Back in Nottingham

Saturday 28th September 2013
We arrived back in Nottingham yesterday afternoon. Let's hope that we can get away from here when we want to, unlike the last time when we broke down for a week.
After spending the night on Sawley Cut we awoke to another fine day, and prepared to lock down onto the Trent.
Sawley is a very busy with a large marina, boatyard, and also The Derby Motor Boat Club.

There are two (tandem) locks letting down onto the Trent from Sawley Cut. This is the view as we leave and cruise under the rail bridge.

A mile or so downstream there is Trent Lock, the junction of the Erewash Canal, and the River Soar with the Trent.
With the addition of the Soar, the Trent becomes the mighty river (in this small island's terms) that carries commercial traffic.
There is also another path you could take, but it isn't to be recommended, it ends on a large weir!

Here's the entrance to the Erewash Canal. We've never traveled it.

From there we carried on through Cranfleet and Beeston locks onto the Nottingham Canal.
Our propellor shaft seal had recently started dripping, and lately that drip has turned into a trickle. Lyra has what's know as a Vetus Seal instead of the traditional stern gland. The advantage of this is that under normal running there is no leakage at all, and maintenance is limited to a bit a greasing with silicon grease. The downside of this seal is that once it does start to leak it really needs replacement.
The recommended way to do it is to dry dock  the boat. However, I have been told that it is possible to do the job while still floating. The other consideration is that Vetus want a lot of money for the replacement seal. Another thing I've learned from talking to people is that the seal elements are simply ordinary shaft seals which can be bought from engineering stockists.
With this in mind I looked up bearing and seal stockists in Nottingham, and found one within a couple of hundred yards of a bridge which we wee due to pass on the canal. We found a place to tie up very near to it and a wandered along and bought the seals. The two cost me £5.00, so if the scheme works I'll save us a few hundred pounds. If it doesn't I've wasted a fiver.
The job itself I will leave until we get back to Leeds, in the meantime I've rigged up one of my barrel pumps permanently in the shaft sump to try and keep it clear.