Day Four
After a pleasant trip through the tunnel we moored a few minutes later and got to the fettling and polishing.
The polytrol was hard graft, probably because the paintwork wasn't perfectly clean before we started. Instructions are for a thorough wash and 12 hours drying time, neither of which we had time for unfortunately. We managed to get side one finished just as we lost the sun and light and swapped from outside to inside to carry on dusting and polishing in there before we gave up for the night.
At a reasonable 8.30 ish on the morning of day 4 we pulled pins and headed for the Buckby flight. With a bit of deeper water under the hull (CRT must have dredged here) LJ flew along at a couple of hundred RPM over tickover. I really didn't need to pack so many "just in case" tools as I literally didn't open the bag.
What surprised me was the battery condition. We fitted the 125ah AGMs in November 2014 and lived with them off grid until April 2019 which in itself was fairly impressive. Then with seventeen months on charge via electric hook-up I expected a bit of positive grid corrosion would have just about finished them off allowing a few months learning curve for the new owners before they needed replacing. But they coped perfectly well with the fridge and inverter on most evenings for oven/charging etc we didn't use more than 10% of the 375Ah between 4.30pm stop and 8.30am leaving, which is pretty well spot on.
We shared locks with a very pleasant couple from Portsmouth way on their Gayton hire boat. They'd had their cruise through Russia cancelled, a subsequent trip to China cancelled, a Scottish canal trip cancelled and had to make do with a mid week break on the Grand (not really Grand at all) Union Canal.
The Buckby Flight seemed fairly well maintained so it didn't take too long to get down them and as Braunston no queues at all. It could have been fettled when the flight was unexpectedly closed recently for a fortnight to mend a blown cill.
We moored up opposite Whilton Marina where we first saw LJ in September 2011, we set about polishing the second side with aching arms and a little less enthusiasm before tackling the last of the inside.
At a reasonable 8.30 ish on the morning of day 4 we pulled pins and headed for the Buckby flight. With a bit of deeper water under the hull (CRT must have dredged here) LJ flew along at a couple of hundred RPM over tickover. I really didn't need to pack so many "just in case" tools as I literally didn't open the bag.
What surprised me was the battery condition. We fitted the 125ah AGMs in November 2014 and lived with them off grid until April 2019 which in itself was fairly impressive. Then with seventeen months on charge via electric hook-up I expected a bit of positive grid corrosion would have just about finished them off allowing a few months learning curve for the new owners before they needed replacing. But they coped perfectly well with the fridge and inverter on most evenings for oven/charging etc we didn't use more than 10% of the 375Ah between 4.30pm stop and 8.30am leaving, which is pretty well spot on.
We shared locks with a very pleasant couple from Portsmouth way on their Gayton hire boat. They'd had their cruise through Russia cancelled, a subsequent trip to China cancelled, a Scottish canal trip cancelled and had to make do with a mid week break on the Grand (not really Grand at all) Union Canal.
The Buckby Flight seemed fairly well maintained so it didn't take too long to get down them and as Braunston no queues at all. It could have been fettled when the flight was unexpectedly closed recently for a fortnight to mend a blown cill.
We moored up opposite Whilton Marina where we first saw LJ in September 2011, we set about polishing the second side with aching arms and a little less enthusiasm before tackling the last of the inside.
 |
| Touching up the taff rail where the workbench had scuffed it |
 |
| Last Lock |
 |
| Only a few hours away now so time to polish the other side |
 |
| Dudley wondering where all his blankets went |
 |
| New owner just needs a couple of bar stools |
.
No comments:
Post a Comment