Well, we have at last had our first trip on Hoddy, from the boatyard where she was fitted out to the paint shop. Doesn't sound too exciting perhaps but it was about 15 miles including through the Husbands Bosworth tunnel and down the Foxton staircase to Debdale.
We started out at 7am so it was a very early start for us even though we were staying with Bruce and Claire. The weather on the Sunday had been absolutely glorious but in true British fashion Monday dawned cold and cloudy - by the end of the day I was wearing 6 layers starting with a thermal vest and finishing with an anorack via a shirt, 2 pullovers and a cardigan.
Not that either of us particularly minded it was just glorious to be out on the Cut again and at this time of year its so quiet, in fact we only saw two other boats on the move the whole day.
Hoddy went really well and we are incredibly pleased with her. The layout looks as though it will work really well for us. Even Teasle and Tanzy settled down to the routine again very quickly.
The trip was really uneventful, apart from a small bump Sarah managed to give her going through a bridge and the excitment we had on approachong Foxton top lock. David, our boatbuilder, was with us and he saw that Gareth who did the boat electrics was standing at the top lock and he said to me that Gareth was opening the gates so to carry on whilst he went up to the bow to speak to Gareth. The problem arose when we were about 50 metres out from the lock when suddenly a boat appeared coming up in the lock. David called back to me to warn me but at that point in time I hadn't actaully physically put the boat in reverse, so although he had explained how the control worked - somewhat differently to our old boat - I hadn't actually tried it and when I did I couldn't get it into reverse gear. The top gates were looming at a fast pace and I called up to David "How do you get this ******* boat into reverse" He started to sprint back across the roof but luckily I sussed the problem and stuck it into reverse and we avoided disaster by about 5 metres.
The actual decent went like clockwork and we were soon at the paintshop discussing colours etc and then we had our tutorial on how to operate the 1001 bits of kit on the boat. Problem is we were both so tired by then hardly any of it sank in. Still I'm sure we will soon cope with it once we are under way again.
We now have a very frustrating 6 week wait whilst its painted - 3 coats of primer, 5 coats of undercoat and 3 topcoats.
More to follow in 6 weeks when we take her in the pristine condition back up Foxton and back to Yelvertoft.
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