Sold and RYA course 1

So we've fallen a little bit behind with updating this blog, other things far less exciting have got in the way over the last few weeks. Things like work and clearing my fathers house for sale.

The paperwork seemed to come through from Carefree quite quickly and on 16th September or there abouts we got the contracts to sign. So back in the post as swiftly as we could and then wait for the money to come through. Christina at Carefree said she would endeavour to get Artie to release the money before he had an operation on his knee, but sadly the paperwork was still sat on his desk. But after a gentle prod the funds were released and popped into our account. Hope that Ken and Eileen enjoy their time out on Winding Down.

So we are now boatless for the first time in about four years, we have a hull, but that's all, certainly not enough to go out for a pootle for even an hour. So life on land it is for the next few months until Oleanna is built.

Well I say that but we had booked ourselves a RYA boat handling course with bearBoating which started on the 4th October. So we packed on the friday morning and set off to the Leeds Liverpool canal to Apperley Bridge. The forecast for the weekend was looking hopeful but we drove through quite heavy downpours. We parked up and headed to the cut as the heavens opened up. Andy from bearBoating was waiting under shelter for us and helped us unpack the car. It was strange that the car wasn't chocka block full of everything that we might want, just a couple of sets of clothing, waterproof gear and food for breakfasts and lunches. Mick then headed off to park the car elsewhere with Andy and left me to explore Mollymoo.

When they returned we had a cuppa and were handed our RYA books for homework. Then it was learn how to put life jackets on, done, and then stowed under the seats. They get in the way on canals and we both can swim! Because I'd put on my waterproofs the rain stopped, so on with the course. 

We learnt how to throw ropes around bollards and how to set off if the wind was pushing us into the side. The aim of the weekend for us was for me to learn to drive and to see if we'd been doing it all properly upto now, and pick up things that we had never known about. I was at the tiller and off we set. We stopped every now and then to practice coming into the side and mooring up with the minimum amount of effort. When we reached a winding hole Mick proceeded to turn us round under Andys instruction. Easy. Then it was my turn, Andy said to turn the boat and head for the mud, but I knew we'd be heading for the shuttering, which wasn't a problem. I winded the boat with minimal effort, who needs bow thrusters!

Then on to moor just before the first of the swing bridges before entering Rodley. Andy bade us Goodbye for the day and left us to read our books before heading to the pub for tea. Andy walked back down the towpath, we had only travelled for the equivalent of 45 minutes in the afternoon, so a half hour walk would get him back to base.

We unpacked, made up the cross bed and had a complimentary scone with bearBerry jam, accompanied by a slice of chocolate banana cake (our staple when boating). Then with tummies still rumbling we headed to The Railway for a very large, very nice burger and a pint. Graham who I work with lives in Rodley and he came and joined us for a few pints and a damn good gossip!

Then back to mollyMoo and to bed. Even though the boat has fenders there was quite a lot of creaking and knocking going on. Quick check of ropes and then to bed.

Now I thought it wouldn't take long to update this blog in one post, but I now seem to have gone into cruise blog mode! I really ought to be doing other things! So will come back later to finish.

Will we get into the centre of Leeds?

Will we meet any other boats?

Will we finish the pot of bearBerry Jam?

Have we enough chocolate banana loaf?

Will I be able to handle a boat in a lock, never mind a staircase lock?

Will we HAVE to go to the pub?

All pressing questions, but the answers are going to have to wait.

7th September 2013

The Selling of Winding Down

We've had our share of the shared boat Winding Down for sale now for over a year. So it was good to get a phone call from someone called Ken a month or so ago wanting info on WD. I sent him info by email and got a response back from him with further questions that I answered as best I could and suggesting that they could view WD at the home marina (Welton Haven) on 7th September (and a couple of other dates). We heard no more. Then, last Saturday, whilst watching Durham beat Yorkshire at Scarborough I got a phone call from a Wendy whose father Alec was also interested in buying the share. I rang them back when I got home from the cricket and had a chat and he offered us £250 below asking price there and then. I ummed and ahhed a bit then decided to accept. 

SO later that weekend I send off an email to the management company Carefree Cruising to inform them of this. But the sale all goes a bit wrong when Carefree ask Alec if he has much experience of steering a narrowboat. It turns out that he has previously hired a boat for only  a week and a weekend.and apparently the insurance company require more experience than that and that. Alec will have to go on a helmsman course. At this point contact with Alec is lost as he goes on holiday for 10 days. I speak to Alec's daughter and she is a bit miffed with Carefree for making no mention of this training requirement before. Anyway she says that her father is not contactable for over a week and that if anyone else is in the running to buy our share then they would understand.

Meanwhile I have emailed Ken again to ask if they are intending to come and view WD on Saturday? "Yes" came the reply we'll be there at 1PM and we are having a look round another boat with a share for sale there too.

The guy from Carefree who is based at the marina is called Guy. He is always busy on a Saturday doing turnarounds, I think there are seven Carefree boats based at that marina. So he doesn't have much time for showing prospective buyers around. So I decide to make the 160 mile journey (each way) to meet Ken and Eileen and show them around WD and hopefully dissuade them from thinking that the other boat (Jenny Wren) would be a good buy.

Pip has to go to Manchester that day for work so I drive down to Northamptonshire on my own. Ken and Eileen turn up and have a good  look round. They were very impressed with how clean WD was (thanks Mike and Wendy who were on last week). We have a chat about the syndicate and how things work and they seem keen. 

They then go off and have a look at Jenny Wren and meanwhile the next people who are out on WD today, John and Jayne, have turned up. So I am chatting to them when Ken and Eileen step off Jenny Wren. They say it's just the same inside as WD. We carry on chatting for a bit then Ken offers me the full asking price for WD. So we shake hands and agree to both talk to Carefree on Monday to start off the legal transfer process.

So, sorry Alec but you've been pipped at the post.

Ken and Eileen head off and I go for a little walk round the marina and up the cut for half a mile whilst chatting to Pip on the phone. When I get back John and Jayne are casting off for their trip on WD to the Ashby canal and back. So I take some photos and wave bye bye to WD. We've had good times on her and will miss her. But we'll have better and much longer times on Oleanna.

Hopefully the sale will go through without a hitch.

Ready for the off

On their way

Left turn

Bye Bye WD

6th September 2013

So you pay your money for Stage payment 2a and ask Richard to let you know when it has reached their account. Easy. Well you'd think!

Mick paid our first installment by moving money from one account to another which took a few days to do before sending it to the builders, but this time we wanted to show our support and send it as quickly as possible. So I set up a payment from my current account (one of those that gives you good interest if you keep it topped up) and sent the money off. Mick then would pay me back when his money had moved from his savings. He is paying for the build and I am paying for all the extras, both with money left to us.

So I clicked the send button and off it went from my account. Richard didn't receive it on Saturday and when I looked at my on-line statement on Sunday there seemed to have been a time warp. So the following day (not yet happened!) the money got paid back into my account due to a Rejected Bill payment. But then it also left again. All this happening in the future. I've had payments come back into my account twice before and go out again, but that was for nowhere near the amount I was sending this time.

Monday whilst waiting for a train to Manchester I popped into my bank to check that the money had actually left that day and asked why it had happened and where my money was on the day that it was being rejected in the time space continuum. After phone calls and lots of checking that I was who I said I was the answer came back that they were checking the transaction for fraud. Okay so I'm all for them checking such things, don't want my Daddy Fatsos money going AWOL, but this keeps happening to me. The nice lady said that head office must just think I'm dodgy or something. The money should arrive in the account today.

We didn't hear anything that day from Richard and on Tuesday I was starting to get a bit twitchy. I checked that it had gone to the right account a couple of times. In the evening Richard emailed to say that yes it had arrived. Phew! So it ended up being no quicker than if Mick had payed it. But we tried.

So now it is back to concentrate on work for the next week, waking up longing to be in the rain on the back of Oleanna instead of buying hair grips and hair spray for actresses.

31st August 2013

Well this week has had mixed feelings. The excitement of seeing our boat and concerns about the build.

We came home last Saturday and had ideas, oh dear changes, well only slightly! With the EU wanting to change the duty on red diesel to full road rate, even on the proportion you use for heating and generating electricity, we'd been considering having a diesel tank solely for the heating. But it's looking likely that you won't be able to even buy red diesel if they get their way. So Mick spent time last weekend looking at alternatives, maybe a gas boiler. A few years ago we had a fortnight on a hire boat that had gas heating and we got through gas quite quickly as it was chilly.

But when we were out on Winding Down in March we had the stove going all the time and just occasionally used the heating . Boy it was cold outside, but toasty inside. So our thought is to go for an Alde boiler 3010 which can also be run off electric if we are hooked up. Just need to find somewhere for it. So on Thursday evening we sent Richard info about the boiler and our thoughts on the windows ready for when the cabin sides are done. Our email passed his in the ether as he was sending us an invoice for the next stage payment.


Mick last Saturday had asked if there was anything unique about the hull that we were shown that meant that it was definitely Oleanna. But at that stage there wasn't, the Brompton locker was their normal size. So after receiving the invoice Mick asked if they could show us that the locker had been enlarged or any other sign that meant it was Oleanna before we sent them the next wadge of money.

After a pleasant evening out with a friend in York last night we got on the train to come home and Mick checked his emails. There were two from Richard with photos. The first photos were of the Brompton locker which is now bigger and the others were of the weed hatch where they have welded my name onto it. Well Richard said Leckenby was easier to weld than Geraghty, but they have got my initials the wrong way round!
It actually says M & P Leckenby, so Mick is now Mr Leckenby. We were ecstatic and the other people on the train thought we were a bit strange as we guffawed and grinned at the photos.Yep that is our boat, we have been reassured that all is as it should be and Micks concerns have gone away.

So this morning payment 2A has been made. They have split the payments down, each into three, so that we are handing over smaller amounts at a time also helping with their cash flow.

We are happy even though our chimney stack on the house is having to be repaired by a builder who requires fewer cups of tea than Ron does as he brought his own mug, but they are three times the size!

24th August 2013

I've spent the last few days revamping my model of Oleanna, doing the adjustments and making doors work on cupboards instead of them just falling off, due to the age of the masking tape. She now has a roof and cabin sides with windows and portholes. I should have really been sorting things in my work room, but at least it's made me notice one mistake on the plan that I sent to the builders. One of the bathroom doors opens to reveal the loo instead of hiding it which would be better, but I'm sure that would have come up with the fit out.

 

Saturday morning, address in hand, Bromptons in the boot of the car along with the model and Houdinis cat flap, just in case any of it would be useful to have we set off almost half an hour after we'd planned, which is about normal for us! Bank holiday traffic wasn't too bad down to Ripley and we still had time to loose our way slightly before arriving at the right industrial park. We were helped in locating the right unit by there being two narrowboats sat outside. Richard was just arriving as we pulled up outside.

We were shown into the metal workshop and there she was, Oleanna, up to her gunwales. So far she looks pretty much like any other 58ft boat. The gas locker has been made, but now needs to be amended so that we can use it to store our Brompton bikes. This means a much wider opening than normal. A new lid had been cut to size and was laid on top of the existing one for us to see.

The stern was taking shape too, weed hatch, engine bay and fuel tank already welded into position. She seemed ever so long and ever so wide. But we were reassured with the use of a tape measure that she would fit through narrow locks.


Then had come the time to ask about what was happening with the company. Richard handed us a letter which should have been in the post to us a few weeks ago. He was very clear in his explanation that the original company had got into financial difficulties, the move to Market Drayton hadn't worked. All the owners are exactly that, they own their boats whilst they are being built and the building work was going to be finished by the new company (which has existed for sometime). Their working practices they are hoping to streamline, making their work more efficient. This all made perfect sense and was quite reassuring to us. Our first payment for the steel had actually been made to the new company and not the old one, we'd wondered why the account details had changed. They are also changing the way we pay the installments, breaking them down into smaller chunks. Therefore more frequent, but we'll be able to see where the money is going easier.

The move over to Ripley had already begun and was going much quicker than when they'd moved to Market Drayton. We were shown into the other space that they have just got. Much bigger than the draughty spot they'd been in, space to work on more than two boats at once, space to lay things out that they'd be working on. Infact there were four boats lined up waiting. There was a boat that we'd seen when we went to visit them in May, due to be launched in a couple of weeks. Here's hoping so.

As we counted up how many boats were in front of Oleanna (six), we asked the question, "So any idea of when our boat might be finished?" " Not this side of Christmas" was the answer. If they manage to get the new working practices sorted things would become quicker, but still we are really looking at early next year.
A bit disappointing, but we always knew we'd never have a definite date for completion and we'd sussed that our build slot had slipped a little too. So it might be a Scarborough Christmas not one afloat.

Mick sussing out the tiller position

After saying our goodbyes we headed to Ikea which is very close to look for possible things for the boat and fill up on Meatballs.

19th August 2013

Our first visit to see Oleanna is planned!
This saturday we are heading to Ripley to see the hull which is meant to be up to the gunwales. Very exciting!

13th August 2013

Today Mick has had a phone call about the share we have for sale in Winding Down. Someone wants to go and view her. Fingers crossed that they like her.