Western Depot - today

Both Ratty & Mole need to be in their best presentable condition ready for their renaming celebration shortly.  Mole therefore had to be loaded onto the trailer and taken across the road to join Ratty.  Over the weekend, the sterling work of two volunteers had dealt with the semi-sunken state of Ratty moored alongside Leviathan in the slipway.

No longer sporting its new cover, it was winched onto the trailer and then shunted out of the yard.  

The other trailer, now in its final stages of a complete makeover has had the  wooden sides fitted and another layer of paint added.

It was also noted that Chris was sporting a new trendy red hat from his spring collection.  The question was asked concerning the cremation of the old one! T.B.A.

Pat's Progress

Dry weather forecast, at last, so time to get those bilges dry and painted.  With covers removed and a fine drying breeze, the three exposed bilges were vacuumed dry and cleaned ready for painting on Wednesday.

Numerous other jobs progressed.  Firstly the floor was re-installed in the welfare cabin and this was later followed by a loosed re-fit of the seating and then an assessment of the sink/hob unit and its calorifier cylinder.  All this in preparation for the design of a wooden support frame and the plumbing system.

Speaking if which, more copper origami continued.  Cutting holes through the bulkhead platework has proved especially difficult due to the hardness of the steel.  Several cutters have died for the cause!

Electrics to connect the bilge pumps has commenced, not to mention a pair of shiny new red horns installed in the engine room.  

Having inspected the fuel tank last time, today a dip test with a stick coated in a stripe of a magic American tooth paste like substance for water detection in diesel was undertaken.  Please to report that no water was present.  Time to screw the plug back in.

With the windows out, the surrounds were ground flat and then painted.  The gutters were similarly treated. 
 

'Perfect Wheelbarrow Weather'

by: Ian Moody

On Friday the SDC Canal Team hosted a group from Ecotricity.  The weather was overcast but dry - perfect wheelbarrow weather, which was fortunate given the sizeable heap of Type 1 aggregate we had thoughtfully supplied.  The task for the day was to construct a towpath alongside Gough's Orchard lock.  One set of edgeboards were already present so installing the other set of boards was soon under way and the wheelbarrow marathon began.

It turns out that Waterways Recovery Group are not the only ones who bring their own cook. Lunchtime barbecue Ecotricity style:

After lunch the energy continued to be expended and the aggregate heap continued to reduce. By close of play the team had shifted around 10 tonnes of Type 1 and were definitely ready for a beer. Of course, we couldn't let them leave without the obligatory team photo:

SDC Thursday Working Party

by: Ian Moody

We had a somewhat disjointed morning because it was container moving day. This is the beginning of our withdrawal from the Wallbridge Lower lock site and which meant that all the stuff that lives in the container was temporarily clogging up our "garage".

However, once that was sorted we had a productive day tackling various odd jobs such as the drain in the yard, some concreting over at Brewery Wall and forking over the lock side silt for about the millionth time ready for grass seed.

After lunch the container was given a good spring clean.  We'll be sending the doormat to Bristol University's Impossible Science department to see if they can determine how one humble mat can hold an infinite amount of dust.

We also had a small team at Harper's Field, Ryeford doing some fencing with Steve P and an even smaller team at Dock Lock doing a bit of surveying with John B.

Western Depot Today - around and about

The trailer which has been the subject of a major renovation was having its side boarding painted following a trial fit.  Red primer and then the first of two green top coats applied.  Work taking place to service one of the brakes was also noted.

Work boat Mole, to be renamed soon, was having a trial fitting of its new waterproof cover together with the man from Attwoolls.  Ratty will also receive one later.  

Tooling to assist the repair of strimmers and alike has been acquired.  This will provide the essential third hand to make the jobs easier and safer.  Other rigs to support outboards have also been manufactured in the woodwork shop.

At the end of the day, training was taking place on the tipper lorry for the addition of another registered operator to the books.
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Pat's Progress

Many hands on deck today, six folk at one point. All this action addressed a number of jobs.

Firstly, in the cabin, two coats of black were applied to the floor and lower parts of the walls.  When dry, the floor boards can be replaced.  Some rot present in a couple of the boards has received attention. 

In order to get the weather to improve, work on the heating system progresses.  Plumbing for a radiator in the cabin is now in and the radiator besides the operators chair temporarily removed.

Given all the rain we've had, one benefit of which was that a leak in the front window, which has caused rusting of the steel below it, was observed.  On investigation, after the top gutter was removed, it was noticed that it had been affixed with a few pads of double sided adhesive tape and then riveted on!  This prompted us to remove the side window so that all surfaces around the frames can be properly treated.

At the stern end, the covers of one of the fuel tanks was lifted to do an internal inspection.  It was pleasing to note that the insides looked in good order, also, the fuel gauge, which was indicating half full, was actually right and functioned correctly.  A test will be done to assess if there is any water sitting under the diesel.

The persistent rains have made getting the bilges dry very difficult.  Improved covers over the deck behind the operators cabin should help get those areas dry enough to red oxide paint and then black.  

Tuesday SDC Gang

by: Ian Moody

Hot on the heels of last weekend’s visit from Newbury Working Party Group the SDC Tuesday volunteers headed down to Dock Lock near Eastington yesterday.  Sometimes canal restoration comes down to just fetching and carrying and this was an excellent example.  The main challenge was to shift a large pile of heavy clay soil from lock side to a temporary site down at Meadow Mill using only wheelbarrows, shovels, mattocks and good humour.

It was a drizzly day which added to the weight, clogged up the wheels  and reduced the grip underfoot.  Luckily we still had enough energy left for a hands-in-the-air team pic.

As a final task we shifted four 6 metre lengths of pipe down to the site, four people to each pipe. The pipes will be installed under the towpath to take the water from the new spill weir down beyond the tail of the lock.

We just about had enough energy for another pic but only sitting down.