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.

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.

End of Journey

Sunday 17th November

Graham phoning Jenny to let her know we are through Wood End lock

Wood end lock is the last of the Fradley locks so Graham phoned Jenny to tell her we would be at Kings Bromley within the next half hour so she could drive over to meet us there.

The scenery along this final stretch of canal is truly stunning, especially with the trees in their autumn colours

Graham at the helm, me looking back towards Wood End lock, nearly there, almost at the end of the journey.

Final picture, The Marina is just round the bend.

I apologize for the fact that the pictures are not necessarily in the correct sequence. Also there are as yet no pictures in the Marina, these will follow in the future. I hope to also show pictures of the improvements to the boat as and when they happen.

Many many thanks to my crew Graham and Jacki and to our sister Jenny. 

Without the help of these family members  the journey would not have been possible.

I hope to write more in the future but for now its back to trying to earn a living.

Bye for now

Dave

Sunday 17th November

We were woken rather rudely on Sunday morning as i had forgotten to switch my phone alarm off, scrabbling around in the half light trying to find where i'd put my phone down the night before, knocking over a glass of water in the process!
Oh what fun!
Eventually i found the accursed phone and silenced it and for a little while we all dozed, gradually waking and thinking of the journey to come. Only six miles but 8 locks to do including the six locks through Fradley which is usually a busy area.
Graham was stoking up the fire, whilst i climbed into some clothes before showing myself to the outside world.
The weather was dry, although a bit chilly.
Just before 9 Jenny arrived to lend us her car so's we could go into Lichfield to pick up some pills i had stupidly forgotten to bring with me, (i later found i hadn't forgotten them, they were in a different coat) - (sorry Jenny).  On returning from Lichfield we 3 had breakfast admirably cooked by Jacki, very yummy it was too.
After breakfast Graham returned the car to Jenny whilst i pottered around pumping out the bilges and generally preparing us for the off.
Once Graham returned, he and i set about starting the engine. This is a two man job.
The engine in Bracken is a 3 cylinder air cooled diesel. Now most older diesel engines have a glow-plug system to heat the air being drawn into the cylinders which assists the combustion of the diesel being injected into the cylinders and therefore fires it up so to speak... Bracken doesn't have a glow plug system (yet) so the way it works is one person holds a gas blow-lamp (the type plumbers use) pointing the flames into the air intake whilst another person turns the key to crank the engine over and hey presto the engine fires up in quite a short time of cranking!   I intend to try fitting a glow-plug system in the future..... Another job to do :) 
Once the engine was running smoothly we cast off and continued up the canal.


 


I was happy to see hardly any blue smoke as we continued on our journey so we left the engine hatch down which reduced the noise considerably  and made travelling so much more enjoyable. The peace and tranquillity of the canals is something to be savoured and enjoyed.

Jacki at the helm. Look at that concentration!

As we got nearer to Fradley the locks became more frequent so Graham and Jacki decided to do the locks between them leaving me to handle the boat. Our system worked well and we made steady progress, also, of course it meant there was virtually no walking involved for me :)
I still had my work cut out controlling the boat- boats dont stay still whilst in the lock. It would be nice if they did but they tend to get pushed backwards and forwards by the inrushing water so i was  constantly on the gear lever trying to hold the boat in one place.

Passing a line of moored boats.....SLOWLY dont want to upset the neighbours.

The workers, bless them!

continuing Saturday 16th

So we were heading off along the Trent and Mersey canal, we hoped to make it as far as Alrewas before dark. A distance of 12 miles on the canal map but with 6 locks to go through and with us not getting away till nearly noon it was going to be tight on time.
After we'd been on the move for about half an hour we
became aware of a lot of blue smoke coming from
under the engine hatch, and on lifting the hatch cover
we were enveloped in a smelly blue haze of smoke.
Once the smoke cleared and it was possible to see into the engine 'ole it was obvious the smoke was coming from the  engine breather pipe. Also the engine seemed to be labouring somewhat.

Smoke has nearly gone

I throttled back to just over tickover speed and the engine se.emed to run a bit smoother. As the engine seemed to be running ok we decided to leave the hatch open and 'let the air get to it'   We thus continued on our way.
Gradually we managed to relax and although we kept a wary eye on things, we made our way through the first couple of locks without incident. In fact during the next few hours i grew more confident, and we developed a good system of approaching and dealing with each lock as a team.
Graham and i would set the lock whilst Jacki held the boat with the centre line

                                                                   
 Then i would drive the boat through, picking them up once they had lowered the paddles and shut the gates.
One of the hardest things to get used to is the reduced speed of travel. There is in fact a speed limit of around 4 mph but this is not only a legal speed limit but a limit governed more by the shape of the hull of the boat. Push it harder with the engine and all that happens is the engine labours harder but you don't actually go any faster. Throttle back and the boat glides along quite smoothly just slightly faster than walking speed So we continued at a leisurely pace.
Having cleared the engine smoke, Brother decided to light the fire in the stove, so we were then choking on wood smoke till the fire got going! I'm not sure which was worse, engine smoke or wood smoke :) but it certainly made a difference to the temperature in the saloon, pretty soon it was as warm as toast in there.
We eventually got to Alrewas although the last half hour of travel was in almost pitch dark Fortunately Bracken has a good headlight though i wouldn't like to make a habit of travelling in the dark
A phonecall to Jenny, (our sister), who lives at Fradley ( not far away from Alrewas) and she arrived in her car to take us to a fish and chip shop for much needed sustenance and then to her house for an enjoyable evening of tele and chat.
Then when we were all yawning our heads off Jenny took us back to the boat and we bunked down for the night.

The journey pt1

Friday 15th November.

It took me ages to load the trusty Polo with all the stuff to take up to the boat. The boot was full and also the back seat.
What with blankets, pillows, quilt, tools, equipment, clothes, kitchen stuff etc the poor little Polo was jam packed.
It seemed pointless to drive to my brothers house only to then drive to Mercia marina the following day so i carried on up the M1 straight to the marina. Once there i unloaded the stuff from the car onto the boat, 5 trips of carrying stuff from car, down the steps, along the pontoon and into the boat! People who know me will be aware that my legs don't work too good, so as you can imagine i was pretty knackered by the time the car was empty, but ,hey, it was a good job i did it that way as it meant i arrived some hours later at Graham and Jacki's with an empty car........ Which we promptly filled up with more stuff to take to Kings Bromley marina where we left my car to await our arrival on Sunday,  IN the boat.

Saturday 16th

A friend of Graham and Jacki had been press ganged into taking us 3 plus the remainder of stuff needed on the boat journey, up to Mercia Marina. So, there we were trying to stuff the contents of brothers garage, plus us 3, PLUS a 10 foot barge pole into a Vectra.
Well we did it!
Arriving at Mercia the first job was obviously to unload the car and stow it all aboard the boat, then buy some coal for the stove, along with a couple of last minute items, like a mop and bucket and cleaning materials. Then to start the engine...... I'll talk more about starting the engine later, suffice to say its not as straight forward as just turning the key.
We left the engine running to warm it up whilst we pottered about sorting out last minute stuff, like asking a knowledgeable chap how to get out of the marina!  :) sounds silly i know, but Mercia marina is a very big place and i had only ever been there by road. He sort of pointed and waved his arm around and left us to it.
Half an hour later, after exploring firstly number 1, then 2, then all 3 basins in the marina, we found the exit!
Turning right out of the marina we were on the Trent and Mersey canal heading due West, or was it East? No i'm pretty sure it was West.:)
To be continued.

preperations (2)

My brother said "will we need a barge pole?" 

I said "possibly, why?" and he sent me this picture..  Bless him :) he found one. He said "couldn't make it any longer 'cos the damn seagulls kept perching on it!" :)
Spoke to the boat sales this morning to let them know we should be removing Bracken on Saturday morning.
They kindly agreed to boost charge the starter battery between now and Saturday so all should be ready for the off.

Preparations for the journey

I suppose most people already have a certain amount of equipment and general boat stuff in their possession, ready to carry on board. Maybe they are moving from one boat to another, but for someone who hasn't owned a boat for some years there is an awful lot of stuff to collect.
What doesn't help is the fact i live in Kent and the boat is in Derbyshire so i am amassing a pile of stuff ready to load into the car and desperately trying not to omit something crucial.

Windlass (2)  check
BW keys (2)  check
Maps             check
Kettles           check
mugs,bowls,plates,utensils,blankets,sleeping bag,quilt,pillows,clothing,tools...blah,blah blah blah,

Doesn't sound like much, so why has my spare settee disappeared under a mound of boxes, bags, clothing etc? At least for 99% of the stuff its a one way trip, it will be staying on the boat. So i should have a nice light car coming home next week.......Now where did i put that check list..........?

The purchase

Bracken was built in 1994 and was fitted out by the first owner who was also a professional carpenter/joiner. The hull was built by Dabon Engineering to a 10.6.4 specification. That means the base plate was 10mm, the hull sides were 6mm and the cabin 4mm, that is steel thickness's.

So we have a one owner boat, less than 20 years old that has been blacked regulary and with a fairly new BSC . Ok it didn't tick all of the boxes on my wish list, but since i was working to a very tight budget i considered it was very good value. And anyway i really liked the boat. :)

I made an offer subject to survey,  it was accepted and the survey was carried out on November 1st.

The survey showed the hull to be in good condition for a 19 year old boat apart from a couple of recommendations for future attention. I paid the balance, and i am now the proud owner of NB Bracken.

I bought Bracken through New and Used Boat Co at Mercia Marina at Willington. (up the Trent and Mersey). 

I have arranged to keep Bracken at Kings Bromley Marina as it is closer to where my brother and sister live. So obviously I'm going to move the boat soon, a kind of maiden voyage for me, fortunately my brother is coming too, think I'm going to need him!

'Bracken'

'Bracken is a 40 foot Cruiser stern, all steel narrowboat. She is fitted with a 3 cylinder Lombardini diesel engine which produces approx 32 hp.

Mated to the engine is an hydraulic gearbox giving , naturaly, forward and reverse gears.

This requires some alteration in the future..... I mean, if you push the control lever forward you would naturaly expect to go forward, yes? Not on Bracken...... forward is backward and visa versa. As i said, needs some alteration in the future.

Entering down the steps from the cruiser stern into the saloon, with 'L' shaped seating which converts to a double bed, (the bearded gent in the picture is my brother, seated to show the generous proportions.)

(Proportions of the saloon that is, not my brothers generous proportions).

opposite the L shaped seating and armchair is a 'Villager' solid fuel stove in a brick surround fireplace

Looking past the fireplace towards the bow (pointed end) through the galley, the two doors on the left are the toilet and shower room.

The forward cabin at present has 3 bunk beds and a cupboard, (another area where i plan to make some changes.)

The search

I started looking in all the usual places, Apolloduck, Gumtree, Preloved, etc etc plus numerous brokerage web sites, trying to get a feel for what was out there and what could be bought with  my very limited budget.
Funds i had earmarked for the purchase would not be available for 12 months so i was in no hurry. I could browse to my hearts content. In the comfort of my armchair i looked at hundreds of boats, trad sterns, semi trads, cruiser sterns even a few GRP boats, i seemed spoiled for choice.
 Eventually i thought i would go and look at some of these prospective homes, yes actually get on board one or two, well, what an awakening that was!
It's said that  photos don't do justice, well it works two ways. What looks good on a photo in reality can be very disappointing -to say the least.
One of the first boats i looked at brought this home to me. On the photos it looked promising, good layout, spacious saloon and good sized bed area.........
In reality it was almost a derelict shell, disgustingly filthy, and nothing short of a full re-fit would have made it habitable. Then there was the boat that needed to be re-floated before you could consider boarding it. They obviously took the photos before it sank!
Its certainly a learning curve but gradually i learned to look beyond the glossy bits and see the potential, and also to look at the more important aspects like hull condition, etc.
I spent the next 12 months going to brokerages, boat sales, auction sites etc climbing over all manner of narrowboats looking for something that would at least tick some of the boxes.
And then i found 'Bracken'.

The idea

I've always dreamed of living afloat, many holidays spent on the Norfolk Broads showed me how tranquil the waterways can be.

Living on the North Kent coast enabled me to indulge in some boating albeit on tidal waters, (at times not for the faint hearted). So with the end of my lease on my home looming, and retirement just round the corner, l started to give some thought to where i might live in the future.

And so the idea of buying a narrowboat was born. 

In the beginning..........

I have always found being on water to have a very calming affect on me.