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Ugh, the whole 'moving the boat across the country so we could put it in a wet-dock in order to sand it down to bare metal and then repaint it' lark was going so well. Today, however, the tiller has snapped off.
Thank God it didn't happen tomorrow on the tidal stretch of the river, but it still makes me wonder what other problems are lurking in the superstructure of this badly neglected boat.
no subject
Date: 2023-06-04 04:19 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2023-06-04 09:19 am (UTC)From:Thank you! Yes, we've been doing an epic journey for the whole month of May to try to get it into a covered shelter near where we live so we could paint it. Our booking starts on the 5th June, but we will certainly miss it now.
Apparently the way the swan-neck is welded onto the tiller on this boat makes it inevitable that this will happen at some point or other, but of course it had to happen right now when it was particularly inconvenient.
It's very odd, it feels like simultaneously an almost miraculous escape and also catastrophic bad luck. I don't quite know how to feel about it at all.
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Date: 2023-06-05 03:53 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2023-06-18 09:14 am (UTC)From:LOL! It does seem like it's all a lesson in accepting the twists and turns of fate as it comes along. Fortunately we have now had a stroke of luck and are making progress, but I am learning to enjoy that while it happens but not to expect it to continue too long.
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Date: 2023-06-19 03:23 am (UTC)From:Well ...
Date: 2023-06-04 09:50 am (UTC)From:If it's a keeled boat, check the keel; or if a flat-bottomed boat, the edges of the bottom. If it has a mast, check the collar securing the mast to the deck. If it has a motor, check the attachment points of that. If it has a head or a galley, check anywhere that water could've leaked. Find the docking cleats and give them a good yank to see if they're stable; the last thing you need is to have those come loose and set you adrift.
Basically, look for the structural stress points or other vulnerabilities. Windows may be dodgy but are unlikely to sink the thing.
Re: Well ...
Date: 2023-06-04 10:45 am (UTC)From:Thanks! Yes, I have been going over these things in my head and I know that the boat was lifted out of the water before we bought it and the hull was checked - so I'm reassured about that.
DH put his hand down the weed hatch and shone a torch on the propeller and drive shaft, all of which seems fine. He says the design of the swan-neck meant that the weld where it attaches to the tiller was always going to be wet, so this was inevitable at some point. Changing the set-up of how the swan-neck attaches to the tiller is going on our list of things to do for the future, though an immediate repair via just welding it back on again may be all we can do for now.
Son has been jumping onto the roof and walking along it for months now and it seems solid, so the only other thing I'm very concerned about is the water tank, which also has visible rust in it.
Honestly, if I could, I'd take it out of the water, gut it and treat every bit of the inside with rust proof and paint, but that's also out of reach atm.
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Date: 2023-06-06 09:58 am (UTC)From:We once ran out of fuel in the lock just before a river. If it had happened just a few minutes later, we'd have been on a river in a narrowboat with zero ability to steer.
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Date: 2023-06-18 08:39 am (UTC)From:Ooh. It is kind of scary to think of all these disasters we narrowly miss. I would like to think that we miss them because Someone is looking after us, but it's possible that that is just survivor's bias. Maybe we just don't hear about the ones that go down?