Take Five: Ready for new season

We set off from home yesterday lunch time - Mike had a meeting in Truro in the morning. Everywhere was rather foggy - dense enough to make driving unpleasant but not enough to bring traffic to a standstill.

We made good time until just south of Wellington when a loud noise announced a tyre failure. The effect was not instant but it was quickly apparent that there was a problem and we pulled onto the hard shoulder by a telephone point.

As Christine set about summoning the AA (with some difficulty in identifying our location as it turned out that the AA do not know where the numbered emergency phones are!), Mike unloaded the rear of the car to gain access to the spare. With an estimate of an hour before we could be attended to, Mike set about the unfamiliar task of changing the tyre. Unfamiliarity was such that the handbook was needed at most every stage - starting with working which special gadget was needed to remove the wheel nut caps!

By the time he had succeeded in removing the burst tyre and putting on the emergency replacement, the AA called to say the were a few minutes away. We opted to wait for the van to arrive so that Mike's work (he felt quite proud of himself but the AA man was definitely unimpressed) could be checked. Alas, he decided that the nuts need a bit more tightening with his special tool - not a problem except that the special security nut was once again buried under the luggage which had by now been re-stowed!

We were directed to a tyre specialist not far away on an industrial estate outside Wellington and we found our way there without a problem and were re-fitted most efficiently. All in all, we lost perhaps an hour and so arrived at Packet Boat marina in the dark, but with no further delays, even from the evening traffic near Heathrow.

We set about unloading the car - four trolley loads - and setting up the boat again, mainly re-connecting the water services, remembering this time to do so before opening the valve from the tank, which on our New year visit caused the rear storage cupboard to be flooded! we were pleased that we brought a pre-prepared meal (cottage pie) so that we could eat quite quickly once we were ready, still well past nine o'clock.

Diesel being polished

Today, Mike had a meeting in London in the afternoon (which is why we were here a couple of days earlier than planned) but we had also taken the advice of the RCR engineer that serviced the engine a couple of weeks ago, and organised for the diesel to be 'polished'.

Specially built equipment!

This relatively new phenomenon is a consequence of the introduction of bio-diesel into the supply chain which has a much higher water content and can result in so-called diesel bug - see the blog from this time two years ago for our experience of the consequences.

The appointment was at 9:30 but we had first to move the boat from inside to outside the marina - only a very short distance as the crow flies but about 15 minutes to achieve. The engineer duly set about the process which involves extracting the contents of the fuel tank, cycloning out the water and filtering the particles. It was quickly clear that there was a lot of both so almost certainly worth doing. We definitely have better peace of mind for immediate future even if all of this remains controversial. (Meanwhile Mike had a repair to make to the access panel for the water tank whose support had come unglued over the winter)

The 'polishing' was not complete by the time Mike needed to leave - Christine took him down to West Drayton station by car. On her return she was able to persuade the engineer to help her take the boat back into the marina - he insisted on piloting it himself! He also helped her buy the right oil for the gear box which again we had been advised to top up.

Afternoon in the marina

Later she went shopping in Uxbridge - not to be repeated willingly - and by the time she was finishing off at Tesco in Yiewsley Mike rang from Paddington to say that he would be returning to West Drayton in half an hour.

All in all, a quite complex logistical day which ran smoothly. Hopefully, we are now all prepared to move off first thing tomorrow.