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I see a lot of CRT (Canal and River Trust) bashing on social media but the way in which they have worked with us to help us get our boat fixed and back to her marina has been really helpful. I spoke to them first when we were looking at the oil filled bilge as I was pretty sure we were about to overstay on the 48hr mooring. For background, during lockdown, CRT relaxed the rules regarding maximum time in moorings for continuous cruisers but as we are leisure cruisers we needed to return to our mooring, if only to not be hogging a prime mooring position (Fradley just next to the old reservoir is pictured)!

The oil had fallen out of our engine through the hole left by the removed solenoid; when we spoke to the RCR engineers in Rugeley, they had been clear we could move and that the risk of this happening was very low – but if it’s going to happen then it’s going to happen to us! We had no choice but to wait for the solenoid to be sent to RCR and then for them to come out and fit it. Or so we thought. Being under the impression that we needed the solenoid as it was attached to the engine in the first place, and being advised to replace it, we did just that. On fitting the new solenoid (which is simply a very very expensive plug and still does not work) the engineer said that we could just have a stop cord and use a large nut where the solenoid is to stop the oil falling out. They had a good look over the engine again as she refused to start with the solenoid in (RCR assure me that they have fitted a start solenoid and not a stop one, I’m just confused about the whole thing), and eventually settled for using the solenoid as a bung and leaving the new stop cord (read piece of wire) in place to stop the engine. With this temporary measure eventually in place and the expensive but useless solenoid in but not fully in (!?!) we could begin to move back to the marina. The engineers felt that the rack is bent (no, I don’t know what that is) and recommended that we have our injectors removed, refurbished and returned. After I had seen the quote and had a bit of a lie down, I asked Neil (Heart of England Narrowboats) for advice. Neil asked his trusted engineer to give me a call and the lovely Stuart held a video conference with us in our engine bay. Currently we think that the solenoid may not be the correct one but RCR say it is so I’ve nowhere to go with that. I had a long chat with the RCR engineer about the work we had been quoted for and why it was necessary – apparently my bent rack may or may not be an issue (or even bent) and even if it is, it may seize the engine tomorrow or be fine for the life of the boat. Or it may be an electrical issue but due to running out of light when replacing the solenoid they could not look for it. Since my injectors are working fine (I understand that much) we chose not to go ahead with paying for work we do not need and, frankly, can’t afford when the boat needs blacking in spring and cratch covers making.

I have mixed feelings about RCR and their sister company who complete any works beyond your allocated cover. The response was great, they were quick and every engineer we spoke to was polite, helpful and perfectly nice. Much like the AA/RAC, they are good for getting you going again but I’m not convinced at all about the extra work we were quoted for. If I ever write about my stuck injectors I might find myself regretting that decision! In hindsight, if we were more knowledgeable about our boat, her engine and electrics we may have been able to guide RCR more towards what we needed to simply get back to our moorings, however, we are not going to stop boating completely while we become master engineers (it’s never going to happen 😂).

Anyway, it is what it is, so on we move. CRT allowed us to stay on the 48hr moorings at Fradley for 7 days and advised that we could extend if we were still unable to move anywhere. We planned to move on day 6 (due to being back at work). I spoke to CRT again about moving our boat during lockdown and they advised us to try to return to our mooring without any overnight stays as soon as possible. We slowly moved back to our mooring over a period of about 6 weeks. In summer, with long days, it is possible to move from Fradley to Willington in 2 days but with shifts (both of us) and Keith being unwell we did it in short socially distanced hops. I had great plans for cruising the week after lockdown but we were in a Tier 3 area, so essentially we are now stuck in the marina 😔.

Apart from the whole breakdown cloud and worrying about the boat on the canal unattended (burglars, squatters, narrowboat stealers, random fires, vicious carp, boat floating off on her own, all absolute certainties when she is left on the canal without us on her) we had relatively little drama. Until we returned to the marina that is…

Needing to pump out and fill with diesel, we decided to nip into the office before bringing the boat into the yard to collect a token for the pump out and check it was ok for us to come back in. Standing in front of the little shop next to the office in the marina, we can look over the water and see our mooring. Which had a boat in it. Not ours. Now, that’s a very expensive bit of water we borrow and the electric hook up has to be paid for before use. The space occupying boat was also hooked up to our electricity! Indignant but thinking that there was probably a good reason, into the office we went. The lovely lady knew exactly who to ring and it turns out that the boat belongs to our neighbouring boat and they put it there to get it ready to sell, having taken a picture of our electricity meter before plugging themselves in!

The picture above is from the bow of our boat, looking across at the main buildings of the marina (believe it or not, this was taken in summer, as evidenced by a cheeky glass of white. Not to suggest I only drink wine in the summer of course, rather that it was warm enough to be doing it outside). The Boardwalk is the larger structure to the left and has shops, bar, restaurants. The marina office is in the smaller buildings just under the cooling towers, so it is a nice spot! We are currently moored several spaces up from our official mooring as we didn’t feel it was fair to make the owner move the boat out of our space on her own in the freezing cold. The electricity issue has been left with the marina office to remedy and we have said we will stay in our new mooring if needed – it makes no real difference to us as we are still on Ibis (the part of the marina we prefer).

We only bounced off the concrete keyside once as we came in to moor up for diesel and pump-out as I misjudged how close I was to it and had approached it a bit fast to try to gain some control in the wind. Anyway, I didn’t damage either the boat or the siding and we managed to fill up with diesel, put the anti-diesel bug stuff into the tank and pump-out without too much drama. Apart from the remnants of someone else’s pump-out dribbling down the side of my boat, every time I pick the bloody thing up! With a heavy heart, knowing that I cannot go cruising or stay on her overnight, for who knows how long, we left her 😢 in our new mooring.