Christmas

Well we have had a busy December. The Dry dock has been busy with boats and we have had a lot of call outs on the canal.

Every year we have Santa's groto in the old forge. This year we had about 2000 childern visiting Santa. Here's a picture of his arrival at the shopping centre.

I have had my own arrival this year. My daughter Alice was born on the 3rd December weighing seven pounds. She is keeping us up at night but she is great.

We have had chilly start to the New Year I will update you shortly

Cheers Matt

How is your bottom!

When was the last time you blacked your hull?

Do you know what is on your hull?

There are many different types of hull blacking, but they broadly fall into 3 types, which you should not get mixed up. They are: -

1 Bitumen - this probably the most common hull blacking. If you cannot find out what is on your hull then you are probably safest going with this as it is oil based and will go over all other blackings. However, bitumen will dissolve in oil and diesel so it is not the best product.
A boat with bitumen should really be blacked every 2 - 3 years.

2. Coal Tar - this is better than bitumen. It is coal based. It will go over epoxy but not tar. It is resistant to oil and diesel.
A boat with coal tar should be blacked every 2 - 4 years.

3 Epoxy - There are different types and the most expensive is considered to be the best because it lasts longer. It will not go over bitumen or coal tar. You need to know what was on before as different epoxys are not always compatible.
They say that boats with epoxy can be left for up to 8 years. We would recommend docking the boat half way to check the hull condition.

If you have any questions about your hull coating then please contact us, as it is very important to know what hull blacking you have, and also to know that the boat has been prepped and blacked correctly - as it can come off if done incorrectly!

Also at the moment we doing a deal on hull blackings in November and December. Email us at info@tooleysboatyard.co.uk for further details.

Matt

Banbury Canal Day

A bit late but heres our update on our Canal Day in Banbury.

The event was opened by the Mayor and the sponsors who arrived on our day boat - the 'Dancing Duck'. Then the Duck when on provide boat trips for the rest of the day.

At the boatyard we opened the site for the general public giving the full access to the yard.

On the canal side in front of the dock we had a pig roast with our restaurant boat 'Rosamund the Fair' providing the bar.

We also had old cast iron forge that we saved from Alcan (Banbury's old aluminium works) when it closed.

Its nice having this old forge as it was made in Samuelson's Foundry in Banbury. The interesting thing about it is that the Tooley's used to supply coal and pig iron to the site by boat - so maybe the Tooley's supplied the fuel and metal to make this forge.

So what a fitting place for this to end up. We have restored the forge back to running order and Ron did demonstrations on the day.

We also had our 200 year old forge up and running with demonstrations running through out the day.

Our Chandlery was open as usual and was packed full of people all day.

We also had a display of Roses and Castles painting in the yard and we took bookings for our painting classes.

Here in this picture you can see Atlanta an old working boat in the dock. The dock is normally dry so we can work on boats out of the water, but on the day we had the dock full of water.

You can also see some old engines that have been restored and being displayed by Pete Downer and friends.

Well the day was a success and thousands of people came down to the canal saw different things and enjoyed the day by the water. And thats what our Canal Day is all about.

Penny's post!

Hi, my name is Penny, and I have been working here at Tooley's since March '08. I work part-time due to being the proud mum of baby Liam (although not so much of a baby now!). Prior to joining the boatyard, I had been working as the Manager of the Cafe Quay, a canal-side eaterie which Tooley's also used to run.

Along with helping in the Chandlery and in the office, I recently completed the Inland Helmsman Certificate with our instructor Martin, so hopefully I will soon be able to get out from behind the desk and maybe start running some of the weekly boat trips! I also keep track of all the different courses we run here, ranging from Blacksmithing to rope-work and traditional 'Roses' & Castles' painting.

Oh, and if you ever want a rope splicing, I'm a demon with the 'fid' (no complicated ones please!).

Penny

Hole in the Hull

One of our regular customers is Dave. He moors his boat ‘Rumpleteaser ‘ south of Banbury. I will always remember the time that he brought his boat into the dock here at Tooley's.

Narrowboats are normally flat bottomed but nobody knew that Dave's boat had a 1" wide fin on the bottom of his boat and when we drained the dock the boat was perfectly balanced on the fin and it looked like his boat was floating 10" above the ground.

Well we have all been working long hours recently, so Matt M and I decided to get off early at 4pm (as we both travel in the van together). Then the phone rang. It was Dave off of NB Rumpleteaser. He told us that he was worried about some water in his bilge.

When someone says that they are getting water in the bilges it’s normally from rain water, a leaking water system or a leaking stern gland, but when we got to his boat we realised that it was far more serious. There was water trickling down inside the boat from just below the waterline.

We advised him to move everything to the other side of the boat to create a list to get the hole out of the water. We then contacted the next customer and managed to squeeze Dave in for an emergency docking.

We found that there was what looked like a 8” crack, and the metal in that area had thinned to around 1.5mm thick. So we welded a plate over the area to stop the immediate problem. We were still worried about a crack a behind the rubbing strake, so we re-booked Rumpleteaser back into the dock at the earliest time that we could arrange for the hull to be inspected.

So we booked in Marine Surveyor Barrie Morse to inspect the boat in the dock. He found that the problem was restricted to just that area behind the rubbing strake. This had to be removed and the area welded.

Now that his boat is watertight, we reckon Dave was lucky (he may not think so) that he spotted the problem before it was too late. It highlights the importance of trying to keep your bilges as dry as possible- not only does it stops the boat rusting from the inside but you can also see when you have a problem.

Adrift in time...

As my description reads on the right of the page there, I am also a RYA (Royal Yachting Association) Inland Helmsman Instructor. This is generally a one-day course (though two days can be accomodated), teaching the basics of safely skippering a vessel on our canals and rivers. Usually, the course is run from our boatyard here in Banbury, on our sweet little 'Dancing Duck' training boat, however I am more than happy to run the course on customers' own boats.

And so I found myself yesterday back on the beautiful Thames (I say 'back', as it's where I 'cut my teeth' so to speak) at Sandford, in the company of two wonderful ladies on their wee 19ft cruiser. Having owned the boat for a few months, they fell in the love with the idea, yet found the actual moving of the boat a tad traumatic (which most people do), especially on the often fast-flowing Thames. So, armed with 'lucky' wet-weather gear (to maintain the warm sunshine), tea, coffee and cake, off we motored - firstly heading upstream through Ifley Lock and then down through the very pretty (and deep) Sandford Lock (pictured).
To cut a long story short, the day was very successful, with both ladies coming away with bags more confidence, and a more thorough understanding of moving a boat. There was also one additional lesson learnt during the day which was most definitely not on the syallabus and very much related to the importance of ensuring there is enough fuel in the tank - how to deal with a boat spluttering to a halt mid river and slowly beginning a downstream journey entirely of it's own accord. The trick is:

a). Don't panic.
b). Hope that there isn't a substantial flow in the river.
c). Pray that a Salters trip boat isn't just 'round the bend.

Anyhow, the boat did drift gently down towards the tow-path, and with some help from a convenient on-board paddle, it wasn't long before we were safely moored alongside the bank. There was an anchor on-board if needed (an essential bit of kit for river cruising), and indeed if there was a substantial flow I may have used it, though in this case it was unnecessary.

It was a fun day, and the river looked glorious in the September sun, and it's not often you can recreate a breakdown mid-cruise!

MARTIN

The Lady of the Leak

Last Saturday Susan from NB Portland Bill came in to the shop asking me to go down and have a look at the list on her boat. I was in the middle of other jobs and could not go straight away. She was a bit concerned so I said that I would pop down after work to have a look at it.

She was moored 300 yards south of Banbury lock. I found it quiet easily as it was the boat with the 30º list to port! I was amazed that she still had belongings on her shelves. Water had filled her bilges causing the list.

The water in her bilges was clean so I started looking for at the water tank for problems. I found it straight away. The domestic water pump had not been installed properly and water was pouring out (It had been fitted by a friendly boater who was passing by), so I fixed the leaks.

I was concerned about Susan staying on the boat in that condition, but Susan (cool as a cucumber) explained that her last boat also had a list so she was used to it, and anyway her bed was on the port side so she could not roll out. So we arranged to bring the boat to the boat yard on Monday to pump the water out.

On Monday, I looked at the floor and found that the internal wood lining of the boat had been built on top of the floor (which is common) so I could not lift the floor up. I found the lowest point on the floor at the back near the stove and drilled some holes in the floorboards. I put and electric pump in and left it pumping out for an hour. We are now on the case for getting the rest of the water out.

A good tip for any boaters is to make sure that you have inspection hatches so that you can check your bilges and try and keep them dry as possible. Also if you hear your water pump coming on when you are not using it – then it’s worth getting the system checked out for leaks.

Matt A