The Boat Show

We visited Crick Boat Show today - and met a couple of the people involved with the business side of buying Honey. It was good to meet people you normally only exchange emails and signatures with.

It was also nice to be able to browse. We had a lovely chat with Meg Gregory and John Sanderson (Google them if you don't know) about our future plans for painting our boat, we sprawled on sofabeds designed to fit under gunwales, we looked at ancient steam boats and brand new floating palaces, we ate overpriced Southern fish & chips (with the skin still on the fish! Southerners are barbaric!) and we listened to excellent live music.

Best of all, most promising of all, was our autistic son. He coped with more sensory overload today than ever before - because he wants a boat!

One step closer

Just like buying a house, buying a boat is a bureaucratic minefield - especially when you are buying a boat that was made the year you got married.

So the boat has spent the last couple of days out of the water for a full survey and a Boat Safety Scheme certification. This wasn't strictly necessary as the current BSS had almost two years to run, but turns out to have been a good decision as it revealed something that could present a hazard to curious children, especially an autistic child.

Two hours in a boatyard and a couple of hundred quid later later, all is well and the certificate will be signed by the end of the week.

Anyway, the essentials are now in place: home mooring, BSS, insurance. As soon as we have a date for completion of the purchase, we can get our licence.

In slightly less than two decades, this boat has apparently been loved a lot. The surveyor kept telling me that we had found a little gem. Mic & I can't talk about it without smiling.

Peace and quiet

We've found a lovely mooring, on a lock island on the River Calder.

It was quite a surprise to find such a green, isolated place, populated by deer and other wildlife, in a place we thought was full of heavy industry.

More proof (if we needed it) that the world looks different from the water.

Huge 'Thank you' to Richard for such a good recommendation.

The Beginning

Sale agreed, and I'm sure it will be a few weeks before we take possession.

But here she is: a 45 foot Trad, currently called 'Honey' and needing only a fresh coat of paint. She will get her new name at the same time.