So far this year I had only had one trip, which was at the beginning of March - a 6 mile return trip. Olivia was in quite good fettle but I did notice that the batteries were not being charged. When I met up with Rick, he had a look and told me that my Vbelt was rather loose and also fairly well worn. So when I returned for my easter trip I brought a new belt and Rick sorted it out for me. The weather was so wet and windy in the run up to Easter that I didn't get very far. In fact I did only 500metres the first day!! (This was because Rick was moored closer to me than I had thought). The next day I did one and a half miles and waited for an improvement in the weather. This took six days. (Obviously I could have got out before BUT I keep reminding myself that I have the boat for fun and don't want to struggle with wind and rain if I don't have to). I took a cruise down to Gayton and back on Easter Sunday. Now normally I would avoid travelling over a bank holiday but I was getting desperate for a trip. It was really busy, especially down at the Junction. During the trip I noticed that Olivia wasn't accelerating, even on full throttle she wasn't giving up any wash. More headscratching and problem solving discovered that there was a loose nut on the engine (sorry can't be more technical) that was letting air into the system. Tightened and bled, I am told that she is now revving okay so I look forward to my next trip which might be in a couple of weeks time as I have several other commitments that will keep me on land for a while.
So now my mind turns to planning the "season". I have already changed my mind about three times - so options include: the Ashby, the Shroppie, Llangollen, the Trent and Soar or the Warwickshire Ring. I had also considered going up as far as Wigan but time won't allow so will have to leave that for another time. I'm trying to fit the travel in with a couple of gigs and festivals that I really MUST go to :-).
A smooth crossing.
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April 24th
Isle of Wight day! The crossing wasn't until 11.30am so had loads of time
to kill this morning. By 10 am we decided to leave anyway, you neve...
21 hours ago