Busy weekend ahead

Tomorrow, we're at a wedding near Plymouth.  Then on Sunday morning we'll drive to Northamptonshire for the Crick Boat Show.  There're, I'll be meeting Andy the photographer, and we'll have to look at more than twenty boats, for brief boat tests for the Crick issue of Canal Boat.

Unlike last year, when the organisers send out proper press passes, this year we've got exhibitor wristbands, and have to go to the show office to collect our press passes.

So if you're at Crick we hope to see you there.

Two more projects completed

This morning we were up fairly early because we wanted to get some more jobs done.  Adrian headed into Rugby for a few bits of shopping, while I started work on the bathroom floor, beginning with a good scrub and dry.  Here's the 'Before' picture.

We'd had some discussion about where to lay the first tile.  It's a very small room with lots of odd angles, thanks to the cupboard across the corner, and it was never going to be a straightforward job.  We decided that the middle of the door was as good a place as any.

Those three tiles are the only whole tiles in the room; all the others needed trimming, some in very odd shapes.  I used bits of card to act as templates.  The good thing with tiles is that if you make a mistake you can have another go; it's not like that with a big sheet of vinyl.

By the time I was finished, the shower room looked a lot better.  The whole job had taken just over two hours.

Meanwhile, Adrian had come back from town and had connected up the macerator loo with the new 6mm cable we ran through the boat yesterday.  We both stood well back as he flicked the switch, but nothing went bang.  At first hearing, the macerator motor didn't sound any more powerful than before, but after a couple of flushes we think it probably does work better.  We'll only really know when we use it "in anger", as it were.

We left Brinklow mid morning (by car) with plans for a canal-related lunch stop.  We arrived at Thrupp about an hour later, and had a lovely ploughman's at Annie's Tea Rooms. 

Afterwards, we walked along the towpath towards Shipton while eating ice creams, then went back and introduced ourselves to Bones.  In spite of sharing the pages of Canal Boat for years, this was the first time we'd actually met.  Maffi came along too, so we met him as well.  It was a lovely warm afternoon, and we could have hung around for ages.  But we needed to get back as I've got work tomorrow and I need to make a start on writing up yesterday's boat test.

Thurmaston

To Thurmaston this morning for a boat test.  The sun stayed out, so there should be plenty of good pictures.  There were quite a few boats on the move, too.  The picture is Thurmaston Lock.

On the way back to Briar Rose, we called in to Makro next to the M1 at Leicester to buy a small vacuum cleaner.  Not only was it considerably cheaper than in most shops, it also turned out to be £5 cheaper than the label on the shelf!

Back at the boat, we made a start on the rewiring of the macerator loo.  It took about an hour to run the two 6mm cables from the bathroom to the engine room, which involved unscrewing lots of panels under the gunwales.  Some were quite awkward to get at.  Adrian has worked out where things go in the electrical cupboard, so we'll connect everything up in the morning.  We had to pop into Rugby to get some crimping connectors, and while we were there we bought some vinyl tiles for the shower room floor.  That's another job for tomorrow!

Debdale share sold

We're delighted to say that our shares in Debdale have now been sold.  One of the existing owners bought the fraction of a share, while the whole share has been bought by a couple who've been hiring for many years.

We wish them all many happy years cruising Debdale, and look forward to seeing them on the cut (although that'll probably feel rather strange!)

Any excuse

We're back up at Brinklow again.  The excuse (actully, it's virtually a real reason) is that I'm doing a boat test tomorrow near Leicester, and it was much easier to do the majority of the journey this afternoon.  And as we now have a midland base, why not use it?

I finished my night shifts this morning, had a sleep on the train, did some jobs and some shopping, and set off to pick up Adrian from work.  On the way, I called in to an electrical wholesaler, to collect some 6mm cable I'd ordered online, for re-wiring the loo.  Having had another look, I'm still baffled by the fuse panel and electrical cupboard.

We arrived about 5pm, and Adrian set about installing a car radio in the cupboard under the tv.  Parts of the saloon shelving unit had to be dismantled to hide the cables for the shelf speakers, and the wiring of the radio itself took a bit of working out, but it's now working well.

After dinner, we went for a walk round the marina.  It was a lovely still evening, so there were some great reflections in the water.

The forecast for tomorrow keeps changing, but I like the one they've settled on this evening: sunny all morning, and sunny intervals in the afternoon.  That'll do nicely.

Projects

We're discovering that one of the joys of having your own boat (as opposed to a share), is that you can have things just how you want them.

Of course buying second hand means that there are aspects of the boat that we wouldn't necessarily have chosen.  But now we have the freedom to change them.

So a number of projects have emerged, which we hope to carry out over the next few months -- assuming that we can resist the urge to go out boating.  Some are things picked up in the survey, others are purely our own wishes.  So, in no particular order, here are some of the things we plan to do:

• Find new fittings for the side fenders.  Briar Rose has fender eyes on the gunwales, and the fenders hang on shackles most of which are rusted solid.  We're not fans of having fenders down while under way, so we intend to get carbine hooks that can be taken on and off.
• Re-wiring the macerator loo.  Our surveyor noticed that the macerator doesn't have much oomph, and pointed out that the wiring looked very weedy which could be causing voltage drop.  The Vetus manual on board suggests using cables of 6mm minimum -- ours are nearer 1mm.  Having done some investigations, I'm confident of being able to run through some bigger cables, although whether I'll know what to do with them once I reach the fuse panel is more questionable!
• Change the gas pigtails.  The survey pointed out that these date from the build in 2004, and should be replaced.  This is a job for a properly registered Gas Safe engineer.
• Fit a radio.  Remarkably, there wasn't one on board, and this is not a situation that can continue: I'm afraid I need the Today programme in the morning, and the Radio 4 1800 in the evening.  There's already an ariel on the roof and a 12v power supply in the cupboard under the TV, so we've bought a car radio to install.  We've also bought speakers to go on the shelves.
• Change the bathroom flooring.  It just needs updating.  Research suggests that the quickest and easiet thing will be vinyl floor tiles, laid directly onto the vinyl that's already there.
• Painting the roof and the handrails.  This is perhaps the biggest job of them all.  The roof has some areas of rust which need treating and the handrails, which are red, have faded badly.  The roof is currently blue, which doesn't really go with the green and red colour sheme, so I'm favouring a change to Raddle Red.  The handrails we'll do in bright red.  It'll be quite a lot of work, what with all the preparation and the masking needed, but it should give the whole boat a lift.  While we're at it, we'll probably also do the gunwale tops, as they're also blue and would look better in black; the cratch board could also do with a coat of green.
• Re-lining the rear hatch.  The wood is de-laminating and mouldy, so needs replacing.  It'll be an easier job if we can get the hatch off, but that might not be easy.
• LED lighting.  Briar Rose currently has lots of 10 watt halogen lights, which use quite a lot of power.  That's fine while attached to the mains via a shore line, but not so good out cruising.  We bought some replacement LEDs as a trial last weekend, and we'll have a good look at Crick before deciding what to do.

Now all we need is to find some time to do all these things.

May weekend - Day Three

Another lovely sunny morning, which wasn't to last very long.  We set off just after 8am, and immediately met a boat at Bridge 102.

 An hour later we were making the turn at Braunston.  Not long afterwards, we found ourselves following a Napton hire boat which was zigzagging its way along the cut.  After a while, they seemed to get the hang of things and also picked up a bit of speed.  It was trying its best to rain by this time, although it only ever made a half-hearted attempt.

At the top of the Hillmorton Locks, I got off at the previous bridge hole, to walk ahead and set the lock.  The Napton boat was at the top, with both crew clinging onto a rope, and the boat, apparently in reverse, going backwards.  While they sorted themselves out, I started work on the locks.  Both were empty, with the right hand one also having the bottom gates open.  There was nothing coming up, so I began to fill one lock, and closed the gates on the other and began to fill that one too.  The Napton boat took the first lock, while we had the right hand one.  We were second in but first out, because the Napton boat opened only one paddle.

At the middle locks, both were again empty, and the right hand one again had the bottom gates open.  This time, however, a Rose hire boat was just coming round the corner.  There was a German couple on board, and she made a great leap off the front of the boat as it approached the lock.  I helped them up, and also filled the other lock for the Napton boat.

At the bottom pair, a boat was going down in the left lock while the right hand one was empty with the bottom gates open.  I wonder if the offending boat is going to leave gates open for their entire trip?  I filled the lock, and then also turned the other one for the Napton boat.  We were all but leaving the lock by the time they arrived.

We moored for lunch by the golf course out the outskirts of Rugby, having the remainder of the chili left over from last night.  We set off again and did the last remaining few miles back to Brinklow.  Back at the marina, we filled with water and generally tidied up.  We plan to eat on board, before heading for home.

12 miles, 3 locks