Busy in Braunston

The trip to Braunston turned out to be very productive in more ways than one.

There are two chandlers in Braunston, Midland Chandlers and the Braunston Chandlery, both carry a good amount of stock. I was keen to get hold of some semi-gloss coach paint to re-paint the area between the gunnel and the straking strip. This part of the boat seems to get battered the most, especially in the locks. Actually, I was after a matt finish but the chandler convinced me the semi-gloss was the go. She had even just finished painting the old steam funnel on her boat ready for the boat show. We went and took a look at the job, it looked great. So, here's hoping that when the semi-gloss gets a scrape I can patch paint it rather than having to re-paint the lot. The area works out to be 57' x 1' on each side. I threw in a picture to point out the area to be done

I had time on my hands while at Braunston so it was time to get into the brass polishing that I had been putting off. The vent covers on the roof of Serafina are brass so they were a good place to start. There are five covers and they haven't been done since a few weeks before we left Serafina to return home back in late August. Next on the list was the tiller arm and pin.

I got to the inside late Saturday afternoon. I thought I had finished when Rachael suggested that the vent covers inside were brass too, although you wouldn't have known it! Anyway, they were all removed and given a good clean up. I made a quick run down to the chandlers and replaced all the screws with new ones, they were beyond polishing!

And the finished product! (with a flash this time)

We had been having trouble with our phone for quite a few weeks and it was now to the point where no calls or messages could be sent or received. We did the usual fault finding exercise and were able to deduce that it was the sim card that was the culprit, no thanks to Lebara's (lack of) Support. After I got back from the boat show there was just enough time to catch the bus into Rugby to sort the problem out. Once at the phone shop, a quick chat and my deductions were correct! Half an hour later after talking phones and cricket, mainly cricket, I was up and running again, this time on one of the UK's major carriers. Let's see how this goes, so far so good, at least I can ring when I have a signal! Now that's a bonus! Seems to be sorted!