Power Situation

Steve has wired up shorepower, so that it gets passed along to our internal 240v sockets. Our mastervolt is probably sat in a warehouse somewhere, on it's way back to Holland. The warranty wasn't very generous, so we didn't qualify for a new box as a direct replacement. Our old one has to be sent to the factory, repaired, and sent back.

Due to the below freezing temperatures, the batteries don't seem to be holding much of a charge. Trying to use as little 12v power as possible, to give the 5v trickle charger more of a chance. Still don't know if they've been permenantly damaged, or if it's the weather.

Most people here seem to think it was "the wooden boat" that caused the problem. But as we weren't here, we have no proof that was the case. We think it was quite likely. But, sadly, we cannot prove it.

Happy Solstice

We got snowed on. Like most of the country.

5 inches of snow on the roof, frozen ropes, ice on the inside of the windows, and night time temperatures down to minus 15. None of which has put me off boating.

Inside, we are fine. The stove is working well, and we have plenty of logs and coal to burn. Our plumbing is below water level, and remains unfrozen. The engine and radiators were anti-freezed during the summer. So, nothing to worry about there.

Flat

We got snowed in, down in Devon. Should have been there for a few days, but it turned into two weeks. When we got back to the boat, it was dark, the hatch was frozen shut, the 12v lights didn't work, and we had no mains power to any of our sockets. The inverter was also lit up like a christmas tree, and not making a sound. Our battery bank was clearly flatter than flat. ~Oh dear~.


Lit the hurricane lamp, so we could see what we were doing, and then got the stove going. The gas was still working, so we had a much needed brew. Steve turned up, kindly sorted us out with a power lead, and lent us his heavy duty battery charger.

Three days on, and the batteries are still not fully charged. Everybody thinks it's the new arrival at the marina, on a wooden boat, who said he only has lights and his TWO 3kw heaters going!! Feelings are running pretty high, because he's been tripping out everybody's elses fuses while we were away, and causing general electrical mayhem for the other liveaboards.

We're hoping that the inverter hasn't had a massive spike through it, and caused any permanent damage. Also hoping that we haven't completely knackered the batteries by draining them down to 0%. Still waiting patiently for the batteries to top themselves up, so we can test out the inverter again. When we flick the switch, we can hear it trying to boot itself up, but it's still failing dismally. Fingers crossed.

I knew i should have turned the fridge off before we went away. But, I was a trusting pillock who thought everything would be alright. Lesson learned.

Gosmoor

A very foggy cold morning. But without a puff of wind, and no current at all. So we decided to venture out upstream again. The engine started up fine, but..

The switch for the tunnel light came off in my hands, which wasn't a particularly auspicious start to today's journey. But we borrowed a signalling lamp (Thanks Richie), and cruised ourselves up to Gosmoor (Near Marlow) to top up on supplies, without crashing into anything. There was a pea-soup fog all the way up to the road bridge, but just before the lock, it was ridiculously warm and sunny. Like a spring day. Grateful to be able to stow my hat, coat, scarf, and gloves while I enjoyed the winter sunshine, and put the kettle on.

Sheena returned with some tasty M&S sandwiches for lunch. Unfortunately, Sumo jumped up and pinched the unopened egg one, from off of the kitchen worktop. Severely not very impressed with him. But he thought it was hilarious. Tail up, Naughtiness.

Marina Dwellers

Exactly one year ago, today, we were sat here, waiting for the crane company to deliver the right strops. It's funny to think that we haven't moved an inch, since then. In a roundabout way, they did us a favour, by spannering our plans to move the boat up to Reading before we moved on board.

One year on, we take pride in the fact that we've been out and about on the river much more than all the other narrowboats, and that we now know the boat inside out. We're both glad we didn't take peoples advice, and try a weeks hire, before we took the liveaboard challenge. The fourteen hundred quid we've saved will buy us a large amount of diesel.

It's been an incredible year. Full of fun, new experiences, and challenges. Both of us are very glad we did it. And both of us are looking forward to another year afloat.

wOot for us!

Fog

Determined not to be just fairweather boaters, or stuck in the marina for the whole of winter, we ventured out into the fog. Great fun, even though the visibility was next to nothing.

Winter is here

Sorry for the lack of updates recently.

Winter has come. The chilly nights have drawn in, and it's fully dark by 5pm now. Sheena's sprained her ankle, and Sumo's been limping because he'd overdone it. For one reason or another, we haven't been out and about as much as we'd have liked.


The lock closure program is now in effect, and we won't be leaving the marina and heading upstream to Oxford until March, at least. But the good news is, most days, there's hardly any current on the river at all. It's nowhere near as severe as this time last year. Went for a jolly up to Marlow on saturday. It took us an hour and a half to get there, as the wind was blowing us about. But only thirty minutes to get ourselves back. We'd never been so fast on a narrowboat, and could easily have towed a waterskier.

Today we had a bit of a drama with the starter battery. We'd been relying on the alternator to charge it up, because the mastervolt didn't. The engine wouldn't start, and several attempts caused the battery to run flat. Steve discovered a fuse had popped, so he replaced it. Then he managed to jump start us by hooking up the domestic batteries to the starter battery. Thanks Steve. Everything is working fine now.

Delighted to be fully operational again, we took the boat out for some cold weather practice. We've done a night cruise back from Cookham before, but we didn't fancy mooring up in the dark tonight, and headed back after watching the sunset. Sheena brought us back alongside.