Restoration Blog

Pat's Progressed

Today was the day when our Patricia left her home at Western Depot and headed east out into the great narrow world.

At 07:25 this morning, the vehicles required to lift and transport her began to arrive.  The lift followed very closely the reversal of her arrival from WD car park to the awaiting lorry occupying the bus stop on the road outside.

Steps were taken to ensure that the crane driver, unfamiliar with the area, arrived safely at Wiggles Yard following a lead car.  Here, Tug Boat Margaret was waiting its turn for a lift over the wall.  It seemed that there was probably a discussion taking place along the lines "What do you need this for, there is already a crane here!"

However, the big one was chosen for the job.  With public control in place on the towpath, the lift commenced.  One uncertainty was just how much depth was available for the boat to float in.  There were places where many bubbles emanated from the canal bed and broke the surface, a sure sign that you've landed on mud.  Eventually, after two or three trial placings, a point further away from the wharf proved o.k., from which Patricia was able to turn the prop' and move forward.

A short while later and in the presence of her generous sponsor, Tug Margaret was also lifted into the water.   Being slung with fabric straps, she sailed off her lifting gear and quite soon headed away to Ebley.  Quite a crowd had gathered by this time to watch proceedings from nearby.

One minor mishap was the damage to a hydraulic connector on the clam bucket rotator sustained, probably, last week when the boom was parked.  It had not been possible to fully assess the complete movement envelope of the three pivot point coupling.  We identified that a small piece of the bracket needed removing, which we did and then studied other bucket situations and any likelihood of further damage.  None was found.  A handy battery powered angle grinder did the job.

Soon it was time for a small team celebration.  A bottle of bubbly was opened and with great care and forethought, we launched the cork in the direction of our estranged project leader.  So, Bob.  Has it landed near you yet?

Moving around was quite difficult as the mud and silt is never far away.  Lack of canal use certainly compounds the problem.  We moved into Dudbridge Lower Lock and eventually proceeded to the upper lock.  For some reason, there is a power supply issue on Pat.  The batteries are not charging correctly.  This caused the engine to conk out on a few occasions.  The solar panel helped matters, but not before we had borrowed the battery from Margaret and received a push into the lock from her.

Patricia is now resting in Dudbridge Upper Lock.  We could not easily get out of the lock due to silt above the gates and time was running short.

So, a few teething problems to sort out.  The stability dynamics of the craft are most interesting and will require a better understanding.  Plenty to interest us in the commissioning and trial stages.