise and cost of petrol we thought £15 per night was a small price to pay to stay on nice new clean moorings with a lovely view of the pool. During busy periods it would be prudent to book ahead to secure a berth, however at this time of year the moorings were empty since half term has ended for Lincolnshire.
We had a fantastic fast run from Hull to the Apex on Monday morning, where we slowed down to displacement speed to pass a Seamaster.
After passing this vessel, we followed a course of 152° to clear Island sand for the leading marks and intended to resume planing speed once again. It was then we heard said vessel put a mayday call out to VTS Humber, as he had lost power and had initially thought it was on fire. Fortunately it was just steam from an over heating engine. We promptly got him under tow, mindful of the coaster 'Dornum' which was entering the River Trent, so he wasn't a hazard. Once he was settled under tow, we contacted VTS to request assistance from Humber Rescue. We kept close to the west side while the coaster overtook, and then we rounded up and stemmed the tide whilst the coaster rounded up to moor at Grove Wharf. We ended up towing him to Keadby, where Humber Rescue arrived to resume the tow into Keadby Lock.
Once he was safe, we continued our passage to Torksey. At this stage we were at high water, so got very little help from the tide, but at least we had loads of depth.
We eventually made Torksey about an hour and a half after our estimated time of arrival. After a well earned dog walk for the hounds we continued onto Saxilby for the evening.
Tuesday morning we had a steady run into Lincoln, mooring on the new Brayford Trust visitor moorings for two nights. When visiting Lincoln we have always moored on the CRT visitor moorings, and use the generator to top up the batteries and water heating etc. However, to save us the hassle, noise and cost of petrol we thought £15 per night was a small price to pay to stay on nice new clean moorings with a lovely view of the pool. During busy periods it would be prudent to book ahead to secure a berth, however at this time of year the moorings were empty since half term has ended for Lincolnshire.
Wednesday morning after putting the reserved sign on our mooring, we had an early frosty start heading down to Burton Waters for our prearranged appointment with the resident upholsterer to discuss reupholstering the saloon seating which is on its last legs. Unfortunately, he wasn't around as planned, but we left with some Ultraleather fabric samples to offer up, and arranged to return the following day. Neither of us are any good with colours, and obviously with high cost implications we didn't want to make a poor choice. After looking at other boats online of a similar era, and after already changing our mind several times on a colour we eventually decided on a contrasting buff colour against our existing ivory headlining.
On Thursday after a bit of food shopping, and after an especially noisy long night of Uni students celebrating Halloween, we set off once again to Burton Waters hoping to see the upholsterer. This time we were in luck, and he patterned the base cushions up to ensure a better fit than the existing cushions. After much debate we have chosen the buff colour and are certain this will suit the saloon and contrast nicely with the side linings. The Ultraleather fabric we have chosen is a synthetic hard wearing fabric which mimics leather both in looks and texture. The existing cushions are still the original genuine leather, but have worn extremely thin and are scruffy with the foam very soft, so much so that they don't sit properly anymore. To say Moonshine was built in 1996, they haven't done too bad. Now we just have to wait for a quote, and if all is in order we will drop our cushions off at their work shop next week for work to commence.
After a constructive morning, we moved off back down to Torksey for our tidal trip back to Goole the following day.
We departed Torksey just after 9am on a frosty Friday morning and ran down river on the ebb hoping to meet the flood in the Keadby area at displacement speed. We had to be very careful as the river was very low especially at Marton Bend, the lowest we have seen it in a long time. We also encountered a sunken boat at the downstream end of Knaith Rack, which must have been completely submerged on our way up earlier on in the week as we did not notice it, and it looks as if it has been there for some time. Clearly nobody is in any rush to remove this hazard. After meeting the flood at East Butterwick, we soon had enough water to commence planing. The river was pretty clear of debris, and we arrived at Ocean Lock Goole in good time receiving good service from the dock master.
We have had a good week away and have been very lucky with the weather, despite the cold and wet weather last weekend. Moonshine has run well, with continuous use of the heater, and hopefully we will soon have the upholstery works in motion to tidy her up a bit more.
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