The Key to the Kingdom

Some years ago, we needed to get hold of a BW Key and Sarah (then on Warrior, now of Chertsey and Bakewell) came to our rescue to lend us hers. It was a symbolic moment - once you have the key that opens up all the waterways locks (both the navigational and the door sort) you are officially a boater. 

So it was with great pleasure that we gave this EA key as a gift to our friends who have just bought their first boat. I bought a mini picture frame and put a photo of them and their boat inside it. It's got an extendable string and a clip too for attaching it to your belt whilst boating (I find this is more reassuring than having them on a cork ball).

twitter // facebook // email // follow // any questions? // want to buy the Duck?

Inside the Duck

I rarely post photos of the interior of the Duck, because photographing the insides of boats is notoriously difficult and the Duck is rarely tidy enough! But we had three viewings scheduled this weekend so the boat was looking nice and the sun was shining so I took a few photos both for the the blog and to use on the Apollo Duck ad, which is now updated.

twitter // facebook // email // follow // any questions? // want to buy the Duck?

Still Waiting

Well, we had hoped that by Valentine's Day we would have our New Old Boat, but we are still waiting. The dry dock was booked for the 8th but the boat being worked on in the dock was not finished due to the bad weather. (It is not a covered dock unfortunately). So we re-booked the dock and the surveyor for the 22nd and went up to the boat anyway. Since the boat is not lived in (due to not being fitted out!) we were able to stay over in it for the weekend, make more plans and take measurements. It was really useful to have the time to poke about and get our heads around the task we will have ahead of us if the survey comes back with good news.  Thankfully the stove is installed and proved to be quite wonderfully warm, we had a shoreline and a sofa bed to sleep on. 

As well as drawing plans, we also went over to the current owner's garage to see the things he took of the boat when he removed the fit out to have it rebottomed. There were a lot of very useful bits and pieces like a  nearly new Spinflo oven/hob, a gas water heater, table and chairs and a boat size mattress which would all come with the boat. Additionally we went to the nearby IKEA and spoke to one of their consultants about how much a kitchen would cost. We weren't sure if we'd like any of their kitchens but we found one very traditional looking style which we both liked, and when they helped us cost it up, we found that it was well under our budget. They also gave us a free lunch because we had to wait to have an appointment with them. Since we'd been planning to eat there anyway, this was a bonus! 

We'd planned to stay the whole of the half term week at the boat had the survey happened on the 8th and gone well, so that we could make a start with the fit out, but since we didn't want to do any work to a boat that's not ours yet we only stayed until Monday morning. We decided to have a break anyway, and so spent two days in nearby Nottingham, somewhere neither of us had been before. The weather was fairly grey but we had booked a nice little hotel near the Arboretum and we enjoyed wandering round the city and taking rides on the trams! We walked the length of the Beeston Cut in two parts: from the railway station to the Trent on Monday and all the way out to Beeston  on Tuesday. On Monday night we ate in the pub which now occupies the ground floor of the British Waterways building in the centre of the City. 

twitter // facebook // email // follow // any questions? // want to buy the Duck?

Railings

The City Council have finally taken over ownership of the infamous railings area in Cambridge and have issued a consultation. If you have an interest in this please do fill it in - visitors to Cambridge should have their voices heard too.

http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/ccm/content/leisure-and-entertainment/boating-and-the-river-cam/riverside-mooring-consultation.en

twitter // facebook // email // follow // any questions? // want to buy the Duck?

Quid Pro Tow

Well, not actually. We didn't really charge any money for towing, but I thought up that title a few weeks ago and have been dying to use it.

Right, let's start at the beginning.

Two friends, Other Amy and Kirsty, are in the process of buying Pyewacket, the ex-Merchant Navy lifeboat owned by another friend of ours, that we towed to Waterbeach in 2012. Unfortunately, the hull needs some work, and so we arranged to tow them to Ely to have the work done; their engine, a lovely Petter PH2, requires some cossetting and is on my list of fun projects to get involved in. Amy Duck just gave me a look that clearly meant, "we've got lots of projects already", though, so that's probably on hold for now...

Yesterday morning we took Pyewacket across from her normal mooring outside Jesus Green swimming pool to the visitor moorings, where the interior could be stripped out and taken by van to some lock-up storage, to be reinstated once the work has finished. We breasted up for the short trip, and despite the fairly strong stream, managed to turn and reverse into a handy space.

Sunday was to be the long trip to Ely, but it didn't get off to a good start. Strong winds and torrential rain resulted in the river level rising and the flow increasing, the Environment Agency calling and texting flood alerts at 3am, and a boat coming loose meant we had very little sleep between us.

The planned 7:30am start was delayed by an hour whilst we remoored a rogue narrowboat, but soon we were underway. I put our pair of long cross straps on a Karabiner clip attached to a HUGE shackle on Pyewacket's stempost, where I think the davits and lifting blocks would have attached when it was a lifeboat on a ship.

We made very good progress out of town on the strong stream, only scaring a couple of rowing boats, and were soon at Baits Bite lock. The wind and the stream had picked up, and it proved impossible to get a line off the back of Pyewacket onto the lock landing stage, so it blew around 180 degrees and ended up alongside the Duck, facing the wrong way. Not a major problem, though- attaching a few ropes together let us pull it back around from the bank before we went into the lock.

Baits Bite lock

The wind intensified as we got out of town, and by the time we got to Bottisham Lock, it was strong enough to rock the Duck around a lot and blow the unballasted, empty shell of Pyewacket about, making steering difficult. We made it to the lock landing stage, though, and Pyewacket again gracefully pirouetted around alongside. Not to worry though; Amy Duck set the lock, and Big John, who nicely took on the role of volunteer lock keeper for us, supplied some useful grunt to turn her around again so we could get into the lock.

Once through Bottisham lock, the Fen landscape opens out, and the wind, checked by fewer trees, was fierce and meant we had to crab along at times to keep the skittering Pyewacket away from the bank. But we made reasonable time in the stream, and arrived in Ely on schedule at just gone 12:45, so a trip of 4 and a quarter hours- the stream making up for the fact that we were towing.

We moored Pyewacket at the boatyard where the works will take place, and retired to the Cutter Inn to celebrate.

Safe arrival. Other Amy and Kirsty celebrate.

Unfortunately the increasing stream, and the lack of sleep last night, made us both extremely tired and unwilling to face the slow, upstream slog back to Cambridge, so we're going to stay in Ely for the next few days and commute to work by train, coming in one evening once the floods abate.

twitter // facebook // email // follow // any questions? // want to buy the Duck?

Snow in Ely

We were in Ely at the weekend, as the snow started to settle properly. The Cathedral was looking magical in the snow, and we enjoyed a walk around the town, stopping into Waterside Antiques (aka the Gnome Factory) to look for things we might need for the new old boat. There's a brass bilge pump there which has been on display for about 5 years, and we have promised ourselves that when we cruise back through Ely on our new old boat, we'll buy it!

Hope everyone is staying warm and safe!

twitter // facebook // email // follow // any questions? // want to buy the Duck?

Narrowboat Lucky Duck for Sale

At the weekend, we decided to officially put the Duck up for sale, in the knowledge that these things take a while. Here is the Apollo Duck advert: http://www.apolloduck.com/feature.phtml?id=287296. Please share it widely!

Summary
Lucky Duck is a 48ft traditional stern narrowboat first registered in 1986, with a reliable BMC 1.8 engine. It sleeps 2 + 2 on a sofa bed, makes a great live-aboard boat and is well adapted to coping with being away from shore power. Easy to handle and well laid out inside with a traditional 'saloon forward' layout, it would be a good starter boat for anyone looking to begin a life afloat, or enjoy some holiday cruising. All systems are in good working order.

Last out of the water July 2011, BSC until Dec 2013. Hull surveyed 2008.

Guide Price: £27,500 ono

twitter // facebook // email // follow // any questions? // want to buy the Duck?

And now we wait!

Having agreed a price for the boat and got all excited, we now find that we can't get it surveyed for another 4 and half weeks. It is the wrong side of a stoppage, there's another boat without a bottom currently in the only dry dock and it's not clear exactly how long it will take to get it watertight. Have booked a recommended surveyor nonetheless and he's aware that there's some uncertainty. Ah well, boat stuff always happens slowly, plenty of time to keep planning the fit out and talk to people about joinery etc. Our plan is to go to the boat for the survey and then if it passes (we don't expect it to have any major problems as the boat was rebottomed and refooted in 2010) we will get the money transferred and start work inside. 

We plan to fit the plumbing and electric systems ourselves but have the flooring and kitchen joinery done professionally. We don't want fitted furniture at all, and will be looking to fill the huge living/dining room with a nice second hand table and chairs as well as a sofa and lots of bookshelves! Many of the key bits and pieces come with the boat, such as most of the flooring, the shower cubicle and an oven. I will leave you with another taster - of the one thing that is fitted, a beautiful, gigantic, green enamelled stove. You can also see the quality of the ribbon grained oak with which the boat has been lined, in this photo.

twitter // facebook // email // follow // any questions? // want to buy the Duck?

Boat News

We are excited to be able to report that we've had an offer accepted on a full length converted historic boat, subject to an imminent survey. Here's a taster!

Winter Cruise

On Sunday we went for a cruise, taking our friends Simon and Ann out to the Bridge for Sunday lunch. It was a grey, damp day, but despite that it was nice to be out on the water. We moored up, had a delicious lunch at the Bridge and then pootled back just in time to get back before dark.  

Things are a little quiet round here because we've got a lot going on behind the scenes that we can't talk about right now. But rest assured that we will when we can and it's all positive at the moment!

twitter // facebook // email // follow // any questions? // want to buy the Duck?