Fraz

Bit of a belated note to say I'm super chuffed I found this forum as I had a great day with Peter and Ian. As mentioned, we didn't get going until 11 but with such expert help at hand we had a very smooth first journey through to Denham. Massive thank you to all that contributed in the thread and to Ian and Peter, it was great fun, I learnt so much and I look forward to more boating together in the future!

Just completed the first two coats and i've been scrapping the underside of the boat ready for blacking also... my golly that is hard work! Your welcome to join in Ian. it could be that i mange to finish everything by end of play wednesday and set off on thurs or friday. Will keep updating as i go : )

Thanks for the tips guys I've been on a 32ft cruiser for the last 6 weeks and found it pretty easy to find a spot and park, but as you say, i suspect 58ft will be more difficult when in more central areas. I've been making good progress with the boat and will be applying the second coat of black paint today. The guys at the boat yard have recommended that I black the bottom of the boat too. I've had conflicting opinions of whether it's worth doing this. I've also had conflicting advice on whether it's worth doing more than 2 coats of black on the rest of the boat.. Any thoughts? Peter, thanks for your advice, i've messaged you now that I'm allowed!

Haha, i love a bit of controversy but i'm afraid i will fail to add that kinda spice to the topic..The reason i wanna go to Hackney Wick is that I absolutely love the River Lea, but more importantly i have a studio there and wanna easily move stuff on to boat as at the moment its pretty much a shell inside. Fingers crossed mid week cruising in the post.

Hey Peter Am aiming to finish the work in 2-3 days at which point your help would be very much welcome if you are still available. I guess I will be aiming to find a nice spot between angel tunnel and Vicky park as the idea of the Thames sounds a bit too scary unless I could find a free/affordable/insured skipper who can take us. I will keep you updated of my progress! Looking forward to it

Wow, I'm so pleasantly overwhelmed with the all these amazing offers of help. Thank you all so much Unfortunately the plot of my journey has had a slight twist... I was unaware that on route by lorry from Macclesfield to Watford, the unusual roof mounted fuel tank that provides diesel to the stove inside the boat was, due to the vibrations of the road, spilling diesel through the vents all over the outside of the boat, which in turn has taken off all the black paint on half the boat. So I've now got to hose down, scrap and clean off all the diesel and re black the hull. D'oh! Note to self and anyone else with this set up: empty or seal the fuel tank before putting it on a lorry! I'm guessing by the time I've done this work there will probably be far too many stoppages along the route to make it to hackney. Anyway, despite all this I'm still happier than a pig in sh*t to be the owner of my first Narrowboat, and to discover this awesome community of fellow enthusiasts

Hello everyone, This is my first post on this great forum so a big hello to the community ) I'm looking for some help getting my narrowboat from watford to hackney wick on the canal this weekend before the stoppages on the 2nd november. Is anyone free to assist me? I have had experience on a small cruiser but am new to big narrowboats.. so some help would be fantastic. I know its short notice but i'm happy to pay for time and expenses. Any help finding someone would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance! Francis