Tag: Black Prince

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Summer 2024 Cruise Part 8 – Last few locks to home

Bit of a lay in this morning no need to get away early as we have just about 4 miles and just 15 locks, 3 of which we will have welcome help from the CRT volunteers at Hanbury locks 1,2 & 3.

Lock one of the day is Stoke Top Lock, which is the first one of six lock in this flight.

Stoke Top Lock
Stoke Top Lock

The last lock in the Stoke Locks which FYI drops the canal 40ft (12.8m), is where we first hired a canal boat from Black Prince Holidays, which is also where we purchased our boat a few years ago.

Black Prince Holidays - Stoke Bottom Lock
Black Prince Holidays – Stoke Bottom Lock

We have done this trip a few time, and depending on timing we have moored up outside The Boat and Railway Pub where you can sit and watch the boats go by.

The Boat and Railway Pub
The Boat and Railway Pub
Astwood Top Lock

Next we have the Astwood locks, just 5 this time and they drop the canal 42 feet (12.8m), we met a family group who Sonia showed how the locks worked while getting the kids involved, once a teacher always a teacher.

These are our last locks before we turn onto the Droitwich Canal and we get to the Hanbury locks, where we meet 3 very helpful CRT volunteers. They are there to make sure the locks are operated correctly as they are more complicated than most with side pounds.

Then we are at our home base Droitwich Spa Marina for a Pump-out and fuel. We had used approx ¼ of a tank in the past 3 weeks, of not non-stop chugging.

Droitwich Spa Marina - Refuel
Droitwich Spa Marina – Refuel

This has been a good test for our up and coming gap year plans, with just the two of us most of the time. We have found that we need to plan what we are trying to achieve so that we are not overdoing it too often.

Next we have to clean the boat touch up a few scratches from earlier trips. We have lent the boat out a few time this year, and it is starting to show.

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August 2023 – A little adventure, Droitwich to Birmingham

We only have about a week with all the family on the boat and we have decided to do a quick trip to Birmingham. Sonia, Mary, Obi (The Dog) and I arrived at the Droitwich Spa Marina on Sunday about 8pm we left home after Mary had finished her Sunday job working in the café of a local garden centre, Antony and Ellie arrived form Reading at around 10:30pm.

With the team assembled the plan was to get the boats waste tank pumped out at about 10am on Monday when the marina office opened, before heading off up the Birmingham and Worcester Canal.

Need to know when it is time to pump out, see our fool proof
method of knowing when you pump out before it is to late?

Monday morning arrived and we started late, lazily then decided to send Sonia and Mary off to McD for our breakfast, then we needed to head to Waitrose for supplies, and when we finally got to the pump out we had to wait for another boat. In the end somehow it was noon before we set off, we then had a little fun against the wind in the marina trying the back out away from the pump out dock and then turn around to exit onto the canal.

Nearing the end of our first day we passed our boats original home at Black Prince (Stole Prior) where we could see their new look Classic and Signature colour schemes

Black Prince at Stoke Prior

After a quite and uneventful trip and 4 ½ hours of chugging we had traveled just over 4 miles and completed 15 locks, our team had got the lock procedure well sorted.

Antony, Ellie, Mary and Sonia (I am behind the camera and Obi is on the boat)

But after the later than planned start we decided to get to started on the Tardebigge in the morning and so stopped for Pizza at The Queens Head, this seems to be becoming a tradition (They have a 2 for 1 deal on Pizza’s between 5 and 6.30pm Monday to Thursday).

So we set the alarm for 7am so we could get an early start up the Tardebigge.

Long term Moorings

Looking for a marina or mooring for you boat, take a look at our map with information on 1000’s of mooring in over 850 sites around the UK canal and river network.

August 2023 – Part 1 – A little adventure, Droitwich to Birmingham
August 2023 – Part 2 – A really Tardebigge adventure
August 2023 – Part 3 – Birmingham Engine Lows and Highs
August 2023 – Part 4 – Lost dog and diner out at Ju Ju’s Cafe
August 2023 – Part 5 – Screwfix almost saves the day

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Our Boat Specification

I put this information together about our boat just after we collected it from Black Prince and forgot to publish it on the blog, so here it is finally 🙂

Hull

  • Length 18.89m/62’0” 
  • Beam  2.1m/6’10” 
  • Draft: 600 mm/ 2′ 0″
  • Hull manufacturer: Pro-Build Narrowboats Ltd (Closed?)
  • Completed: 19th December 2007
  • Style: Cruiser
  • Hull thickness: Base 10mm, Sides 6mm Roof & Cabin side 4mm.
  • Cabin insulation: Self-extinguishing polystyrene foam.
  • Fitted out by: Black Prince Holidays Ltd
  • Unladen Weight: 14.5 tonnes
  • Max loaded weight: 17.3 tonnes
  • Max load: 905Kg (Max people 600Kg) excludes Water and Diesel.

Propulsion

  • Engine: Isuzu 42 4-cylinder water-cooled diesel engine.
  • Power: 42 hp/31.31 Kw @ 3000 pm.
  • Cooling: Water cooled via welded skin tank in hull.
  • Gearbox: PRM 150 manual marine gearbox with a 2:1 reduction.
  • Prop: 3 blade right-hand bronze propeller, 432mm (17″) diameter, pitch of 305mm (12″).
  • Max speed: Approx. 7.4 knots

Electrics

  • Alternators: 2 X 80 Amp
  • Leisure Batteries: 4 X Leoch Adventurer SFL-110
  • Starter Battery: 1 X Leoch Adventurer SFL-110
  • Inverter/Charger: 3500W (Sterling PCS123500)

Heating & Water

  • Calorifier: 54L/12 Gallon vertical twin-coil
  • Water Heating: Eberspacher D4W Hydronic diesel heater and the engine
  • Heating: Radiators via Eberspacher D4W Hydronic diesel heater

Tanks & Gas & Toilet

  • Fresh Water: 640-litres/140-gallons
  • Fuel Tank: 350-litres/77-gallons
  • Toilet Tank: 550-litres/120-gallons
  • Toilet: Tecma macerator type toilet (1 removed in redesign)
  • Gas: 2 X 13kg Calor propane bottles
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New Macerator Pump Fitted

A couple of weeks ago we visit the Marina fit more new curtains and measure the roof to find the best options for solar panels. Unfortunately we found the toilet was not working as expected, it would flush, but after flushing there would be more water in the bowl that expected, and after a second flush it would increase again.

We tried cleaning the toilet and using a plunger to push the water into the tank, but we could not resolve the problem and so had decided put it off to another visit, when I would have more time and tools.

On the way home I decided to texted Steve Cowham, who had come to our rescue fitting the water pump in the summer, I have poorly thumbs and am trying to save myself from further operations, luckily Steve was able to take a look and soon called me back.

Tecma 12V Silence / Elegance Macerator PumpHis suggestion was that the Macerator Pump had probably worn out, having been an X-Black Prince hire boat for 12 years, it would have been well used. He was happy to fit one for us and recommend we order one from Midland Chandlers the part we needed was a “Tecma 12V Silence / Elegance Macerator Pump” part number TG-224.

This was ordered and shipped directly to Steve via the marina, at £249.50 they are not cheap, but they need to work.

A few days later it is all fitted and working, we will be back to the boat soon and I am sure we will be testing it.

Steve, don’t forget to send us the bill, thanks 🙂

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Returning back to Black Prince

If you have been reading our blog you will know we had a little problem with the paint on the roof, we purchased the boat from Black Prince only a few weeks ago, they have looked at the peeling paint and are going to repair it.

Paint Problems on roof
Paint Problems on roof

It is an odd problem, looks to me, a non-expert, like some surface contamination under the primer as caused it to lose adhesion, I have seen similar problems this caused by the oil used to lubricate the air tools used when removing the old paint.

 

Worcester to Stoke Prior

We have been on a trip to Worcester and are going to drop the boat off at their base in Stoke Prior before we set off home.

We broke the trip up this time, turning around at Diglis Basin just in front of the Diglis Lock, we had decided to try and get past all the locks and then rest up  for the night just after the M5 bridge at Tibberton, we would then have a simple trip to our mooring at Droitwich Spa Marina the next day, before heading off on the Saturday to the Black Prince Base at Stoke Prior.

Sonia and Obi the dog collected the car from the marina and drove to Stoke Prior while Mary and I moved the boat. Once Sonia had arrived at Stoke Prior, she let them know we were coming and check where they would like us to moor before walking down the canal to meet us.

The trip took us just under 3 hours at a leisurely pace,  with just the 3 locks at the top of the Droitwich Canal and then 7 on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. We finally arrived and moored up next to another Black Prince customer boat, “Pub Trawler II” which was known as Ava when she was a hire boat.

We have since heard that they will completely strip the roof and repaint it, should be ready in a couple of weeks. Furthermore, we are hoping to get a battery monitor fitted while she is with them. I have selected the Victron BMV-712 as I can talk to this via the onboard monitoring system I am developing (More on this later).

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