We're at IC3!

On Monday morning, Grace declared herself well enough to go back to look after Kantara through "The Beast from the East" that is our current weather. So back we came.

Truth be told, St Albans was looking more likely than Yelvertoft to get the snowy, chilly blast they've been forecasting for days, but it was flipping cold back on the boat, I can tell you! The max/min thermometer sitting on top of the calorifier told us that the lowest temperature it had sat through since we left in the first week of December was just minus .1° Celsius, and the highest had been 14°. All was dry, all was well. And after a couple of hours of running the stove, we were warm and snug, too, and Grace was feeling much better after her lurking lurgy.

We woke the next morning to snow lying on the frozen marina pound, and ducks doing their obligatory skidding-around-trying-not-to-look-stupid routine. They were denied that opportunity by mid-day. The ice had gone, the snow had thawed. Social media were full of tales from boaters for whom the conditions had only got worse. And desperate times call for desperate measures!

But we're snug in the boat. The water taps on the pontoons are frozen, so there's no tank-filling for those who need it, but we did that pretty much as soon as we arrived yesterday, so we're okay for several days. We don't have a lot of food; that is, we don't have the ingredients for many conventional meals, but we have plenty to eat if we dispense with convention, and we're happy to do that. "Experimental" has been the label on many of the meals we've eaten on Kantara over the years! 

We're only here for a couple of weeks. March has a lot in store that I'll blog when the time comes. After that... well, let's see if any other Beasts raise their icy heads.

We're currently at IC3 on the Canal Ice Scale.

Repost/update - "Snow good"!

I had to withdraw this post just a matter of hours after posting it. I realised - in the middle of the night, of course. When else would it be? - that it contains a video, and information about a bigger video, that my big (well, older) sister wasn't to know about until the following Thursday. She reads the blog from time to time, and I would have spoiled a surprise for her. The whole video, explained below, is over 30 minutes long, and a great piece of work by nephew Dan.

So, the post that follows is actually dated 11th February. Read on...

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On a much happier note than that of my last post (bring out the bugle!), my sister, Jill, celebrated her 70th birthday on Friday, and Grace and I went to join a group of 25 family and friends to honour the occasion in a restaurant near their home. There were great-nephews-and-nieces there whom we hadn't seen since they were toddlers, and one great-niece we'd never even met, so there was a lot of catching up to do. It was a lovely occasion. Jill had been kept in the dark about the event, and had a great surprise when husband Rod brought her into the restaurant. It was a buffet-style Chinese establishment, and the food was really very good.

Jill's youngest son, Dan, had asked lots of Jill's friends and family to make birthday greetings videos, out of which he's going to make a compilation. This was the Distill contribution - including out-takes! It was made at night, in inadequate lighting, so it's rather grainy, so don't watch full-screen! Click HERE to watch.

It was snowing quite heavily as we drove south on the M1 on Friday evening, but stopped very abruptly at Northampton. We were a bit concerned that the trip back to Kantara would involve snow-drifts, and it was even snowing in Bedford when we left the restaurant - we'd been told by the Bedfordians at the "do" that it never snows in Bedford. But all was fine, and the boat was only chilly when we got back, not thick with the white stuff.

The thing is, though, that we'd really love it to snow. Proper snow, inches deep. We think back to March 2013, when we were out on the canal in some very heavy snow, and it was wonderful.

This weekend's been cold and damp. Any attempt at snow has been thwarted by wet ground that won't let it settle. So it's grey, windy, bitingly cold. But that's outside, and we don't have to go outside. It's very comfortable right where we are!

Snow fun

With the weather forecast to be snowy and icy by the end of the week. and with us not feeling 100% sure of the efficacy of the frost protector heater, we drove up to the marina on yesterday in the pouring rain. All was well on board Kantara, except that it was extremely cold inside - hardly surprising. There were no burst pipes or popped joints, of course there weren't. We're not exactly beginners at this, but we still can't get around to relaxing in sub-zero temperatures.

We tested the new heater over night, and we were aware of it on occasion as it switched on and off in response to the fall and rise of the temperature. (Note to self - It works, so we can trust it when we're not here, too.) (Pass note to Grace.)

There's something of an enigma about the heater, though, and I need to work it out. The marina operates a "Winter Watch" scheme, in which registered boats have their electricity meters read regularly by marina staff, and topped up if they get low. Kantara's registered on the scheme. On 1st January, I installed the heater, set it to its 5° setting, and left it. The meter said there was £11 of electricity left. Not able to top it up myself at the time, I rang the office a few days later, and explained that Kantara was now using more electricity than before, and please would they top it up for me.

Today, I checked the meter. It read £17. I was told in the office that £20 had been added to the meter on the day I phoned. I did the sums. They weren't difficult. They showed that Kantara had used £11+£20-£17 of electricity on 13 days. £14 in 13 days! The heater only consumes 500 watts maximum, and only switches on when the temperature drops below 5°. Something's not right, and I'm hoping that it's with what the office told me they had added to the meter! I'll discuss it with them tomorrow.

It snowed early this morning,

accompanied by an extremely strong wind. But it stopped before 10:00am, and thawed quickly under a bright sun, though the wind continued. News reports I've just seen on TV tell me that what we've had has been mild by comparison with many parts of the country. It's going to be pretty easy for us tonight.

The job continues

Thursday's hull survey went well. Paul was incredibly thorough, and talked over a few minor issues with us. We still have to see the full report, but he assures us that all is well.

Gale finished the first side coat, applied a very thick bottom coat, then did the second top coat. Meanwhile, at Paul's suggestion, we had an anode fitted in the bowthruster tube, to reduce corrosion there. We also had a piece of metal cut off which was protruding a few inches from the front of the bottom plate. Paul considered it a safety issue.

Finally, Gale cleaned and painted the weed hatches, and we shut ourselves in for the night. It's very odd, moving about in a boat which doesn't rock, but vibrates as it sits on its supports!

On Friday morning, there was a thin covering of snow (which later melted fairly quickly), and a strong wind. Kantara was lowered back into the water, with a very clean and tidy, black hull. The wind was far too strong even to contemplate starting our way back, so we negotiated with Nicky, Debdale's administrator, to moor outside the wharf, where we had moored when we first arrived. She kindly gave us a mains electricity hook-up. It snowed again that afternoon, and the strong winds continued into the night.

We've awoken this morning to more snow, and I took a broom to clear quite a lot of it off the boat. As I write (11:30am), the snow is melting, but the wind has increased again. The forecast is not promising, but we'll judge the conditions day at a time until we deem it sensible to get back to Yelvertoft - which we'll endeavour to do in one day. Since we have to be moored, this is a good place to be.