I See a Narrow Boat and I Want it Painted Black

The slipway team from the Stafford Boat Club were on deck at 8.30am. Their first job was to get the bogie's ready and manually push them in the water.



Then to drag Caxton in position.

Engage the winch and up she comes.

We had one gongoozler on hand, plus a dog.

Nearly there.

She's up!

Our first job was to blast the crud off the hull. The hull was in very good nick, with very minor pitting.
At this point Elaine had walked the dogs and put them in the car - the noise inside the boat would have been too distressing for them - especially as Sammy is scared of hoses !
 

1750 psi water blaster removes all the loose paint and slime etc.
Elaine insisted I pose with it like this !

Lots of crud ends up on your face!

Elaine followed with a scraper and wire brush.  As you can see, the sun was blazing !

Next task was to mask up the hull.

Agitate the paint...

By late afternoon we had one coat of paint on ... thanks to the, much appreciated, help of Elaine's brother Trevor.  She was looking good!

 

We only had one small problem.....we had a broken blade on the bow thruster......

Good job we carry a spare on board!

Yes - she made me pose again !

 

All in all a very good productive day.  Elaine said it was the best day of her life by far....

(hmmmmmm - Elaine)

Tonight we all went up the local for dinner, then returned for a swift half at the clubhouse. 

Tomorrow we should manage to get another coat on while the weather is good and while we still have Trev!