Muddy Boys do The Isle of Wight. And survive.

Its been all go recently,

far too busy to blog. 

Here's a few shots of a recent Muddy Boys expedition to 

The Isle of Wight.  

Pierre and Paul discuss Brexit, John plans the route, while Paul T wonders if he remembered to bring a sick bag.  

Literally Up the Creek. 

Ready for the assault on the Golf Course. 

Fore!

The road goes ever on. 

And on. 

And on.

Until Finally, after a short break to re-charge our pacemakers...……. 

We get to enjoy a bit of down hill. 

That mast looks close, in fact its a bloody big mast vary far away Dougal. 

And we weren't getting lunch until we got on the other side of it. 

Hurrah, we're not dead! 

On the other hand Dave is.

Dangerous Dave Death's Motorcycle Emporium. 

Slip Sliding Away.

I think there is something very lovely about these old raised deck cruisers. 

They seem to hark back to a specific time between the wars when everything was very stylish and well built. 

This one is moored just above St John's Lock on the Thames near The Trout near Lechlade.

We have been doing the Thames Raid for ten years now and over that time there have been very few changes.

 We tend to see the same boats moored in the same places each time. 

This old lady has been moored on the meadows above Eynsham Lock since we started. 

A bit sad and neglected looking she had a notice pinned to her for a number of years telling passers  that she was licensed and insured implying that someone owned her and she wasn't abandoned. 

Last Year I'm told she had an eviction notice pinned to her so presumably wasn't paying either her mooring fees or river license. 

This year she seems to have slipped a bit further into disrepair.

Its very sad to see her go like this and I don't think she's too far gone to be pumped out and re-floated,

 but it would take someone with a big heart and even bigger pockets to rescue her.

Maybe someone who could afford a gaff like this would like to have it moored outside. 

Because if you've got the house, you really need the boat to go with it. 

Trollied

Having replaced all six wheels the problem still remained of how to fit a fifteen foot boat onto a trailer built for an eleven foot dinghy and not have the whole thing look like a runaway seesaw. 

What as needed was an easily adjustable extendable multi purpose conveyance which could easily be converted back and forth to suit whichever boat needed transportation. 

The main longitudinal beam of the road trailer is 50mm square section tubing. The main longitudinal beam of the launch trolley is 40mm which seems quite strong enough and fits almost exactly inside the 50mm section. 
So a telescopic extension seemed to be the simple and elegant solution. 

And down to the Metal Supermarket we did ride for a two metre length of 40mm square section tube. 
Oh and down to Screwfix for a new set of drills.    

I ordered a few U bolts and a bow snubber on line, and made a cradle out of some sterling board and the remains of the old Volvo roof rack.   

The cradle is deliberately high, partly because the ball height on the van is 500mm, and who wants a saggy bottom, and also to keep the stern nice and visible for those myopic drivers who only ever seem to see the car and not the trailer.  

The whole thing came together as well as could be expected and towed like a dream, with just one exception. 

Well Bugger!

 On arrival at "The Trout" it appears poor old Katie B had split her seams somewhere along the road. 

On reflection I should have put her six inches further back on the trailer so that the bulkhead would  have been directly above the cradle. Lesson Learned. 

Good old Gaffer Tape to the Rescue. 

The temporary repairs held tight for the entire trip. 

I'll put the repairs on the never ending list of winter chores.