The Better Option

I’ve been following the efforts of David and Karen as they rebuild their Ben Harp built narrow dutch barge Trudy Anne (blog link here).  For me, the most striking thing is the similarity of our experience, but totally opposite outcomes.

David kindly gave me a copy of his independent marine surveyors report on Trudy-Anne as built by Ben Harp.  It’s a shocker!  I suspect we would have likely ended with a similar quality boat if he had completed Waiouru.  Selecting ABC Leisure as our new builder may prove to be the better option.  We’re certainly pleased with the quality of the work here at Aldermaston Wharf!

Unfortunately Darren wasn’t able to get much painting completed today.  First thing this morning Jan and I cleaned down Waiouru’s roof and sides with tac cloths in anticipation and Darren started applying the final coat of gloss to the roof.  Then the office phone started to ring.  He received five calls from separate hirers, all with problems on their boat’s.  Whilst he was able to rectify three of the issues over the phone (and simultaneously paint) the last two required his on-site attendance.  Reluctantly he stopped painting the roof when he reached the Boatman’s Beam.  As a consequence he was only able to paint ¾ of the roof and nothing else.

The two hire boats were at opposite ends of the canal and he wasn’t able to return until just before 5.00pm.  We had a brief discussion about the plan for tomorrow’s painting before Darren left.  I’ll also have to talk to Andy tomorrow about a strategy to get the painting back on schedule.