boatone
Well-known member
Well, what a super weekend. Great weather, good company and the boat (almost) behaved in a most excellent manner.
Left Chertsey Friday afternoon and moored up just above Teddington lock for the night. This weekend was one of the best for making the run down to London and back....neap tides with high water mid morning. 'course, everyone else had the same idea and there was a veritable flotilla waiting to lock downriver on Saturday morning. We cleared the lock around 7:30am and made a leisurely run down to Richmond expecting the halftide gates to be raised around 8:15. However, the tide was behind expectations and it was nearly 9am before the gate lifted and we were off..........
Super run down river, past Eel Pie Island (wrong side to see Forbsie's boat but he was prob still in his pit ?) then on from one bridge to the next in glorious sunshine.
Engines gradually opened up thru the 2000revs mark and on to around 2500 or so giving around 9knots. Bottom not been cleaned since last spring so didnt expect miracles.
Hardly any traffic at all on the river as we passed under Vauxhall Bridge and past Parliament, the Eye, Belfast and Red Kens greenhouse and then under Tower Bridge. Why does one get such a kick out of driving your own boat under Tower Bridge?
Soon after 11 arrived off Limehouse and then it happened....port engine stopped pulling above 2000 revs and smoking like god knows what., Anyways, almost in lock so sort it out when inside...........locky had other ideas......full up....wait outside for a while. Port engine getting lumpier and more smoke but finally locked thru and tied up safely by CA building on the wall so only cost £6.50!.
Limehouse Marina much smaller than I'd imagined and surrounded by blocks of apartments all modern and glass but very smart .
During afternoon changed fuel filters and found loads of small itty bitty stuff. Probably residue of hoovering efforts a couple of weeks back. But definitely the cause of the problems cosa with new filters all was well and no more smoking either.
Locked out of Limehouse around 8am on Sunday morning and Tahoe dug her tail in and ploughed a lovely furrow up to St Kats and found lock open and ready for us to drive straight in. Eventually tucked up safely in the Eastern Dock by soon after 9am. All day Sunday doing next to nothing then locked out around 10am Monday morning to run back up river.
Still very little traffic and only had to avoid a couple of ferries before we were under Vauxhall and just the rowers and dhingy sailers to watch out for.
Gave Forbsie a shout to see if he was down at Eel Pie but seems like he was having a leisurely morning after the night before!
Engines had been behaving well till now but shortly before we reached Teddington they both started occasional racing and smoking again and by the time we got further upriver it was obvious another filter change was needed. Stayed at Hampton Court Monday evening and made a leisurely run back up to Chertsey on Tuesday morning.
Definitely a result......swmbo wants to go again !
£25 for diesel, £22.50 mooring fees ......and two nights in London.....cant be bad.
<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.boatsontheweb.com/> Website, Photo Gallery, Chat Room, Burgees</A>
Left Chertsey Friday afternoon and moored up just above Teddington lock for the night. This weekend was one of the best for making the run down to London and back....neap tides with high water mid morning. 'course, everyone else had the same idea and there was a veritable flotilla waiting to lock downriver on Saturday morning. We cleared the lock around 7:30am and made a leisurely run down to Richmond expecting the halftide gates to be raised around 8:15. However, the tide was behind expectations and it was nearly 9am before the gate lifted and we were off..........
Super run down river, past Eel Pie Island (wrong side to see Forbsie's boat but he was prob still in his pit ?) then on from one bridge to the next in glorious sunshine.
Engines gradually opened up thru the 2000revs mark and on to around 2500 or so giving around 9knots. Bottom not been cleaned since last spring so didnt expect miracles.
Hardly any traffic at all on the river as we passed under Vauxhall Bridge and past Parliament, the Eye, Belfast and Red Kens greenhouse and then under Tower Bridge. Why does one get such a kick out of driving your own boat under Tower Bridge?
Soon after 11 arrived off Limehouse and then it happened....port engine stopped pulling above 2000 revs and smoking like god knows what., Anyways, almost in lock so sort it out when inside...........locky had other ideas......full up....wait outside for a while. Port engine getting lumpier and more smoke but finally locked thru and tied up safely by CA building on the wall so only cost £6.50!.
Limehouse Marina much smaller than I'd imagined and surrounded by blocks of apartments all modern and glass but very smart .
During afternoon changed fuel filters and found loads of small itty bitty stuff. Probably residue of hoovering efforts a couple of weeks back. But definitely the cause of the problems cosa with new filters all was well and no more smoking either.
Locked out of Limehouse around 8am on Sunday morning and Tahoe dug her tail in and ploughed a lovely furrow up to St Kats and found lock open and ready for us to drive straight in. Eventually tucked up safely in the Eastern Dock by soon after 9am. All day Sunday doing next to nothing then locked out around 10am Monday morning to run back up river.
Still very little traffic and only had to avoid a couple of ferries before we were under Vauxhall and just the rowers and dhingy sailers to watch out for.
Gave Forbsie a shout to see if he was down at Eel Pie but seems like he was having a leisurely morning after the night before!
Engines had been behaving well till now but shortly before we reached Teddington they both started occasional racing and smoking again and by the time we got further upriver it was obvious another filter change was needed. Stayed at Hampton Court Monday evening and made a leisurely run back up to Chertsey on Tuesday morning.
Definitely a result......swmbo wants to go again !
£25 for diesel, £22.50 mooring fees ......and two nights in London.....cant be bad.
<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.boatsontheweb.com/> Website, Photo Gallery, Chat Room, Burgees</A>
