Sunday 29 December 2013

Christmas week afloat

Sunday 22nd of December.

I drove up from Kent to the marina to spend a few days over Christmas on 'Bracken'.
I would have driven up before Sunday but i was waiting for a parcel to arrive- last of the Christmas presents.
I arrived around 4 pm as the light was fading, unloaded the car, and loaded up like a packhorse made my way down the pontoon to the rear deck of the boat. After unlocking the door and sliding the hatch back i proceeded to reverse myself down the steps into the saloon, and promptly tripped 'tip over apex' over the mop handle Graham and i had left propping in place a wooden batten whilst the glue set! I'd forgotten no one had been on board since my last visit to do the 240 volt system and therefore the place still looked like a 'work in progress'.
First job, clear the saloon and replace the seating boards and cushions, next job light the fire, then kettle on whilst bringing off the rear deck all the stuff I'd brought from the car.
Shortly after a cup of coffee, Graham phoned to say there was a roast dinner being prepared for me, so, never one to turn down a free dinner, i made my way over to Graham and Jackie's. We had a lovely evening of catching up and chat until around 9.30ish when i made my way back to the boat. Thankfully the fire was still alight so it was nice and warm inside and after a nightcap i made up the bed in the bottom bunk and turned in. 

Monday 23rd.

Not a good nights sleep...... the bottom bunk is just not big enough for me, some alterations are going to be necessary, But then i already knew that.
Monday was windy, very very windy. Its quite sheltered in the marina being surrounded by trees and also being moored between boats helps, but even so there was a definite rocking motion, not unpleasant but enough to remind you that you are afloat.
Fire stoked up, coffee and toast on the go, what a nice way to start the day. 
After a visit to the shower block and WC i turned my attention to the first project.

In the above picture behind the flue pipe is plain black.
In the picture below you can see there is now a reflective sheet of stainless steel.

Putting the stainless steel behind the flue pipe not only reflects the light but is also a handy mirror.
Also notice we now have a reading light and a phone charger plugged in, all mod cons eh?

Jenny popped in for chat but as it was blowing a gale she didnt stay long. It was very rough out, and not a day to be driving the country lanes round Fradley. I spent the remainder of the day clipping cables back and generaly tidying things away.

Tuesday  24th.

I had a better nights sleep, i made up the double pull out in the saloon. It only takes a couple of minutes and its also at the warmer end of the boat :) I was woken a couple of times by the wind howling through the trees, obviously another rough day ahead.
Graham came over later in the morning and we set to removing the top bunk on the starboard (right) side of the bedroom area. This is the first step to altering the bedroom area in an effort to make it more useable, and is definitely a 'work in progress' area. What would have taken me hours to do, Graham soon had it sorted, his energy and enthusiasm amazes me :)

Christmas Day 2013

What a lovely morning, crisp and dry hardly any wind and some lovely warm sunshine.
I had the front and rear doors open on the boat and allowed the fresh air in.
Jenny came up for breakfast of bacon and sausage butties and coffee and we sat out in the small well deck at the front enjoying feeling the warm sunshine.
not good photo in bright sunshine.

Looking towards the stern the trees give some protection from the gales

After breakfast and a nice chat, Jenny left to have Christmas dinner with Peter and Sam (my nephew and fiance) and i made my way to G & J's for Christmas dinner, and what a veritable feast it was!!

Boxing Day

Woke up to thick frost everywhere.





After the cold shock of coming out of a nice warm saloon into minus 4deg of frost what better to do but go back into a nice warm saloon and make bacon butties!
Later Graham arrived and we set about starting the engine as it hadn't been started since we moored here at the end of November.
After some preheating with the blow lamp it fired up and once warmed up it ran quite sweetly. I left it running for a good half hour to put some charge into the batteries although i do now have a battery charger fitted to the 240 volt system just to keep them topped up.
My nephew Peter and his Fiancé Sam came to visit me and have a look round 'Bracken', good to welcome them aboard and hope to see them again soon, next time i must take your Photos you pair!
We made our way down to G&J's where we were meeting Jenny  for a bit of a family reunion and an evening of chilling and chatting.
On returning to the boat, alone that evening i sat in front of the stove sipping a nightcap and watching the flames flicker, tomorrow, Friday, i have to return home to Kent.
I have a hospital appointment on Sunday and need to get back to sort out transport etc.
Not sure when i'll get back to the boat but hopefuly not too far away.



Wednesday 11 December 2013

240 volt system

Friday 6 th December.

I went to the boat today. My intention this weekend is to install a 240 volt system on the boat, which will then enable me to use power tools during the 'other' jobs that i have planned for Bracken. Also of course i will also be able to connect up things like a battery charger, phone charger, vacuum cleaner etc..
There is 240 volt available on the pontoon but so far I've been unable to use it.
Arriving at the boat after a 3 and a half hour drive up from Kent, i unpacked a few things i had brought with me, lit the fire and put the kettle on. As it was by then nearly 4 pm i was losing the daylight so no time to start work. Instead i pottered about checking all was well since my last visit when we brought Bracken up from Mercia marina.
 Graham had been over a couple of times and i was very pleased to see nice dry bilges, (area under the rear deck round the engine), obviously Graham's efforts with the grease gun and the mop had done the trick.
(Injecting grease in the stern tube stops water seeping past the propeller shaft and into the bilge area).
Toasty warm inside now i sat planning the following days work. Where to put the incoming socket, where to run the cabling to the consumer unit and then from the consumer unit  to the sockets, and where to put the sockets?
I stayed the night at Graham and Jackie s, well after a chicken and chips supper i didn't feel like driving back to the boat, and anyway the fire had probably gone out by now, and it was warm there, and i'd had a couple of scotches. :)

Saturday 7 th December.

After breakfast at the railway cafe G and i made our way to the boat. We decided the best place for the incoming socket was just left of the window on the rear bulkhead, so armed with his cordless drill G drilled through the 6mm steel bulkhead and the pine interior panelling, a hole large enough to take the Arctic cable that was going to bring the power into the boat and down to the consumer unit.
Meanwhile l was fixing the socket mounting boxes in place, one double socket in the saloon, two double sockets in the galley area, and one double socket in the bedroom, ready to receive the cabling.
Having threaded the Arctic (thick walled) cable through the bulkhead, G drilled and tapped the 4 holes to screw the exterior socket in place and l busied myself wiring the consumer unit which we had decided to fit under the 'L' shaped seat.

Having wired the consumer unit l then screwed it to the ply lining of the bulkhead. Its accessible but out of the way under the seat area.


You can see in the above picture, the blue cable on the right is arctic cable bringing power in and the grey cable on the left feeds to the domestic sockets through a 16 amp MCB (miniature circuit breaker)
The white cable at the bottom goes into the engine compartment through a 6 amp MCB to a socket, for things like battery charger etc.

Time for lunch  :)         Graham in the galley preparing a culinary delight.



Saturday evening, Me, Graham, and Jackie took a chinese takeaway over to Jenny's and had a lovely evening of nosh and chat and generaly caught up on family news.

Sunday 8 th December.
We finished connecting up the sockets, ran a wire through the bulkhead into the engine compartment for a single socket for things like battery charger, lead light etc, connected up the shoreline and tested all sockets worked and the main circuit breaker worked, no problem.
(Sorry i forgot to take pictures of the finished job, i'll try and remember to take some next time i'm up there.)
After all our work we went home to a lurvely Sunday roast and after a short doze i started the 3 and a half hour drive back to Kent as i had work booked for Monday.