July 2010
This month my time has had to be shared between the slipper launch project and moving our Narrowboat, which I have to say has been sorely neglected as a leisure activity for the last three years! For that reason it's probably time to move on and let someone else have the pleasure of owning her. But before we do sell up we thought it would be nice to have one more trip covering some old ground and the best way to do that is to move it somewhere new...
The weather was scorching hot as we left the Marina on the 3rd of July and headed east on the
K & A.
The K & A is a fascinating canal, full of variety. During WWII it was part of
Englands last line of defense and as such is littered with
pill boxes on both sides.
This is a turf sided lock flanked by two pill boxes, the one on the right is just
out of shot.
On Sunday afternoon we moored up at the
Cunning Man Inn
just before Burghfield bridge and headed home.
Two weeks later and we were heading onto Reading and onto the Thames.
This is where the canal runs through the center of Reading's shopping center.
We had unknowingly chosen the weekend of the
Thames traditional Boat rally for the
next leg of the journey. So lot's of Slippers about.
Here's a few more examples of slippers at their moorings on the Thames as we motored past them.
Some fantastic settings.
Meanwhile back in the workshop I used all my available free time to press on
and try to finish the hull sheathing by the end of July. Well, I nearly got there.
Only the stern to do now.
Here's the 2nd piece of fabric layed on ready for it's coat of epoxy. Held in
place by a few pieces of masking tape, which due to the rough surface left by
the peel ply on the 1st layer isn't really required, it's just security, I'd hate
to find it having slipped onto the floor.
Now epoxied and peelplied. I still have to cut the peel ply into sections. I have
no idea how I managed to do the very first one in one piece. It does mean I
have to scrape off the area of the overlaps but it's a lot less frustrating to apply.
And peel ply removed.
I'll let this cure during the next leg of the boat move then finish the stern
section.