Thursday 29th August 2019


Happy Birthday to our Manny who is 14 today. Growing up fast. Where do the years go?

The hull side was blackened first thing and allowed to dry for a few hours before moving. The fixing screws in the bunting holders were drilled out and re-tapped after having rusted and the solar panel connections fitted with the proper fittings.


While this work was in progress, the fuel boats Mountbatten and her butty Jellicoe came into view. You cannot help but stop and watch a working boat and butty, a scene from a long past, past. We had passed them yesterday at Alvecote but the owners were not about and it would not have been possible to stop alongside them anyway. We flagged them down and filled up with fuel, 79 litres at 84p per litre, a big difference from Braunston Marina. It was fascinating watching them leave with Paddy picking the butty as he passed her. A butty is an unpowered barge that is towed by her motor boat. Butty’s have a very large rudder with an upwardly curved tiller which is usually highly decorated. The rudder having to be so big so as to be effective without a propeller wash and Ruth was having to work hard at the steering.




Boat and Butty, Mountbatten and Jellicoe

We passed through Whittington and Huddlesford Junction before arriving at Streethay Wharf, where we met with Gareth and the crew who will be painting our roof, and both came away feeling very upset.

The boat was only a few months old when black mould started to appear on the non-slip surfaces on the roof, which proved impossible to clean. A lot of cleaning would reduce the mould which would then reappear within a few days. The roof has a lot of micro-blistering and the paint has actually peeled off in a number of places, on a boat that is just over one-year-old. All in all, a shit job. This decided us to bite the bullet and have the roof repainted. We like to keep our boat looking nice and the roof always detracts from it.

When we first met with Graeme Cunliffe he promised the boat would have 11 layers of paint at the finish. Our French Grey cabin sides have just two coats excluding the primer. Gareth used his depth gauge at various points on the boat, the paint layers are very thin and he reckons the paint job will only last 3-4 years. While the painters were very impressed with the finish of the French Grey, there is no undercoat layer and, in their opinion, the coach stripes have been done in the wrong manner. Streethay would have done a complete layer of the coach stripe colours over the whole boat rather than masking over the cabin sides and painting just the stripes.   

This brought back all the negative feelings we had initially with the boat until we decided to rectify all the faults ourselves and enjoy her. In the long term, Streethay cannot fit us in for a full repaint at present, so we will probably book her in for 2021 and just get it done along with having her out of the water for reblackening.

Feeling very deflated we moved to Fradley Village and moored.  



Weather: dry, but cooler and rather breezy.



Day Total: 0 locks; 7 miles; 0 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Lift Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; Day’s running hours 2.7

Overall Total: 722 locks; 1280 miles; 50 tunnels; 58 Swing Bridges; 11 Lift Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; total engine running hours 798.0hrs




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