Alanne Afloat - Day 230

Fuelled-up, engine checked, water tank full, food cupboards full and ready to go.  I can hardly believe we are about to set sail and head south for winter.  Only two jobs remain outstanding - - The fuel gauge and the replacement for damaged fridge door.  Garry assures me they will be fitted soon,  We will be going back to Orchard Marina to pick up my car -- eventually, so hopefully Garry will have the outstanding parts. Johnny came over to "Alanne" at 7.45am this morning, he came to mount the CE plates and wish us bon voyage, Johnny has been a great help over the last 9 weeks, it was his weekend off, but he still came over to put the finishing touches on "Alanne".

We fired up the engine and set off  at 10.10am.  I almost got out of the marina without a bump, but failed miserably when I hit the opposite bank of the canal, no damage to the boat, only my pride.  The rest of the day went without problem and we negotiated locks and bridges without incident.  We moored for the night near bridge 22 on the Shropshire Union Canal.  We are at last getting into the swing of cruising and with no fixed plan for each day, we are going to chug along and if we see something of interest we will have a break and wander off for a close up look.

The story of "Alanne" is almost complete.  We have had many ups and downs over the last 9 months and our problems have not been unique.  Wrong drawings given to build team, wrong boat built, not kept in the loop, un-answered phone calls, no reply to text messages and wasted journeys.  Amazingly we met Ken and Sandra who recently took delivery of a Collingwood boat, "Hummingbird" and all the above wheezes used with us were also visited on them.  The finished boats are great, they have a high quality fit-out and look stunning, but the delays and mis-information will almost certainly grind you down.  "Alanne" was originally going to take 6 to 8 weeks to complete and deliver, no show stopping modifications were added and the finished boat is almost exactly as my original drawing.  Mid February was the original agreed finish date,but it was almost 8 months down the line before we could start our first real cruise.

Alanne Afloat - Day 229

Well here we are, almost another week has flashed past.  Some progress has been made on "Alanne", the Bubble diesel stove has been replaced, but needed a fuel pump fitting before it worked correctly. The fire now burns with a clean blue flame and has a good heat output, (I had to open windows and doors when the stove was working, it was so hot). Thanks Garry for a good job.
Johnny arrived this afternoon with the "magic corner" for the galley and had it fitted and operational in less than 2 hours.  It was the first one he had installed so it was a steep learning curve for both of us, but he has made a fine job of installing it.  Again thank you Johnny.
Anne and I intend to get underway on Saturday 27th September and start our first cruise.  The outstanding work will have to be completed hopefully tomorrow (Friday 26th September). I am not convinced that this will happen but I live in hope. Everything is crossed in anticipation.

                            New fully functional, diesel fired "Bubble Stove"

                 External chimney replaced and looks 100% better than the original fitting.

    Repainted  roof looks great ---- it is now an even colour all over

   Replacement tap now sends the water into the centre of the bowl

  "Magic Corner" swings shelves out of cupboard for easy access.

Alanne Afloat -Day 220

Its now Tuesday September 16th 2014.  I have to pinch myself that this is in fact the correct date as I am stuck in a time warp. Everyday is much like the last.  We have been waiting for various work to be completed on "Alanne" since delivery back in July.  Some repairs have been completed although they have taken many hours, (mostly due to a lack of any workforce at Orchard Marina), they spend most of their working time at Collingwoods in Liverpool and if we are lucky, work out of hours on "Alanne". The delivery of the boat back in July is a distant memory and the opportunity to take "Alanne" on her maiden cruise is still a pipe dream.
Major jobs still outstanding include:-
1.  Replace the "Bubble Stove" room heater, this also includes the chimney flue and the terminal on the roof. The stove has a back boiler for central heating. This was not requested and will not work correctly and would have a lower heat output.  Garry is going to Doncaster today to pick up the replacement stove.
2.  The "Magic Corner" has not been fitted in the galley cupboard to enable access to the back  shelves in the corner cupboard.
3.  The fridge freezer door was damaged prior to delivery and we were promised a replacement by Alan MacNaughton, but still no sign after nearly 8 weeks.

Johnny, as usual,  has as always been a great help.  He spent his own time repainting the boat roof and completely repainting one side of the boat due to a large chip in the paint caused by the exploding stove.

I am hoping that all will be finished before the end of September, but don't hold your breath.