Almost made it

Well, we got as far as the Northampton Arm and Freyja stalled, now the starter is refusing to play. So, after bow-hauling and poling them both through the Rothersthorpe flight, they are now sitting awaiting repair and for the marina to arrange to move them on the final leg to Blackthorne Marina.
I'm very disappointed that, despite all the running repairs, we didn't get them to our moorings.

So near, yet so far ;0(

It has definitely been a learning curve, we are now broken down near Weedon Bec, raw water pump is on strike, changed the impeller, but still no water ;0( Apart from that we've struggled because the marina forgot that I told them to fill her up before they started her so they didn't drag a load of crap into the newly fitted filter so we've had to change the filter again and a new lift pump and clean the diesel bug crap off the lift pump filter.
The water pump fell off, the exhaust fell to bits, the solenoid caught fire and now the water pump is down, starting to feel a bit beaten by it all. Just hope River Canal Rescue can get us going again in the morning.

This is turning into a bit of a struggle LOL!

We left Aqueduct marina, Church Minshull on Monday afternoon & stopped the night at Kings Lock, in the morning she wouldn't start so waited until 9 am to find some easy start, then found the stop button was not returning, next night we stayed under the M6 at lock 57 on the T&M, early start and had many probs, engine started racing, throttle stopped working, crept along on tick over then racing again which caused the exhaust flexi to break and the water pump fell off!
So the marina had not done a great job of servicing it.
We struggled on bow-hauling both boats to lock 42 at Kidsgrove where Red Bull Services helped us out with bits to fix the exhaust. a great guy, very helpful.
We went to the Canal Tavern & the Blue Bell, where we met Brian off NB Alton, he agreed to drop of some coal at 7 o'clock next morning, he arrived with his good lady  Anne Marie.

At gone 2 o'clock we left to try to make the 3 o'clock deadline for the Harecastle tunnel, made it just, as did two other narrow boats, we waited for two others to come the other way, we followed the other two with no probs, but then the motor started to play up again, think the lift pump is dodgy, this caused us to run out of light in Stoke on Trent :0(
Early start in the morning, fingers crossed.

Tomorrow is the big day.

Tomorrow morning sees us putting Christina back in the water, paying for the repairs, servicing, storage and boat moving.
Then we hope to get them down to the Nen(e) in 10 days. it'll be move off at first light and soldier on until dusk. with an occasional evening drive to leap frog the 2 cars.
I expect to have only sketchy internet during the trip, but will try to post the latest details from my phone. Keep an eye out for us ;o)

Freyja goes back into the water & the water goes back into Freyja!

We took Glenda's son Nick to Uni in Telford then went up to the boats, the marina said our boats were booked to go into the water that day, a week early.

 

The guys at Aqueduct marina punting Freyja to the service pontoon

 We agreed that Freyja could go back in, so we could test the motor under load and service it.
So they put her back in the water, but she wouldn't start. I, later, managed to get her running and she sounded OK.

  

Freyja back in the water, but, unknown to us, taking on water ;o(

Next morning when the mechanic came to service it we found out the engine bay was full of oily water ;o(
So we pumped it out and, once serviced, she did not want to start due to an airlock in the diesel.

Not a nice sight, Freyja's engine compartment filled with a heady mix of water and oil.

We had to leave, as we are moving house this weekend so we left, still not knowing if the problems will be solved in time for me to start moving them on Monday. Eeeek!

A narrowboat licensing nightmare! ;o(

We were about to pay Canals and Rivers Trust, for our canals and rivers license, we were relieved that, as our butty is over 50 foot, it qualified for a half price license :-

Freyja 55 foot motor    £769.21 p.a.
Christina 53 foot butty £369 p.a.
              Total               £1138.21

We were sure we'd seen that this covered the river Nen(e), while looking for an abloy key ( to operate EA locks) we realised that we needed an EA license for our river Nen(e) marina moorings. Should we get a gold license? A gold license would be £1004 per boat (no butty discount) so would cost a whopping £2008 and would expire in December! So could we get a temporary CaRT license to get us down through the canal system to the Nen(e) and then get an EA license for a year?

Having rung CaRT, I have found three options :-

30 day rover (We'd need a current EA license and the 30 days can be used anytime over a year) :-

Freyja 55 foot motor £168.67
Christina 53 foot butty £162.90 (butty discount not applicable)
Total £331.57

One month temporary pass (We'd need a current EA license and it lasts one calendar month)

Freyja £125.41
Christina £121.07 (butty discount not applicable)
Total £246.48

3 month long term (Needed if we didn't have a current EA license)

Freyja £369.23
Christina £177.38 (butty discount applies)
Total £546.61
Plus keys £11.00

So that's our three options to get us down to the river Nen(e), for which we need an EA license, back to the phone, watch this space..........

Phew, I phoned the Environment Agency and found that the costs were as follows :-

For Freyja £788.97 p.a. but as the EA licence runs April - March and 6 months have gone, there's a 50% discount so :-
£394.49 for the remainder of the season

Christina caused much scratching of heads, no-one knew how much it should be, as she doesn't fall into any of their categories.
Eventually, Stuart Gingell, a licensing expert was consulted and he said that she qualified for a 50% discount for an un-powered butty so :-
£394.49 but as 6 months have past a further 50% discount
£197.25 until March 2013
Total to EA £591.74
Plus CaRT £146.48
Plus CaRt keys £11
Plus EA key £10

Grand Total £759.22  to get our pair down through the canal system and license them both  for Environment Agency waters until the end of March 2013

We have been told that as an unpowered craft we could pay category 12 for the butty, a mere £32 p.a.! But EA say that they are aware that people have been allowed to do this in the past, 'due to a mistake' but that they have been telling people that they have to pay 50% of the normal fee.

So we are are paying as a tender, bear in mind, that the EA definition of a tender is a powered craft carried on, or towed behind the registered vessel. So not the definition of our butty. Quote :-

Tenders
A 50% discount is available for a tender, when registered at
the same time as the ‘parent’ vessel. Tenders are subject to the
appropriate navigation charges, but the registration number
issued will be the same as the ‘parent’ vessel. We define a
tender as a small powered boat or dinghy, towed or carried by
another vessel.

There is also a cheaper category for a a boat over 5m long, powered by an engine of no more than 4hp, this is category 31 and costs £130.54 p.a.
We have an outboard in our butty, and next year we will use this category to bring our costs down a bit.
 

Why we DIDN'T need a rope ladder! LOL!

I have just ordered a 6 rung rope ladder on e-bay at a cost of £4.98 + £4.98 post

In the event of one of us falling overboard in deeper water, we will be able to use it to haul ourselves out, otherwise it is very difficult to lift someone out when their clothing is saturated, adding to their weight.

A figure of eight loop of rope would achieve the same thing.
Well, apparently, rope ladders are not ideal, for one thing wooden rungs float! DOH! Also it swings under the boat making it difficult to climb in wet clothing.
The improved plan is to get an aluminium ladder for each boat, then fit a clip-on board so they can be used as gangplanks.
It's a learning curve (usually downwards!)