As any boater knows, BOAT is an acronym acknowledging the costs of ownership. Many people think that living on a boat is cheap. While it may be less expensive than owning a dwelling of bricks and mortar, in no way can it be considered "cheap". All homes require maintenance, but the risks of not maintaining a boat are probably more perilous. After waterways licence fees, insurance and boat safety certification there are the costs of interior and exterior upkeep. I'm afraid the only kinds of these types of upkeep I am fanatical about is regular reblacking the hull and engine servicing. Everything else is dealt with when it becomes urgent. I am probably a very bad boater. My boat is not shiny either and does require some external paintwork to be patched up. If I do get round to wielding a paintbrush I get as far as a dab of red oxide after which the weather changes and I generally lose the will to add undercoat and topcoats. I'm booked in for reblacking at the end of June - £££!
A couple of weeks after arriving at the boatyard in March I returned to Calcutt Boats to collect my beautifully restored and rebuilt engine. They had even repainted it. Naturally I was hoping the paint wasn't only cosmetic.
Here it is being put back into the boat. It was obviously not the easiest of jobs lifting it over some sheds on the quayside and into my engine bay!
Naturally I was anxious to take the boat out and see what the repaired engine felt like. It was bootiful! Quiet, more or less smokeless and now I have to treat it carefully during a running in period of up to one hundred hours, I'm looking forward to getting out and about again. Another thousand? This came to seven thousand.
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