Northwich Dry Dock

Well we didn’t go far today, 8am up Hunts lock, turn left into the weir stream, under the foot bridge, this is a swing bridge and last time we were here it

 

looked as if the path had been surfaced right across the joints, that would make swinging it interesting.
You can see where I jiggled about waiting for the two boats to come out. Eventually the gate was

lifted and one by one they came out backwards, winded and headed back to the river. The boat we are sharing the dock with us was on the outside so although I was ahead it made more sense for him to go into the dock first, right under the railway line and we followed.
Matt adjusted the mooring lines, 2 on the stern and one on the bows so we sat about 2 foot back from last time we were docked. You can see the layout of the ropes in this photo.

No sooner had the water gone than Matt was down there checking our hull so see how well the last job held and as soon as the steps were installed I was down there with him, we were both pleased with what we found after just over 4 years, 4500 miles, 2800 locks traveling for 2100 hours. The base plate looked good as well, with not to many scrapes.   

For comparison this was the side of the boat beside us done with bitumen.

I set to and removed the weed hatch and also the guards for the bow thruster so that they could both be washed and blacked . From what I have seen today I will be having 2 pack put on again this time.

With me out of the way matt set to with his high pressure washer  and worked his way along the hullas well as underneath it. That is the advantage of this dock, the boat is high enough to give access underneath.

Once he had finished washing I had to change a skin fitting, this one is connected to the tug deck to drain rain water, I half shared the outer flange a couple of years ago and now there was nothing, it is regularly covered by water when filling a lock, the only thing keeping the water out was the spray foam inside.

New left old right.

      

The boat next door is in for a DIY blacking job, so once Matt had finished our boat, about 2½ hours he showed Mike next door how to use the pressure washer and left him to it. I am to old for those sorts of tricks, changing the skin fitting was bad enough 

Today’s Journey

¼ mile, one lock in half an hour.