Carli is not coming out this winter, so I filled her diesel tank today. 26 litres of red diesel at a cost of £20.

I also drained the water system down.

It was a great day for a trip on the river, but complicated by the hordes of kayakers having some sort of race.

Nimue's not coming out this winter either, so we're starting to think about winterising her.  We took all the ropes off and washed them and moved all the cushions out of the way of any dribbly condensation.  Put the dehumidifier inside and set it running on low and tried to seal all the leaks around stanchion supports etc.

We've drained the drinking-water system, but not the engine yet and we've not put in any engine heaters.

We left it this way just in case we managed to get out on the river a bit later ...

... and we managed it!  We got out today on the river again for a quick trip in the late-summer/early autumn sunshine and even though it was just a short hop a handful of miles downstream to Ely and back again, it really was pleasantly warm.

And...

We wore our BOA gear and even had the burgee strung on the mast for all to see!

 

--Last edited by brianlj on 2008-10-13 09:14:11 --

Well i'll be dragging Tailspin out of the wobby wet thing by Nov 15th for the winter.
Still a few weekends left yet and got a trip up to Henley planned for half term week. That will be the last this year.
Wheres it all gone!!!!

Shame I couldn't make it at the weekend, was very nice out there. A national park near me was full of Leafers on Sunday. Never seen so many people out there.

So what about the rest of you. Who's in or out of the drink this winter?

ST.KITTS will be coming out of the water within the next four weeks only because I have to fit a new gaiter on the gearleg. There is no other way to fit one without sinking the boat. Also have to fit my newly aquired davits which I have just had powder coated, and also a small amount of painting/varnishing in the spring before back into the water.

"There is no other way to fit one without sinking the boat"
Lots of friends sat on the bows?

build a coffer dam round the boat!  

--Last edited by flashheart on 2008-10-13 10:52:22 --

Sorry but I forgot to tell you that even with a bunch of hefty lads sat on the bows, the water in the marina is about 6ft deep at the stern end and I am not a very good swimmer.

I'm leaving No Regrets in this Winter too, but plan to use her, weather permitting, during November and December!

The River can still be quite pretty, and the locks are quiet.

Just before Xmas, I'll drain the Water, remove as much perishable as possible, and will cover her topsides with a Caravan cover (£115 for a 23 footer) which will prevent rainwater or dead leaves from touching her, so should dry things up nicely!

The cover may well be shagged by spring, but there will be no leaks  

Sunday was nice though...





 

--Last edited by No Regrets on 2008-10-13 22:15:23 --

Ooh! I like your method of fastening the BOA burgee using bungees!  Neat!

That's a nice-looking tree-lined stretch of river you have there. We have one up our way a bit like that.  I can just see that yours appears to have a a pretty bridge just round the bend: ours has an low, arched and steeply-angled bridge right on the corner!  

It's really lush isn't it?  

Thats the bit just before Bray lock on the upstream side.

"Really lush"

As opposed to this?



Well, compared to that, I guess that most places are lush!  That's a spot just south of Ely approaching the new railway bridge which collapsed last year (with a goods train on it!) and closed navigation up the river for many months.

This, however, is the spot that I remembered when I saw your photo:



Just beyond that bend it gets very tight!  That's coming up to a turn at a bridge, pub and marina called the Lazy Otter.

This next one is quiet a bit narrower, but a lot more relaxed.  This is heading for a place called Burwell.  As you can see, it's a quiet stretch of river -- these little dears are often all that you'll see!

It's very...very, er... Flat isn't it?  

This is the Cliveden reach....Mmmmm  

Quote :

No Regrets wrote : It's very...very, er... Flat isn't it?

You ain't just whistlin' Dixie!

Yes, one of the main features of the Fens is that they are flat.  Very flat.

Nothing like Cliveden Reach here.  That's very pretty.

In fact, because these rivers and canals were used to drain the Fen marshland, as the water was pumped out of the land, that land compacted and sank further and further down.  In lots of places we now have a situation where the river level is higher than the surrounding countryside and has big levees alongside it so that it can't flood the fields!

Those places make for pretty boring boating because all you can see is a river, two grassy banks and sky above!

Not sure I would feel safe with that big lumpy land hanging up there in the sky. Of course I spent the weekend playing away - with the yachting team that is - did a bit of trainee crewing with a friend's yacht from Ramsgate to Eastbourne and once we left the open sea for the river up to Rye....we ran aground (twice), got stuck in fog after dark trying to get up river to Rye, had to get up in the middle of the night to stop the boat falling over (no water, that tide has gone out!), and started off the next day with an overheating engine as we skipped in front of a very large freighter led by the pilot boat having been told NOT to go out before it!

What I always say is that there is little that can go dangerously wrong on the river and it usually happens slowly, but yachting is quite a different matter! Happy to do it from time to time but give me the relative safety of the river any time!  
 

--Last edited by brianm on 2008-10-14 17:38:03 --

Err... I don't see anybody holding on to the steering wheel, Brian.  Is this why you kept running aground?

autohelm mate - makes life pretty easy for the long boring bits!

Well preparing for the half term trip. Will be heading up to Cliveden on the Sunday and setting up camp on one of the islands hopefully. The last fling in the boat before its out.