Sea Trials (well, river trials anyway)

On Tuesday we went up to meet Roy and Valerie (present owners) on Herbie to have a test drive and go over the boat noting where everything was and how it worked. It was a freezing (literally) cold day, but we were glad to find that Herbie was warm and cosy inside. This was the first time we had seen Herbie without the rear hood erected, and is how she will look when cruising.

Pulling out of the marina we turned up stream and motored as far as Ware, something just under an hour I guess. The boat performed beautifully and Kath and I both had a go on the tiller finding the boat easy to steer. Ware has quiet and pleasant moorings in the town, some by a pub and others handy for the shops.

Roy (shown above) did a very impressive job at turning the boat round and when we got back performed an amazing feat of turning the boat and backing it into its mooring space. Look at the picture, notice the narrowness of the river here and you'll see what we mean.

We then went over the boat with a fine tooth comb learning all the little storage spaces, where all the maintenance and electric, gas and water points were and setting out and testing the guest sofa bed. Everything was fine and we now feel very comfortable about taking Herbie on.
Now we have to get all the necessary kitchen stuff, pots, pans, kettle, crockery, cutlery and so on. A good job the January sales are still in full flow. We also need a couple of folding chairs and a nice folding table for the saloon. I feel a visit to IKEA coming on!