Sunday, November 03, 2019

Locusts next? Frogs?

Time was running out to get Kantara's paintwork thoroughly cleaned and waxed before the harshest weather arrives. And it seemed horribly close as we set about doing the job. Grace had hurt her hip somehow, worked with me nonetheless, and the whole job was done in around eight hours over two days. The result was very impressive.



We had brief moments of envy as friends passed on their way out onto the canal while we were hard at work - Mike and Marion on NB Duxllanding who will be spending their first winter on the cut, and Chris and Alison on Doo Lally Ally having spent a very full summer of travelling and now setting off for more.

Our time will come again.

What they won't be very happy about is the very extreme wind and torrential rain we've had here since that day. Other parts of the country have suffered flooding.




The Plague of Flies continues, with up to a dozen finding their way into the cabin every day. I've just killed twenty or so under the cratch cover and fed them to the fish. We were somewhat gratified to learn that we are not alone in this. Ed from Emma Jane told me they'd experienced the same extreme invasion too. "Locusts next? Frogs?" we mused.

The Said the Maiden gig at The Big Comfy Bookshop in Coventry was excellent, by the way, and in a superb, very unusual venue!



Thursday, October 03, 2019

Jobs to do, time to do them.

Because of our concern about the risk of diesel bug because of  the fuel tank being half empty (the bug thrives at the point where diesel oil meets the water it's floating on, and water arrives in the tank as condensation forming on the cold sides) - and because of an irrational need to finish fitting the stern gland greaser - and wanting to sweep the chimney so that I can be confident of it not being a problem when we next light the stove in a wintry hurry - and needing to spin the boat around simply because we didn't do it at the start of summer when we should have done (it's good practice to ensure that the sun doesn't fall predominantly on one side of a boat, so that the paint fades pretty equally over time), we came back to Kantara yesterday.


It was rather cold on board. 8°C when we arrived, but up to 23° within a few hours of  lighting the stove. Then it was a massive 16° when we awoke this morning, quickly pushed up to a more comfortable level by our trusty Alde.

The temperature was no surprise to us. What did astonish us was the plague of flies! Houseflies. Okay, the Egyptians had it worse, but we did away with two dozen or more of the things yesterday. They came out of the folds of our six Roman blinds when we lowered them in the evening. I literally sucked most of them up with the vacuum cleaner. Those that missed that treatment got swatted. Their reflexes seemed to be impaired. Why they were there and how long they'd been there we have no idea. I squashed the last two as I was going to bed, and we've seen none today. Very strange!

The wind yesterday had been rather too strong to move the boat, but the weather forecast suggested that today, Thursday, it would be better. We'd do it then, we said. So I fitted the greaser with Heath Robinson flair, forgot to clean the chimney, and then kicked myself when...

...today we filled both fuel tanks as planned, and returned to our berth, backing in to point the port side to the sun. The chimney is now on the water side and I won't be risking sweeping it, lest I fall in in the process. [Three hours after writing that, I took the risk and did the job without getting the slightest bit wet. I also remembered that I had intended to Hammerite the rusting edges of the stern hatch, and did that, too. Now I'm feeling dead chuffed!]

To round off our busyness, we found the ideal solution to the loss of 56lb of ballast from the front, right-hand (forward starboard 😁 ) side of the boat when we removed the safe from there. It was easy, really. We moved the anchor from the forward port (front left 😜 ) hold to one on the other side where we've been storing paints and varnishes. The combined 16kg weight of the anchor and the 7kg of the chain, added to the effect of taking that weight away from the port side, will give us just the trim we needed to correct the bit of a list to port we've had for a long time.
Now all we need to do is get out there and test it!

PS - It's Friday morning and I just killed another flipping fly!!


Wednesday, September 25, 2019

A much-delayed post - and an apology

There's very little - okay, nothing - happening on the boating front at the moment. All of our hectivity has been focussed on things domestic, and I quite forgot to post the following...

Arriving back at the boat on Wednesday, we were amazed at the temperatures registered on the max/min thermometers in the boat.

In the dinette...

the bedroom...

and under the cratch cover
Yes! 50.7° Celsius!!

Lee and Roy of "Days Afloat" visited to fit a new floor in the "cupboard" (I really don't know what to call it) under the well-deck. They did a really nice job, of course. It was good to be able to look under water tank before they fitted it, to see the internal condition of the hull at the front of the boat - some mild surface rust that doesn't merit any kind of treatment. Fitting the floor involved removing the safe from the cupboard, a 56 lb steel box that had been fitted when the boat was built. Having nothing of any great value small enough to put in the safe, we would rather have the space it occupied. We call this cupboard "the larder"; it's always pretty cool, and we store vegetables and fruits in it.
A tidy version of our safe!
Our water pump had been operating poorly for some months, and we were considering replacing it and/or the accumulator. Roy gave the latter a casual poke and, strangely, normal service was resumed! Magic!

Having decided that the stern gland greaser was definitely knackered, we drove out to Calcutt Marina's chandlery to buy a new one, still to be fitted.

Bob visited us on Saturday morning to regale us with horror stories from his BSS certification experiences. He tested Kantara while he was there, too. She passed. The next day, we drove back down the M25 to snorbans for more domestic stuff.

We might get back to Kantara some time!

>>>===<<<

The apology.

I know that several of you are readers of my "Hints and Tips..." book, and I have in the past made a habit of telling you on this blog whenever I update the book's Addendum Blog. I fear I've not done that with the past few additions, so please visit the blog now (web address in the book) to see what you've been missing.




Thursday, September 05, 2019

Now you see us...

After a week or so back in St Albans (cat-sitting while all of the kids were away on holiday in Scotland with a group of friends) and Luton (decorating) we're now on Kantara again. We were able to have our six-year-old domestic batteries changed without us needing to be here but, as I type, the chipboard floor of the "cupboard" under the well-deck - damp and mouldy from years of occasional unavoidable leaks from the water tank - is being replaced, and we wanted to be here for that.

It's given me the opportunity to remove our stern gland greaser and see if I can identify the reason for grease escaping under pressure at the bottom of the tube, where it screws into its base. There was no evidence that there were crossed threads as I had feared, but it's very likely that a lifetime of use has caused wear. I'll replace it, fingers crossed.

On Saturday morning Kantara will have her three-yearly Boat Safety Scheme examination. We don't envisage any problems. After that, back to the house, and wallpapering Steve and Karolina's house.







Sunday, September 01, 2019

A day with Jacqui and a welcome break

Jacqui, a former student in the second school of my career, spent the day with us last Wednesday. She'd been a FB friend for some time, one amongst dozens of others from that school, and she's a reader of my books. She'd expressed a desire to come and see us on the boat for a couple of years or so, but we'd never been able to arrange it.

Finally come the day, the weather was perfect for the usual guest-trip up to Bridge 28, lunch, wind and return for tea. Except Jacqui couldn't stop for tea. Time had run away with us and she needed to get home. It had been her first experience of a narrowboat, and much enjoyed by all of us, though her time at the helm had been rather scary!

Trying to reverse Kantara into our berth failed because of a side wind that took us over to the service platform, whence Jacqui departed. A bow-spring was successful, however, and Grace drove the boat in forwards.


We came back to the house the next day. There was lots we wanted to do. The first thing was to visit the Luton house with Steve and plan the order of works.The kids set off for a week's holiday in Scotland on Saturday, a group of fifteen friends altogether. Grace and I set off to Luton to start work, and we put in five days in that week, preparing walls and ceilings, and putting up coving in the main bedroom.

We took a break from this on Wednesday to collect Jess's dulcimer from the guy who'd repaired it for her (broken when she fell down some stairs with it). From there, we went on to Anglesey Abbey, where we spend several hours. The house had never been open on the occasion of past visits, so we were glad to be able to take a leisurely tour around that as well as the grounds and the mill.





























Then back to Luton!

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

On the cut again!

And when Michelle arrived on Saturday, the wind speed was extreme. I'd already contacted her to tell her to take it easy on the roads, there was no hurry because we weren't going anywhere in that wind. Nor did we on Sunday, for the same reason. Only wetter. So we chatted, had a Sunday roast at The Wheatsheaf, played games and enjoyed the pattering of the rain on the roof and the rocking of the boat by the gale.

Monday was much better, so off we went, Crick Tunnel, Watford Locks, and first stop below Buckby Top Lock.







As you can see from the photos, the weather was in our favour. Once moored, we wandered down a few hundred metres to the Anchor Cottage Crafts Canal Shop. Grace and I had sailed or walked past it so many times, but never given it more than a glance. We expected it to stock bread, milk, tea and coffee, that kind of thing, along with a handful of crafts. How wrong were we!? Its tiny space was cram packed with a huge range of lovely crafted items. Not a loaf of bread or bottle of milk to be seen, though there are ice-creams.


Grace bought a wooden egg-box, having searched low and high for one for months. It now sits happily on our galley worktop.


Our descent of the rest of the Buckby flight the next day was simplified by sharing with another boat, and more often than not finding locks ready for us to enter. There was a nationwide shortage of water across the whole network and, like many other locks no doubt, opening times were restricted and boaters encouraged to share as often as possible.

We stopped at the bottom of the flight for shopping at the marina, and for lunch, before moving on to Weedon Bec.

 


The weather was perfect until the next morning, when it poured with a wind-driven rain that made the camper-vans opposite look bleak. When that eased off, we pushed on towards Stoke Bruerne, but the rain paid a return visit and Grace and I got totally soaked while our guest was under orders to stay inside. Blisworth Tunnel was very welcome - it was a lot drier in there!

courtesy of waterways.org.uk
We changed out of our dripping attire and had lunch. Then an abatement of the downpours allowed us to go out for a stroll around the wharf, and the afternoon was really pleasant. Until I ran the engine.

Our batteries had been showing signs of failing. They're six years old, way past their guarantee age, and no longer holding their charge very well. I ran the engine for a couple of hours to recharge them so that we'd have 12v power throughout the evening, and I was on my way to switch it off when the engine coughed, spluttered and stopped. After a good deal of head scratching and not daring to try to restart it more than once, we left the flipping thing and went to the Boat Inn, where Michelle treated us to a fine dinner.

I called RCR first thing the next morning, and Dylan duly arrived within a couple of hours. It didn't take him long to find what was wrong. Diesel bug!


We were fortunate. There is a filter in the fuel line that extracts water as the diesel passes through, and this had collected all of the gunk that the bug creates (as seen above). It had got to the point where the fuel flow became totally blocked, stopping the engine. The second filter down the line was totally unaffected, but Dylan changed both filters anyway to be thorough, and left to attend to his next call-out. Excellent service!

The previous day, we'd moored a few tens of metres past the winding-hole, so we stern-hauled Kantara back to it, turned around and headed into the tunnel, on our way back now to Yelvertoft.



The weather was up and down, but never too extreme. We overnighted at the same spots we'd chosen on our way out, and stopped for an hour or so at Weedon for Michelle to see the old church, and to buy food and chocolate. Buckby Locks had to be navigated alone. There were no other craft behind us for miles as it happened. Anyway, the restrictions had been removed, so there wasn't the urgency about saving water any more. But that didn't excuse me for allowing a top gate to swing open and drop the level in the pound above quite significantly. Michelle and I hurried back to close it when Grace saw how low the water had got.


Watford Locks was... Watford Locks, Crick Tunnel was navigated behind a rather slow hire boat, Yelvertoft Marina presented a stiff breeze while Grace struggled a bit to reverse into our berth. We ate at The Wheatsheaf again, played our final game of cards, and Michelle drove home on Sunday morning. It had been very good to be out and on the move.