Wheldale

This weekend just gone was the 50th birthday celebrations of the last fully working Tom Pudding Tug, Wheldale, run by the waterways museum at Goole. This means she now qualifies for historic ship status.

It was a good weekend, we didn't get too much done as there were so many people around to chat to, it was all very social. I did some more preperation work on the engine and associated systems in anticipation of the trip up the Thames, which I hope we'll be doing in the next few weeks. Mary painted the back deck and generally tidied up. The interior is almost complete in terms of walls and roof lining, as these pictures show.

This is the least cluttered the interior has been since we've owned her, even the old Stanley Range has gone.

Alan had finished the back door, its looking good and can be split stable door style. That may have been Mary's idea, I'm not entirely sure.

There were quite a few interesting boats around, this one A40 is a nicely convertered Leeds and Liverpool shortboat.

We were moored behind the amazing Southcliffe, which Chris has done an incredible job of restoring. She sailed for the first time in many decades this summer.

Finally a couple of shots of Misterton, one taken from the front deck of Wheldale - after seeing her go by on her trips round the harbour for the past year, we thought we should actually go on one!

Part 21

From Mary, here.

Catching up

The bank holiday weekend was quite a busy one, as Misterton needed to come out of the dry dock on the tuesday morning. Most of the welding had been done, bar attaching the anodes to the hull. Here is a repair the guys were working on earlier to one of the bulwarks.

The wheelhouse roof got its cover fitted on saturday, which will be great as it was getting quite annoying having a wheelhouse, but it being wet inside.

Mary and I were joined on sunday by her brother Steve and his girlfriend Lisa. Steve did graphic design in the past, so was just the man to do the lettering on the front of the boat. There was a faint outline of the lettering etched into the steel, probably by some apprentice in 1923.

Lisa helped with the other side.....

On the bank holiday monday, Nicky, Ryan and Nobby came and applied another coat of blacking and did the final welding.

Finally, at the end of monday, we had all the work done (bar another coat on the lettering that we did the next morning). Mary and I had a drink at the boatclub and admired the name that had been missing for so long.

On tuesday morning the staff at the dry dock very efficiently got us out. There was only about 6 inches to spare when turning Misterton around to face back towards Goole.

I'd be looking forward to the trip back to Goole, as it would really be the first time we'd steered Misterton. Alan's son, John came along to help us and provided useful instruction. I was a little concerned as she's so much bigger than my narrowboat, but apart from comming close to sideswiping some boats on the way out from the dry dock and bumping a few lock walls, it wasn't too bad. You need to start slowing down a lot sooner than you might think as all that weight will drift for a quite some way.

Misterton is now back in Goole, getting the final few things done before coming down to London - that'll be the next adventure.

Whats in a name?

Been a busy bank holiday weekend, and a busy week after. I'll write more later, but Misterton is now back in Goole getting ready for her trip to London.

Dry Dock

Misterton is currently in one of the dry docks at Thorne. She's in there to get three leaks fixed, the hull painted and new sacrificial anodes welded on. Its a bit of a squeeze to get in, the rudder had to be disconnected and turned to 90 degrees in order to fit.

Of the three leaks, the worst one was at the front, I'd found this from inside and from the 'springiness' of the steel, I could tell it was pretty thin. Just how thin was shown when Alan hit it with a hammer.....

Its not as bad as it looks, and soon Ryan and Nicky were on the case.

Meanwhile Nobby had the pleasant task of scraping and wire brushing the hull prior to painting.

Mary helped with the painting, its quite a big area to cover.

We had a surprise visit from Claire, our new landlady and her grandfather, who were up in the area. At least she didn't seem put off by Misterton, as its the first time she's seen it for real.

Where was I during all this? At a nearby Travelodge, working remotely.

We're back up again this weekend for another 3-4 days work. Fun. :)

Mary has written part 20 of her views here.