2002 trip to Dry Dock in Paull, Hull
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The winter of 2002 changed Waterdog from a houseboat back into a barge and also changed our lives. We started planning for a trip to a dry dock in the previous summer. It was time for a survey for insurance purposes, Waterdog was desperate for a few coats of paint and we had a list of welding jobs. The other aims were to reinstate the steering, commission the engine and leave under our own steam.
We decided on the Hepworth boat yard at Paull, just down river from Hull . It is a yard owned by Rix Petroleum and is still used to service and build barges. They have a slipway and a dry dock, but they are both only accessible on a spring tide, that is, every two weeks. We thought we had at least two, if not, four weeks work, depending on how much it all cost. We struck a verbal deal and took it from there. Next time things will be in writing!
We looked into getting towed with a local tug, but the cost was too high. Eventually we found a local commercial barge owner, Gary, who agreed to tow us alongside his barge, Maureen Anne for a cash sum.
We planned the trip for the end of October 2002, when the dry dock would definitely be available and we would be home from work for the winter and despite there being the highest tides for 40 years! We intended to do the wire brushing and painting of the hull ourselves, but didn't really know how long it would take us.
While we had done the trip down to Hull on Xalida, our 32ft sailing boat, going on Waterdog was a whole different story, partly because we had never moved her further than across the pond to another pontoon and partly because it was out of our control, she was to be towed by another vessel.
The first step was to get Waterdog out onto the canalside without the engine (although Lawrence had managed to turn it over, the Gardner 4LW hadn't been run for at least 7 years and needed some attention before serious use). This was done on a calm Sunday morning with much help from our neighbours, pulling on ropes. We had a man in the dinghy with the electric outboard (which made hearing commands much easier) taking ropes across the marina to pertinent points, and others standing by.
It all went very smoothly, with Waterdog gliding out under man-power as if she was keen to set off, so we tied up and settled in for the night with our new view.
The next morning, Gary arrived with Maureen Anne and we set off for Hull .
The trip to Hull was actually uneventful though fairly exciting for us, it being our first trip. Gary, the skipper of Maureen Anne kept us entertained with stories of the ‘bad bits' of the Humber , which seems to be all of it! Apparently each bend in the river had claimed lives and barges ‘never to be seen again'. But he was quite relaxed about it all. We reached the Admiral's Steps and waited for the next high tide with a couple of other barges.
Humber Pride, Waterdog and another barge waiting for the tide at Admiral's Steps
A couple of hours later, when the tide had risen, we were towed to Salt End, where we waited again until there was enough water to get us over the mud bank in front of the dock at Paull. We had to tie up overnight alongside some old barges to wait for enough water to get into the dry dock. It was pretty unpleasant, listening to the scrapes and bangs of metal on metal overnight. We were quite relieved when the dock workers arrived in the morning to let us in.
Once in and settled on the blocks some guys turned up with a pressure hose to wash off the hull. She looked like a bit of an old rust bucket to be honest.
The surveyor arrived the next morning and marked up a few popped rivets and areas in need of remedial plating, to which we added our wish list of unneeded hull openings to seal up and the poor state of the stern. We decided to prioritise and Gus, the yard manager, promised to give us a running total as time went on.
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