Birmingham Floating Market 2014
June 2014
Birmingham Floating Market represented the first official outing for The Jam Butty so it was all a bit of trial and error.
Birmingham Floating Market 2014
A Kev Maslin special portrait
The mechanics of using Montgomery as a sales platform went very well, with the adjustable floor working to perfection and the ability to pull the loaded stall back into the middle of the boat and leave it set up under sheeting made overnights a delight.
The Jam Butty in trading mode
Rather irritatingly the weather was not great with rain pretty much all day on Saturday. Undaunted we decided to try out our wet weather option which involved erecting the gazebo over the boat with the front legs 1m over the towpath. This worked surprisingly well and allowed us to continue to trade all day, even offering customers much appreciated shelter. To tell the truth I think they came for the shelter and then got sucked into the whole Wild Side thing!
Dragon Boat racing
Whatever the reason, we had a very good days trading on Saturday and Sunday in spite of the elements.
Saturday night saw something of a celebration of The Jam Butty's launch attended by friends, fellow traders and even Mr Parry from the C&RT. The participants were fortified by Helen's jam on scones and Cheese / Chutney on crackers washed down with jugs of Pimms and a keg of Andy's Homebrew (IPA). The whole event went off well and was enjoyed by all.
The Jam Butty's official launch party
It was particularly good to meet up with Sue and Ade from the Cheese Boat and Ricard and Sue from Indigo Dream who were both in Birmingham for the weekend.
The new and the old in Birmingham
We took our leave at 6.00pm on Sunday under a setting sun, waved on by Andrew Denney (Granny Buttons and Waterways World) and made a solitary trip to Tipton arriving at 9.30pm. The setting sun was magnificent and added a whole new dimension to the New Main Line which can be a bit dull at times.
Leaving Birmingham
For the return trip I altered the trim of Montgomery to make her stern heavy with her bows up 2 inches plus altered the towing straps. The result was dramatic and she towed better and faster.
Sunset on the New Main Line
All in all a good shakedown for the new combination and good preparation for our trip down to Oxford in 10 days time.
2 comments:
It was so wonderful to see you - the Jam Butty was magnificent and I'm glad that you had some good trade.
Hope to see you again soon - if not on the cut then for autumn cyder making :-)
Sue, nb Indigo Dream
Hi Andy
Not relevant to this post, but I have been meaning to drop you a line.
I too have a eastern caravan and narrowboat 42'6", same as yours.
When I bought it I wasn't impressed with the drive - the prop just churned around without much result. So I replaced the prop with a 16x11, just 1 inch extra diameter, but the effect was quite dramatic. The drive is now much more posotive, and the engine is now working under load.
It might improve your towing performance if you increase the prop size.
Best regards
Stan King
Post a Comment