Brewing and all the rest!

We seem to be stretching out in both directions at the moment, on the one hand we've got our mobile internet sorted onboard, very 21st Century of us - on the other hand we've got no running water! Which drags our waterways profile back a hundred years or so! Which isn't proving to be a problem, slightly inconvenient perhaps but no problem. We're passing water taps on a regular basis, so with our four water carriers (25L, 15L x2, 10L) in hand we can easily gather enough water to see us through.

Our trouble with the alternator belts has continued, but we've got it figured out now, this isn't an engine you can leave for weeks on end and forget about! Which is great for learning. The latest diagnosis is that at least one of the bolts maintaining tension on the starter alternator is not doing its job properly. I tighten it up, it runs fine, we stop for an hour (or less) and the belt starts screeching on start-up again... Luckily we've got the art of removing the steel steps in the stern down to a fine art with both of us hauling on particular corners at certain angles! Luckily, being an ex-hire boat, Wils has plenty of room in the stern, making engine access very (okay, reasonably) easy.

Having checked the transmission oil for the first time a few days ago and found it to be rather low, we bought a generic transmission oil, and now I don't know whether or not it can be mixed with the stuff that's already in there... Waiting for the opinions of the wonderful lot over at Just Canals on that front!

Interior painting continues, most of the red and white in the saloon is done, and the panels in the Grand Hallway are primed and ready for colour...

We've made some excellent progress on removing the rust in the stern. We got the lid off the water tank in the bow and discovered the most disgusting sight... So we sponged out the remaining water and it's had a very good chance to dry out since then with all the sun we've got right now... It's clear why the tap water was coming out brown! Good thing we've never used it. So we're trying to work out what the best thing to do would be - do we apply a bitumin based paint and use the tank as it stands OR do we investigate having a stainless steel tank custom built and fitted? Sounds expensive to me... We'll see.

Our first pumpout at Yardley Wharf (where I grew up! Well, not the wharf itself but the village above it) proved that the access hole in the starboard side does not connect to the pumpout tank... That would be the hole on the other side, the one MARKED PUMPOUT. :D So some nifty manouverings had us spun around the right way to get poo pumped. Also filled up with diesel and declared 60/40 split.

Yet ANOTHER trip to Halfords and B&Q had us buying an enormous tarp, which has helped to keep the rainwater off the stern, where the boards are in poor condition. Yup, that's another job for the list...

We've got plans for tearing out the wardrobe setup in the bedroom, not to mention the 7ft or so of table and the sink (in the bedroom?!) to make room for an effective use of space!!

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1st May 2009:

Didn't get around to posting the last entry, so here's two together, latest news is:

Currently in Cosgrove, we had our first diesel fill-up from the working boat this morning, and spoke to the folks running fenders/ropework/rag rugs/BW Warden(ing), who are moored a short walk up from us. Seems like it's possible to buy all the diesel/gas/coal you could want from the small companies still working on the canal, which is great since it keeps trade on the canal and keeps the workboats from becoming transformed into fully fitted floating apartments for weekend use... Nah, I don't really have a problem with weekenders, but I might in a couple of days, this being a bank holiday weekend, we're prepared for rough seas! :D I just love the old workboats truth be told...

The only issue was that because the 13KG gas bottles are far more common than the 6KG bottles, we haven't been able to get hold of refills for the gas yet, and it's becoming more and more apparent WHY nobody has 6KG bottles out here... They tend to retail at about £15 for 6KG, about £20 for 13KG and an even better rate for the HUGE bottles. Note to self, perform proper research before a marina does ANYTHING!! The boatman's cat calmed us down by making our roof his home for half an hour or so...

The gas locker is not big enough to hold 13KG bottles, so unless we want to spend some time with an angle grinder and a cutting disc, we're stuck with 6KG bottles. Which isn't a disaster because we're only using the gas for cooking on from now on. We haven't had the heating on for more than an hour or so since that first week when we ate through a bottle in about 5 days... Summer is cheap!

Exciting progress yesterday as we began our first attempt at homebrewing onboard! The demijohns may be relatively small but they're both bubbling away furiously! We should be able to sample the finished product, in the region of 12 pints if all goes well, in about 2-3 weeks time and we've got the fun of bottling before then.

It's a stunningly beautiful May Day here in sunny Cosgrove! We're going to plant our veg and salad seeds this afternoon and hopefully get into the woods at some point to forage something delicious... I would post a few photos but our connection is not great, so that'll have to wait! We may not have seen much of the canal system yet but this is one of the spaces I could probably be persuaded to moor up at for a few months... Only not yet!

Toby.