NB Alnwick

I tried to get back to the boat this evening but the canal was in flood with the towpath completely submerged to the extent that, in the dark with no indication of where it might have been safe to wade through, I had to abandon the attempt.

I will try again later.

I just hope that some thoughtful soul loosened the ropes to allow the boat to rise with the changing water level.

Sometime ago when I described the size and capacity of Alnwick's fresh water tank, a few forum sceptics challenged my assertion that it was big enough to stand up in - well, while we were moored just below Cape Locks (Warwick) in July, I decided that it was time to climb in and clear the loose rust and silt that had gathered at the bottom of the tank. The photographs below show me inside the water tank - I removed about four buckets of rust and silt. The remarkable thing is that the water has always remained clean and sweet and, apart from a little initial rust discolouration, it remained so after it had been cleaned. While inside I measured the height of the tank - it is just over five feet deep from the top to where the curved bow stem blends into the flat bottom . . .

That's me standing up straight with my feet on the forged stem.

Getting hot and dirty inside the tank.

The next big job is scraping and repainting the front deck - if only it would stop raining . . .

I cannot help feeling a bit sad about the demise of BW - I know that the new C&RT organisation is intended to be better suited to 21st Century ideals but BW was a very British institution, probably the last remnant of the sweeping post-war reforms of the late 1940s - many of its traditions and customs can be traced back to those days and I genuinely feel that we have lost something with its passing . . .

Some may remember that, not long ago, Richard kindly machined the West System resin that I had used to set Alnwick's bullseye decklight in the front deck hatch - the relevant topic is here.

The result proved less successful than I had planned. After mounting the decklight and refitting the hatch cover, Jane and I retired for the night and were soundly asleep beneath it when we were awakened by a loud bang at about 2:00 a.m. - just after it had started to rain! Subsequent examination revealed a massive semi-circular crack in the bullseye glass just inside the built up resin. And, yes the crack was letting in water - initially just the occasional drip but the as the crack extended round the circumference of the bullseye this was bound to get worse - so we quickly implemented our equivalent of Sarah's Pyrex bowl!

I can only conclude that the cold rain had caused disproportionate contraction between the glass, the resin and the steel that were all bonded together. It is the glass that has failed and the resin bond is still sound and quite solid. The cracked glass will now have to be removed and this will not be easy because it is very firmly set in the resin.

Plan B is now on the drawing board . . .

The posts in this topic are being moved to the original Barby Moorings topic . . .