sleepy peoples adventures from pansyland

mark

Well-known member
finally in your bunk at 1am, pot noodle for breakfast at 2.30am, you know its got the makings of an interesting (and looong) day

never realised how different the upper tyne looks in the pitchy dark when you're a bit sleepy, a lot of the lights on the perches up there aren't working any more either! took the wimps way out and turned radar on (given that they are just inside out microwaves one day we're gonna put the pies in the raydome!)

heard someone shouting for slinky not long after 3, tried to butt in but don't think we got through, we were still way up the tyne at that point, think it was shady putting their brekkie order in

with stupendously accurate timing(ish) made out intial approach to Fred Crowel's slip, bank on 4.38, which meant it was nearly light enough to see where we ere going. But those sneaky pirate folk that inhabit that bit of the river on the south side have installed there own cunning tidal system, clearly to keep big Gay fishing boats at bay, so out first 2 attempts at fitting 15'9" of boat into a 16 foot wide slip failed dismally so, there was nowt for it but to try rope her in, so with a somewhat skeleton crew of 2, one of which leapt like a leapy thing to pirate country and tried to tug 30 tons of boat round the corner, nightmare, the pirate tide throwing us all ower the shop, sharp point concrete wall things doing sharp pointy concrete wally things to any bit of wood not defended by dunlop

took a while but got her in, it all seems so long but it's entirely possible we may of hit some 'things' at some point during the night/morning or whatever that time is normally called

I did have a brainwave to save north sea fishstocks at this point, I'm going buy them all watches and teach them to tell the time, that way they'll stay in bed till we get there (eventually)

I didn't have an attack of the red mist at all during these maneuvers and was only grumpy 'a bit'

An hour piling ballast and 'mystery grey powdery stuff' on one side and she took what little lean there was against the wall. Nowt left for us to do but to wait for the naughty pirates tide thing to go away to see whats what and have a grope of her nethers. nethers which are in remarkably fine fettle for a 70 year old, a fact confirmed by our newest best friend Mr Crowell. To underline how good she is he even drilled a hole in her nethers for us too prove the point, something about creaping crack cure, so Pansy is now a real 21st century girl and has a genital piercing

raked out half a dozen seams above the waterline, recaulked and resealed them with toothpaste, did a few suspect bits 'down below' as well

some of the pirates returned early and along with our newest best friend started to launch missiles at North Shields using hairspray

got to wave at Norman at one point, I think it was norman any way, I think I'd started to hallucinate after drinking too much antifouling and licking the white lead off my fingers

lashed a bit paint on the new stripey bits, greeted several boarding parties, while pablo thompson was reaching the parts other *insert something appropriate* cannot reach with a paint roller

by now the wet stuff was starting to tickle her hint end again, as the pirates liberated more treasure from Pansy's bowels, but the naughty tide likes us now and we slipped out without a bother and headed home, several tons lighter and several leaks less leakier.... but the those nice people who man the magic bridge had buggered off early leaving us doing little circles in the middle of the river trying to work out how to squeeze something 20 foot high under a 3 foot bridge,

pablo raced to the rescue though, leapt like a leapy thing for the second time in a day and possibly his entire life, and managed to find some one in the pub that knew the magic words...... although by this time we had several knots of cross current to traverse to squeeze her back in her hole

I didn't 'customise' the bridge warning sign on the way back in either by the way

all in all a good day done
 
sounds like you had a good day getting her fettled Mark, still its hard work getting done between tides, especially if you are scarfing in timbers and caulking. and the anti fouling plays havoc with the cuticles lol. thanks for sharing your day
 
I know of the sneaky pirate types you speak of. They always land on their feet and win fights with their cutlasses then get drunk and stab things
 
No.2 has a few thank you's - in no particular order

  • Codonly for popping along and saying hello the second time around
  • Bert's mate for the cheap trousers what he sold me - and the antifoul :)
  • Mrs. Miggins for the Pies
  • Fred's golf ball gun
  • The rain - an excuse not to graft
 
sounds like you had alot of fun lads must have took some doing getting pansy into that little slip way lol looked tight from our view.

and it was norman you got a wave off on our war back into RQ.

btw pansy is a cracking boat thats the first time ive seen it since you lads got it i can see alot of good days fishing for you guys once its done
 
hi lads,
yeah the tidal demons, we`ve all been there, it`s not on any charts or tidal forcasts but the truth is it takes for ever to drop to low ..... then just as it`s safe to go out there and get the job done it teams in like the pirates you describe ....... bugger !"£$£$%

On another note ............. I think it`s time to sort out the differences with RQ (or somewhere else anyway), the place you are at the moment is just simply spoiling life for yous. good luck lads,

ps was there a big "POP" as you squeezed (shot) out .... :) :) :)
 
hi lads,
yeah the tidal demons, we`ve all been there, it`s not on any charts or tidal forcasts but the truth is it takes for ever to drop to low ..... then just as it`s safe to go out there and get the job done it teams in like the pirates you describe ....... bugger !"£$£$%

On another note ............. I think it`s time to sort out the differences with RQ (or somewhere else anyway), the place you are at the moment is just simply spoiling life for yous. good luck lads,

ps was there a big "POP" as you squeezed (shot) out .... :) :) :)

there was a bit of a popping sort of noise, but it weren't from the boat!

difference with the RQ, hmmnn, tricky

bottom line is the lovely matt isn't interested, he dismissed the survey as irrelevant and would insist it was lifted out in the RQ and re-surveyed by him (at our expense), refused to believe it was insured, despite the policy (Lloyds) being under his nose, and would only allow it on a pontoon when he was 'happy' with the overall appearance, so it would be against the wall in the corner with no services, but still be charged at pontoon rates.

so not sure how we'd overcome those really! tried many times, we would of even tolerated the overpriced wall arrangement - getting on for 4 grand a year, as he wouldn't even believe the surveyors report for length!

baffled! there's another boat in the RQ, old herring drifter, a few years older the the Pans', and 5 foot longer, he has no problem with that one, and it gets charged nearly a third of what he wanted from us

might end up on one of the trots somewhere along the river next year or summats, unless there's a management change or something
 
sounds a difficult one mark, how about a tidal berth in the river, at least you can come and go as you wish .... ?
 
limits on length on most of the chains of 40 or 45 feet, so need to do some encouraging of powers that be!

might have to accidentally sink that old pinnace outside fred's thats rotting away! we'd just fit nice there
 
limits on length on most of the chains of 40 or 45 feet, so need to do some encouraging of powers that be!

might have to accidentally sink that old pinnace outside fred's thats rotting away! we'd just fit nice there

on a more positive note though after the weekends exercise, feel much more relaxed about her now we've had her out, she's in remarkable condition for her age, and now she's about 4 tons lighter, is using a lot less fuel and the steering is much much better

still needs re-propping though
 
Aye Mark nice to meet up with you`s again :) spoke to Fred today and got the usual long story about the slip and tides and ropes etc etc ! He say`s the boat in in class nick for the age of her :D ! He said he "drilled some hole and filled some holes" well that explains a lot ;)......glad you`s got sorted,are you`s booked on the slip ?if so when?
Fred is the last bloke on the Tyne who repairs and restores old boats to there former glory ive seen many craft of different kinds and ages in the 25 years ive knows Fred pass thru his shop and i must say he is damm good at what he does !!!!!! Surely its an art that is fast being killed off by GRP...i think he should have an apprentice at his place to carry on the trade ,because its a great slipway in a prime location and if the slip isn`t getting used anymore (ie re-development )!!! and Fred ain't getting any younger:(
 
i had similar problems at royal quays when i wanted to renew my cabin. "all work must be done against the wall, untill we are satisfied with the appearance of the vessel." Matt could not see that on the wall without electricity the appearance would never improve.
some places just aren't meant for old boats requiring work.

if you boys are still interested in a trot mooring i can put in a good word at our club. (friars goose)
 
Aye Mark nice to meet up with you`s again :) spoke to Fred today and got the usual long story about the slip and tides and ropes etc etc ! He say`s the boat in in class nick for the age of her :D ! He said he "drilled some hole and filled some holes" well that explains a lot ;)......glad you`s got sorted,are you`s booked on the slip ?if so when?
Fred is the last bloke on the Tyne who repairs and restores old boats to there former glory ive seen many craft of different kinds and ages in the 25 years ive knows Fred pass thru his shop and i must say he is damm good at what he does !!!!!! Surely its an art that is fast being killed off by GRP...i think he should have an apprentice at his place to carry on the trade ,because its a great slipway in a prime location and if the slip isn`t getting used anymore (ie re-development )!!! and Fred ain't getting any younger:(

Aye booked in for some frederick treatment, he's stowed off with work so not going to be till january though. As a measure of the man, he's willing to chop his cradle up so Pansy will fit on her, and possibly cut some lumps out of the side of his shed to get her in.

Sad, but finding any young uns that'd want an apprenticeship for wooden boat building would probably be tricky, don't think it'd be glamourous enough for em, plus his place would be a health and safety nightmare for the powers that be
 
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