I am posting an older photo of SANDBACH in Liverpool when I had to go down the weedhatch to remove a bit of weed.

The idea is to see if I can link this to a posting in CWDF.

Following a long cruising season this year, which saw Badger covering around 800 miles and passing through about the same number of locks, she is now on the Upper Peak Forest Canal and getting some much needed attention to her electrics.

Towards the end of the season a battery cell failed which caused the alternator to overcharge.  This quickly caused the entire bank of four leisure batteries to fail.  Fortunately, the alternator and Adverc have survived the experience, although the load on the alternator belts has ruined them.

I have taken the opportunity to rewire the charging side electrics in a simpler form that I can trust as I reassemble things.

I have learned one thing from this experience, and that is not to ignore a hydrogen sulphide smell coming from the engine room!

Two other things about H2S.  It turns brass and copper a metallic blue colour AND it ruins your taste buds. For several days I might as well have been drinking Watneys Red Barrel for all the taste I was getting from a whole range of cask ales.

George

Quality of work

Working on Badger has made me realise what a good job Malcolm Braine made of her restoration and conversion back in the mid 1970s.  Apart from the minor issue on the port side earlier this year, the wooden cabin is as good as when it was  fitted nearly 40 years ago.  I have seen younger steel boats with more rot in them than Badger's wooden cabin.

Back in the wet dock

Badger has returned to the Ashton Packer Boat Company wet dock at Droylsden for investigation of its wood work on the starboard side.  The last visit to this dock was to repair a small amount of rot on the port side and I was keen to ensure that the other side was not similarly affected.

The good news is that the starboard side is rock solid with no rot to be found.  The work at the dock will now be confined to some paint touching up and a repaint of the cabin roof.

While Steve at the dock concentrates on this, I will be investigating an electrical problem which saw my batteries gassing hydrogen sulphide.  Apart from the smell and obvious health issues, this gas turns copper and brass a delightful purple/blue colour.  It pervades every nook and cranny of the boat and, once I have solved the problem, I will have to use a lot of Brasso:-( to get things back the way they were.

George

Getting Rid of the Rot

Badger is currently in the wet dock at the Ashton Packet Boat Company in Droylsden.  The wooden trim around the edge of the cabin sides, which gives shape to the recessed panels, has been showing signs of rot.

This wooden trim is actually lengths of torus profile skirting board.  Unfortunately, everywhere you go to look at torus boards you see a different profile.  After much searching, I found a proper timber merchant who cut his own boards with a profiling machine and had hundreds of different profile cutters in racks on the wall.  He managed to match my profile and I took the precaution of buying enough timber to replace everything on Badger should that prove necessary.

I put Badger on the dock and Steve from the yard set to work removing the rotten wood.  I quickly found out that the extent of the rot was very limited.  The cabin had been very well made in the 1970s and epoxy coating to the main cabin sides meant that the damage was confined to the trim, and limited areas of that to boot.  This now means I have a lot of spare timber but it may be useful on another occasion.  I would rather be in that situation than finding out I needed to rebuild the cabin.

A week's work will see one complete side of the boat as good as new.  A return to the dock in either august or november will see the other side completed.

Badger Working

Another photo has surfaced showing Badger during her working days.  This shows her in British Waterways colours towing a butty.  The photo is courtesy of Lawrence Hogg and is copyright to LHP Productions.  He tells me this is the only photo he has ever seen of Badger in her working days so I sent him a copy of the one I published a few months ago.  Still only two photos, so if anyone out there knows of any others please let me know.

Ropes on Cratches

I don't know about you, but whenever I set up the fancy white ropes on the cratches (see main photo) I have trouble tensioning them due to the friction between the ropes as they pass through the eyes.  Nylon makes ideal thimbles for the ropes to pass through but commercial ones are either heart shaped, which look wrong, or very expensive.  I managed to source some from the USA at a dollar each.  Postage for six came in at $75 so I declined.

I ended up turning my own out of blank nylon rod which ended up at less than £1 each.  The ropes are off now for the winter so it will be next spring before they are fitted again.