WHAT A NIGHTMARE,

 

The Glory Hole Lincoln

And that’s exactly what these last 3 weeks have been and the extreme heat hasn't helped.

I had written a blog about our time in Lincoln and what we did, but due to the stress caused by the engine problem I couldn’t find the energy to post it, so I have decided to tell you about our experience with the engineer.

At the end of the last blog the weekend had come and gone with out hearing anything from the guy. The Captain messaged him on the Saturday asking if there was any update but we heard nothing. What I didn’t mention in the last blog, is that he left us with the belief any parts we required would be on next day delivery, so that shouldn’t hold up the repair.

It turned out this wasn’t the case. On the Monday the Captain gave him until lunchtime before calling him, no answer, but we got a text saying he would call us back. When he did he went through what he had done and the results. He then offered to send us an estimate which we politely declined, so as not to add any further delay, instructing him to just get on and do the work. He said fine, and hopefully when the parts arrive he would be back to fit the engine on Friday.

We heard nothing on Tuesday or Wednesday, but got a message on the Thursday saying he was till waiting for the parts to come from Holland, this was the first we had heard about were the parts were coming from, it did not make us very happy, as you can imagine.

The Captain went to Chorley for his daughters birthday for the weekend, whilst I stayed with the boat. This helped with the toilet situation, which I will come to in a moment.

So we heard nothing over the weekend again.

Monday and things were starting to look more serious, our toilet only lasts 14 days normally and Tuesday was the 14^th day. We still had no idea if the parts had arrived, or when we would be mobile again.

The engineer did message us to ask for the Captains details so he could send us an estimate, but said the parts had still not arrived, and then dropped the bombshell that he would be out of the country from Thursday for 4/5 days. The Captain, completely pissed off at this point, sent a strongly worded message back explaining about the toilet situation, and how ‘unprofessional’ he had been in dealing with us.

He did not like this one bit, and called straight away ranting for a good few minutes before letting the Captain get a word in edgeways. When he calmed down he explained that the parts had to come from Holland, and there had been some sort of hold up, which was out of his control. That was fair enough, the problem lay in his lack of communicating this to us earlier. We would have understood if only he had been upfront with us before this point.

Good news came later, he had spoken with his supplier and the parts were there and he should receive them next day, if they came early enough he would come that day, if not it would definitely be the Wednesday, this was great news, and the toilet would last another couple of days helped by the Captain being away over the weekend. Tuesday came and went, , but we weren’t to worried. Wednesday and the Captain messaged him to find out what time he was coming. He came back, saying he was still waiting for parts which were due late in the afternoon, and if they came earlier enough he would come over then and put our engine back together. Good news he had got his dates mixed up and wasn’t going away until the Friday, so he would definitely do the job on the Thursday. Which he did, he came promptly at 9am and the engine was back up and running by lunchtime.

I cant complain about his engineering skills but his communication with his customers needs a lot of work.

Before I go onto the final part of this saga, as it didn’t finish there, I must talk about how much we rely on our engine. Obviously without it we can’t move, which means we can’t get water, our tank last about 5/6days, we cant empty our toilet using a pump out machine, and we can’’t abide by the mooring rule that you can only stay in 1 place for 14days, maximum.

The problem with water we solved by buying 2x15ltr containers and saving 4x2ltr water bottles. There was a water point with in walking distance of were we were moored, using our trusty granny trolleys we made a number of trip to keep our tank topped up.

The toilet was more of an issue, the Captain, of course came up with a solution, he bought a 12volt macerating pump and fitted it with 2 hoses, one to go into the tank and the other into a 25ltr container we luckily had. We would then take this to an elsan point and empty it like you would a normal cassette. A smelly job which luckily we didn’t have to do (this time).

The mooring situation was solved on line, the Captain applied for an extension explaining the situation and we were grant 2 more weeks.

The only thing we didn’t have to worry about, which some boats do, electricity, many boats run their engines to charge their batteries which then run things like lights, water pumps and anything else that needs power. We have such a great solar and battery system we didn’t have to worry about this at all. All down to the amazing Captain.

Now back to the rest of the saga. The engineer left us with a working engine so we could move, which was great, as the most pressing matter was empting the toilet, the pump out machine at Lincoln was out of order, the next one was at Burton Waters marina, and then there was one at Torksey.

We did stop at the services at Lincoln to fill up with water. The Captain checked the toilet and decided it would last until the next day, so we headed for Saxilby passing Burton Waters on the way.

After about 45mins we realised that all the work that had been done on the engine hadn’t actually solved the problem, and the water was still filling the overflow bottle and we were losing water. We limped to Saxilby and moored up. This day couldn’t get any worse, oh yes it could a notification from CRT came through the pump out machine at Torksey was broken. I don’t think I have heard so many ‘f’ words from the Captain ever but I couldn’t blame him.

We still needed a pump out, so next day the Captain sealed up the outlet pipe on the overflow bottle, so we didn’t loose any water from there, we managed to winded at Saxilby and headed to Burton Waters at a steady pace. We got a pump out and went back to Saxilby. That was one thing off our mind.

The Captain had been giving our engine problem some deep thought and came up with what he thought was a solution, I can’t explain what it was as I don’t really understand what he did, but it worked.

He tinkered with the engine and decided we should cruise down to Torksey using normal revs, and assess the outcome when we got there. The engine ran perfectly, the water in the overflow bottle didn’t come up more than it should, and we lost no water. He was a very very happy bunny and so was I.

We had had a serious conversation earlier in the day about our plans going forward, and I had expressed doubts about staying on the Trent, and going up and onto the Chesterfield canal with an engine we weren’t completely happy with. I didn’t want to be stuck on a rural canal (which the Chesterfield is) with a dodgy engine, and the only way back onto the main system down a tidal river.

I suggested heading back the way we had come, and maybe doing the Trent and Mersey canal and the Caldon canal. This would put us in a more accessible area for things such as boatyards, water and pump out facilities.

After a perfect run from Saxilby to Torksey the decision was made that the engine was ok to do the trip to West Stockworth and onto the Chesterfield canal.

And that’s all folks, we are moored on the visitors moorings at Torksey and going out on to the Trent tomorrow Monday.