With dark evenings and cold weather Sunday working parties were reduced to two per month, and this enabled sessions with typically five or six volunteers to continue.
Restoration Log Book – Saturday 3 November 1973
- Fwd main deck (port) caulking removal
- All rest of main deck aft of the fwd section under re-caulking preparation given generous application Protim
- Funnel filled and painted first coat cream gloss
- Large patches on boiler room bottom plates – stbd- cleaned up and sealed with Prestolith
In mid December the slipway was needed for other work and so KC had to be moved and positioned nearby on a mudberth. The hull sits nicely in the mud at low tide, but unfortunately some distance away from dry land!
Restoration Log Book – Saturday 15 December 1973
- Re-extended aft awning
- Covered fwd companionway
- Pumped out part of water in fwd saloon
- Very difficult to access vessel by plank and ladder
From Paddle Wheels No. 56
Kingswear Castle is now in a mud berth mooring on the River Medway, having been moved from the slipway in mid-December. She has been positioned bows upstream to offer least resistance to tide and the prevailing winds. The removal to the mud berth heralded problems that were not anticipated, all due to another historic vessel, a Thames barge, or, at least the remains of one. The great timbers of the barge buried in the mud prevented KC from being moored closer than about 25 feet from the landing stage and for a time it looked as if a considerable amount of civil engineering skill would be demanded of the volunteers.[clear]
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