Some progress

Following the reception of the invoice for the blacking, I spoke with Engineering John this afternoon. He said that during a slightly milder spell last week two coats had gone on the hull. If the promised thaw materialises next week, the blacking could be completed, but it would be towards the end of the week because of the bank holidays. That would mean leaving her out of the water until after New Year, to allow the blacking to dry.

Also received estimates for the flue terminal and fitting a washing machine.

Everything on hold

Stafford has only been above freezing briefly a couple of times during the last week. Current 5-day forecast has it at freezing or below until after Christmas, and again down as far as -8ºC at night. However, there's not much precipitation expected.

Meanwhile, research has shown (1) by 'flue terminal' (which he declared to be corroded), Peter Tindall seems to mean the whole of the chimney section above the roof. However, he sees it as neither urgent nor expensive; (2) Bruce and Sheila's washing machine is a Zanussi. That and the Candy are the only compacts we've found so far.

Poring over the boat's manual has indicated that the TV is analogue, so with the switch-over coming, we'll need to find a way of going digital – Freeview or Freesat – or stop watching summer time TV.

The Freeze

Checked the weather and forecast for Stafford. Doesn't get above freezing for the next five days, and night time temperatures will be down as low as -8ºC. Perhaps it's a good thing that Erin Mae is out of the water on blocks, but clearly the blacking won't be done any time soon. However, it looks as though any snow may not be heavy as far north as Stafford.

Purchase completed

7.30 a.m. on the road. Rush hour traffic slowed us down a bit, but time for a coffee at Cherwell Valley. At Great Haywood by 11.45. Ellie had all the paperwork ready, so everything was completed quickly.

Agreed terms with the marina for a mooring to the end of September '11. Saw the engineering guys who confirmed that work on the shower pump, the calorifier and the hose to the heat exchanger on the engine had been paid for by the previous owner and completed, along with a replacement water filter in the galley, which had burst with the freeze. They will let me have an estimate for fitting a washing machine. I need to get Peter Tindall to clarify which bit of the flue needs to be replaced and let them know.

Saw Bruce and Sheila on n.b. Sanity Again - quizzed them about washing machines and pump-out pumps!

Trip back through Stafford to avoid the toll road was a big mistake, with Stafford a crawl and the M6 congested. Ended up on the toll road anyway. Horrible wet driving conditions, but home safely by 7 p.m.

Preparatory stuff

Got the CHAPS transfer done.
Set up insurance over the phone with Natalie at GJW Direct.
Jenny from GH Marine Services phoned to say they were going ahead with preparing the hull for blacking.
Early-morning weather for the trip tomorrow looks icy in the south and foggy around Stafford. But can't go up tonight. Told Ellie we'd be there between 11 and noon.

Blog making

Saturday afternoon. Tried blogger, wordpress, tumblr and myblogsite. Only myblogsite allowed erinmae as a name, and wordpress wouldn't allow hyphens. But myblogsite looked amateur and their confirmation email did not arrive. Set up Erin Mae public blog at http://erin-mae.blogspot.com.  Set up a tumblr site for the Erin Mae Log, but it was very hard to work with.

So here goes with both blogs on blogger.