For years, Dad always did his own hull blacking.
Basford was quite heavy - it had a Lister HRW3 which in itself was a long story. Dad originally bought a Lister JP2 vintage diesel and had it restored by a chap at Norton Canes. It ran well for about 5 hours and then the big ends failed. The restorer quoted for new white metal bearings but couldn't tell Dad why they had failed so quickly. As the boat was intended to be used (once habitable, they were always away continuously from April to October), Dad sold the JP2 and contacted Lister who agreed to build him an HRW3 from new old stock but fit a modern alternator. It worked well.
