Winter 2014/15: Crick 14

Friday 10^th April to Friday 24^th April

 Saturday 11^th April,

 The weather looks set to change this morning; as we were warned by those nice forecasters at the Beeb; we now have heavy, thunderous clouds with a promise of equally heavy and thunderous rain. It’s just as well we have nothing special arranged for today.

 It is now almost lunchtime and the sun is out again. Wifey has taken Alex for a long walk while I stab away at the keyboard in an attempt to sort out this Gimp stuff.

 I’ve sorted out the hair, which was really giving me problems, but I’ve managed to confuse myself as to how the different layers work.

 Tuesday 14^th April

 Hey, at last I’ve sorted out this Gimp thingy. I now have a cartoon picture of Emma to work with and all I need to do now is add a few bits of clipart.

 We had hoped that our engineer would call in yesterday, but I’m afraid he missed us. It’s our own fault really, because he did call in on Friday afternoon, but Wifey had already treated the stern deck with rust killer and we couldn’t have him trampling all over it.

 Still, just so long as he gets to us this week, we’ll be able to take the boat out at the weekend, provided the weather is OK.

 Wednesday 15^th April

 Well, Dave will be along to service the engine on Thursday so, with a bit of luck and a tail wind, along with decent weather, we’ll be off for a couple of weeks cruising. We’re aiming to spend a couple of days at Market Harborough and then back to base for some much needed paint repairs.

 Today we’ll be off to Rugby, initially for a bit of shopping, but also to scan the charity shops for books. Our bookshelves are looking a bit sparse lately.

 Friday 17^th April

 Dave came along yesterday morning and gave the engine a good service, so we’re all set to go off for a couple of weeks. Provided the weather stays reasonably dry and bright, we might even get some paintwork done. We’re heading for Market Harborough and hope to be at the top of Foxton Locks for Sunday, where we can walk down them to the local pub.

 Saturday 18^th April

 Well, our first day of cruising this year didn’t start very auspiciously, to say the least. We had a few things to do before leaving, such as disposing of rubbish, topping up with water and a walk to the Co-op, all of which took us to about 9 am.

 So, after a wee bit more faffing about, we untied the boat and I put her in reverse to back out of our slot. That part went according to plan but, when it came to putting the boat in forward gear, nothing – nothing happened. I simply couldn’t push the throttle lever forward; it had become stuck somewhere amongst the gubbins.

 By this time we were at an angle to our own slot but, with luck and a small amount of forward movement, I finally managed to steer the boat into a slot a couple of spaces along from ours.

 Now, Dave had only serviced the boat the day before, but I felt sure this was nothing to do with his efforts and, once I tracked him down I was proved right. Having dismantled the throttle and all its gubbins and applied a judicious amount of lubrication, the system seemed to work perfectly. However, in dismantling the unit, a couple of screws had sheared off and these had to be drilled out and re-tapped, before reassembling the whole shebang and testing the thing.

 All of this took about 2½ hours, for which he only charged us £25. I rather think Dave felt sorry for us, having already taken a fair amount of cash off us the day before.

 Now, once we were on our way, I realised just how stiff the throttle lever had been in the past. I now enjoyed much better control of this and the speed of the boat. But, as with all things stressful, it didn’t take much persuading for me to stop after only an hours cruising and we spent the rest of the day just a few bridges past Yelvertoft marina.

In the evening, with the engine running, we watched a couple of hours’ television and turned it off. This morning, despite having LED lights these days, our batteries were only reading 12.2 volts, which is something I’m not too pleased about. As a result of that we have now decided to use the Inverter/Charger when absolutely necessary and only whilst the engine is running.

 We’ve also decided to unplug the TV aerial and do without; at least for this short cruise. We also need to find a way of plugging the TV into the 12 volt socket. At present it is still using the 240 volt unit, which means we have to switch the Inverter/Charger on in order to watch the darned thing. Unfortunately, when ordering a 12 volt TV; which the seller says will work in a caravan or truck; they do not supply a 12 volt lead and plug. How daft is that?

 Later……

 Well, we moved along another couple of miles this morning and, as soon as we arrived I dismantled the TV aerial. We then settled in for a coffee and chocolate biscuits; our normal fare at about 10 am most days.

 Our only entertainments now are the radio and reading, plus some walking with Alex of course. It seems a bit strange having no TV, but it’s not the first time and it certainly won’t be the last, I don’t suppose.

 With regards to the cartoon I’ve done of Emma in New Zealand, well, I’m still awaiting a reply to my email of a few days ago, when I asked about the name of her Scottie dog. Until I receive that info I won’t be able to complete the cartoon. Still, I know she’s a busy lady, so I dare say she’s up to her eyes in work, assuming she’s now returned home from her trip to the USA.

 Tuesday 21^st April

 Well, I lied about the TV. Although I did dismantle the wretched thing on our first day out, we succumbed to temptation on Sunday, and re-erected it for Countryfile and also watched Phillip Glenister’s restoration of a 1956 Aston Martin DBS. So, since we obviously can’t resist temptation, we left it up yesterday for Pointless and the News.

 Yesterday morning there was a bit of a nip in the air, so I thought I might run the heater; which has recently had a new diesel pump fitted. Last September we called into Debdale Wharf marina, where their engineer cleaned the Webasto out but, even after that it still wouldn’t work. It took an inspection by Simon Pollard, to discover that a couple of leads were loose. Since that time we have proved the system works on batteries alone. So, you can imagine my surprise and anger when, with a solid 12 volts up on our distribution panel, the heating wouldn’t come on.

 This system is designed to work at something less than 12 volts, so I’m at a loss as to why, when we had 12.4 volts showing, it still wouldn’t fire up. Yesterday, after cruising for about 2 hours and turning the engine off, the heater worked fine. But then we did have 12.6 volts showing. If we can’t run the heating first thing in the morning, without running the engine, then the system still has a fault somewhere. I suppose, once again I’m going to have to call Dave or Simon out to take another look. More money down the bottomless pit of boat repairs!!

 Today we’ll make the three miles to the top of Foxton Locks and will go down them tomorrow morning. These locks consist of two sets of five staircase locks, so we have to advise the lock keeper of our intentions.

 Wednesday 22^nd April

 We have now come to the conclusion that the heater is OK. Yesterday, when Wifey used the washing machine – even with the engine running – the machine cut out during its spin cycle and so did the Inverter/ Charger, which points to the batteries being somewhat weak, so, more money into that bottomless pit.

 Today we’ll be going down Foxton Locks and mooring up on the seven day moorings.

 Thursday 23^rd April

 We made nine miles on our trip back to Crick yesterday, and we’re hoping to complete the run today. We’ll call into the main marina for diesel, and then moor up at our usual spot.

 Friday 24^th April

 Dave Hull, our engineer, will be along later today to check out our batteries and associated parts. I managed to catch up with him yesterday afternoon, and he suggested that, if both our 90 A/h and 75 A/h batteries are wired into the Sterling Alternator to battery Charger, together they could easily cope with charging all of our batteries. Unfortunately only the bigger of the two is wired in, which would account for why our batteries don’t get charged up properly.

However, since they are all getting on a bit in age, we will probably have to renew the domestics anyway. But, what we need to decide is, do we have six again, or do we drop them down to four?

 And, on that note, since the weekend is nearly upon us, I’ll post this entry.

 Take care all, and have a great weekend.

 Dave, Sheila and Alex

 

 

Winter 2014/15: Crick 13

Friday 20^th March to Friday 10^th April

 Sunday 22^nd March

 The big day is here at last; the Kennett Family Bash!! The day has started out rather cool, with a northerly wind, but the pub will be warm inside. We’ll be at the same venue as last year; The Fox at Matching Tye, just outside Harlow. Last year we had 19 around the tables; this year will see 222 of us. I don’t think they can cram many more into their function room.

 We’re hoping to leave by about 8.30 am so as to drop Alex off at Peter’s boat and be on our way by 9 am. When we arrive in Harlow our first stop will be at Dave and Les’s place for a short visit, then off to pick up Alan and Val by midday.

 Monday 23^rd March

 What a great get-together yesterday; with 22 attendees there was certainly plenty to talk about. Also, with the Kennett family being spread far and wide throughout the UK, it’s the only real opportunity to catch up with each other.

 We finally managed to get away; after all the hugs and kisses; just before 5 pm, then dropped Alan and Val off and headed for home. Unfortunately our hopes of getting home before dark were quashed by a long tailback a couple of miles before Milton Keynes, so we arrived at Pete’s boat well after 7 pm.

 All in all though a very enjoyable day!!

 Wednesday 25^th March

 Slowly, but surely, those boats that have wintered over at Crick, are leaving for their summer cruising. We, as you all know, are staying put for the most part, and we’ll be carrying out some much needed paint repairs. We also need an engine service and a new starter battery, both of which we’ll do some time in April.

 On Saturday 4^th April I’ll be driving down to Harlow to have a birthday drink with Alan. When I get back we’ll probably go for a short cruise down to Market Harborough, if only to get our new companion used to being out on the cut. At present Alex is not too sure about this boating lark and tends to tremble a bit when the engine starts up. So, a couple of weeks on the cut should sort that out. Rusty was much the same at first, but she soon became used to the noise and swaying of the boat.

 After that short trip we’ll knuckle down to doing the paintwork. Of course, this depends upon the weather, but we have loads of time during the summer months.

 Friday 27^th March

 I’m gradually making headway with this Gimp programme, but it’s slow going because there are so many different features of the programme that come into play when designing a cartoon. However, I do have a photo of Emma; who lives in New Zealand; and I’ll be working on that soon.

 Emma taught me how to work with pastels, in exchange for me ‘proof reading’ her tutorials. I’m no expert in proof reading, but Emma recognised that some aspects of her prose were slightly off. Anyway, since she gave me the tutorials for free and helped me when I encountered problems, I have decided to make a cartoon of her, utilising some of her interests, in return for her generosity.

 I’ve told Emma that I’m working on a new project and asked for a photo of her, but she has no idea what I’ll be doing with it. All I have to do now is follow the cartoon method using Gimp, a free design programme that can be downloaded via the net.

 Today is shopping day, but first I need to feed Alex and do our breakfast.

 Thursday 2^nd April

 What a lousy day yesterday, all wind and rain and very unpleasant. Still, lots of boaters turned up; loaded with boxes of goodies; some of whom chose to take their boats out. A few of them will now be enjoying their summer cruses, others just for the Easter weekend. We should, of course, be joining them. Alas, we have work to do, and besides, I’m going down to Harlow to visit my brother. We then have to get the engine serviced and a new starter battery installed. After which we’re going to go out for a couple of weeks, and then set to work on the paint damage.

 We don’t expect to do the whole boat this year, maybe just the stern deck and the rest of the green and cream. That will probably be enough to be getting on with.

 This morning we’ll be driving over to Daventry for shopping at Waitrose and filling the car up with petrol.

 Tuesday 7^th April

 I paid a visit to Alan in Harlow on Saturday, which just so happened to be my birthday, and met up with some of the family later at the Admiral. Prior to this we called in on Sheila’s cousin Ian and sampled a very small taste of his many and various single malts. Now, I’m no lover of spirits; not even rum, which both Alan and I used to enjoy a shot or two of at Christmas, but the couple of tasters we had at Ian’s, were quite something. At around 62 proof they would make a pretty good start on blowing one’s socks off.

 So, after a most enjoyable session at the Admiral, Alan persuaded me to drive over to Wickes’s to buy an angle grinder, which is something we need if we are to make any progress on our poor paintwork. This was a most welcome birthday present, for which I say, “ta very much Bruv”.

 Yesterday was the warmest day of the year so far, and it prompted me to suggest a long walk along the towpath and across the fields. I rather fear I overdid it and suffered for it in the evening and during the night. Still, we have to do our utmost to keep fit, don’t we?

 Today we’ll take the bus into Rugby.

 Friday 10^th April

 We’ve had a very good week here weather-wise, but it looks like it’s all about to come to an end according to the latest from West Midlands Today. Still, Wifey did make a start on de-rusting the stern deck.

 While we were cruising around last year she rubbed the deck down and applied a grey primer cum rust preventative. However, during the interim period, loads of small patches have shown through. So, having bought some rust killer – supposedly! – she took to the deck with a wire brush and sprayed this stuff on.

 According to the instructions, the deck needs to be sprayed with water and then sprayed with the magic potion, which Wifey did with gay abandon. It’s then necessary to wait until this coating has dried, when it has to be sprayed with water again. It must then be left for 24 hours and then the dust that accumulates has to be swept away.

 Shortly after she had sprayed on the second layer of water, along came our engineer asking if he could carry out our service on the engine. But, when he saw what had been done to the deck, he decided to leave it for tomorrow. Hopefully he’ll come along sometime today, after the deck has been swept clear, otherwise we’ll have to wait until next week for the service.

 Such is life on the canals.

 I’m still struggling with this cartoon stuff; I just can’t seem to get the hair right. Emma, my artist friend in New Zealand, has very fine, fair hair, which is not easy to emulate. I’ve already asked Alan Taylor how best to achieve the correct style and shade of black and white, and he’s suggested a couple of ways, but neither of them seem to work as well as I would like. Perhaps I’m being a wee bit too finicky.

 We brought our shopping day forward a day this week, and did it all yesterday. Now that the summer season has arrived, quite a few boaters have taken to the water and cluttered up the car park. So, rather than risk losing our spot in the car park; Friday is the usual day for folks to arrive; we paid a visit to Sainsbury’s yesterday morning.

 Sadly, mostly due to my fixation with this Gimp stuff, I have neglected this blog, for which you have my sincere apologies. It’s now two weeks since I last posted, which kind of proves my point.

 So, without further ado – even if it does make breakfast a wee bit late – I’ll post this one now and promise to try to do better with the next one.

 Cheers one and all

 Dave, Sheila and Alex