Job done

• Maintenance

Brandy Pad was hauled out of the water on Tuesday and it very quickly became apparent what the problem with the bow thruster was.

New bow thruster propeller

This is the way the propeller should look.

Original propeller – all that is left

Unfortunately, this is what the old propeller looks like.

Old propeller side view

From this side view, you can see where the blades have been ripped off.

Clearly, something very solid managed to get into the thruster tube, causing catastrophic damage. The good news is that all that needed replacing was the propeller itself. A very much cheaper and simpler operation than replacing the arm that converts the vertical drive of the motor to the horizontal drive for the propeller. About a sixth of the price in fact.

We are already back in the water, the whole operation having taken just over two days thanks to speedy delivery of the new prop from Kings Lock chandlers. The bow thruster is now working well once again.

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Easter eggs for Brandy Pad

• Things we find

We have finally returned to the boat. After five months, we at long last hope to repair the bow thruster. A bit of a surprise was waiting for us when we arrived. Hiding away under the seats at the very bow of the boat, we discovered this:

Easter eggs – and Mom.

Clearly we don’t want to disturb her any more than we have to, but I can’t help wondering what she is going to do once her eggs hatch. The well at the bow is deep – almost three feet – with no way out, other than a couple of drain holes. Maybe the ducklings will be able to slip through the them, but I doubt it. Also, the boat is going to be out of the water for the next few days and they will then be another four feet off the ground as well. Hopefully they will not appear until next week, by which time we should be back in the water and we can try and provide a gangway for them to climb up to the gunwales and then jump into the water. I would move the anchor (the large metal bar) out of the way, but I am afraid of damaging the eggs. Mallards are, apparently, well known for nesting in strange places.

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