The cold never seemed to lift from the yard this month.  Days and days of wind, rain and grey skies made for miserable working conditions.  Everyone dreamt of sunny days or even just enough warmth to lift of a jumper or two, but none came.

This month the dredging had to be done; delayed by the big barge job and the weather it was time to crack on and break the back of the task.  The dredger was hauled into position, wheels and lines greased, her engines given yet another seasonal kiss of life, and so the process of shifting mud from the yard basin begun.

There were more boats than usual in our marina, making for an interesting game of waterborne chess, as boats were moved and allocated temporary berths to allow the mighty mud moving machine to complete its work. Days of monotonous work filled the month, as the river gave up her grip on the muddy sludge that she had gathered, as it was swept up stream with the tide all winter. The birds were delighted.  They hung around awaiting a feed on freshly dredged crabs and crustations emerging at the end of the pipe on the saltings opposite.

In the small workshop, ‘Hannah Rose’ finishes her osmosis treatment after drying last month. She was expoxed and skimmed in filler to restore her profile, finishes in three coat of epoxy to seal the job and make her impervious to water.