Maintenance Day

Today we are staying at Chadderton awaiting our slot tomorrow morning to go down the Rochdale 19. As the weather was OK, we spent some of the time on boat care. So I will use this chance to explain the regular housekeeping and maintenance jobs needed on a narrowboat.

The first job today was to re-varnish our rear doors. These are wood panel and are exposed to the weather. Failure to varnish causes water to get into the cracks which stains the woodwork, and so a re-varnish every 6 months is recommended.

The next maintenance task was to touch up the paintwork. As we travel down the canal the paintwork is continually damaged when the boat rubs against the canal side, for example in locks or when mooring. Further damage can be caused by protruding branches rubbing down the boat side. Of course another cause of damage is knocks from other boats, though this is fortunately fairly rare.

If the paintwork isn't repaired rust can set in. This is not a major problem unless it is left for years as the boat's hull is nearly half an inch thick. However it does look unsightly and so Denise likes to rub down, prime and repaint affected areas from time to time.

Another task was to clean the interior. Jobs accomplished include the standard sweeping and wiping the floor and cleaning the bathroom. We also took the opportunity to remove and clean the top "hopper" windows.

Every morning I check the engine. This always involves checking that there are no unexpected liquid deposits under the engine. Other checks made from time to time are to the oil and water levels, and to ensure that the pieces of rubber preventing various pipework from chafing haven't moved. Normally nothing needs to be done as a result of the checks, marine diesel engines are simple and rugged. However they do need more attention than the average car engine receives.

The final daily activity worth mentioning is the weed hatch check. As we travel down the canal the propeller is liable to pick up detritus from the water and wrap it around the propeller shaft. Reeds and water plants are frequently picked up and cause little harm. Rubbish presents are much greater problem. Plastic bags are common; these cause vibration and do need to be removed without too much delay.

Other things can be much worse. One particularly bad example is for a sprung mattress to be wrapped around the propeller. Other occasional occurrences are car tyres, rope, electrical cable, and various items of clothing. At the worst something like this can halt the boat and possibly damage the engine or gearbox. So far, touch wood, we haven't met anything worse than a small length of carpet.

To enable rubbish to be removed, a weed hatch is provided which permits access to the propller from the rear deck. To return to the main theme of today's entry, one daily task is to open up this hatch and feel around the propeller and its shaft to ensure nothing has been picked up.