Voyage to Tixall with company.

Covering week-end 7th and 8th May

Hello people, it's raining today so what better time to update the blog and the voyages of Bracken.

I had a guest for the week-end. Sharon, (formerly referred to as 'Beth' in much earlier posts), came down from Sheffield for the week-end so we decided to venture further afield and give Bracken its' first real long voyage since the engine was replaced.

We decided to make our way to a place called Tixall Wide on the Staffs and Worcestershire canal which is a very popular picturesque area where the canal  opens up into a large lake and is only accessible by boat. I had never been there before but had been told it is a beautiful area to moor up and chill out. At a distance of approx 12 miles and with two locks to go through, it would take us around 5 hours to get there so we decided to leave first thing Saturday morning in the hope that we would find a good mooring spot at the 'Wide' before every one else arrived looking for an overnight mooring spot.

Sharon arrived Friday eve, so we were up and ready for the off first thing Saturday, I'd already topped the water tank up, unplugged the shore power, switched on the inverter for the fridge/freezer so at 0830 we were off.

The route took us North West along the Trent and Mersey canal through Armitage and Rugeley to the first lock at Colwich which is approx 9 miles from Kings Bromley marina. Then through Little Haywood to the lock at Great Haywood which is immediately followed by Great Haywood junction where we turned left onto the Staffs and Worcestershire canal and then on to Tixall Wide.

We moored up at Tixall at around 13.30 so it did take us 5 hours. We were so lucky at the two locks, Colwich and Great Haywood, as both times we approached as someone was leaving the lock so it was already in our favour.Also there were other boaters who gave Sharon a hand with the lock gates and paddles as it was some years since she had operated them.

Moored up, we had some lunch and got the deck chairs out on the towpath and proceeded to just chill.

There were many boats moored further on we were lucky finding this spot.

Taken not long after mooring up, you can see the beginning of the 'wide' further on.

And a couple of hours later........!!

Around 7 am Sunday morning, stunningly beautiful morning.

A couple of Grebes foraging in the reeds.

We left Tixall around 10 am to start the journey home as Sharon needed to get back to Sheffield as she had work on Monday

I've taken numerous pictures on the way back to Kings Bromley just give give readers a taste of canal travel on a beautiful hot sunny day. Some of the views show just how stunningly beautiful the countryside is.

So not too much chat from me, now enjoy the views.

Trade boats, selling nick nacks, dog toys, canal ware stuff.

Good job we cant lip read from a photo, but she managed to keep Bracken in a fairly straight line whilst i took the picture.

Bracken is in Colwich lock, and Sharon was somewhat weary.

A view from the canal across part of Cannock Chase.

Bridge number 70, Kings Bromley is just past bridge 55 so we had a good way to go yet.

Canal runs next to river Trent, later on we cross the river Trent on an aqueduct.

Approaching aqueduct over river Trent

We've come through Rugely and we're approaching the Narrows at Armitage.
This is a statue of a n elderly man in a nightshirt holding a lamp or torch.

Entering the narrows, this is where you hope there's no boat coming towards you!

Armitage Shanks factory, they make bathroom furniture. (otherwise known as bogs)

Bridge 55 so the Marina is not much further ahead.

Moored up back in the marina it was great to have a sit and relax on the green area in the shade of some trees. Graham and Jaqi popped in to see Sharon before she left to go back to Sheffield as they'd not seen her for a while, and later Jenny also popped in for a chat.

What an excellent week-end. The weather was brilliant, it was nice spending time with Sharon as we don't see each other very often. Good to see you stronger and more independent Gal!

Bracken performed faultlessly. I was so pleased with the way the engine ran and responded, it never missed a beat and I am now so confident in the engine I would be happy taking it anywhere.

I'll have to plan another trip soon.

Bfn people.

Mini voyages, and confidence grows.

Hi there people,
Really strange weather today, one minute we have glorious sunshine, and I'm going round opening doors and the rear sliding hatch, and the next minute it's hammering down hailstones like peas and I'm dashing round closing doors and hatches.
I'm happy to report the engine installation is finished. The engineer eventually arrived on the Thursday after my last blog, he fitted the air filter and temperature sensor and we ran the engine up to operating temperature. We agreed not to change the injector as the slight misfire seems to have cured itself and in fact the engine runs very sweetly once its warmed up. It's a bit smoky at first starting up but clears fairly quickly and runs smoothly.
I've been out of the marina 2 or 3 times and up to the Handsacre winding hole (turning point) and back, a distance of about 4 miles total which gives the engine time to get up to temperature and gives me chance to get used to the sound and 'feel' of how the boat responds to the BMC.
It's certainly got sufficient power to push Bracken along at a steady pace. I have experimented with different amounts of throttle / revs. Around 1800 rpm seems to be around brisk walking speed, 1200 rpm seems good when passing moored boats, and 2000 rpm is good for water skiing ! (just kidding).
One thing I have noticed when pushing the boat at around 2000 rpm is the apparent lack of 'wash', I don't know whether its Brackens hull design, but even with a good bow wave there seems hardly a ripple following the stern. All good fun tho.
I spent last Sunday afternoon down in the engine bay fitting a remote greaser to the stern gland on the prop shaft. I bought it on Ebay a few months ago and finally got round to fitting it. It is solid brass, weighs a ton and looks like it came off the Titanic! Amazing how deceptive photos can be, it looked quite small in the photo.

Anyway it does the job perfectly.

For those of you who don't know what a remote greaser does, well it does what it says on the tin, that is when you turn the 'T' shaped handle down maybe a turn, grease is forced through a pipe into the stern gland thereby not only lubricating the propeller shaft but packing the gland with grease thus preventing water from seeping up past the shaft and dripping into the bilge.

The other job I've been doing is fitting an inverter so when I'm not connected to the shore power I can still run my fridge freezer.

The inverter converts the 12 volt battery power to 240 volt mains power.

I fitted a 1500 watt pure sine wave inverter which should be strong enough to run my fridge freezer.

I fitted the inverter in the engine bay, quite close to the leisure batteries to keep the battery cable runs as short as possible. The power cable from the inverter then enters a socket in the saloon and has a remote on/off switch just above it.

Just above that switch is a socket where the shore power enters the boat.

As you can see in the photo the orange plug, (which is connected to the consumer unit) is plugged into the shore power at present.

If I disconnect the boat from the shore power because I'm going cruising, then I plug the orange plug into the socket marked INV, switch on the inverter and all works as normal.

I wanted an idiot (me) proof way of never confusing which power I was plugged into and this was the best way I could come up with.

Had my INR check today, (rate at which my blood clots), all ok there, and on Friday I have my 8 weekly check with my Oncologist consultant/surgeon, Mr Laugharne who is a thoroughly nice guy, at Derby hospital. So fingers crossed all will be ok there.

Well that's about it for now people.

Best wishes to all, bfn.

The installation.

Tuesday 29th March

Hello again people,

As I promised just a few details of how the installation of the BMC engine was anything but straight forward.

Basicaly, the main problem was the fact that the BMC engine is bigger not only in power output, but in dimensions too.

The distance across the original main  engine bearers in the boat is 16.5 inches centre to centre.

The distance across the engine mounts on the BMC engine is 22 inches centre to centre. So as you can imagine there was actually nothing for the engine to sit on as the mounts fell each side of the original bearers.

There was much discussion about how to provide support for the engine, but, to cut an exceedingly long story down to a reasonable size, I suggested they bolt two new bearers to the engine mounts, then the new bearers could then be welded to two new cross members which could be welded to the original engine bearers. In effect it would be like a subframe for the engine to be bolted on to.

They seemed to like this idea and in fact this is how the job was done.

The rest of the installation went well, and was fairly straight forward, I had sufficient spares and piping and jubilee clips and bolts and nuts and stuff that they didn't have to supply anything other than the steel for the subframe.

Connecting the exhaust was straight forward, as was the cooling system. I had retained the wiring loom off the Vetus engine and was able to adapt it to operate on the BMC so with the aid of my notes on which wire went where and to what, even connecting the wiring up was straight forward.

Sods law meant that I would have to change the morse cable controls over. When I first bought Bracken I had to change the cables over because when you moved the lever forward the boat went backwards, and visa versa due to the rotation of the gearbox. Then when I fitted the Vetus engine I had to change the cables over again because the gear box rotated the opposite way. Now I've had to do it again! Hopefully for the last time!

I expected the engineer to come today to finish the installation. I'm missing the air filter, and also the temperature sender unit as the one on the engine is missing the electrical tag. Also he needs to replace number 3 injector as it is causing a slight misfire at low revs which causes a bit of smoke. Once that is all done I will have run out of excuses for not going out of the marina ha!

Mind you, when the engineer is going to appear is anybodies guess. I'm not going to 'slag off ' the company, other than to say they are not big on communication. I have spent a great deal of time waiting around, that's waiting for them to return phone calls, and waiting in for men that don't turn up. When I was in business for myself, my main aim was always to keep the customer informed, every step of the way. The customer always knew when to expect me, and if I was held up for any reason, I would let them know. 

I suppose it has become one of my pet hates.

And don't get me started on' being put on hold' on phone calls!!! Grrr! 

I've come to a conclusion ........... There is two time zones. There is Normal time. And there is Canal time. Everything happening on the canals happens at a quarter of the speed therefore takes 4 times as long as it would normally do! Or maybe I'm just an impatient sod!

Enough ranting from me.

Time for me to do some dinner, just want to say hi to Elise, (grand-daughter) as she has just started reading Grandads blog. Love you lots xx

Well that's it for now people, i'll write again soon.

Bfn.

Out with the old, and in with the new (old).

Monday 28th March.

Hello people, well here we are a typical bank holiday. Wet, windy, cold (outside, toasty warm in here).

There's a lot been going on here over the past few weeks, I am SO loving being retired! I'm not gloating, honest, I just enjoy waking up and pottering about at my leisure, listening to birdsong and enjoying the tranquillity of living afloat. Even when its raining, the sound of the rain on the roof of the boat is somehow soothing and peaceful. I think its called 'living the dream'.

I've been painting, only the inside at the moment. Well much as I love the wooden panelling in Bracken, it does make it a bit dark so I decided to paint the galley area the same colour as the ceiling in order to lighten it up a bit.

Well it certainly worked! The galley (kitchen) area is now a nice bright 'Happy Yellow' (that's the name of the paint colour), possibly needs another coat, (it's had 3 so far) but I think it looks great.

The other 'event' that has been taking place is:-

I took the plunge so to speak, and decided to call in RCR (River, Canal, Rescue) and got them to replace the tired, worn out Vetus engine that I fitted last year. You know, the one I bought cheap off Ebay that turned out to be knackered! Yep thats the one!

I really couldn't face going through the business of fitting the replacement myself, not again, so I decided to pay RCR to supply and fit a 1500 BMC with PRM 120 gearbox.

So it was out with the old, and in with the new. Actually it's not new, but second-hand but I'm reliably assured its a good un, and as it comes with a warranty I have no reason to disbelieve them. 

The fitting of the engine to Bracken turned out to be anything but straight forward.

I'll talk more about that later.

Anyway it is in and running now, just need some adjustments to the gear linkage and injectors and I'll be ready to have a mini voyage up the cut, Hurrah!!

More later.

bfn

Christmas, Health, and the Future.

Monday 8th February.

Hello people, yes I know its been a while since I last wrote, but I'm here now.
Firstly let me wish everyone a belated happy and hopefully Healthy New Year.  

Well, talk about 'the best laid plans'.... My last post was written on Tuesday before Christmas, well the next morning, (Wednesday), I was woken with excruciating pain in the left leg and it turned out I had developed a DVT in the left groin. An ambulance took me to Burton hospital who then sent me to Stoke on Trent hospital where I spent Wednesday night and Thursday morning being injected with clot busting drugs whilst trying to keep my left leg elevated. 

I'm not one to whinge and moan in hospital, I think that generaly the majority of nursing staff do a good job sometimes under a great deal of pressure, but by lunchtime on Christmas eve I had had enough and insisted on being discharged and allowed to return home to Bracken.

Over the next couple of weeks I injected myself daily and gradually regained the use of my left leg, in fact now I'm more or less back to how I was before the DVT. I now have to take Warfarin daily thats an anticoagulant, (stops the blood clotting) to hopefully prevent any more DVT's  fingers crossed!

I also have to go for regular blood tests to check the INR (thats the rate of clotting).

Now you are probably thinking what a terrible Christmas I must have had? Well to be honest I had a lovely Christmas!! Mainly down to my Sister Jenny who was an absolute diamond, and there are not enough words to describe how grateful I am to her. She not only changed her plans for Christmas to look after me but came up to Bracken and finished cooking our Christmas dinner.

Graham and Jaq also came up Christmas morning for an hour or so, so all in all I had a lovely Christmas!

Jenny  also ferried me to and fro to various hospitals until I was able to drive myself again, I don't know what I would have done without her.
I should also like to thank Rod and Sue from Narrow-boat Clara (next mooring to me), they were aboard their boat over Christmas and New Year and popped in regularly to make sure I was ok, and also my good friend Paul, ( next door but one) who also popped in to check on me.
Thanks people I really appreciated your help.

Tuesday 9th February.

Hello again, 

I had to attend Burton hospital today for a blood test. What a nightmare trying to find somewhere to park within 'hobbling' distance of the main entrance! The car parks were full to bursting with queues of cars gridlocking the entrances and exits! Eventually we found a space where some nice person was just about to vacate so we dived in! I say 'we' because Jenny came with me as chief navigator.

Having parked up we then made our way to the blood test department only to find it absolutely full. They were attending to number 11 ticket holder when we entered and I was given number 36 so only 25 people in front of me! Good job I wasn't planning on going anywhere I thought. Now I have to wait for a phone call to tell me whether to alter the dosage of Warfarin or continue as I am.

I'm glad I dont have to inject myself anymore, The injections had to be into the stomach area so after 14 days my stomach was a mass of bruises!

I thought I'd publish some photos in case my readers were getting bored with all the hospital talk, so here we go..........

My bestest little sis cooking Christmas dinner on Bracken.

Number one Sister in Law Jaqi

Bestest Bro, with HAIR!

House sparrow.

Tree Sparrow.

Mrs Moorhen, up the tree as usual.

Coal Tit (I think) or might be a Great Tit.

As far as the engine is concerned, I am waiting for RCR (River, Canal Rescue) to get back to me with prices for supplying and fitting a second hand BMC engine (with warranty. They've been out and assessed the job and given me a rough estimate. Now I'm just waiting for firm figures and to give them the go ahead.

I did the majority of the work myself on the fitting of the present engine and I really don't want to do it again so I'm going to let someone else do the work this time and with a warranty on the replacement I should have some peace of mind. 

thoughts for the future concerning the engine and some seasonal greetings to all.

Tuesday 22nd December

Greetings people, on this wet and windy day!

I suppose it could be worse, we could be knee deep in snow, or iced in and unable to move anywhere.

I thought it was time I wrote a few lines as a few friends have been contacting me due to the lack of updates to the blog. Sorry all, I promise to try and do more regular updates in the future.

The engine saga is an ongoing story. The installation of the engine is finished now. It starts, runs, and drives the boat forwards and backwards. BUT......unfortunately there are issues, issues that require much thought and decisions that need to be made in the future. 

When I bought the engine, (ebay) I took a tremendous risk. I bought the engine unseen and untested and relied on the sellers assurance that it was a good engine. To be fair the seller had never run the engine himself but had bought it for a project which never happened. When he bought the engine he was assured it was a good engine. Well unfortunately it aint a good engine! It is actually a very tired engine. It is low on compression, and also has very low oil pressure. Also, to be honest at 25 hp it is not powerful enough for the size of propeller fitted to Bracken. I must confess this is not something I fully considered before I started looking for an engine. I think the prop on Bracken is around 17 to 18 inch diameter, whereas the recommended size for this engine is 15 inch diameter. So basicaly if I keep this engine I will need to have a smaller prop fitted.  That entails removing the boat from the water to change the prop (more expense).

In truth, I tried to do the job of replacing the old engine on the cheap and basically came unstuck. So now I have to decide what to do about it. Fortunately I don't have to go anywhere, i'm quite happy living at Kings Bromley Marina, but it would be nice to go off cruising next spring if only for short periods, however I dont feel confident enough in this engine to venture very far. 

So, after the festive period I shall be considering my options and perhaps seeking some estimates.

The visits to my Oncology consultant are now every Two months instead of every month and so far all is well, (fingers crossed), although I am due to see the Cardio-Vascular team in January due to a narrowing of yet another artery that showed up on my last CT scan. (No additional problems as yet).

Thought you'd like a few pictures of some of my visitors. 

The Kingfisher seems to have moved his territory as he no longer sits on next doors boat, but I still see him around fairly often.

This Robin is a frequent visitor.

.....Usually when I've just filled the feeder.

Bluetits are always on the feeders.

The Tree-sparrow is usualy round the bottom underneath the feeders clearing up what gets dropped.

As does Mrs Moorhen when she's not climbing the tree!

  Well people, its time I wrapped this up as my tummy is rumbling!

I'd like to wish every one a happy and festive Christmas, and my very best wishes for 2016.

To every one in the boating communityI say, eat, drink and be merry, but try not to fall in!!

Some wiring and the panel is fitted.

Saturday 24th October.

Hi everyone, its raining here so what better time to catch up with the blog.

I've been sneezing a lot today so I do hope its not the onset of a cold. I was filling the water tanks on mine and Pauls boat earlier today and got drenched whilst trying to repair a leak in my water hose, in the pouring rain. Snug and warm now though.

So, how are we doing? I hear you say, well I'll let the pictures tell the story.

As it used to look.......

........ and as it looks now.

 Two pictures don't really show the amount of work that went into installing the new panel. On removing the old panel a mass of wiring was exposed. Some of it was needed and some was redundant. Also, the hole in the bulkhead had to be enlarged so that the 'guts' of the new panel would have somewhere to go.
I removed as much of the redundant wiring as I could, and then last Sunday Paul and I drove Bracken out of the Marina just up the canal and moored against the towpath to use an angle grinder fitted with a cutting disc to enlarge the hole.
Quite a momentous occasion, Bracken moving under its own power!! The first time since taking Bracken to the wharf to have the old engine removed!
I had the panel connected with the 4 metre wiring loom and propped up on a box to be able to start and stop the engine! It took us a couple of hours to enlarge the hole, Paul on the angle grinder and me inside the cabin with a fire extinguisher -just in case! There were sparks flying everywhere!
Once we'd cut the hole big enough we returned to the Marina where over the next few days I proceeded to remove the panelling from below the window to route the thick loom from the engine bay, through a one and a half inch diameter hole in the steel bulkhead, up the inside of the cabin wall and into the cupboard behind the Fusebox and engine panel.
A very messy job as the wall panelling is stuffed with fibreglass insulation which had to be removed and then replaced after the wiring loom was installed.
 

Cupboard behind engine panel contains........

.......Domestic fuses all 12 volt, and the back of the engine instruments.
The thick grey cable at the bottom is the connecting cable to the engine wiring.

Quite a marathon job fitting the new engine panel but it looks good I think.
Still some fiddling to do like sealing round the panel on the outside.Also I still need to set up the throttle and gear linkage as it's still a bit notchy, so I think next job will be to strip down the 'Morse' lever control and give it a good overhaul.
 So, getting there slowly.

A few pics of our resident Kingfisher. This first one I took with my phone camera, the rest were taken by Graham Haygreen.

Mrs Moorhen having a feed.

Sitting on my boat just in front of one of my boxes.

Sitting on Pauls boat. (No its not snowing!)

Well thats about it for now People. Bfn.

Update continued.

Monday 5th October. And it's raining!

Hello again, I didn't write yesterday because it was an absolutely beautiful day and too nice to sit indoors.

Jenny text me Saturday eve and invited me to join her for breakfast Sunday morning at the Kingfisher cafe at Fradley Junction. Normally she works on Sundays so this was a rare opportunity for us to have breakfast together. A lovely way to start the day.

I didn't do much after, chatted to some of my neighbours, watched the wild birds empty the seed container, refilled the seed container, and generally enjoyed lounging in the sunshine. It was one of those days that make you feel glad to be alive.

Over the past few days a Kingfisher has been visiting our end of the Marina, and seems to have taken a liking to sitting on or near Pauls boat which is the last boat off our pontoon. I managed to take a photo of him but it isn't very clear as he's too far away from me. However, Paul took this next picture through his window, simply superb.

Picture courtesy of Paul.

In the afternoon Graham, Jaqui, and two of their friends called in to see me and have a coffee. They were on their motor bikes and on their way home from Matlock in Derbyshire where they'd been for the weekend.

Not only did they see the kingfisher close up but also the Great spotted Woodpecker who has become a frequent visitor to the seed feeder. I've not yet managed to get a picture of him as he's a bit camera shy but he's really colourful.

Returning to the engine installation subject.........

A couple of weeks ago I reached the point of 'turning the key' so to speak, the cooling system was complete, and filled. The Diesel system was connected and bled as best as I could manage with a gravity supply, (this became a problem). And the electrics were connected.

On turning the key the engine turned over albeit slowly but failed to fire up.

On stripping the starter motor down we found the brushes seized and rusted up. Cleaned up and re-assembled the engine spun over a treat but still failed to fire up.

Suspecting a lack of compression, we removed the glow plugs and squirted loads of penetrating oil down the cylinders in the hope of unglueing  the piston rings which we suspected were gummed up.

Still the engine refused to fire up although we felt we were now getting some compression.

By now I was convinced I had bought 'a wrong un' and was feeling pretty downhearted as you can imagine.

Someone suggested that the gravity fed fuel supply might not be sufficient to actively 'bleed' the system as this engine is supposed to be self bleeding. A small electric pump was inserted into the fuel line, it actually came with the engine but I hadn't fitted it because I thought the gravity system would be ok, - how wrong was I?

With one wire from the pump to the battery, and another wire from the heater plugs to the battery, after a few turns of the key the engine burst into life! accompanied by cheers from yours truly and various neighbours that had watched  with interest my efforts over the weeks of installing the engine.

There are still a number of jobs to do, like setting up the gear linkage, and throttle, and the electrics to work from the new panel and not the old one but I've run the engine several times now and it starts and runs ok.

During the writing of this I have used the phrase 'We' a number of times. 

'We' consists of Matt, who has helped a lot especially with the climbing in and out of the engine bay. Matts' mate Phil, who's stripping and re-building of the starter motor helped enormously. Paul and Dave, who assisted me aligning the engine on its new bearers. 'H' who provided the flexible exhaust at a very reasonable cost, and also much advice on the installation and commissioning of the engine. Graham and Dave for the loan of the battery cables.

All these people have helped me over the last few weeks, and I am grateful for all their assistance.  

An update at last!

Saturday 3rd October.

Hello people, yes it's been a while hasn't it!

Actually I promised myself that the first rainy day that came along, I would bring the blog up to date. Unfortunately for you readers, but fortunately for us boaters, it hasn't rained for oodles of time! However today was cool enough to persuade me to light the fire, so here I am indoors trying to bring you all up to date with progress.

Compare with the heading picture taken one year previously.

First I thought I'd post an up to date picture of Bracken, flower tubs are looking good aren't they? They've been a riot of color all summer. They're a combined effort between my sister Jenny and myself and I think they're lovely. That's my idea of Gardening!

So, hows the engine installation going? - I hear you say. Well actually it's going ok now. 

The exhaust flange finaly arrived from Vetus in Holland after a ridiculous 8 week wait and what a disapointment that was. I was expecting a nice Vetus yellow, casting, and what i got is an unpainted, inch and a quarter BSP socket welded to a bit of 3/8 plate with 4 bolt holes! If i'd known what was coming I would have had one made for me in a quarter of the time it took for them to send it.

Having acquired the flange, I was able to connect the exhaust through a flexible pipe to the silencer and then lag the pipe work after installing an angle iron to support the silencer.

Stainless steel flexible pipe.

Cooling system is complete and filled with 50/50 water and antifreeze.

I have wired the alternator and starter motor through the old engine panel as a temporary measure as I have aquired a rather posh MP34 Vetus panel. However the wiring is proving a bit of a headache so I'm using the old panel for a while.

The brown terminal block had been snipped off by the previous owner, so I had to rejoin all 12 wires by soldering and crimping and then heat shrinking the insulation on each wire.

beautiful panel, £600 new from Vetus, a lucky find on ebay for less than a quarter of that. Fingers crossed it works! Now waiting for the 4 metre extension cable from Vetus to connect from engine loom socket, to panel socket.

I'll continue this tomorrow.

work continues slowly, and some very welcome visitors.

A wet August Bank holiday Monday!

Hello people, it's been raining on and off most of the day, a typical Bank holiday in fact so I thought it was time I updated the blog.

Work on the engine installation continues slowly, mainly due to waiting for spares to connect the exhaust, and the fact that I now have a dodgy knee so climbing in and out of the engine 'ole is to be discouraged.

The engine is now bolted down on the new bearers which in turn are bolted to the original bearers thereby raising the engine to the correct height and alignment and in fact the engine is now connected through the gearbox to the prop shaft.

I'm waiting for the exhaust flange that bolts onto the heat exchanger then the exhaust system can hopefully be connected up. I have the necessary hosing to connect the cooling system so hopefully that wont be a problem to assemble. Then theres the fuel system, and the wiring to figure out..... What fun!

Last week I succeeded in obtaining and fitting a replacement alternator as the one that came with the engine was so full of rust and spiders as to be extremely suspect. Also when I had it examined and checked I was told it was only capable of a 30 amp output, not really big enough for my requirements. So I now have a clean, shiny, replacement capable of 75 amps which should be sufficient.

Also last week I splashed out on two new leisure batteries as previously I had only had one leisure and one engine battery so when the leisure battery died I was reduced to just one battery for everything. Of course by then I was engine- less so it didn't matter too much. Anyway I now have two 110 ah leisure batteries and one 110 ah engine starter battery, a much more satisfactory arrangement. There is still room to fit another leisure battery if necessary but at present my power needs are small. Especially as i'm connected to shore power whilst living in the marina. I shall, at some point, need to get an inverter as I have now bought a small fridge/freezer to replace my gas fridge. I would have liked to have bought a 12 volt fridge/freezer but I really couldn't justify the £600-700 cost when Currys can sell me an 240 volt under worktop fridge freezer for less than £120. Even adding the cost of an inverter for the occasions when I'm out cruising still doesn't come to anything like the cost of a 12 volt fridge freezer. 

I had a lovely surprise earlier in the month when my youngest sons' wife Emma phoned me on a Saturday evening to ask if I would be at home the following day as they were driving up from Kent to see me! Their eldest daughter Charis had offered to have the two youngest ones overnight so they were able to come see me for a couple of days. How great is that!! They left home early and were here by around midday Sunday, they'd booked into a travel lodge for Sunday night so we were able to spend loads of time together. It was Emmas'.  first visit to Bracken, as Simon popped up briefly last November. As an Oncology nurse, Emma gave me a lot of support in the early stages of my Cancer treatment, something I will always be grateful for.

Great to see Simon and Emma, and wonderful to welcome them aboard my home.

They are about to become Grandparents as Charis is expecting, so good luck to all.

My idea of fishing doesn't involve fishing rod, line, and hooks. All you need is patience and a handful of bread or duck food as these pictures show.

I'm told they're a mixture of common Carp, Mirror Carp and Grass Carp, all I know is they're ugly!

I suppose this means the spiders will be migrating indoors as the weather is getting cooler.

My second lot of visitors arrived on Friday last. 

My eldest son Matthew, wife Louise and Children Lee and Elise came up from Kent for the Bank Holiday weekend.

It was their first visit to Bracken and it was brilliant to see them all and welcome them aboard my home. They were staying with friends in the area, but came over on the Friday and Sunday so we were able to catch up, and they even enjoyed some fishing off the pontoon, although they didnt catch any of the really big ones, thank goodness!

Great to see my Grandson Lee, and second eldest Grand daughter Elise. Maybe next year I can press-gang them into becoming crew! Ha! 

The Smiths'.