We have sold Waka Huia

 Sad happy is how we are feeling at the moment.***

Thank you to the people at ABNB who've done a great job as brokers. Alice, Emma and Daniel, and Technical Director Justin who resolved the starting issue which gave us heart failure when we heard about it.

Thank you to Ian and Irene for all your help in getting the boat ready to go on the market as we travelled together from Hawkesbury Junction to Hillmorton. And your then getting the list of tasks done that Debdale were unable to complete in a timely way and delivering the boat up to North Kilworth was a huge help and a relief to us.

Thank you also to Julia and Maggie who came and took away food and linen and bedding so the boat was cleared before we left it at Debdale - so we could catch our flight home.

And thanks to the lovely Ed Shiers who has been an absolute treasure to us since 2014 - Ed first came and did some work on the boat at Bollington, after hours, on his way home from a full day's work, stayed an hour and a half and only wanted to charge us £50, if I remember rightly. Hell no, we said, and paid him £90. Ever since then, he has been our go to person - apart from Ian, our lovely man who can, who stepped up this last season to resolve on the spot issues.

And posthumous thanks and hugs to the inimitable Mick Granger who did lots of wonderfully skilled work onboard Waka Huia, all of which has been recorded in the blog. Rest in Peace, mate. And thank you, old buddy, old pal.

And thank you to the Debdale team who have looked after Waka Huia so well since we started leaving it there on the hard each autumn. This year, before we arrived, Wal did a lovely job replacing water-stained/damaged woodwork in the saloon and sealing the window and porthole frames that were leaking. All of the Debdale team have been kind and helpful and warm and friendly to us over the years and we really appreciate it.

Just so you know, all of you deserved all the cheese scones and meals I made - and more!

And thank you to all the friends and family who came and joined us on board - we loved having people with us to share the pleasure. 

Thanks also to all the people we met along the way, friends we made, and those we spoke with as we passed them by walking or boating. 

And thank you to all the fabulous dogs - you gave us hundreds of opportunities to speak to your humans - you know how shy English people can be, but praising you lights them up and has them break into conversation - and David and I love making those connections, no matter how fleeting. Seeing your owners respond so positively and knowing for many of them it may be the only human interaction they have in a day, is a gift for us and it is a gift you give them - go, dogs!!

It was really important to us that we sell the boat in good condition, with no hidden problems, without having to cross our fingers and hope the surveyor missed something serious or otherwise. We remember when we bought the boat back in late 2013, we were reassured by the surveyor's report but didn't know how to interpret surveyor-speak. Later we realised that the surveyor tells you what is there but doesn't often say if it is useful (like the 24v 150amp alternator that killed the engine's motive power and was the reason we first had Ed come to help us out). And they use the phrase 'cannot confirm' which means 'didn't check' (see below). And we didn't realise that they don't check the electrics (just say what the system is), and they don't check the engine.

So it was critical to us that the electrics were in good order, that the engine had been serviced very recently, that the paintwork had been cut and polished, that the roof had been sanded back and repainted, that the interior was washed down, and the tabletop was sanded and treated with Danish oil, there was a new mattress and a heap of spare parts - most of which we could have sold, but which we wanted a new owner to have for a sense of safety and preparedness.

Selling the boat has been a nerve-wracking process - you may recall that David and I don't do uncertainty... And over the last fortnight or so, since we received an offer, we have checked emails in the dead of night when getting up for a pee - but I reckon the wakefulness was less caused by bladders and more prompted by whether there was a missive from ABNB...

There's waiting for the survey, and then there's waiting for the purchaser to respond to the survey report they receive but we don't. Only 3 things which the purchaser wanted addressed: the surveyor couldn't confirm (read: didn't check) that the shore hook up worked, he couldn't confirm the immersion heater worked (it doesn't because we disconnected it - too hungry on the battery - and that was noted on the switchboard below the MCB and explained in the manual we provided) and he couldn't start the engine (weird).

The last item was the one that caused us conniptions, given our desire to sell the boat in good condition. We've never had trouble starting the boat apart from when a glow plug went tits up some years ago and Ed changed them all. North Kilworth Marina couldn't get on to looking at it for several days, and the purchaser wanted early resolution - as did we (nearly called Ed ... did talk to Ian who said glow plugs). So ABNB's technical director came and looked and found a cable needed re-crimping between the starter motor and glowplugs. Doh! 

A compression test was undertaken (thanks, Justin) requested by the purchaser which we decided to pay for and all was sorted.

Well, I say that - the next phase was completing the paperwork and arranging for the money to be paid to us. Weirdly, the original email we got re payment said that the sale could be completed with emailed signatures on the Bill of Sale, but to release the funds to us, ABNB would need to receive the originals posted back by snail mail. I did note politely that it seemed anomalous to me that the boat could be handed over on the strength of an emailed document, but we couldn't receive payment under the same conditions. Emma, bless her, sent us electronic forms to sign and to get witnessed to then be able to release the funds.

All done satisfactorily and we are now rich again - well, not really; in fact, not at all! But the bank balance is a bit healthier. Long may it remain so - but yesterday David fell in love with a table top made from slabs of swamp kauri embedded in resin... No we are not buying it, but good heavens, it was beautiful! And only $5600 - not much if you say it quickly ...

So for readers who are boaters, if you see Waka Huia** out and about, please say hello to Charles and Lucy. Julia says to ask them for cheese scones ...

** We don't know if they will keep the name, but I do hope so.

I found this photo from our first season onboard (2014) - it epitomises why we bought the boat and what we found so compelling about our time onboard. In this shot, Barry and Pauline are on board with us. We are moored up at the bottom of the Marple flight of locks. David and Pauline were setting up the table and chairs for drinks and nibbles on the towpath. Barry had gone for a walk and took this lovely shot. We had had a weekend with B&P and Pete and Melanie where we had boated down to Bugsworth Basin. M&P had caught the train to Manchester then points south, B&P were going back to London a couple of days later, as it transpired - after a couple of days of boating in the rain...

 *** I have read this to David. He is a weepy mess now ... Ooops! Clearly, I am still a bitch 😇.