And there it was .......gone!

Saturday 13th June.

Its raining, it's been raining all night and I've not had much sleep. The reason being I'm moored under an old Oak tree and the constant rainwater dripping from the tree and landing on two tin jerry-cans was like a child banging on a tin drum! All night!

Now you may wonder why I'm moored under an Oak tree, well in point of fact I am not on my mooring in the Marina as yesterday I moved Bracken down the canal a couple of hundred yards to a wharf where I'd arranged to have Bracken's engine surgically removed.  This is stage one of the operation, remove engine.

Using the overhead gantry and the chain block and tackle, with Bracken positioned underneath, after Matt had disconnected all wires, pipes, propshaft and gearbox connections, the engine was hoisted out leaving a cavernous engine bay empty.

And there it was gone!

Stage Two will be to degrease, and clean the engine bay, and paint it out with bilge paint (white).

On the left of the above picture you can see the gearbox oil cooler with the hoses hanging off. Next to it is the 'skin tank' that is used for engine cooling when you have a water cooled engine. As Bracken's engine was air-cooled the skin tank has never been used. It  could be used though if I decide to get a water-cooled engine. Whatever I get, I'll make sure its a damn sight lighter than the one we removed!

Bracken has always 'sat' very stern down in the water, well without the weight of the 'lump' we removed, Bracken now sits very level in the water, which is nice because now the water drains OFF the draining board into the sink! 

The 'Lump' Minus the gearbox which is still in the engine 'ole

So, I'm moored under a tree because with no engine I'm waiting for friends to come and tow me back to the Marina.

It's not a problem being here for a couple of days as I have 240 volt hook up, but I may have to move the tin Jerry-cans if it continues raining!

bfn.

 

Return journey.

Listening to the clonking, clattering, and banging of the engine, I seriously doubted whether we would make it back to the marina. However, apart from the noise the engine seemed to throttle ok and the gearbox still functioned in forward and reverse so we set off to the winding hole to turn round and then to slowly begin our journey back.
We got as far as Whittington village when the engine decided it was time to stop, in just about the worst place possible on the approach to a very sharp bend at a very narrow point of the canal.
Some people on a following boat very kindly towed us through the village to a mooring spot where we weren't obstructing the way, and we took the opportunity to do some head scratching, and I phoned Paul (one of my neighbours in the marina), to ask his advice. A couple of days earlier I had jokingly asked if he'd tow me back if I broke down! Not dreaming that the need would arise for real!
Paul drove down to pick me up so's I could get my car, (only a ten minute drive by car) so that Bev and Darren wouldn't be stranded, and we discussed towing Bracken back to the marina the following day.
We needed to move Bracken a little further along the canal so that Paul would have somewhere to wind (turn) his boat round for the tow so I thought I'd try starting the engine and see if we could get a bit further along.
Imagine my surprise when not only did the engine start quite easily but ran fairly quietly and ticked over smoothly! Darren went off in my car to pick up his car key from the hotel, and Bev and I pottered along the canal seeing how much further we could get before the engine gave up on us. We said we'd meet Darren at Fradley Junction if we could make it that far and off we went.
By moving in short hops, travel 30 mins, stop switch off, cool down for 15 mins then travel 30 mins again then stop etc etc we made it back to Fradley to find Darren outside the Mucky duck with a pint of beer in his hand! (allright for some!)
Leaving his car at the pub he worked us up through the locks until eventually we made it back to the Marina to the immense relief of all. (especially Paul.

Bev taking a turn on the tiller. Almost back at the marina.

Once we were back on Bracken's mooring, I drove Bev and Darren back to Fradley to collect their car.  Back on Bracken, I was cold, tired, and hungry so I lit the fire, had a nice hot shower and did myself some dinner. I was soooo relieved to be back home in the marina and just so thankful that I hadn't had to be towed back.

The following day I had someone look and listen to the engine. The verdict is that compression is low on number 1 and number 3 cylinders, and almost no compression on number 2 cylinder.

The chap seems to think the clattering and banging was caused by particles of carbon being trapped under the valves preventing them closing properly, then as the carbon is dispelled the engine goes quiet again. 

As spares are almost non existent for Slanzi engines, and I've never been happy with having to use a blowlamp to start it anyway, I've decided to look at the possibility of changing the engine completely for something more commonplace and maintainable.

So if anyone has a nice cheap BMC going spare let me know.

Meanwhile, I wont be going anywhere, just enjoying living afloat.

On Bev and Darrens last night here we went down to Jenny's for a Chinese takeaway and had a lovely evening of good food and good chat, with no television. Great seeing you pair again.

I think the moral to this story, (if there is one) is if you're thinking of buying a boat on a tight budget, make sure you can get the necessary spares to fix the engine if it goes wrong.

So that brings the Blog more or less up to date now, I promise I'll try and do at least a weekly update in future.  Bfn.

visitors, a trip down canal, and a knackered engine.

1st of June 2015.

Hello again, hopefully this post will bring us right up to date.

Remember these-

Picture taken on 11th of May

Picture taken this morning 1st June, same brood!

 On the 25th May, Bev and Darren came up from Kent for a few days. Leaving at 'silly o-clock' (Darren's words), they arrived at the marina around 9.30 am. They'd booked into an hotel in Tamworth for 4 nights but couldn't check in till the place opened so came straight to the marina.

After coffee's and greetings we drove over to the Kingfisher cafe at Fradley junction for some breakfast and had a good old natter and catch up. Their last visit was at the end of October last year, so although I saw Bev in January  when I went down to Kent for Matthews 40th, it still seemed a long time ago.

I suggested we had a little voyage during their stay and they thought this was a grand idea, (little did we know!)

So the idea was they would drive up to the Marina Tuesday morning and the 3 of us would set off down the canal on Bracken and head for Tamworth, where they were staying at the hotel. Then on Wednesday after they'd spent Tuesday night at the hotel in Tamworth, (me on Bracken of course), the 3 of us would return up the canal on Bracken hoping to arrive back at the Marina Wednesday afternoon.

Seemed like a plan.

So around 10 am Tuesday off we set, turned right out of Marina and down the Trent and Mersey  canal towards our first lock at Wood End.

There wasn't much of a queue at Wood End lock, just one going down and one coming up so not much delay. Then on past Fradley Woods  to Shade House Lock which fortunately was being operated for us by volunteer lockies. No delay again as the lock was already in our favour. 

Exiting Shade House Lock.

Entering Middle Lock, last one before turning right onto the Coventry Canal at Fradley Junction.

Waiting to exit the lock. In the distance can be seen Fradley Junction where we turn right opposite the 'Mucky Duck' (White Swan) onto the Coventry Canal. No more locks for the next 10 miles.

The trip down to Tamworth was expected to take approx 5 hours in total, and once on the picturesque Coventry Canal we enjoyed the peace and tranquility of the journey.

I was a little concerned at the amount of smoke coming from the engine breather pipe, so we had the engine hatch open to let the fresh air in and the smoke out. I was also aware that the engine seemed to be getting noisier, but was that because the engine hatch was open??

Rather than take Bracken into Tamworth town, which may have been busy, we decided to moor just past Sutton bridge which was a quiet pleasant spot with mooring rings. So as the time then was around 6 pm Bev and Darren walked to their hotel and I settled down for the evening.

Nice spot for an overnight stop, apart from early morning joggers!

Wednesday morning I was rudely woken at 05.30 by the pounding of the first joggers!

I mean for Gods sake, who the hell goes jogging at 5.30 in the morning!

Joggers, then cyclists, so by 7 am I gave up trying to sleep and got up.

I hadn't slept too well anyway, worrying about the engine and whether it was going to get us home.

I did the usual checks, oil, fan belt etc etc had breakfast and waited for Bev and Darren to arrive from their hotel.

The engine reluctantly started. And the peace was shattered by the unholy clattering and banging from an obviously very ill engine!

More detail.

Its a damp, gloomy, and breezy day. So I thought it a good opportunity  to do some more updating to the blog so both my readers will be up to date. Ok hopefully there are more than two of you!

Springtime in the Marina is a lovely time of year, new leaves budding on the trees and bushes so that everything starts to 'green up' so to speak. As the sap starts to rise in the foliage, so too does the urge to procreate in the waterfowl world. Ducks get frisky, well the male ones do anyway, the females just start acting coy, and pretty soon it becomes a general free for all orgy!

The pair of resident swans are a little more discreet in their mating. Well I suppose as they've been together for some years now they're like an old married couple. 

The Canada geese on the other hand are a different ball game completely! Aggressive, vociferous, and sex mad! They're like a bunch of hooligans out on the pull after 10 pints and a few shots! All they seem to want to do is fight every other bird in sight, and having had their wicked way they then are intent on defending their territory. Which generaly means lots of loud honking noises from the early hours onwards! As for having a lay in, forget it!

At the stern of Bracken there is a hazel bush that I hang bird feeders from so I have a steady stream of visitors from the bird world who seem to be quite appreciative of my donations. (well as they don't poo on Brackens roof I assume they're appreciative)

Blue-tit, one of the regular visitors.

There is also a resident Moor-hen that finds the bird-feeders irresistible.

Moorhens are waterfowl, ie they swim, and nest in rushes in the canal / river bank. Similar to a Coot but with a red lump above their beak, generaly they cant fly but make semi-controlled landings from high spots.

Well this Moorhen climbs the tree to get at the birdfeeder!

Most amusing to watch as she is obviously not a natural tree climber.

Nearly got it, just a little further to stretch!

Mmm seed is good!

After all the 'procreating' what do we get?  Lots and lots of babies!!

These cygnets were only a couple of days old and didn't know what to do with the food pellets. Mum and dad did tho!

TEN babies! now I know why geese are so noisy during egg laying!

These are regular visitors now, and all are nearly as big as mum.

This pair of ducks I call 'The Odd Couple'. The brown duck is the female and to be honest she is more trouble than she's worth. The drake follows her around like a lovestruck teenager, and is forever getting into fights as you can see by the missing feathers on his chest!

Its her! - loose women doesn't come anywhere near describing her! She's always wandering off with other Drakes whilst her poor 'husband' spends all his time looking for her and quacking in a most distressing way, and when I'm feeding them he always lets her have the food first so i always give him a bit extra.

One of the other jobs I've done is to paint the ceiling throughout the boat. Its made a big difference inside, and has made it much lighter and airier.

As it was. (photo taken in January)

Much better now, and lighter curtains too.

It took me 3 days to do the ceiling, a coat of paint each day. I'm glad its done now but it was hard going trying to tilt my head back against neck muscles that are not very supple now.

I'm still having monthly review checks with my Consultant oncologist, so far, so good.

Couldn't resist taking this next picture, my next door neighbour Ann, kindly gave me a bowl of chocolate sponge with cream and custard. Deeelicious! No wonder I've gone from 64 kilos to 76 kilos in the last 6 months!!

More on next post.

Some detail

Following on from yesterdays update, as promised, a few details of what has kept me busy over the last few weeks. 

The roof as it had become after the winter weather.

Close up where the paint has cracked and lifted due to paint being applied over dirt / rust!

after scraping the loose flaking paint and exposing the rust.

I took bracken out of marina to machine the whole roof and then applied rust killer before sanding, and priming surface.

After 4 coats of primer, rubbed back with wet and dry paper between each coat.

Just after priming surface. Bootiful aint it!

2 coats of Topcoat.

You wouldn't believe 24 hours before this picture there was a large puddle of BLACK paint across the roof where I knocked over a full tin of black paint!!
Its a wonder the roof didnt take the color of the air- it was BLUE !

Black gutters and round the chimney, dosn't show the soot and oily stains from the fire.

So that gets the roof looking nice, it wouldn't stand close inspection from my eldest son as he's a professional painter/sprayer and very picky, but i'm happy with it. It'll be interesting to see how it weathers in a years time.

I started the scraping and preparation during March and April, and topcoated during May.

Its been an even longer while.

Well here we are, well into the year. It hardly seems like a couple of weeks ago it was February and I was bringing the blog up to date, and now here we are almost into June.
I must have been very busy during the last few months, and yet when i think back over the period I don't recollect feeling under pressure to hurry anything. But then that's the way of living afloat, there IS NO hurry.
When you talk about being 'busy' it conjures up an impression of having lots of jobs to do, and not enough time to do them all.
Well so far I've found life afloat to be quite the opposite. Yes there are jobs to do, but there isn't the urgency to complete each task asap, therefore you tend to pace yourself, and enjoy living 'the dream',
 And I do! I guess thats what retirement is all about. I am very content with life, although living on a fixed income is a little worrying at times, like when your engine goes caput! (more of that later)
So what have I been up to since February? Stripped, primed, and topcoated the roof, stripped and rustproofed and painted the well deck, removed, resealed and refitted the storage boxes on the back deck, had my 66th birthday,  had a visit from my friend from the north, -Beth, painted the ceiling right through Bracken,  had a visit from Bev and Darren, had a canal trip down to Tamworth and back, blew up the engine on Bracken and had to limp back to the marina! and that kind of brings us up to date!
Over the next few posts i'll fill in some details.

Its been a while

Hello people, I do hope you are all well.
 Its been a while since I last posted on the blog and a number of friends and family have remarked that I have not updated for a while so I thought I'd better put 'pen to paper' so to speak.
I am keeping well, and thoroughly enjoying living aboard Bracken. Every day I feel the need to pinch myself to make sure i'm not dreaming.

 So far this winter has been very mild, apart from a few heavy frosts that froze the marina over for a few days, and a light dusting of snow back in January, and some gusty conditions, we really can't complain. I can honestly say that so far I have been as warm as toast on Bracken, far warmer than I ever was during the winter time when I lived in the bungalow in Kent.
Talking of Kent, I went down there at the end of January as it was my eldest sons 40th birthday on the 26th. I was supposed to be visiting Beth up north that weekend but decided I couldn't miss the lads 'big four oh ' and as the car needed servicing and I also needed a haircut, I decided to do the lot during the visit 'dan sarf'. I ended up staying for the week courtesy of my friends John and Dee who kindly put up with me, so I was able to spend time with lots of family and friends. It was great catching up with everyone, and seeing how the grandkids are growing up was a real treat.
Beth and I finally had our Christmas meal last weekend. (you may recall that she was ill over Christmas and so I stayed home), well I drove up last Saturday and we had a lovely roast turkey dinner with sprouts, stuffing and all the trimmings, exchanged some gifts that Santa had left, watched some films and generaly chilled out, (as you do) before I drove home on Monday.
Thank you Beth for a very restful weekend.
I've had some regular check ups at Derby hospital and a CT scan just to monitor my health. So far all ok, my consultant Mr Laughane is happy with my progress, I still see him every 4 weeks and Jenny usually accompanies me. So fingers crossed all will remain ok.
Lunch time now, so bfn people.

And a happy and HEALTHY New Year!!

Thursday 8th January 2015.

Hello people, and a belated Happy New Year to all!

Having just returned from a food shop and feeling somewhat 'grumpy' I thought I would do something to help me calm down, and take the opportunity to bring the blog up to date. 

The reason I'm grumpy? Yet another supermarket 'scar' on the car! Caused by some shortsighted moron who cant judge the width of a parking space/ or their vehicle, and therefore has added yet another scuff to my rear bumper! Honestly it makes me soooo cross! Before retiring due to medical treatment etc I had spent the previous 25 years as a ADI  (Approved Driving Instructor) teaching people to drive, and the only scars on my vehicle have been caused by other people hitting my vehicle!  Grrrr! I know its not a nice attitude but the best I can hope for is that someone will do it to their car then they'll know how it feels.

Anyway, enough moaning for now, I am gradually chilling out, relaxing, and enjoying the peace and quiet of Kings Bromley Marina.

Reading Les and Jacqueline blog http://boatlife.blogspot.co.uk/ about their life in the Marina,  I couldn't help thinking how fortunate I am living here. The Marina is well landscaped with many mature trees and has lots of 'Green areas'. There are adequate facilities for laundry, showers and WCs  and each mooring has water and electricity. The owners tend to space the liveaboards so that there's usually one or two 'holiday boats' between two liveaboards thereby giving some privacy.

I suppose I'm quite lucky where I am, on the right (starboard) side of me is a holiday boat where the owners live in Yorkshire and only appear every few weeks, and when they do they're very quiet.

 On the port side at present, is an empty space as the usual occupant is away being painted, but when it is here the owners only visit every few weeks, in both cases they're really nice people who value their privacy.

The other side of the empty space is occupied by Paul, who lives aboard and is a thoroughly nice guy. He and I usually fill our water tanks together as its easier with two of us.

My view from the rear deck is of mature trees and fields with the car parking area close by. The view from the front deck looks out across the Marina to the fuel pontoon so there's sometimes a bit of coming and going there which can be quite entertaining at times!

The Marina is gated, that is to say its not generaly open to the public and out of office hours the only way of entering or leaving is by an electronic key fob issued to boat owners only so therefore it's quite secure.

Living in the Marina suits me well. I've been able to liveaboard since moving up here from Kent and I'm not far from my brother and sister. This year I hope to do some extended cruising from my mooring at Kings Bromley returning when the mood takes me and maybe NEXT year I'll become a continuous cruiser? Time will tell.

More later. 

The best laid plans............?

Saturday 27th December.

What is it they say about the best laid plans of mice and men?
The plan was to spend a few days over Christmas with Beth. Unfortunately when we spoke on the phone Wednesday morning it became obvious she was not well as she had come home from work and was feeling pretty lousy, was running a high temperature, and with a hacking cough. So, as my immune system is pretty non existent, it seemed a bit risky for me to spend time in that environment. The bug had gone through her daughters family a couple of weeks earlier so it was obviously just looking for a new 'host' to adopt. So anyway I stayed home on Bracken. I could have contacted  G and J or Jenny and I'm sure I would have been very welcome at their festivities but I decided to spend Christmas day at home.
First job was to hit Morrisons supermarket for some Christmas grub and generally get myself organised.
I was already well stocked up with coal and wood blocks so there was no question that I would be warm enough, and trust me, I was!

Christmas morning was bright and clear so after showering and poking the fire into life it was on with the Christmas Jumper!

Courtesy of Graham and Jaq as I'm a great fan of the Despicable films.

I got my neighbour to take the pic, great innit! I sent it to most of the family and they all thought it was great.

I enjoyed my day, ate loads of food and even renewed my taste for Glenfiddich scotch, After my chemo and radio treatment I didn't enjoy the taste so stopped having any 'tipples' however I'm pleased to report the taste buds seem to have recovered and I am SOOOOO glad I kept a couple of bottles in the cupboard, 'just in case'.  I had a lovely day, didnt need to go anywhere and chilled out with plenty to eat and lots of texts to various members of the family. And of course I had total control of the TV remote!

 I tell you what , I slept like a log that night!

Yesterday, (boxing day) started off quiet tho frosty. Jenny popped in when she heard I was at home and in the evening I picked her and Charlotte up and we went to G and J for a Turkey curry dinner which was delicious.

 It was snowing on the way there so driving conditions were a bit iffy but it seemed to thaw during the evening, and we thought it would disappear..... until we came to leave! There was still quite a bit laying but we made it back ok.

Kinda pretty aint it?

Insulation seems to be doing its job as only the snow round the chimney has melted.

Paul and I filled the water tanks on both boats today, the white boat is his so filling both boats together makes sense.

I'll write more later.

Bfn.

Best wishes to all, it's nearly Christmas!

Tuesday 23rd December.

Hello people, as so often nowadays I am beginning with an apology for not having written for a while.

Although I wouldn't say I'm always busy, I do find enough things to do to fill my days. There are always the regular maintenance jobs, like cleaning the fire out, emptying the ash can, laying and lighting the fire each day. Whilst it has been so mild of late, I've been letting the fire go out during the evening and then relighting it in the morning otherwise it gets so warm and stuffy. As it is I have the sliding hatch open all evening to let the fresh air in/ warm air out.

Another job is to empty the toilet cassette, this I usually do every 3 or 4 days so its not too heavy to carry. I don't do solids in the boat toilet, as I'm not too far away from the Marina toilet and shower block.

Once a week I fill the water tank, I've not yet run out of water, and I find filling it at about 7 day intervals means it doesn't take too long. In fact it takes longer to run the hoses out and connect them up than it does to fill the tank. This is because during the winter months the marina turns off the supply to each individual mooring to stop them from freezing up and they leave one tap at the end of the pontoon 'live' as it has a heater in it. Unfortunately Bracken is at the OTHER end of the pontoon and so far away it takes a 200 foot extension hose to reach it which has to be reeled up afterwards! heavy!! Fortunately though, the guy whose boat is almost next door to Bracken gives me a hand and we do both boats at the same time which is soooo much easier! During the summer of course its a doddle as the tap is only 3 feet away from Brackens stern.

I read a lot, its a great way of losing time, and I can get totally lost in a good book, sometimes its the rumbling of my stomach that reminds me I've almost missed a meal time. 

I had a visitor last week from Kent. Margaret, (first wife and mother of my sons)  was visiting her relatives who live near Graham and Jaq and popped in to see me and deliver some Christmas goodies from friends and family in Kent. Lovely to see her again and to catch up with family news.

Yesterday evening I popped in to see Jenny, and this evening I'm going over to G and J's as I won't see them over Christmas as I'm going up to spend a few days with Beth.

This year has seen some life changing situations develop for me, starting with buying Bracken, then being diagnosed with cancer and being forced to retire due to ill health, going through Chemo and Radio treatment only to find that it didn't kill the cancer, moving onto Bracken full time, and so to the seriously invasive surgery to remove the tumour along with surrounding arteries, muscle and  tissue etc . Hopefully next year will be different. I've always thought 'The Man Upstairs' has a strange sense of humour, hopefully he'll smile on people like Les Biggs, and me, and soooo many other people in similar situations and give us a good cruising year in 2015.

A very Happy Christmas to everybody out there, and a HEALTHY New Year!!

bfn

Dave