Poorly Dogs on Holiday

A week last Saturday, armed with new starter batteries, we had a long days cruise from Goole to Newark stopping at Torksey to let the tide build and let the dogs off. Upon arrival at Cromwell, there were no vacant moorings hence the busy bank holiday weekend, so we had no choice but to continue onto Newark after being advised not to moor at Nether Lock due to potential antisocial behaviour. We didn't even expect a mooring in Newark town, however there was loads of space on the wall near Castle Barge.

After a few days spent in Newark, we headed upstream to Stoke for two nights, with a trip to Nottingham mooring on the visitor pontoon at Meadow Lane Lock.

We then trundled back down river on Thursday to Farndon, and was lucky enough to lay on the CRT visitor pontoon, avoiding Farndon Harbour's (in our opinion) hefty charges for their river pontoon with no facilities or security. At this stage we knew Scout was 'a bit off' in the bottom department but otherwise fine. We found a nice farm shop called Hardy's where we were able to purchase some chicken to aid settling her.

We headed back down river to Newark on Friday for some lunch and shopping, before heading back downstream to wait at Cromwell for the tide, before heading to a very busy Torksey Cut. Upon arrival there was no available mooring, however we noticed that a narrow boat which was moored economically right at the end of the pontoon could move back a touch to enable us to squeeze our stern onto the end. The narrowboater was very good and pulled as far back, when asked, allowing us access ashore.  Another cruiser arrived about an hour later and you could see the dismayed look on their faces, until we invited them alongside. They departed just after 4am bound for Wells next the Sea. Just after their departure, Lottie our other dog started panting quite distressed until she was let into the saloon where puppy pads were still down for Scout, relieving herself immediately on the pads. She normally would be mortified and upset at doing her business on the boat or even in the house, but she must have known that that is what the pads intended use is for....better out than in I always say!

On Saturday morning we departed a now deserted Torksey Cut, and thought we would head downstream and wait at the Gainsborough pontoon so that the trip wouldn't be as long without a toilet break for the dogs. This also gave us more water over the notoriously shallow part of Marton Bend. Getting towards spring tides now and with hardly any rain to speak of recently, parts of the river were very shallow. We departed Gainsborough after a three hour break to meet the flood tide at Keadby and planed back to Goole. Once safely back at Goole Boathouse, we quickly loaded up the car to get back home.

It now seems plain egg for breakfast and a bland mix of chicken and white rice for tea  is on the doggy menu for the next few days...as upon returning home Tia got the dreaded dog bug also. 
During Sunday, Lottie went downhill rapidly due to dehydration and a trip to the emergency vets in Morley, Leeds was required. The vet was ready to prescribe medication until she saw Lottie had no strength to hold her weight on her back legs so then decided to keep her in overnight due to her dehydration and discomfort. What was an enjoyable trip away has now ended with a sour taste left in our mouths.

Change of Scenery

This weekend we decided to visit Sykehouse for a change and test the outboard. 
We had taken the outboard home over the winter period, but whilst stored in the garage it had rolled onto its wrong side, allowing oil to enter the cylinder. This was thoroughly cleaned out at home, and after numerous attempts at restarting the engine it finally burst into life smoking for a few minutes whilst clearing itself out. The outboard was then returned back to the boat, for a proper test on the canal to check it ran ok on the dingy, which it did.


Last weekend the two new Lucas batteries were installed, along with our new Plastimo compass, which looks very smart. This needs to be checked in calm open water, but it appears to be pretty accurate on the canal comparing it's reading with the C.O.G on the plotter. However, on the canal you are never far from the magnetic influence of the steel sheet piling that line the banks.

Sykehouse could prove to be our new favourite dog walking place, after discovering new walking territory.

Bling, Ker-Ching and Where To Go...

Whilst going tidal over the Easter period, we discovered the Eltrim Trim Tab controller wasn't working on the green button. After a bit of investigation, and finding out a new replacement unit would cost around £300, we opted instead for a £49.99 repair or refund of money paid if unfixable. After paying the fee upfront on mdsbattery.co.uk ebay's store, we posted the controller off to their works in Enfield last Monday via the post office using their special signed following day delivery. We advised that the green button wasn't working correctly, and that the two white buttons didn't seem as positive as the red (which was still working fine). The repaired controller was returned back to us on Wednesday via UPS, with all four buttons replaced and resoldered leds. The unit has now been refitted and tested, and is back to full working order. Money very well spent.

Apart from refitting the trim tabs controller, one small job which has been in the pipeline has been to make a nicer more aesthetically pleasing light switch surround. The old original surround was matching cream vinyl on a wooden mount, however the rounded corners always looked creased and a bit agriculturally finished off. From the bathroom worktop project we completed over the winter, we had plenty of black Staron left over, and thought a small offcut of this would be perfect for the job. This looks a lot tidier now, and matches the black perspex sliding entrance door with an added bit of sparkle/bling.


With Mayday bank holiday weekend upon us, we were very much undecided where to go. We didn't want to go back to Hull after only having visited there recently, and we had been debating whether to visit Barnby on the Marsh. However Saturdays forecasted blustery conditions and spring tides put paid to that idea, plus the fact it would be nicer to visit on a sunnier weekend. So instead we opted for a cheap weekend trundling up the canal to a very quiet Pollington, with plenty of dog walking and relaxation to look forward to, however Sundays quieter weather brought boats out in full force.


This weekend we have also noticed that our marine compass has been leaking and not working properly, and the starter batteries now need replacing....Ker-Ching! Not such a cheap weekend now it seems.

Not So Much Of A Safe Haven

We had a good week visiting Lincoln and Hull in the week leading up to the Easter weekend. Moonshine ran well and we had a very enjoyable break, until yet another yacht ran into us at Hull Marina, damaging our bow roller and bending the release pin. The weather was unbelievably calm, however the unseasoned skipper of yacht 'Swallow' decided to moor in his allocated berth opposite ours bows first, whilst not keeping a watchful eye on what his stern was doing! How wrong were we to assume we were in a safe haven. We immediately contacted the duty lock keeper for him to log the incident, and we followed this up with an email requesting Hull Marina confirm this had been done...however no email was returned to us...

Peter rectified the damage by returning to the boat on Easter Monday and successfully managed to straighten the bow roller out. However, rather disappointingly the yachtsman from Grimsby and Cleethorpes Yacht Club, has yet to contact us as promised one week on. I have told Peter to contact him requesting his insurance details to put the 'shitters' up him! It also begs the question had we not witnessed the impact, would he have admitted liability...we think NOT! Bloody infuriating with the inconvenience of it all, but it is sorted now, and it is probably a good job that it is quite soft metal to bear the brunt of any impact, as opposed to damaging the anchor, winch or glass fibre.
Prior to our holiday we did purchase a 24" LG tv (non smart) from Amazon, which fit perfectly on our bulkhead bracket. We haven't had much use from it yet, since it has been hooked up to the Xbox over Easter courtesy of a gaming mad teenager. Whilst in Lincoln, the tv signal was non existent due to the high rise university buildings, which in turn infuriated Peter as he does like both the national and local tv weather to compare everything tally's with the internet weather before either going out on  the river or to sea. After further investigation and recommendation, we purchased upon our return home an SLX Digidome outdoor digital aerial from Amazon for £29.99.


Saturday was mostly spent installing the mushroom aerial, with several hours spent with Peter in the 'bosom' of his engine room feeding coaxial wire through tight spaces.
It appears to give very good reception with a lot more channels being received than our old aerial, however it's real test will be when we return to a weak signal area.

'Flogging A Dead Horse'

Since Moonshine's saloon is looking nice and tidy with her new upholstery, we decided it was time to remove all the curtains for washing. We only got as far as removing one in the forward cabin, and realised we were 'flogging a dead horse' with this, as all the lining material was badly mildew stained. The existing curtains have been removed several times in our ownership for washing of which we are pretty sure they are original, and had been re-hung randomly with not realising that they had different drops. After measuring them all correctly, we decided that purchasing some ready made curtains from Dunelm for £55 to utilize the fabric would be the best and cheapest option, and with enough fabric left over for potential mishaps and for making additional tie-backs. In addition 10 meters of 1" white heading tape, 3 meters of 3 pass ivory thermal black out lining material and anti snag branded Velcro was purchased from eBay for approx £16 (the attached curtain lining of the new ready made curtains was a silky material which we didn't like as this was in my opinion too thin). Both the sewing machine and the overlocker have done sterling service over the last week, and the end result is pretty good. We may end up regretting using the thicker blackout material as this bulks the top of the curtains where they are gathered, but this will become more transparent once they have properly relaxed.

The forward cabin curtains have not yet been hung, as we are making a pair of curtain rail stand off's out of hardwood, which need multiple coats of paint. These will compensate for the flare of the hull sides to ensure they don't touch the port lights to minimise transfer of condensation.

We have also made some cardboard templates for both a 24" and 28" LG tv for the boat, to be sited on the heads bulkhead in the saloon to replace our existing dated 19" combi dvd/tv. These will be offered up next weekend to see which is the better size for the space available. Obviously Peter is protesting as he likes his old tv, and would rather put the money towards a new dingy or replace a turbo etc, but he has been given the hard line that he needs to keep his crew happy!

Easter is now fast approaching, and we are looking forward to less work and more play!

Short Cut

This weekend and with no work commitments we were looking forward to enjoying a full weekend aboard Moonshine with her new upholstery.
Since the weather was settled and unseasonably mild, we ventured up the canal to Pollington on Saturday morning. Passing no other craft we moored on the CRT moorings low side of the lock.
The dogs had a decent circular walk around the village upon our arrival, and we decided to work our way across to Sykehouse for our afternoon walk. This involved cutting across the lock and running back down the opposite side of the canal bank to Crowcroft Bridge, where we headed along the farm path in the direction of Sykehouse. You can then pick up the public footpath that cuts across the fields in a zigzag to Topham which is an annexe of Sykehouse village. This gave the dogs a really good walk, and we discovered on the return trip (we could see Moonshine was only a stones throw away) a short cut which brings you out opposite the moorings and swing bridge, making this dog walk a good option during fishing season, as it's a bit of a battle getting three unruly terriers past them and their tackle.

So the ongoing bathroom refurbishment is complete now. Peter visited Moonshine during the week, and fitted the new flooring piece which was left to bond weighted down for a few days. It is an excellent fit and looks really good and really completes the look.
We are now looking forward to Moonshine being lifted out for three weeks this Friday at Goole Boathouse. We have all the paint, bellows and anodes etc which have been recently ordered and delivered, and we hope there will be nothing untoward when lifted.

No More Bottoming Out

Since purchasing Moonshine, she has been dogged with pronounced brown staining on her forward coach roof and side decks which had gotten progressively worse over recent months. 
Numerous expensive (both marine and non marine) products have been used to eradicate this staining to little avail. However, after trolling through the internet for remedies we have discovered a 'miracle cure' in Oxalic Acid powder, purchased from Ebay for less than £10. The trick is to NOT follow the manufacturers instructions as this didn't work very well, but to mix a strong solution with wallpaper paste to a nice thick consistency which will not in turn evaporate, and apply with a paint brush on a nice calm cool day. The solution was left for a few hours, and then washed off. It is imperative this solution is NOT allowed to dry, as this would then become difficult to remove.

The staining lifts off into the glue solution, and Moonshine is once again a gleaming example of a Seawings 355.





We have now received our new saloon upholstery back from Marine and Industrial Covers Lincoln, in the requested Buff Ultra Leather. Apart from the colour contrast, the new foam in the base seat cushions makes the seating a lot more comfortable than the old, so no more bottoming out, and she looks pretty smart to.



In addition to the work already undertaken in the bathroom area (see previous blog) we decided to use some left over teak and holly laminate flooring (left over from the saloon a few years ago) for the very small floor area forward of the shower to improve the look further. This was templated up last week and we are just waiting for all the glue to set at home prior to installation next week. Being the sad cases that we are, whenever a Seawings comes on the sale market we always save the photos and sale description for future reference,thus enabling us to utilize ideas from different vessels as every boat built had slight differences. Some of which we have implemented such as adding a port light in the rear cabin for additional ventilation from the wheelhouse. We think most of the newer versions of the 355 had the teak and holly on the bathroom floor, but we were only able to track down one photo where the wide angled lens had gotton most of the small bathroom area in shot. From this we were able to judge how successful it would be to replicate this ourselves. Obviously it has to be done correctly whilst upholding our Seawings integrity, as once it is bonded to the fibreglass floor there is certainly no going back...