Nick Burnham: It’s not like summer boating, but it’s a heck of a lot better than no boating at all
With all the craziness of the autumn boat show season, Smuggler’s Blues 2 was feeling seriously neglected. In fact, by late November it was more than two months since the poor thing had even left the berth! But with Marianne’s brother and sister-in-law coming to stay for the weekend, we were keen to get back on the water and give them a tour of the River Dart.
First job was a good clean-up, so a week before they were due, we spent an afternoon on the boat giving it a really good scrub. Having left the boat facing downstream in the berth (bow pointing south), one unexpected issue was that the bathing platform had started to turn green with algae since it’s often damp in the river valley in winter and the platform is permanently shaded. That took some serious scrubbing.
We took the inflatable dinghy off the foredeck and deflated and stored it. Then the new camper canopy came off and was carefully stowed to avoid creasing any of the windows. Then the tonneau cover was fitted. We do this for two reasons. Firstly, it protects the expensive new canopy; and secondly, we don’t plan to stay aboard the boat in the winter - and neither do we need the shade of the bimini (quite the reverse in fact). Plus it’s far quicker to whip the tonneau off and to refit it than putting the camper canopy up and down. Finally, we added a dehumidifier and an oil-filled radiator to the interior to ensure it stays warm and dry.
Leo and Cat arrived on Friday afternoon and were due to fly back to Ireland on Sunday, so it was Saturday or bust. It stayed dry but
