"Annoyed" of Yelvertoft

I've just edited my last post because I forgot to tell you that my friend's book, "Beggars' Dust", is available for Kindle Readers, and mobile phones, tablet computers and PCs/Macs using the free Kindle app. And the book only costs £3.99! It's not available in paperback.  Have you looked at it yet? Read a sample first, then treat yourself to a really good read!

As for us, we've just spent a few days on Kantara. It was with some anxiety that we checked the diesel again, and we were chuffed to find it looking very clean, and smelling as it should, so we think we can safely say that there's no sticky diesel in the tank. We bought a bottle of Marine 16 to condition the diesel anyway, and wiped the sweat from our foreheads. Phew! All that we have to do now is actually cruise for a few weeks, and put it to the test. We had planned to do a short jolly this time, but a very strong wind, joined a little later by torrential rain, stopped us. Getting out of the marina would have been quite a challenge, believe me, and a very wet one, too. Another day, then. How annoying. Back to the calendar...

Oh, the paintwork wasn't green this time. We washed all that off the last time we visited. No, it's black now, as if dirty rain has deposited soot on it, which has then been glued down with the sap of nearby trees. I was most annoyed. That's on the "to do" list for next time.

To add to that grottiness, myriad spiders had spun their thickest, stickiest webs in every nook and cranny, inside and out, and deposited egg sacs in similar fashion. On the outside, the webs are covered with leaves, dead flies, struggling live flies and the floating seeds of trees and grasses. Not easy to remove. Very annoying!

I think the way forward is to pretend it's simply not there. The result of washing just doesn't last long enough. Boats are built for... well, boating!

Another annoyance is that I tore a ligament in a finger on my left hand last week - pulling a sock off! (a habit my dad used to have). I heard it rip but - unusually, I have discovered - there's no pain, numbness or swelling. After a read on the NHS website and a chat with the local pharmacist, I strapped the drooping finger between two pieces of lolly stick, and now wait for six to eight weeks for it to heal. I'm so glad I'm not left-handed! I'm only mildly annoyed about that.

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At last!

Well, we've finally got around to it! We actually have plans to cruise! We've been bogged down for weeks with all sorts of issues in the house and garden, been to a family wedding, helped out the "kids" in various ways, and are planning to go to a gig in a new local music venue - Jess and a friend performing under the Icelandic name "Vik". We've had a new oven fitted, and are currently awaiting the delivery of a new garden shed which we will have to erect but, after that, Kantara here we come!

We'll need to check our engine diesel for signs of stickiness. Smelling it is a good test. Sticky diesel smells of turpentine. If all is well, we'll be off. The cruise won't be long. It may well involve a stop of a couple of days while we deal with a few rust spots on the hull. Otherwise it'll simply be a lovely break. And not a day too soon!

On a different note, I told you on a previous post that an old friend of mine was publishing a novel. I'm delighted to say that it's now available on Kindle for just £3.99. It's called 'Beggars' Dust: A Spiritual Fantasy, by C G Maskell' and you can find it here. I thoroughly recommend it. Please go and take a look! Read a free sample there!

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A story of gods and their people. Or of people and their gods.

When history is suppressed or rewritten, when the stories of how-things-came-to-be are twisted or forgotten, then the people have no defence when events begin to repeat themselves.

A thousand years ago, a being of ancient evil was trapped, bound, and buried by the Elders of the Nerehin, the ruling class of that age.

Now, in a new era, where history has become the stuff of myth, the Nerehin forgotten, tales of good and evil consigned to children's stories; now, that old evil is stirring, waking, ready to begin spreading corruption and discord once more.

Driven by dreams and premonitions, one man, the last remaining scholar of long hidden Nerehin writings, conceives a desperate plan. Using the mystical 'amhrazine', stones that once were said to encapsulate the spirits of the Elders, he will recreate those heroes in children yet to be born, and when they are grown, they will come to him to learn of their task - their destiny.

But he is old, and the evil one is already moving to infiltrate and control the highest in the land, to thwart any who would oppose him, to wipe out any last vestige of the Nerehin race...

The scholar's death comes too soon; he is still unknown to his chosen children. Without him, can they ever discover what has been done to them? Or will the evil one succeed in crushing and vanquishing them before they have the chance to realize their true purpose and fulfil the task for which they were created?

Update on the sticky-diesel bug

I hope you have all read the two sources of information about this that I gave links to in my last post. Since then, I've had conversations with River Canal Rescue, Canal and River Trust and Marine 16, to get their expert opinions. This is what I have got from it... I may be repeating myself occasionally, but I don't want to leave anything out.

Fuel additives are available, but manufacturers don't mention sticky-diesel in their sales pitches. Marine 16 tell me that RCR have for some time claimed that additives break down (in the tank and in the bottle) over time, but Marine 26 deny that theirs do, except to say that the shelf life of their products is two years. No-one denies that diesel itself deteriorates with time, and this may be the delight of the bacteria responsible for the sticky infection.

To minimise the likelihood of  falling foul of this bug, we are advised to drain or pump water from the bottom of the fuel tank on a regular basis, though no-one would explain what's meant by "regular". Kit is available to pump with a long tube reaching down to the bottom of the tank where water may lie. I'm lucky in that I have a tap from which I can run that water off.

The smell of our diesel can help us in determining if it contains the sticky substance. If the smell is like turpentine (turps),which is very different from diesel, there may be trouble ahead.

It's always been considered good practice to have our fuel "polished" once or twice a year. This involves pumping it out of the tank, through a filter, and back into the tank. Of course, it takes several hours before the diesel is completely clean. However, two guys local to Kantara's home marina, who each provide this service, tell me that the manufacturers of the filters make no claims that they remove this specific infection.

Webasto don't have a clue whether or not their fuel filter catches the sticky substance. The makers of Eberspacher and other similar diesel-burning heaters may be equally ignorant.

Most of you have at some time been told that it's a good idea to fill fuel tanks right to the very top when topping up, particularly when the boat is going to be left unattended for a longish time. Unfortunately, those who claim they know about this new bacterium say that this practice is good for the sticky-diesel bug, especially in cold temperatures.

Farmers Weekly Magazine has reported that hundreds of agricultural vehicles suffering from 'fuel problems' At the moment, most boaters have not had any of these problems, but bear in mind that RCR "have seen an uncharacteristic peak in fuel-related component breakdowns not linked to diesel bug."

I wish you well.

Bugs!

We've been back aboard again. There were a few things still remaining to be done. There still are today, as we set off home, but I set about the most important task the day we arrived.

We've been hearing a lot about  so-called "sticky diesel". This is not diesel-bug. It's worse. River Canal Rescue (The AA of the inland waterways) have been seeing increasing cases of it. Just like diesel-bug, it stops fuel getting to the engine, but the stickiness created by this bug gums up the fuel injectors, and putting that right is extremely expensive.

I won't go into more detail; some of you aren't boaters and don't need to know about it, but those of you who do can learn more here. (Sorry about the redirect you get when you click that link. I have no idea why it happens.)

Suffice it to say that my response to this was to drain the bottom of the diesel tank where water and gunk gather before dashing off into the engine to do their worst. Our engine has two filters before the injectors, but no-one has been able to tell me if these will stop this stickiness. We were once stopped by the diesel-bug which had totally blocked the first of them, thus stopping the flow of diesel.

I have the fortune of having a tap at the very bottom of the fuel tank, so draining is very easy. I took out several litres from the tank, and stopped when it was at its clearest. It was the most I could do.

We have been using an additive, which does a fairly good (but not perfect, as you can see!) job of  inhibiting that muck's development, but we're now being told by some that it deteriorates with time (as does the diesel itself). When we were new to boating, we were told by a reliable source that it's good to keep the diesel tank full to the very top during the winter, so that there's no space for condensation (which would drip into the fuel.) We've now been told that the opposite is true with this new sticky diesel infection; it's best to leave the tank empty!

In desperation, I wrote to the leading manufacturer of diesel additives, basically saying "HELP!" They pointed me to an article on the subject, produced by his company. Read it here.

It will come as no surprise to you that this has all left us in something of a quandary - to cruise or not to cruise? I'll let you know in due course.

Boats and books

My post on January 6th was entitled "We'll be back!" Since then, we've visited Kantara a few times, mainly to have the Webasto heater on for an hour or so. We did that because the guy who fitted it for us last year said that "To ensure its continuing health, the system has to be run for at least an hour every month", so we've been doing that every month since. He's now told us that there's no need to be that strict about it! Now he tells us!

We're back again now for three nights. Not to run the heating  - though we have, to keep us warm in the chilly mornings and evenings - but to wash the filth off the roof; algae, and dirt brought in by the rain. I was very concerned that it would damage the paint but, after doing the job yesterday and this afternoon, I can happily say that it hasn't.

Not much had changed in the marina since we last visited. The costs of gas and electricity have gone up, and the empty berths on our pontoon now have boats for sale by ABNB, the broker through which we bought Kantara all those years ago - twelve of them!

I've not had my eye on my book sales for ages, so I was very pleased the other day to see that they've been doing well. Reviews are very good. These are for Life with our feet under water - my first book.

"Informative, funny and a very enjoyable read"

"Life with our feet under water is surely a book for boaters and non boaters alike. If you're a boater then you'll find a good deal here to laugh at, sympathise with, to identify with. You may find places you've been to yourself and places you've not. There may also be new things for you to learn, there certainly were for me. If you're not a boater, perhaps you'd like to be or perhaps your interest only goes as far as canal holidays. Either way there is a detailed picture of what it's like to buy a narrow boat to live in it and to cruise in it. Roger and Grace have their good and bad moments as there are in any way of life, but this writer faces both with a good sense of humour and laughs at himself as much as he laughs at others. The photo gallery added a lot for me. Imagining places is good but actually seeing them as they are enriched the story a great deal. There may be too many pictures for some but it's easy to move through them quickly. I enjoyed the quotes too, not essential but a quirky difference from other books of its kind. Give it a try!"

"Excellent book on the trials and tribulations of life on the canals."

"After reading Roger Distill's account of his (and his wife's) first three years on their narrowboat, Kantara, I felt that I could go cruising myself on the English canals. I loved it all, even the rainy bits. Being a barge owner myself, I know only too well how much the weather can intrude on our lives, so I was able to empathise very easily with how it influenced their day to day activities. At first, I wasn't sure about all the quotes, but I grew to like them and really enjoyed them in the end. This book had a delightful whimsy in the gentle humour and self deprecating quips. Added to all the really useful information about boating in England, it's a book that I wish I could have as a paperback!"

"Loved this account of life on a narrowboat"

"A warm, funny and informative insight into boating. A charming read that is greatly enhanced by links to photo albums pertaining to the various chapters. The inclusion of the photos really brought the book to life and makes the reader part of the boating world. A definite feel-good read!"

"Honest and entertaining."

"An enjoyable read of life on the canals whether or not you have a narrowboat. You are taken away to a more enjoyable way of life, still with it's ups and downs, they just happen slower. There is the added bonus at the end of each chapter where you can click a link to see the photographs taken by the author of what you have just read about. I am sure that many people will want to follow this way of life after reading this and purchase their own narrowboat."

Click on the cover pictures to the side of this text to take a look - and have a taster of - all of my boaty books. 

On the subject of books, I'm delighted to say that an old school friend of mine is about to publish their first novel. Nothing to do with canals, but superbly written and very well worth a read. I'll give more details when the book's launched.

A much-needed break

Well, I said "we'll be back". That was on January 6th, and we're now considering paying poor Kantara a visit this week. We need to go for the monthly Webasto burn, but this time we also intend to spend as long as it takes, cleaning the algae-ridden roof - however cold the weather chooses to be - and draining the stern bilges, which have collected an inch or so of water over the past months.

I didn't blog about the last time we saw her. It was but a brief visit in which we failed to check the Webasto fuel filter, simply because I couldn't unscrew the base of the filter pot. I contacted Colin the engineer about it, and he kindly went to loosen it for us, and reported that the filter was perfectly clean. Good news.

Once the new bathroom and shower-room had been completed (in the house), we felt very much in need of a break, and we booked ourselves a week in a lovely, 17th century thatched cottage in Devon. "Hideaway Cottage" in the middle of nowhere. On the way there, we dropped in to see Dorothy, Grace's eldest sister, and her brother-in law, Brian. A couple of days later, we met up with Christine and Mike, her other sister and brother-in-law. We hadn't seen any of them for a long time. and it was great to catch up.

The weather was dry throughout the week, mostly sunny, and usually pretty chilly, but we loved it. Tourists were few, many of the shops were closed. Grace and I looked along one deserted, cold and windy beach and laughed at our memory of the sands at New Quay on that very same day back in 2019, where people were sunbathing and swimming.

By contrast, our Devonshire beaches were almost devoid of people even when the sun shone brightly. There's a lot to be said for visiting off-peak!

There were lots of interesting, beautiful and fascinating places to visit inland, too. Notably, Knightshayes Court...

...and the amazing House of Marbles.

And now we're back home again, and not short of things to do. The list is long and boring, so I won't itemize it here.

It seems now that our visit to the boat might be today. Fingers crossed, though it looks as though there might be some of this on the way!