Off to sunnier climes for a while

The weather has suddenly become cold and raw and we have lit the fire for the first time in ages. It is currently sending a warm glow through the boat as I write this, which is very comforting and cosy.

One of the main questions which people ask us, is how we cope in the cold weather. Everyone assumes that it will be hard to keep the boat warm. In fact we are warmer on the boat than we ever were in a house, which was often draughty and expensive to heat because of the high ceilings, typical of a Victorian terraced house.

We have three sources of heat on the boat so we know we will always be warm if one of those should fail. We have an electric panel heater which gives out a very low heat and is very cheap to run. Our central heating, which goes on for an hour in the morning, also provides hot water for the morning chores. This uses a small amount of diesel. We light the wood burner in the evenings, which is completely free, because we forage all our wood. It is also really cosy and cheering to sit in front of.

Shortly, we will also be fitting our back canopy onto the stern. This provides an extra room in winter and protects the stern deck from the elements. It enables us to kick off muddy shoes and also adds another layer of insulation. We always wait until we know that we are not going to go out cruising again until the spring, because the boat is very difficult to sail with the canopy up, especially when going under bridges. Many boaters do, but they are much more experienced and confident than us.

I have come to the conclusion that we are perhaps a little over cautious. We won't go out in windy weather, we won't cruise with the canopy on and we hate sailing in the rain, even if we wear full waterproofs. Maybe we are rightly protective of the boat because we live on it, but there are times when I do think we are a bit too careful. Unfortunately this impacted on the Saxophone project. We had a very good dry run, but on all of the days put aside for the real thing the weather was wet and windy. There was one small window of opportunity, when the sun was supposed to come out and the wind drop for a couple of hours in the afternoon, but we would have had to cruise up to the meeting point in pouring rain and stiff winds, so we decided to back out.

I did feel bad, but the chap managed to find another boat on the day, so did successfully record, although I don't think it went quite as well as he had wanted.

Tomorrow I am flying to India for five weeks work. I then return to the UK for a week of other work commitments. I will hardly be over the jet lag before flying back to another part of India for two more weeks work. This is the way my work pattern is, weeks of intense work and then long periods off. It works well for us, but it is draining when I am in work mode. The people in India are wonderful, I get well looked after and it is an amazing country, I feel very lucky and privileged to have the opportunity to go there.

Last week we spent a couple of days in the Lake District, having some 'us' time which was lovely. The weather was poor, but it didn't dampen our spirits and we managed to get out for a bit of a walk.

Here are some pictures from our walk:

That only leaves me to bid you all goodbye for a while. I will be posting when I get back in December and hope to display the results of the fruit gin, which is currently steeping away under the bed.

Bye for now ...

Al :)

Silt in Residence

After over a year of complaints to the company who run our Marina about the amount of silt sitting under our boats, they have finally taken action to deal with it. Over the last year, we have had great difficulty in getting out of our berths and into the cut, because we have literally been stuck in the mud on the bottom.

The dredger arrived two weeks ago, but has had to stop work before getting to our berth, because the amount of silt which has been extracted is already over the limit which has been agreed can be dumped in the delegated spot in the nearby fields.

Here is the dredger being lifted into the water

Here it is in the water

Dredging commences

Consequently, we are still stuck on the bottom and had great difficulty getting out of our berth on Friday, making us nearly late for our dry run of the Saxophone project. I was really angry! We have been campaigning for over a year to get the silt removed and it has only actually happened when the company decided to build some more jetties and needed to dredge that area. I suspect that the dredging of the remainder of the berths, including ours will now be abandoned.

Overall, I am becoming extremely disillusioned with the company who run the Marina. They seem very keen to take our money, but are hardly proactive in providing facilities to match what we pay. At present, they are the only providers to offer residential status and the security which comes with that, so they are calling all the shots. I just cannot wait for other marinas to start offering the same terms at competitive prices.

We have been fully residential for over a year now, but still the issue of council tax has not been resolved. Currently we are paying full council tax for the boat and this includes arrears for a time when we were not officially residential. Everything is hanging on our marina operators and the valuation office coming to some agreement about what we should pay, but very little seems to be happening. In the meantime, we are left paying more than we should. I don't mind paying council tax, I think it is quite right that we should contribute, but the amount needs to be a fair reflection of our situation. For example, we pay for refuse collection as part of our mooring fee, so currently we feel that we are paying twice.

I love living on this Marina. Every single other boat owner here is lovely, without exception and it is very well situated in a great spot, but I am becoming increasingly disillusioned and cross at the cynical attitude that our landlords have to their customers.

I know that this has been a long whinge, but it is only right that I present the downsides of boating life as well as the good things!

One of the nice things that has come out of this work is the huge amount of wood which came from the jetties, which they removed and the caretaker made sure it came on our direction.

Another recent positive experience is that the dry run of the Saxophone trip went well. I was a little aghast when he asked if we could stop for a couple of minutes under each bridge, so that he could play a whole piece to properly demonstrate the change in acoustics. The idea is, that as a physics lecturer he can demonstrate to his students how sound changes over water and under bridges. In addition he is using it as an advert for the launch of a CD he is producing. He is quite a good amateur player and seems to have a number of gigs set up for the near future. He will be uploading the final video to Youtube, so I will provide the link when it is done.

Friday was quite windy and we did explain that boat handling in windy weather can be tricky. The canal is also very shallow at the moment, so there was also the possibility of us grounding if we lost control. However, we had a successful trip and he seemed pleased with how it had gone. The only problem was when we were mooring up at the end. All the cameras and instruments etc. were in the bow preventing access, so when I brought the front of the boat in to the tow path, Phil could not get access to get hold of the bow rope. The wind took us side on before he could get to it and the next thing we knew we were right across the canal. This was in the town centre where many people come to watch the boats, so it was particularly embarrassing. Our guests seemed completely oblivious to our difficulties until I called upon them to get on the end of the central line and help us pull the boat in!

That is my only worry about this project. The requirements do not completely fit with ease of manoeuvring a narrow boat! We will see how it goes. The proper run is next week, weather permitting. They are concerned that it will be wet, which would ruin the equipment, so would make it impossible. We are concerned that it will be windy and are not sure that they fully understand the difficulties associated with that and may insist on going ahead.

We had a lovely night out after the rehearsal, moored up in the town centre, which made it all worth while!

And to end on another positive note we have just spent a couple of nights in the Lake District having some proper R and R soaking up the scenery and doing some walking:

Al :)

A Party and a Project

We have had three significant birthdays on the Marina recently, so decided to have a barbecue to celebrate. There have been a number of new people arriving recently and the Marina is now nearly full. These are mostly leisure boaters, rather than residential, but they have all fitted in really well. The barbecue was a good opportunity for everyone to get to know one another and I have to say that it was a great success. It was heart warming to see so many people enjoying themselves and getting on so well together. The Marina is now a place where I really enjoy living and want to be, in marked contrast to a few years ago when there were some very difficult people living here. Everybody now, without exception, is decent and pleasant and it is a wonderful little community.

The bunting was put out especially for the party:

The dogs were all aware that there maybe some titbits of food for them and were looking expectant:

The birthday cake was magnificent, complete with sparkler:

I also discovered something on the Marina which I had never noticed before. Hops!

A boater who has now left, planted them a couple of years ago and they are thriving. I don't think I will use them to make beer as I have so much fruit gin on the go, but I'm going to make a hop pillow with them. I have some lavender in our little garden at the end of the boat, so should get a good nights sleep with a combination of hops and lavender!

Yesterday I had an interesting meeting with a physics lecturer from the University. I had met him a few weeks ago when he wandered onto the marina in search of a narrow boat to take part in a project he was planning. We got chatting and found that we had much in common. He is an amateur saxophonist and is looking for a pianist to accompany him. I found it quite spooky that I happened to be the first person he spoke to. His explained his project to me and I instantly agreed to participate as I think it will be great fun.

The idea is that he and a drummer will be filmed while they play at the front of the boat, which I will be sailing along the canal. He wants to demonstrate the changes in sound when a boat moves under bridges, so it is partly a video for his students, but he also is using the footage as an advert for a gig he is doing locally and for a CD he has produced.

There are many logistical problems, not least fitting a set of drums into the small area at the front and getting a decent angle for the video. He also wants me to stop the boat for about a minute under each bridge and when we arrive at the popular town centre canal side pub, he wants me to hold the boat mid stream for 10 minutes while they play a few pieces. I think it is going to be a challenge, but I'm up for it ..... watch this space for progress on this.

More news on residential status and work on the Marina in the next blog.

Al :)

wildlife and mellow fruitfulness

We have had no success with our wildlife camera. We have heard the otter splashing around under the boat on many occasions in the night and it has been briefly seen launching itself into the water from under the jetty between boats. We set the camera up where it has been spotted the most, but after two weeks, all we got was floating debris on the water. It did come in useful last month though, when I discovered that something was eating our apples at the allotment. We thought it was a mouse, as the only apples which were touched were near to the ground. We set the camera up and look who was the culprit:

This year has been fantastic for fruits with an abundance of sweet and juicy blackberries all along the tow path and hedgerows. The good thing is that everything is about a month early, so that I can gather it before I go overseas for work in October.

I have made Blackberry Whisky, Plum Brandy, Redcurrant Gin and Damson Gin so far, as well as several jars of pickled Beetroot and many Rhubarb crumbles. We have so many Raspberries growing on the allotment that we are sick of eating Raspberry fool and Eton Mess, so I think I shall also be making Raspberry Vodka too. My next job is to collect Sloes to make gin. These benefit from a sharp frost before they are picked and with the Indian summer we are having, it is unlikely that they will be ready for a week or two. However, I have recently discovered a number of new bushes, many of which are off the beaten track, so hopefully I will be able to harvest them before anyone else gets there. I took the canoe out yesterday and found a whole row of bushes on the offside from the tow path. These being only accessible by boat is a bonus!!

This afternoon we went for a lovely walk. I love the Autumn colours and picked up this beautiful leaf:

We discovered a Badger set as we walked through the woods, so have now set the camera up there. I think we have concealed it well, so hope it doesn't get nicked!

Hopefully we will finally get some wildlife footage. Watch this space ......

I had planned to do the coast to coast cycle ride next week, but a little project has got in the way, which involves a physics lecturer and amateur musician and our boat, which will lead to a fun boating adventure. More about that in the next Blog.

Al :)

Back on the water

Finally the weather over the last few days has been kind to us and we have completed the paint work. The boat has gone from this:

and this .......

....... to this

and this.

The paint work is gleaming, we have a thick surface of blacking on the bottom and the sign writing has been redone, so that it is now sharp and well defined.

Our hearts were in our mouths as she was lowered into the water. It was a windy day which can be tortuous if the wind is in the wrong direction and catches the boat side on. All that lovely new paint work and the prospect of chipping it off on our journey through the locks, was not an appealing prospect. Apart from a slightly tight run out of the jetty and a blowy sail through the exposed basin, we had an enjoyable and uneventful journey up to our home mooring.

The cost of all the maintenance work is as follows:

Lift out of the water £300

Jet washing the hull and blacking £350

Lift back into the water £300

Paints and materials £400

Sign writing £385

Because we are berth holders of the company who did the work, we got a discount, in that the lift out and jet washing were complimentary. This brought the grand total down to £1300.

This may seem a lot of money, but bearing in mind that this work only needs to be done once every 3-4 years, it's not bad really especially as the boat looks like new now!

The only thing we have to do now, is get on the roof and tidy and clean that. We didn't feel safe doing that while on dry land. At least if we fall off on our mooring, we will drop into water and are unlikely to hurt ourselves.

On other fronts things are moving forward. We are still trying to sort out how much council tax we should pay as residential boaters. I will cover this in my next posting, as it is a complicated issue.

On a lighter note, we have had an early summer and many autumn fruits are appearing already. I have made plum gin and blackberry whisky and my next job is to gather some sloes, before I go away for my autumn work tour in October. More on foraging also in another post.

All for now....

Al :)

It's Raining It's Pouring

The weather has become unsettled again and we have struggled to get any painting done over the last two days.

Today we have had heavy rain and the wind is howling around the boat. It sounds worse up here at the sea basin because it whines through the rigging of the yachts.

If it continues to be wild tomorrow we are going to sand down the paintwork on the bow deck which is under cover and repaint it.

This is where our water tank is and we have discussed what maintenance work we need to do on this. The normal procedure for a tank like ours is to open up the small entry hatch and try to scrape round the sides and bottom with a brush on some kind of pole or extension. The opening to ours is 2ft by 2ft and in theory it is possible for a small person to get inside and clean it out at close quarters. This is a horrible job though and neither of us fancies doing it.

We know there is a lot of sludge slopping around the bottom because we ran out of water last week. We hadn't expected to be on dry land for so long, but the weather has been against us. Consequently we ran out of water before being able to get to a convenient tap. The water that came out of the taps was clearly coming from the bottom of the tank as it was brown! As it happens we only use the tank water for showering and washing up. We fill up a litre container every day for our drinking water even though we do have a filter which we change every year.

Once the tank has been cleaned it needs repainting, unless it is made of stainless steel, which ours isn't. We really don't want to be doing all of this, so we have researched putting a plastic liner in.

After all the work we have done this summer, we won't be able to afford this until next year now, so our tank will have to wait another year. This won't be an issue, provided we keep it topped up and regularly put sterilisation tablets in, which we do every couple of months.

I will keep you posted about costs and details as we research it more thoroughly.

The village show was held yesterday and I won prizes for my broad and runner beans from the allotment and also I got many prizes and a trophy for my photos. Here are three of the prize winning photos:

Once the boat painting is completed, I will post some pictures of the finished product. We hope to be back in the water by the end of next week.

Al

Some good weather at last

Finally over the last two days we have had some warm, dry weather which has enabled us to crack on with the painting and sign writing.

Our new sign writer is very skilled and has put right many faults with our original lettering and it is starting to look really fantastic. Photos will be posted when it is finished.

We have painted the stern and all we have to do now is the Gunnels and the rubbing strip, which has quite a few scuffs.

Tomorrow is the village show and I have some photos in and have also entered quite a few vegetable classes, so I will be down at the allotment at the crack of dawn tomorrow choosing and harvesting my best specimens.

I'll let you know how I get on!

Al :)

Boat Maintenance

It is now 4 years since we moved to the boat and we have never for an instant regretted the decision to change our lifestyle so radically. Neither of us are getting any younger and the lifestyle is very physical and strenuous, so we are aware that at some point we will have to go back to dry land, but for now we are enjoying 'living the dream'.

Usually boats need some attention after about 3 years, so at 4 years we knew that the boat was long overdue for blacking. Some of the scuffs on the paintwork also required touching up. We booked the crane at our local yachting basin for the lift out and sailed through the six locks to get there. One of the new boaters who has recently moved to our marina came with us to learn how to operate the locks and it was good to have an extra pair of hands.

Here are some pictures from our trip:

When the boat was lifted out of the water it was quite shocking to see the state of the hull. She was covered in fresh water Mussels, all the black had come off and there was a fair bit of rust in evidence.

Luckily the weather was good, so we were able to get the bottom blacked straight away the next day:

Looking better already, but unfortunately the weather has now broken, with the tail end of hurricane Bertha causing some disruption to our work plans. As you can see from the picture, we have some scuffing on the paintwork to cover, but frustratingly all we can do for now is look out of the window at the wind and rain and hope that we can get going again soon.

More on our progress soon. I will try to post every day now. In the next blog there will be news on what we have decided to do with our water tank and some adjustments we are planning to make to access our gas locker.

Al :)

Long time no blog!

Finally I am home from working overseas and have had some time to recover from my exhausting work schedule.

I will now be posting regularly again for a while until my next work session, which isn't until October when I have been booked to go to India.

Lots has happened with the boat since I returned to the UK and I will be posting progress with that and some pictures over the next few days.

At the moment we are in the boat yard near the sea basin with the boat on dry land for blacking and painting, but the internet signal is terrible here, so I probably won't be able to blog too extensively while we are here.

I will try over the next few days to write some details about the mechanics of getting the boat out of the water and the work we have done etc. so please bear with me....

More soon ......

Al 

A quick update

I arrived back in the UK two weeks ago, but have been busy preparing to go away for another four weeks work in the next few days, so have not been able to post.



Here is a brief update before I disappear overseas again.



It was wonderful to get back after weeks away and see the English countryside again and all the blossom on the trees. Much as I love visiting new countries, I do miss the scenery around where we live. One of the first things we did, once I had got over the jet lag was to have a walk in one of our favourite spots in the Trough of  Bowland:

The Bluebells were still out. I was afraid that I had missed them:

There are a number of ducklings on the canal and our local pair of swans have had cygnets:

When I get back from my next work stint, we are sailing the boat up to the sea basin to have her lifted out of the water for essential maintenance work. We have been given a quote for the work, which is somewhat high, so we are now considering doing it ourselves, although we will still have to pay for the crane to lift her out onto dry land.

We are negotiating a price at the moment, but watch this space in July when work commences to black the bottom and touch up the paintwork and the sign writing. We also have some decisions to make about our water tank. We wish we had had a stainless steel tank fitted as part of the original spec. but they are expensive, so we are now considering putting a lining in. This would save us from having to climb in, treat the surface and repaint the inside, which is a horrible job.

Next post will be mid July ......

Al :)