Still here

Not been posting much over the last few weeks as we've been busy and also I can't find the lead for the camera, so getting pictures up involves 2 laptops and USB stick.

Still working on the steering project, there were delays due to a supplier problem, as I need to get a couple more broaching cutters, but I have a new hole drilled in the tiller arm now. Have order some steel plate to be able to re-locate the mounting point for the hydraulic ram and then we should be all set.

In the meantime we re-painted the roof - this had a lot of scratches on it from the final days in Goole, plus some the early anti-rust treatments we use didn't last. All the areas covered in Vactan are fine, which is reassuring.

Very silver and apparently very attractive to the local insects who seem to come there to die all over it.

While waiting for the cutters to arrive, I painted over the bridgedeck area.

I also added a shelf to keep the navigation lights, these are oil lights so are pretty big. The restoration of these might be a winter project. :)

More soon!

Hmmmm

Some of the mystery as to why Misterton was hard to turn when we took her out a few weeks ago has been revealed. I'd intended to do this ever since that day, but I finally got round to drawing out the sweep of the rudder in its current configuration.

Turning to port we have 40 degrees of rudder movement, but only 25 degrees to starboard, which was the direction I was mainly trying to turn in. It should be 35 degrees each way. I'll be able to re-locate the mounting points for the steering ram and hopefully get a more balanced range of movement. Can only help.

Also on sunday, John from next door departed with his tug, pushing a MFV (Motor Fishing Vessel) to Essex. John was then onto Holland with his tug 'Atlas' for the summer.

Lots of other boats out on the river on sunday, but nothing quite as interesting as this.

Lists

Its been a bit quiet on the blog front for a while, one of the by products of being on the boat more is more time spent doing stuff instead of writing about it. This is the latest list that we've been working to, seems endless at times, but we're getting there;

• Throttle modify
• Gearlever modify
• Steering modify
• Door handles on doors
• Get rid of water in bilges
• Mooring practice?
• Washing machine install
• Paint second bedroom
• Cistern cabinet make
• Wire up sump pump for shower and sink
• Wire up toilet
• Vent replace on waste tank
• Gobious fit
• Move ballast to rear cabin
• Move sinks, photograph two for Ebay
• Test and photograph old generator for sale
• Remove one winch drum?
• Bilge pump switch and wires for toilet/TV etc.
• lay floor in bathroom, stairs and kitchen areas
• Name on stern
• Rubbish to dump (many times....)
• Wash outside of boat
• Windows cleaned
• Light in bathroom
• Wire up Alde and test

British Ship

One of the nice things about owning Misterton is the sense of history. Amongst the documents we have is the original document from 1948 when she was re-registered after being converted from sail to power. Unfortunately the registration had laspsed when she was retired from commercial use.  I've been working in the background on registering her again. I could've just put her on the SSR (Small Ships Register) but I wanted to see if I could get her back as a fully registered British Ship. This required a lot of research and documentation to prove that she was ours. Dave Hill was able to assist here, as his father Les Hill was the last registered owner and we were able to use some of the information he gave us to establish our claim. Finally we had to swear in front of a Notary Public that she was indeed ours. All of this was done, and the only thing remaining was to put the name and port of registration on the stern. This has taken a while as the weather has just been too cold, but finally a few weeks ago we were able to get this last job done.

The finished result looks pretty good.

You can't see it in the photo, but the port of registration is Hull. I think people might have expected this to change to London, but thats were Misterton has always been registered, so I wanted to keep that link.

We've been doing quite a lot of other work too, finishing off the bathroom and plumbing. I took the opportunity while staying on board on my own to break out the mag drill in the living area. I figure I won't be able to do this when Mary has the interior decor done, so I might as well enjoy it while I can.

We've had a few visitors over the last few weeks, including in a rare return to the boating world, Mat, formerly known as cabin-boy Mat. Mat helped out with a number of things, including shifting a couple of tons of ballast in an attempt to get the propellor lower in the water.

We've had a wardrobe made to fit by a local joiner James Overington, we're both very pleased with it.

 The other thing thats really lifted the interior has been putting down the floor tiles we're using in the kitchen area and near the front stairs. These are rubber based tiles, so are pretty durable.

It's all starting to look more like a home and less like a building site.

April

Imaginative title eh? The plumbing work is pretty much finished, I just need to connect up a few electrical items in order to test it fully. The bathroom floor needs putting down and a light installed, but its looking good.

We also had our first overseas visitors, friends Tobias and Camilla from Denmark stopped by for the afternoon. I think they were surprised at the size of Misterton, the pictures on the website don't really give the scale. It was good to see them and fitting that for a ship whose design can be traced back to the Vikings, they also have that connection.

Mary and I took Misterton on our first trip last friday with just the two of us. Frankly it had gone a lot better in my mind before the event, but we learnt a few things and no damage was done, apart from to several trees lining the riverbank. John Tims from the boatyard next door came over as we were mooring and showed us a better technique to try. I think we'll be learning more from him. I'm looking forward to our next trip anyway.