Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Over-wintering in Dover.

Dover turned out to be a good place to spend the winter. The marina comes with all the usual facilities which makes life so much more bearable in the depths of winter. The town however, is a different story. We did plenty of exploring in our idle-times during the summer and autumn. The town reminds me of a once-thriving community that has become overshadowed by its neighbour, in this case the empire that is Dover Port. It seems that for all the through-traffic, no-one stops to discover the town. It has plenty of history all around, but you have to search for it, or stumble on it as we did a number of times.

There are a couple of famous-name stores within the town - Morrison's being our favourite, not only for shopping, but its café and cheap meals, and all within a twenty-minute walk of the boat! The rest are 'downtown' shops as I call them, which describes them fairly accurately. Others such as Tesco's, B & Q and Homebase are a car-ride away, as is Folkestone which is the nearest centre of civilisation. For serious shopping though, Canterbury, a mere 16 miles away, is an absolute gem - a 'biggish' city with all the trimmings.

The port, or Dover Harbour Authority, is an immense institution covering the whole seaward access of Dover and the immediate hinterland. It's not until you actually walk around the area that you realise what Europe's busiest ferry port actually comprises of. It even has its own Police Force to protect its interests. The marina comes under the auspices of DHB which has clear benefits, such as electricians on site when the electricity supply fails, 24-hour marina office staff and proper boatyard services for lift-outs.

So, the winter passed without too many problems. We bought a Calor gas heater in preparation for the cold weather and although I was a bit dubious about its use on board, it soon proved its worth. The pontoon electricity breakers were rated at 15 amps but the marina advised no more that 10A, the reason for which became clear when then 'residents' began switching on their heaters. It became a daily event to monitor our supply to maintain 2kW for the heaters, switching one off in favour of the 1kW immersion for an hour. Hot water makes for a more civilised life we found.

One problem I couldn't resolve was the condensation. After the attempts at Brighton had failed, that is trying to reduce it by closing down each cabin as the temperatures fell, we chose to maintain a reasonable temperature throughout the boat, keeping the various cabins open and taking doors of cupboards to promote ventilatation. It was slightly better, but the problem still didn't stop. Clearly, it is the movement of warm air throughout the boat that will significantly reduce it. This became obvious when we used to visit Brian, further along the pontoon. He maintained 23degC by way of a Mikuni diesel heater, supplemented by an electric fan heater and suffered none of our condensation problems. I will never forget popping in to chat to him when the snow was on the ground, only to find him dressed in a 'T' shirt and shorts. Now that is comfort!

                                        Who said it didn't snow in Dover


I must say that the community that over-wintered that year was exceptional, particularly Brian and Geoff (who regularly travelled from Grimsby). Then there was Brian & Elaine, Peter (who was passing through after returning from Antigua), Dave and Heather, who gave advice on the French canals, Graham who arranged for some parts to be welded for me, Sue and Neil from Manchester and a few others whose names, I'm sorry to say, I can't remember.

As Winter passed we started to look forward to our sons wedding in Australia. In February, we flew out from Heathrow, at a  cool 5degC, to Byron Bay, NSW, that was basking in 30degC. What a contrast! It was a couple of fantastic weeks we shall treasure.

On our return came the job of renovating Sno' Rush from the homely 'caravan' to a working sailboat again. It was about this time that one of those rare, fortuitous events occurred. Hil was on Brian's boat helpinh him to replace his curtains. She spotted a home-made board onto which an orange thingy was fitted. When she asked, Brian said it was a diesel heater he'd cobbled together. How about that! A complete almost working Ebespacher D4. A quick trip to the local specialist and, hey presto, one fully working 4kW diesel heater, albeit obsolete. That will cure the condensation problems next winter - many thanks Brian.

Sno' Rush was lifted out in March, scrubbed and anti-fouled, anodes changed, stuffing box re-packed, all those out-of-water chores that need to be attended to before the new season. And then, by April, we were ready for the off. Funny thing is, with all the work I'd done to the engine, and even though she purred when running, there still seemed to be excessive smoke when she fired up and idled. Couldn't quite fathom it, as under power the smoke virtually disappeared. Never mind, there can't be much wrong - we're ready for the canals!

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