Not the best of weather but up early to go down the lock and leave the docks. Lock keeper starts at 0800. We were ready to go but a floating crane was in first and no room for us to join him. Went down about 0830 and headed up the Severn with the intention of getting to Upton upon Severn about mid day. Not many moorings there so need to be there when the overnighters leave.
This didn't happen. about 2 hours into our travels smoke starts appearing from the engine room so off with the covers, steam every where and temperature rising. Stop engine, throw the anchor out and settle down in the middle of the river. The anchor is 20 years old and this is the first time it has been used. First boat along was the big tour boat from Gloucester who slowed to enquire about our plight. He was too big to tow us. Second boat was a cruiser (plastic type, not navy) but with a 15 hp outboard he wouldn't be able to pull us. Third boat was the broad-beam boat we had been moored to in Gloucester. They came alongside and towed us about a mile to the next moorings where we tied up and settled in. the fault was that one of the new fittings installed by Dave in Gloucester had failed. After many calls to Dave we decided to replace the part with the old one and after a couple of experiments considered we had a temporary fix but it was better to wait till tomorrow to set out. So the rest of the evening was spent on the boat.
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