End of Season

Life in the boat shed is now beginning to return to normal after a week of being used for the Halloween activities on the quay. It looked a bit of a mess after all the pumpkin carving, mask and broom making, The crew is not sure who enjoyed it the most, adults or children. These activities, being so close, resulted in a large number of visitors on board during that week.

Abandoned broomsticks. 

Winter working has started with the removal of Shamrock's life rings, navigation sidelight boards, cabin furniture and anything else that is easily removed. The cargo hatch vents have been fitted and a temporary winter gangway manufactured. Due to the recent wet weather the sails have been left for a dryer day.

Temporary gangway.

One of the winter tasks is to list what is required to fit an engine in Shamrock. It is planned to install one either: early in the 2016 season, or during the winter of 2016-17. A decision also has to be made as to where the work is to be carried out. If the work is to be done on the slipway at Cotehele Quay then either, new slipway rails need to be fitted or the old sleepers removed, which is proving harder than expected, and the holes filled with concrete. If this option is taken then a new set of different style wheels will need to be purchased for the cradle.

Working on Shamrock's slipway.

Broomsticks Ready

Over one hundred broomsticks were prepared ready for the Halloween half-term “Fun Broomstick Decorating” day and the boat shed ended up being invaded by lots of creative children and adults. By the end of the day there was only a few of the, shall we say ‘shabby’, examples of broomsticks left and lots of highly decorated ones in evidence all over the Cotehele estate.
The whole week of activities resulted in a very noisy boat shed and extra visitors to Shamrock. Witches and warlocks needed to park their broomsticks on the quay before being allowed onboard. There was one claimed sighting of Harry Potter, but we're not convinced.

Two squadrons of broomsticks ready for decorating.

Boat shed ready.

Steam Box

In preparation for handing over half of the boat shed for use during Halloween half-term "Fun on the quay" events, the rather large wood pile in the boat shed has been sorted and the majority of it moved to a new store. At the bottom of the pile a large old metal tube was found, removed and broken up, with the aid of a large "Birmingham" screwdriver, ready for disposal. This was originally a metal lamp post that had been converted, with the addition of a couple of emersion heater elements, to be used as a 'steam box' for softening wooden planks during the restoration of Shamrock. It was well used judging by the amount of scale found inside and after the restoration ended up being moved into the boat shed, once it had been built, never to be used again.

Halloween half-term fun on Cotehele quay
Monday 27th to Friday 31st October 11am - 3pm.
Monday & Thursday - pumpkin-carving.
Tuesday - mask-making.
Wednesday - broomstick-decorating.
Friday – monster-making.