Bringing 'her' back after survey

Warrior survey pics

Warrior on the move

Warrior lift out time again.

With our insurance renewal, came the awaited instructions that Warrior would need a full insurance survey, as seven years had passed since the previous one. This was expected & we had already made tentative enquiries/plans with the marina here & a recommended surveyor.

The arrangements were made for the 29th September, Steph & I both needing to take the day off work. Dan & Sam, the marina guys, arrived at 10am in the two work boats & guided Warrior away from the mooring & headed towards the waiting 70tonne lifting hoist. Although this was to be the second time in as many years that we have seen our home lifted out, it still fills us with the fear that Warrior might just either fall from the hoist or, break in two!

Once sitting up in the hoist on the jetty, the marina lads had the not so small task of pressure washing the entire underbelly & water line, to give access to the surveyor who, would be performing an ultrasonic test on the thickness of the hull. If this ever gets down to 4mm, the hull would be un-insurable & then require very expensive over-plating. The surveyor, Mr Colin Mallard-South, duly arrived just after 11am & thankfully seemed very impressed with Warrior's build quality. Where we had the waterline shot blasted in November 09, did not show any signs of deterioration, other than the bitumen top coat having been washed away. The most pleasing aspect from my point of view, was that the sacrificial anodes have been working well. I had taken the advice of MME foundry in 09 to use aluminium anodes & not the usual zinc ones, as they are sold by weight & aluminium worked out at about £14 each, as opposed to £52 for zinc ones & we need ten!

A few other barge owners had gathered to view the anodes, they knew of my original choice & were waiting for me to fall on my backside over it but, luckily I could have a wry smile on my face. Funny how they have since asked for the name of the supplying company!

Once the hull had been checked, we had an hour or so to wait for high tide so, we decided to replace the washed away bitumen(not an issue with the surveyor, just our own peace of mind) so, with the help of the marina lads & a couple of friends, we managed to get around the whole waterline, giving it time in the warm weather to dry off, before Warrior was lowered back into the river.

Once secured safely back at base, the surveyor then came aboard to view the inside fittings etc & have another cuppa! Again, Mr Mallard was very impressed with what he could see & told us that Warrior is 'One of the best conversions of a Lighter he has ever seen.' & has increased in value by some £75k since we bought 'her', very nice!

Once everything was done, we both had a sigh of releif that all the hard work we put into Warrior had all been worth it & after the quite emotional week we had had, we were done in & just sat relaxing for the rest of the evening.

This blog dedicated to my mate Rob, who sadly lost his battle against a brain tumour a few weeks ago; he loved visiting the barge & was in fact due down to us the day he was originally taken ill. He will be fishing with his dad now & listening to loud music, so I won't say 'RIP' it's just not his way.

Photos will be added when this site allowes me to!