Our First Guests - Trip to Goring

31st May 2016

Our daughter Alex is getting married soon and the happy couple will be using Life's too Short for their honeymoon. Alex has been on hire boats with us in the past many times and future son-in-law Lewie came on holiday with us last year - so they both have some experience but they've never tried to manage a boat with just the 2 of them so this weekend was a chance to practice that. Due to other commitments we arrived late afternoon on Sunday, so we had some evening time and all day Monday to play.

On arrival at the boat it was pleasing to see that Tingdene and Viking had been busy resolving some of the snags from the list. The boat now looks to be ballasted much better (although I think a lot more ballast has been added at the rear but I don't think any was removed from the bow), the dining table is a bit higher which makes it easier to sit around, there is a usable footrest for the co-pilot and a new bulkhead to keep the water tank and bow thruster motor apart.  Good progress with just a couple of bits left to do.

Once we had everything loaded up and had gone through the 'pre-flight' checks we went for a short trip towards Sonning and back, this showed Lewie and Alex how to leave the mooring and safely join the river, plus they both had a chance to take the helm for a while. No problems, but the boat wanders a bit in a straight line so I'm fitting a Ruddersafe this weekend which ought to help.  Throttle control hasn't been fixed yet so it's still not great, particularly in reverse.  Back at the marina we headed to the fuel jetty and topped up the tank from jerry cans (on the pontoon, not in the boat of course).

The Happy Couple

By the time we were back on our berth it was almost dusk. We tucked into a curry and a few bottles of wine (to help us sleep of course) before settling down for the night.

In the morning we had a quick breakfast of bacon sandwiches before going through the checklist and heading off. We decided to head upstream to Goring via Caversham, Mapledurham and Whitchurch locks. At Caversham Caroline and I demonstrated how we manage our way through a lock with just the 2 of us, easy! It was probably a bit unfair to give them Mapledurham as their first, but we tried it anyway. There was a stiff breeze and weir stream to contend with as well as a family on a hire boat ahead of us struggling to moor at the lay-by so Lewie had to just hold off and wait until it was time to go in. Mapledurham lock is quite tall and Alex isn't, so rather than embarrass ourselves we all mucked in and got through it OK. Lewie drove out of the lock slowly and smoothly, very well done!

Leaving Mapledurham Lock

Next up was Whitchurch Lock. Again the breeze wasn't helping much but this time Lewie and Alex managed just fine. Caroline and I struggled to not pick up a rope and join in, but we needed them to practice without our help and they managed with only a few reminder prompts from myself ;-)

We made it to Goring in time for lunch but the pub was full so we just had a snack in the cafe instead, then headed back.  Going down the locks was easier and the benefit of having the easy-access platform on the boat was obvious to us all, good decision made there.

As we passed through Reading I checked the fuel level - at first glance it appeared that the tank was nearly empty! We'd used more than I thought we would. I reckoned there was enough to get us back but rather than take the chance and risk running out we tied up at the park and Lewie and I wandered to the Shell station up the road. I was able to get 20l in the main tank (so there can only have been 5 left in it) plus I filled 2 10l jerry cans, there will be plenty for the next trip!

Unusually I didn't take any photos on the way back, it was a pleasant trip and the 'youngsters' showed us that they can manage the boat OK, Lewie even reversed it into the morning at the marina OK! So this means I won't have to wrap my precious boat in bubblewrap before the honeymoon after all!

G&T Time!

Next weeks plan is to fit the rubber safe and add a couple more fenders (you can never have too many!) and maybe a second 25l fuel tank if I can get one.