Taking Waterdog to Hull was an adventure in itself as 'tide waits for no man' so we had to set of at 04:00 on a cold January, Saturday morning. Dawn was just breaking after 3 hours as we approached Humber bridge. |
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We had also invited an experienced local called Brian who had plied Goole and the Humber all his working life so knew the lay of the river. My friend Peter helped as well and a local called Mark came to build up his knowledge of the Humber. It was much more relaxing in the pitch black with plenty of hands and local guidance onboard. |
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Tilly the fierce Tibetan Terrier watching the progress as the winter sun comes up. It took 4h 30m from Ocean Lock to Alexandra Lock (with the tide). |
The old Gardner 4LW engine was to be changed in dry dock but still had to be looked after. Here we did some post voyage engine checks and take some stills and video of it running for advertising it for sale. |
We struggled to decide to replace the engine because the Gardner 4LW is a classic from the early days of diesels. But it is lacking in power for such a large boat and we seem to get some engine drama every time we take a trip. This time the diesel return pipe leaked onto the exhaust manifold causing loads of smoke. I tightened it up and the air slowly clear. |
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We had to tie up and wait in Alexandra wet dock until Monday to go into dry dock. Our friends packed up and went home having enjoyed a winter voyage. We had come early as the forcast for Sunday/Monday was for very windy weather. |
Late Monday we manoeuvred into the huge dry dock behind the MV Vidette and powered down the old Gardner engine - maybe for the last time. |
Although it was a bit sad to stop the Gardner for what might be its last time, it was also fantastic to see the new engine in the stores waiting for us to fit. Waterdog had always been on the edge of control with only a sluggish 48HP available to stop it or turn it. They docked us on at about 7pm and it would be past midnight before the dry dock was pumped out. |
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It has been 6 years since we last saw the underwater area of Waterdog so it was a relief to see very little rust and quite a lot of paint still on her as we inspected before work started.The anodes too were mostly OK with only the rudder tear drops disappeared altogether. |
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We intended to keep the Propellor but have it checked and re-pitched if need be. The deck felt a long way off the ground as we dried out on the large blocks and with no railing down the side. The access tower helped getting on and off but we were lucky the weather stayed mostly mild so we didn't have ice on deck as well. |
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