Hatton to Delta Marine Services, Warwick (Grand Union Canal)

Wednesday 24th June

Kev spoke to the boat yard yesterday and they said they would look at the calorifier if we went down, so we decided to go down there today.  Where we were moored, last night a boat came and moored in front of us going the same way, so I went and asked them if they were planning to go down the flight the next morning and if so, did they want to pair up, they said that would be good.  They are called Kevin and Alex and their boat is Christal Haze.

Entering Hatton Top Lock

We checked to see if Alex and Kevin were ready and we all set off at 8.30am.  As the leak on our calorifier was the pipe going to the engine, we asked them if we could tie the boats together to go through the locks.  Alex would be steering and she said she hadn’t done that before but would give it a go and then Kev could help with the locks as well so hopefully would make our passage quicker and easier.

Locks Galore!!

We got to the top lock, tied the boats together and in Alex went and all was working okay until we came to about the third lock down.  Kev and I opened the gates to let Alex out and my side opened okay but Kev’s only opened ¾ of the way and no matter how hard he shoved, pushed and swore it wouldn’t open so after about 10 minutes we decided the only way out was to untie the boats and take them out one at a time, so Kev climbed down in and him and Alex untied and brought the boats out.  

Nearly down the Hatton Flight

We thought we would have one more go at taking them in together so we tied them back together and that’s how they stayed until we go to the bottom of the flight.

Last lock of Hatton flight, hurray!!

We went down the flight quite quickly and smoothly, we had a good routine going and Alex and Kevin were really nice and we were very grateful to them for helping us as it relieved the worry of the engine overheating.

In Cape Lock

We went through the two cape locks with them and then we stopped for lunch and they carried on.

Kev rang the boat yard and they said to come along and he would look at the calorifier so we chugged a bit further along the canal and tied up at the boat yard.

The boat yard is Delta Marine Services and the owner is Gary Ward.  He came and looked at the calorifier and said he would get it out and if it can be repaired, he would do that tomorrow morning and if not, he would fit a new one.  He let the engine cool down for a bit, then within an hour the calorifier was out on the side, very impressive as it took Kev two hours to repair one joint which still leaked!

We are mooring in the boat yard tonight.

Moored at Delta Marine Services