AND ALL WHO SAIL IN HER! ***RIVER BOAT NANCY

Hey chaps hows it going?  Keeping your nose clean?  Come meet Nancy 2 or to be accurate, Nancy II.  Isn't she beautiful? Yes she is. And the wife's not bad either. Bum Bum.  (That's going to hurt) 

Any road up shes a Viking 26 widebeam with aft cockpit, so more or less the same but without the back bedroom which means there's a patio at the back for "entertaining" or sunbathing with a beer if you prefer.

Nancy II (I'm sure she wont mind me saying) isn't as plush as Nancy but she has great potential. That's my way of saying she came complete with duff batteries, a boiler we cant get to go, no 240v and a wonky fridge. But we cut a deal for her and you have to price that sort of surprise in sometimes. Where was I? Oh yes , potential. Shes wider for a start, so you can swing a cat, and a "double" (bunk) is a double and not an aspiration. There's seating for six easy and the cabin is comfy. This is her on her christening voyage (we didn't scour the world for a boat named Nancy 2 and get lucky, we re-named her) where we performed the ritual re-naming ceremony (yes there is one and it does involve pointy hats and frogs) and cracked open the champers before cruising to the Dog and Duck for lunch.  

Just for completeness, here's a pic of lunch, which I think you will agree, is also beautiful. 

Thats it for now, Stick around though for the next thrilling installment....

Nancy II has set sail, God bless her....

***CANAL BOAT NANCY

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NANCY THE GREAT!!! ***RIVER BOAT NANCY

So --- new season approaching and what we have learned is that if you're going to sell or buy a boat, thats when you do it. Why? Loads of reasons, first there are more boats around for sale...because, there are more people looking to buy. Why? because its the start of the good weather season, and mucking around on boats is definitely a good weather hobby. Buy a boat in Jan and you can barely use it for bad weather floods dark days works in the marina...

And where to go? The places we go  are open in summer and in full swing, try sitting outside with a pub lunch in Jan, or having a barbie in March. Not impossible but if you like getting a tan with a tinnie driving your boat semi naked then summer's what you're after. Buy a boat in January you'll pay mooring on it for months without using it. so everyone (yes everyone) buys in April / May.Thus it follows with almost exquisitely  beautiful logic that most people sell in April / May too. Handy.

So remember when we started that this is (was) our first boat, a good starter boat big enough to do stuff small enough to get cheap mooring and not crash every 5 mins?

Well... shes gone.

Bye bye Nancy, we had some cracking times..like when we were gently cruising downstream towards home and it suddenly went really quiet because the petrol tank was empty. Tranquility was never so unpeaceful!! Herself had to grab an overhanging tree to keep us from crashing while I demolished the back cabin to get the spare petrol into the fuel tank asap. Oh we did laugh...well we will do post trauma. And the time when we tried a u turn leaving the pub in front of a packed patio and drove into the trees on the far bank because the motor stalled mid manoeuvre and with Nancy the steering comes from directing the propellor -- if the propellor isn't whizzing round then the steering is lousy



Yeah so shes gone, to a good home where they'll look after her. She was great, we enjoyed the ride, the pose, waving like royalty to kids in the bank, breakfast on deck, the excellent fridge with its never ending supply of Kronenberg and Thatchers



Pic is her waiting by the slip for her transport away. Quite sad really.

But now we move on to bigger and hopefully better.....

***CANAL BOAT NANCY

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SHIPS LOG 20/07/14 ***RIVER BOAT NANCY

We had decided to go out on sunday the best part of a week before, theres a few birthdays and the sister in law plus hubby haven't seen the boat yet, so the plan was go up early, get some domestics out of the way, then set sail for the second nearest pub for a carvery. (The nearest pub is right outside the marina, and whilst its a quick trip, you really don't feel as if you've been cruising, when you arrive. Cos you haven't.) Anyway, going to the Dog and Duck means passing through a lock which can be exciting, and herself likes to be in charge of locks so that's cool, its a chance to park up, (moor) watch her struggle manfully with 19th century engineering, whilst irritatingly annoying her with a slow methodical textbook advert like opening of an ice cold can of Kronenberg, (other beers are available, like the ice cider slush, left) Then sit on the roof basking in the sun drinking a tinny whilst she pushes the lock gates around! Sounds good, right? Till she reads this anyway!

So Sis in law bails on friday, we still set sail, but had a nice lunch in the pub at base, set off around 2 and headed due east ish. The river was quite full after the crazy weather of the last few days, she handled a little sluggish actually and it had been 3 weeks since we last voyaged so I wasn't the best helmsman Ive ever been. But exited the tight bends out of base and upstream ok, past all the narrow boats moored along the river bank into the open bit which was a bit like one of these computer games avoiding overhanging trees, fishermens lines canoes etc etc. Don't ever argue with a barge coming the other way, they are really heavy, built of steel and don't take plastic boats as prisoners. But everyone  has been really friendly on the water, its as if its a different world or time. So far! When I had a spitfire, we spitfire drivers would wave at each other, it was like a code, and its the same on the river.

These beauties came looking for either financial advice or food. Think it was probably food as they left before I had finished talking footsie to them.

Went up to the next lock, just past it there's a service mooring place, stopped had a rest and a tin, sorted out our brand new lfebuoy (present from S-i-L) on he bow (front) turned round, back through the lock, parked up by the railway bridge, (that doesn't really describe the trauma of mooring -- the current kept dragging us away from the side, meaning I needed extra power, but wanted to approach slowly because lots of little kids on the jetty with their feet dangling. Made a right mess of it, got a line to a fellow boater on the jetty and he stood there whilst the current dragged the boat right around till we were pointing upstream. Then in front of everyones' watchful gaze had to pretend that was the plan all along!) Watching the kids jump in, another tin, stayed til we thought they'd forgotten our arrival and left with a u turn!)  and back to base. Very pleasant, and as a bonus extra got a very nice man to help sort our electrics out. So now we can use 240v ac on board, first job? Hoover.

View from our back bedroom window (sorry, aft cabin) back at base. 

***CANAL BOAT NANCY

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AHOY THERE!!! ***RIVER BOAT NANCY

Well lets give it a go, we all know that this wont last, but blame er indoors "we should keep a ships log" I think was the phrase.... Well these days this counts as a ships log I s'pose.

So we wanted a boat, well, I wanted a boat but she dont like the idea of being lost at sea, and its not something you can really enjoy on your own, so how to make it more family friendly? In our case, relocate the dream - from coastal to riverside, which makes for less of a drive, less chance of capsizing, drifting out to France and drowning, more pub lunches, it just works out so much more ....refined, the sort of thing people of our stature should be doing. Civilised. Gallivanting around the ocean is a game for the young, to misquote Kirk, and he was a damn good ships captain so take it from him.

 So there she is, in all her splendour. A Viking 26 centre cockpit for those who regard themselves as technical or mariners. She has 6 berths in two cabins, basically the v at the front, the dining table area makes a second double and theres a back bedroom or, rather, an aft cabin to give it the formal title. Theres a gas cooker, oven, shower, toilet, fridge hot and cold taps, even warm air central heating! All mod cons.

Still to come: Why this boat, The trauma of buying a boat, How to make a name for yourself at a lock, and 50 things to do on a sunday afternoon...keep it here.



***CANAL BOAT NANCY