Getting ready to launch

We have decided not to wait for the shot-blasting compound to be completed, so we are going to launch Bonnie and bring her down to her mooring. The shot blasting will be done in the spring in Maylandsea's dry dock facility. So now we have four weeks to get her ready for the journey.

First job, the holes in the decks.

Now fitted with temporary, hopefully watertight, hatches.

Second job, make sure engine still works (Tim, this is the technical bit for you!)

The engine is a Slanzi, which is Italian and apparently very similar to a Lister. It had less than 100 hours on it when we bought the barge and fired up the first time we tried it.

Of course there was the boat jumble to fit in......

Why is it we seem to have a shed and garage full of boat bits that we take to the boat jumble and sell and then Pete finds a lot more of bits that we apparently absolutely need, so has to buy more. Is this a bloke thing? All the chaps seemed to be in their element searching the stalls, picking up boat bits, fiddling with them discussing the pros and cons and then haggling over the price. We had a club stall, full of donations, which raised £150 for club funds, that was great.