Our ‘Westie’

Jan made a final trip to Tesco for her magazines before leaving Rugeley (Roo-g-lee).  It was only a short cruise to the water point and along the way Jan noticed this rather appealing pale blue garden seat.

We stopped at the water point before Armitage Tunnel for 30 minutes and then Jan walked ahead with one of the 2-way radios to check If the narrows were clear. 

The roof of the tunnel was removed in 1971 after subsidence from nearby underground coal mining.  It’s now just a narrow cutting on a blind bend.  Jan radioed that the way was clear, however I waited for the obligatory blessing before engaging the prop.

Looks like we got him out of bed!

There was an overgrown and narrow section of the canal just east of Handsacre and of course (as you do) we met a boat coming the other way.  I was trying to keep Waiouru as close to starboard (the right) as possible when we hit a solid submerged object and bounced across the canal to hit the oncoming boat.  We apologised to the steerer who acknowledged it wasn’t deliberate or incompetence on our part.   Our first “Westie”!

Only one lock today and we somehow managed to collect a number of unwanted hangers-on around the prop as we exited. 

Some bursts of reverse removed most of them and we slowly cruised on to find a vacant mooring above Shadehouse Lock.  The mizzle appeared to have moved on so I boldly wiped down the first coat of paint on both handrails before rubbing them with a pot pad (see below) 

The pad is sufficiently abrasive to add some fine scratches to the ‘'”green” (soft & new) paint.  I don’t want to remove any of the paint but rather ‘key’ it so the second coat has something to grip on to.  The handrails then received their second coat.  This now leaves us with handrails around the cockpit to paint.  I’ll need to remove the pram cover and frame to do them, which means we need two clear days.

Jan just had to take a photo of the boat and butty that passed us later in the afternoon. 

I was slightly perturbed about the cratch on the boat.  The cratch had been enclosed with a timber frame and then been clad in plywood.  A stove flue extended out the port (left) forward corner of the plywood and I guess the stove was against the gas locker bulkhead.  It screamed “fire hazard” at me.

Halfie our Beta Engine manual states The engine oil should be CF (CD or CE) 15W/40 (depending upon ambient temperature)  The note states   A good quality SAE 15W/40 mineral based multigrade oil as used in most car diesel engines will meet requirements.  Do not use lubricant additives,and the use of synthetic oil is not recommended.

Mobil Super 1000 X1 15W/40 is a premium mineral multigrade oil.