Bramble Cuttings Sunday 30 June 2019

Day : Sunday
Date : 30 June 2019
Start :
Finish : 1630 Hrs

We spent last night with my son in Gloucestershire so this morning it was a trip up the M5 and M6 with thankfully no hold-ups. Today started quite a bit cooler but got warmer as the day progressed but with a cooling breeze.

My first job when we got onboard was to fit the new oil cooler. The oil pipe connections lined up exactly which was good and the overall length was only slightly shorter so due to the flexible hoses on the end of the copper runs I could even get that to fit, the only real difference was the diameter of the cooler body, the old one was about 55mm and the new one only 51 mm.

The cooler is held in place with two U bolts so two new holes had to be drilled in the plate its fixed to, one hole was completed before the drill battery went flat so there was a delay in drilling the second, but by about 2pm. I had just finished as Diana came back to the boat after a trip to Tesco in Northwich. The engine was run up and all seemed well. Cleaning up it became obvious that the old cooler had leaked more than I realised due to the amount of oil in the coolant overflow bottle.

After lunch we set off out of the marina turning right towards Middlewich. As we approached Bramble Cuttings we could see there was only two boats there, so we tagged on at the far end. Once moored I checked the prop for debris but it was all clear, there was a bit of water in the bilge so I also adjusted the stuffing box, something I have only done a couple of times it the past 17 years.

Today's Journey

3 Miles 0 Locks in 1 hour