If anyone ever says to you: "Darling, let's black the bottom of the boat ourselves this time, it will be a bit of fun," never, never, ever believe them. Do not be seduced by such weasel words; turn your back on all such suggestions, get your cheque book out and pay someone else, anyone else, but never, no never, say "Yes". Say "No", say it loud, say it long and repeat it at regular intervals until you have convinced the perpetrator of such ludicrous, ridiculous, idiotic and masochistic notions that you have abosolutely no intention whatsoever of participating in such a boring, filthy, frustrating and loathsome task. Which is what I should have done when this idea was first mooted. I should have laughed the whole idea out of sight, I should have said: "Not on your life", I should have threatened to emigrate, but I was weak, Dear Reader, anxious to please my sweetheart, keen not to appear a wimp, and I was also rather naive.

Which is how I came to be in Ellesmere dry dock with a 70' narrowboat which needed TLC. In we went full of hope. "We'll soon have this lot sorted out", he said. "Couple of coats of paint and Bob's your uncle." I should have been suspicious at that point--I don't have an uncle called Bob.

Thursday, 30th July
7.00 a.m. (yes, I said 7.00 a.m., and I don't do mornings) saw us outside the dry dock, waiting for the two charming BW operatives, Roger and Phil, to let us in to the dry dock. They were all smiles and niceness, so nice I even made them a cup of coffee. But they didn't warn me of the trials to come............They tied us up (well not US, the boat--though come to think of it, if they had tied me up then I would have had a good excuse not to participate) and put in the stop planks and wound up the paddle and let all the water out. As we came to rest on the concrete blocks at the bottom, it seemed to me that Liberty Belle let out a sigh. Was it pleasure at having a rest from all that floating about on the water? Or did she know what was coming?

A Movie Clip of Trev Pressure Washing the Hull--don't say I don't give you exciting footage!

First, the man from the tool hire centre arrived with a pressure washer and a step-up generator. For some strange reason, the power in the dry dock is 110v, so we needed to up it to 230. Then a man arrived to sort out a leak in the stern tube which needed doing when the boat was out of the water. Trev pressure washed the hull, and then we looked at it. "It doesn't look ready to paint" I suggested. "Mmmm", said Trev thinking the same thing. We had thought that pressure washing would blast all the rust and the loose paint off and then we could lash the black stuff on. The Man doing the stern tube had a look at it and said we needed to scrape it all off with paint scrapers. So off I went into town to to buy scrapers. We scraped and scraped, but still the rusty bits were there. "You need a flat bed sander" said the man doing the stern tube. "Ring the tool hire man and ask him to bring one. "Flat bed sander is no good for that", said the tool hire man. "All the tar'll stick to the sand paper, won't do any good at all." "Humph" said the man doing the stern tube, "that's what I always use on mine." The alternative, apparently, was to sand it all down by hand.........This was the point at which I knew I'd made a mistake to get involved in this farce.

So off I went, back into town and bought four metres of 40s sand paper (note I now have the jargon) and two sanding blocks. Back to the boat and eight hours later I had sanded two sides of a 70' boat. Trev had spent the time on his back under the stern, sanding the propeller and the swim--that is the name we boatie people use for the way the boat narrows towards the stern. As you can see. he had a great time....... He's auditioning for a part in the next production of the "Black and White Minstrels Show".

Actually if we ever do this again, I could save some money. Having used the sandpaper, my hands are now like sandpaper themselves, they are so rough and coarse, and I could just use my hands to sand the hull down.......... We were so tired, tireder than I can remember for a long time, and were glad to stop.

Friday 31st July
Next day saw us up early and starting again. Trev brushed the sides down to get rid of the dust, and then set about putting the first coat of blacking on. I sanded down the rust on the counter--that's the rear of the boat above the water line and the rudder, and prepared it for painting. I also had a go at the pattern at the front of the boat, on the sides of the bow, where the boat had knocked the bank or the locks, or been hit by other boaters. Now the bows and the stern are ready for undercoat and top coat. Trev was on his back under the stern again, putting the blacking on.

I was lucky today, I had an excuse to stop work for a while. I have made two quilts for a charity called "Linus Quilts" which gives quilts to children who have suffered trauma, who are seriously ill or who have other serious problems in their lives. The person who collects and distributes the quilts in this area rang to say she would come and pick them up. The bonus was that she and her husband took me out for a cream tea, by The Mere. Thank you Marian and John, it was a lovely afternoon, and a very welcome break!

When I got back, Trev had finished painting one side, and was just starting along the other. At last we had finished for the day. Whilst Trev got cleaned up, I went to get fish and chips for supper. I wish I hadn't bothered, they were very mediochre. In the evening, Trev went for a drink with Ian, a friend who moors at Llangollen for the winter who is in Ellesmere at the moment.

Saturday, 1st August
Seven years ago today, the hull of Liberty Belle went into the water at Braunston. There, she was fitted out and painted and we moved on board on March 31st 2003. But today Trev's giving her a second coat of black paint on the sides and I'm glossing over the bits where there was rust. I've also painted the counter and it looks lovely. I've got really tired with this job, I suppose that's my age beginning to show!! However, my part in this whole charade has been as nothing in comparison with what Trev has had to do. He's lain on a cold, wet stone floor for hours with his feet in a puddle of water, blacking under the prop and stern. Hopefully, blacking the boat ourselves once will be enough, and we'll be able to get someone else to do it for us next time! Tonight we went to The Black Lion in Ellesmere for a pub meal. It never fails to please.

Now She Looks a Lot Better

Sunday, 2nd August
Today was a tidying up and finishing off day, I did loads of laundry whilst we were still on mains electricity and also gave the counter a second coat of gloss. We're looking forward to moving out of the dry dock, it's pretty boring in here! There are loads of swallows nesting in the rafters and it's been interesting to watch their antics, but unfortunately they have left their visiting cards all over the boat and it looks quite speckled! Tonight Trev gave the boat a good washing to get the mess off. It would be hopeless to try to repaint a boat in here durung the breeding season.

Monday, 3rd August
Hurray, today we left the dry dock. About 8.00 p.m. The top stop plank was lifted just a tad and the water poured in. It was surprising how such an apparently small gap could allow so much water in so quickly, and certainly made us think about the amount of water that must escape when there is a breach. Witihn fifteen minuted the dry dock was a wet dock and we were floating again. We held our breath as we checked to see if the repair to the stern tube ahd worked, but it had and we reversed out slowly. There was another boat waiting outside to come in. It was a beauty, and had just had a Phil Speight paint job on it. It looked gorgeous. (Phil Speight is considered to be one of the top boat painters.) As we passed it I said to its owner what a beautiful paint job it was, how much had that cost? (Rather forward of me I know!) "A lot of money," came the answer. I said this to Trev, and he said he'd asked the same question and got the same answer! Then I mentioned it to Roger, the BW man, and he said he'd asked the same question and got the same answer! So it was obviously an incredible amount!

A quick stop in Ellesmere to pick up the post from the Post Office and then we set off for Frankton Locks. We decided we would go back down the Monty for a few days, to have a rest. We'd enjoyed it so much with Cherry that we thought we'd do it all over again.

One thing I should say about this whole bottom blacking thing is--Trev didn't mind doing it at all. I was the one who didn't enjoy it. Trev says he would do it again...................

SummerCruise 2009

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