Friday 10th April to Friday 24th April
Saturday 11th 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 14th 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 15th 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 17th 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 18th 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 21st 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 22nd 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 23rd 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 24th 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
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