A new tug!
by: Dave Irving
Our new tug Margaret was launched today, after 3 months and 339 volunteer-hours of restoration work, following quickly after new dredger Patricia had been lifted into the canal. Margaret's lift-off started at about 11:00.
Up she went, then over the wall, and was placed gently into the canal.
The crew got on, checked that all was OK (it was!), reversed out of the lifting straps, and brought her gently alongside the towpath - we were immediately impressed by her manoeuvrability and responsiveness.
No water leaks, a little smoke was traced to damp exhaust bandage and soon cleared, all was still OK. So we went for a longer run to Ryeford and back, exploring the steering, the engine responsiveness and power, and finding all was good. One final trip of the day was to Dudbridge to visit Patricia, and back again to Ebley. We have a short list of things we discovered and will need to work on soon, but none are critical or urgent – we'll be doing them over the next few weeks.
We're very pleased with the new tug, and are looking forward to working with the dredging team to decide how we will work together moving the mud hoppers.
