It’s that time of year, when late summer morphs into early autumn, a time when summer clothes are replaced by slightly warmer garments, a time when in many sectors there is a new start.

Cal Gal is several weeks into her new life at college at Washington State University in Pullman in the Pacific North West, while the Cheshire One has started the next stage of learning at Liverpool University.

The new school year was always associated with a pre-school haircut, the strange sensation of stiff school uniform, the lining up of new pens for the pencil case and the smooth feel of fresh new exercise books.

New starts…

It's a new start for the Boatwif blog too. For some months Techno Son-in-Law has been muttering that the blog “looked old-fashioned”, was becoming more time-consuming to maintain, was “over-loading the server”, was attracting a lot of spam… So the time has come for a new look, for a fresh start on a new blog site.

Thanks to Techno all 800 plus previous blog entries have been moved across to the new site and all are still accessible via the Blog History button. The Search Button calls up key phrases and references within the posts, a sort of super index (clever stuff!)

There have been several loyal readers of these Boatwif posts who have subscribed to the blog in the past and they should continue to get an automatic email alert whenever a new post is published.

For anyone wishing to subscribe to the Boatwif blog it’s an easy process – just look for the form at the bottom of every page.

Nervously, (trying, as it were not to blot that first page of a new exercise book) this then is the first entry on the new format.

There was to have been one last short Cleddau cruise, along the Leicester Line, just for a couple of days and nights, to observe the colours of the fields and foliage in rural west Northamptonshire. But intentions don’t always translate into workable plans. The boating time envelope was short, the weather forecast dismal – and then there was an appointment to keep.

On Cleddau the Captain uses a similar fuel gauge system, using a wooden dip stick with markings in quarters to assess how much diesel is left or needed. Recently he observed that during his dipping checks the bottom of the tank felt “crunchy”. A realisation dawned – did the fuel tank need cleaning out? Last April there had been an emergency procedure at Welford-on-Avon when water (rainwater?) in the diesel completely immobilised the boat. The diesel had to be pumped out and replaced, an expensive episode indeed… (Reminder here: )

When was the last time the tank and fuel had been cleaned and polished? Hm, perhaps too many years ago. So, an appointment before winter with Tankbusters was needed.

A date was agreed at short notice, no problem, except that the boat was moored bow to the bank, stern 60 feet away over marina water…

Could the boat be re-positioned before the threatened heavy showers and thunderstorms arrived?

Up to the boat, car unloaded at super speed, fenders lifted, electric shore cable disconnected, ropes untied…

“Going far?” enquired the boater from the neighbouring pontoon.

“About forty yards that way… Just turning her round for some engine work,” replied the Captain.

One can smile after the event – there were people around at the marina, about to witness an undramatic, perfectly controlled reverse from the pontoon, a spin around and a return reverse, positioning the stern neatly at the bank. Ropes retied, fenders replaced, electricity reconnected. Mission achieved but with no camera evidence.

Within an hour the clouds had started to throw down a great deal of rain… but thankfully Cleddau was now in position to make access to the stern (and the diesel tank) possible.

Promptly at 9am the following morning, amid lightning flashes, thunder rolls and torrential rain, the team from Tankbusters arrived at the marina.

“I’ll stand outside the boat with a red umbrella so you’ll know which boat to stop at,” the Captain advised the lady team leader over the phone. (And there he stood for the next two and a half hours during Operation Fuel Tank Clean.)

The Tankbusters van arrived. In due course two persons emerged from the van, each clothed from head to foot in thick black waterproofs. Then from the back of the van a steel ramp, down which was brought the essential kit of parts.

It was a largely silent process as the diesel was pumped and filtered, pumped and filtered, pumped and filtered. Alarmingly a large amount of water was found at the bottom of the tank (rainwater? A better fitting seal has been installed now). The filters were changed several times and close inspection revealed tell-tale signs of little bugs, “diesel bug”…

As the tank cleaning process came to an end the rain stopped - briefly!

With the fuel tank now clean and ready for a new start next season, what else? There has been much to do to prepare the interior for “winter works”. Two more radiators have come of age, have rusted through and developed leaks. The bathroom plumbing also needs attention. ‘Clearing the decks’ to make room for someone to work in confined spaces involved effort, cooperation, a packed car and a final trip (for a while at least) back down the M1.

By habit the M1 exit of choice is Junction 14. Opinionated satnavs would have it that Junction 13 is marginally quicker. Just as well, then, that the Cleddau crew were able to avoid the disruption caused by the formation of “Bedfordshire’s newest river” on the A421 between Junction 13 and the A6 interchange…

What to do while Cleddau is tucked up in hibernation? Well, Boatwif could make a start in a Jane-a-Day 5 Year Journal, a recent birthday gift. These actual pages look invitingly fresh…

80 yds/240 ft; 0 locks