Words of watery wisdom…

So excited as the post person brought me some good reading material yesterday!

When we first got our teeth into the barge idea a few months ago, I discovered the DBA, the UK based barge association which seemed to offer all sorts of useful advice on all that a barge owner (or potential barge owner such as myself) might need to know. I joined, and even though my participation in forums etc. has so far been non-existent, I find their web site and bi-monthly publication, ‘Blue Flag’ very interesting and informative. Not only that, there are always a fair number of ads for brokers, marine equipment etc. which help my rather vivid imagination to run riot, dreaming of the day when I too will be able to use a ‘portaloo’ aboard, or scrape rust off my gunwales.

Through the web site I also bought a couple of little handbooks which have enlightened me on a few of the finer details of hull inspections. epoxy application and black water tanks — all matters which will be requiring a great deal of mental energy and financial resources it seems.

And last, but not boaty least, in my ramblings the other day I discovered Terry Darlington’s books, ‘Narrow Dog to Carcassonne’ and ‘Narrow Dog to Indian River’, both of which I promptly purchased (and the darn postage from the UK cost me more than the books) and will add them to my boaty book list. Started reading the first of the two — maniacal as the Italians would say, but it certainly held my attention for the short span of time that my eyes remained open in the small wee hours. Looks like it’s going to be fun …