New puppies on the roof

So this weekend we were entertaining folk from across the water.

Day one at home
Day two on the boat.

And they both sat on the roof on the puppy pad as we moved the boat through two locks.

They were slightly better behaved than the Patterdales.

After being shown the ropes they have set off on their own hiring from Norbury Junction for the week on the Shroppie and so far not hit anyone nor crashed.  Which is always a good thing to hear.

I am exhausted

 But to be fair I think they are too!

My pedometer is off the scale and

their legs are getting shorter.

They might be pleased when their owners come back from holiday

Or they might miss having three to four walks a day.

Overstaying

So for the last month nearly my engine has looked like this

 

Last year I had the python drive sorted (new universal joint) which stopped most of the engine juddering but not all.  But it was a huge improvement on before.  So I bravely set off for the Thames and beyond.  As the juddering only happened in tickover the Thames and rivers generally were lovely.  Back on the Oxford and the long lines of moored boats were an annoyance.  So I resolved to have it looked at again.

 

For some reason on leaving Kings Bromley in February it wasn't doing it and so when it was removed from the water to check the propeller rudder etc at Shobnall Marina it was a mystery.

 

However the juddering came back in March and I returned the boat to Gareth in May and he still couldn't work out was wrong.

 

I brought it back to Dave Freeman who did the work last year and we decided that perhaps the original problem with the Python Drive had travelled further forwards and affected the gearbos and/or the drive plate.

 

When they removed the gearbox it was clear the drive plate was a little wobbly and probably on the way out.

 

It then turns out that I do not have a 'normal' drive plate.  Beta told him that that particular set up was for one specific client only.  I presumably got lumbered with it because I bought my engine at Crick at show prices. 

There is always a catch to a 'sale'! 

Beta searched the back room and found another one in a dusty recess somewhere and offered it up for the princely sum of £300 plus vat.  Dave said it was cheaper for RD (?) to make a replacement.

However cheaper still for him to remachine my engine to accept off the peg drive plates from Midland Chandlers at £90 plus vat a pop!

So he has future proofed my set up and on Saturday all was back together.

 

Yesterday I was a little concerned to come back to the boat and find these

 

 

I know when you take something apart and put it back together there is always some little piece left over but .....

 

 

I was fairly happy that I knew what the six bolts and washers were from

(new drive plate needed longer ones)

 

But the five washers and 1 spring washer I found right under the engine was a worry.

 

Turns out when he went to fix the oil lift pump back on there was a large gap. 

He used a large nut -

clearly in it's previous incarnation those washers had done the same job.

 

Well I am hoping that is indeed the case.

In the olden days

It was blue for a girl and pink/red for a boy.  

Something to do with scarlet uniforms I believe.

Anyway in Cannock Chase I am glad I opted to stay on the Blue for a Girl Route

If that is what happens when you take the Red for a Boy Route!!!

For Bones

Pod in the raw - made from ply I had lying around the house and the legs were 4 metre lengths of square wood and basically I just screwed the ply onto these lengths.  No time to make a frame as such.

Then I had to make cut outs so the stove when in travelling mode would fit in!!!

In the end the middle shelf held food and we left the COBB at home.

And then he made me chop the legs off because he said it was too tall for the van which meant we had to find somewhere else to store the water!  Humph

Me washing up.  See the saucepan.  The hook was set so that the saucepan was actually resting on the floor so it wouldn't rattle.  Then judicious use of paper towels stopped the implements from rattling.

Hope this helps.  If your van is taller than ours you are lucky.  As although the IKEA unit was the right height for the fridge to go under etc it was too tall for us to use the bed as a sofa.  You can buy legs of various heights in B&Q so you just need the piece of Marine ply cut to size by the nice people at B&Q and bolt several legs (ideally the 12inch ones) (don't screw them on) such that you can slide storage boxes under neath.

My friend Fran now lives in a van too!  With a name like that clearly it was her destiny.

Loving the solar panels

Since I arrived here near Stone last Thursday I haven't run the engine at all.

The fridge has stayed on all night and while they have been down to 74% in the morning today they have climbed back up to 98% by 6.30pm.

That does include charging my laptop and phone etc as I have been working in the mornings.
And yesterday I also had to have the inverter on to run the printer so yesterday it only climbed to 86% before the sun set.  Plus I had run the Mikuni to get hot water.

BRILL.

I am one happy bunny.

Well sort of

The Rev counter has joined the engine hours lcd display on some sort of strike.  It happened on my way here on Thursday.

 'Luckily' ...

I can tell when I have reached my normal cruising revs by seeing when the engine stops wobbling!'  I do have to be careful not to fall or drop anything down onto the engine what with the engine boards being slightly open so that I can actually see the engine!

Being ever so slightly OCD or quite far up the aspergers (sp) scale I keep a log of engine hours time started stopped etc so every time the lcd occasionally deigns to work I have been able check it.  So far so good, but the fact the rev counter is also now playing silly b*******s means I will have it properly looked at.

Beta's suggestion that I take the lcd display home and put it in the airing cupboard has been studiously ignored!

We are so posh

 So it would appear part of the problem with the lead acid replacement batteries was that the solar panels were no longer working.

I removed them myself

This is what I found.  

This is the dreaded combination of silicon thinners used by my first boat painter Liz Portas in error

 (she was unaware that silicon is an absolute no no.)

 and water getting under the stick on panels.  

I should have let the second boat painter (Rob Bryan - Ashby Canal)  remove the panels and deal with the underside at the same time as he did the rest of the boat.  Hey ho.

and then Gareth from Shobnall Marina very kindly sorted out the mess and painted a rectangle of black - we felt trying to match the cream would have been impossible.

He found some interesting things under the paint.  Mainly a curious set of four semi circles.  I looked at them and immediately knew what they were.  Clearly Mel Davis had intended putting my centre line there and realised it was in the wrong place!  He filled in the gouges and did the first coat of primer so no one was any the wiser until now.

So here is the new black rectangle

now covered with the new solar panels from Tim at onboard solar

I spent the rest of the day obsessed with the readouts.  I got a lot of exercise up and down like a yo yo within an hour of fitting they had got the batteries from 94% to 96%.  By evening they peaked at 99% before the sun went down and the fridge did it's level best to take it all out again.  At 10pm it was 85% and I bottled it and turned the fridge off.  No idea what happened overnight but by the time I switched the engine on to move at 9.20am it was up to 87%

And today I met back up with the little chimney company and had my new chimney fitted.  It is in two halves and the bottom half at 8 inches should go through tunnels okay but it can still be removed if necessary.  It weirdly looks taller than the old chimney but I can assure you that it is an optical illusion.

Regarding the batteries I will give them the rest of the summer to improve before returning to gel ones I think.  One must be duff - but which one and by now it has probably ruined the others.  

Off to check the levels again.