Lots of swearing (now theres a surprise)

On Friday Paul went to the electrical wholesalers and bought all the items that he required to make a switch panel to control all the low voltage equipment ie digi box, ariel amplifier, fresh air fans and the CCTV camera. Whereas they were all supplied from the consumer unit and it is no good having something that takes .5 of an amp covered by a 16 amp RCD and the only way to switch them off was through the consumer box. This is a no no because it damages the sensitivity of the RCD's. This is to save power when they are not in use instead of leaving them on standby. He had priced up a switching panel at the boatyard and one with a couple of switches was around £45 but wasn't what he wanted anyway. and Paul being Paul decided he would make his own. This was accomplished for the princely sum of £21. and there are 6 illuminated switches.


With the rewire due to be done he wanted everything in place. He also wanted to re-place the TV ariel cable away from the jumble of wires under the lighting boards. Trunking has been put in under the gunnel to accommodate the ariel cable and the new upgraded speaker cables.
Saturday morning Paul was up bright an early to begin the mammoth task ahead. First job was the switch panel, he cut a piece of acrylic sheet to size then cut the mounting holes for the switches, he also decided to move the Travel Pack on/off switch in to the same panel for easier access. The panel was then sprayed satin black when dry screwed in place. Then it was down with the lighting boards in the bedroom and all I could hear was a lot of tutting and "I don't believe it". The consumer box was exposed but Paul has had the lid off before so knew what to expect, he then proceeded to sort out the redundant wiring and make good some connections for safety as most of this will be removed and re-installed.



The mains cables to the consumer unit were frayed in the terminals which could have caused major arcing.













These are some of the frayed terminals. Note the cut brown wire and the loose green and brown wire one of many. Where they go nobody knows.

There was also an amount of strip connectors used to double up on supply cables this is totally out of order. It was now time to get the new ariel coax across the headlining of the boat which Paul thought would be reasonably easy, but you know what thought did. After a lot of sticking fingers in holes and much probing this became a bigger problem than first thought, yes you have guessed it another bodge up. Paul was following the same route as the "builder" and we found yes I mean we as I was now helping with the cable pushing and pulling. It transpires that the cables are trapped between fixing timbers and there is no route through, however Paul found that one of the cross beams was not cut the same as the others and he was able to use it as a trunking to support the coax. The coax and speaker wires were then run along the gunnel trunking and out of curiosity Paul connected the ariel cable to see if there was any difference in the signal strength and there is an improvement of about 25% at least we have got something right as digital goes live on Wednesday.
It was then back to the panel and various connections were made wires were re-routed redundant ones removed and final connections made. We now have a nice new panel where everything can be switched separately and with pretty green lights.
The next phase of this saga will be carried out over the next few weeks some of which will be done while we are in the marina having the alterations done.
Today our worst nightmare became reality. Paul was tidying up some cables in the bedroom when I heard a shout of "whoa" I looked up and saw a day boat heading straight for us at speed, I called out to Paul who rushed up the steps just as we were hit broadside by the day boat. The collision caused us to keel over quite some way hence Paul fell down the steps backwards hurting his hand in the process (ahhhhhhhh). Day boat reversed up and moored up and give the people their due they were concerned. Paul had by this time looked at the damage and found the gunnel paintwork back to bare metal and where the day boat had ridden up over the gunnel it has damaged our sign writing. The people came and apologised I kept a low profile as I was expecting him to go ape shit and be abusive but he wasn't he was too busy nursing is hand. He spoke to them suggesting perhaps they should have been going slower and paid more attention to what they were doing. Still its done now and we are going to attempt to Tcut out the damage to the sign writing and the gunnel can be painted YET again. After all what else have we got to do with our time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a sunset

Couldn't resist taking a picture of this last night. Thought I would snap this cloud formation and true to the old adage " red sky at night shepherds delight" today has been very warm. If the weather stays nice tomorrow must water the garden.

Walked up to the Post Office this morning to see if they accepted mail and they do so prescription request has been sent off.

Spent a very pleasurable hour or so chatting to Kath and John on nb Chickadee, they originate from our neck of the woods and we have seen them at various times during the summer so was nice to catch up again.

Paul walked the two cassettes to the point, then popped into the boatyard and promptly left the trolley and cassettes behind was not a happy bunny when he had to walk back to get them. I am begining to worry about this man think old timers disease is on the way.

Hillmorton again

Left Rugby at long last after one final visit to Wickes to get the elusive light switch which finally came in and yes you've guessed it (no not Next) Tesco's, we are now topped up and I refuse to go food shopping until the freezer is empty of all the stuff in there. Of course not having a bread maker I will have to get that and the odd pint of milk but lets hope I can stick to my guns, after all its quite a walk to shops from this side of the locks (we are below the locks) but close to a bus stop.
In the morning must go up to the post office to see if they will accept mail I need another prescription and with the threat of a mail strike want to get the request in early.
Was so nice coming here this morning not having the bikes on the back. As soon as we moored up I replanted my planters on the roof, been promising to do for ages and I have had the plants for about a week in fact at one point they all wilted because I had neglected them. Paul is up the back trying a spot of fishing and I was lucky enough to see a Kingfisher in the tree opposite first one for ages.
Am looking forward to spending a few days here as the tow path is relatively quiet, I know Paul will pop up and see Dave at the boat yard as he's after a couple of electrical bits for the big re-wire job. Sure we will find lots to do, we must saw the wood up that we have acquired and that will tidy up the roof, funny how when we first set out 2 years ago Paul vowed he wouldn't have loads of stuff on the roof but how can you not when you live aboard all the time, now we have started buying coal and collecting wood there isn't a lot of roof space left, what with the roof box, BBQ, anchor, life ring, plants, plank and poles, oh yes and the solar panels there isn't room for another thing.

Result!!!!!

After having a for sale sign on the bikes for the last 4 weeks or so on Sunday we actually sold them both. The gents one was bought by a lad at uni who couldn't afford to run a car ahhhhhhhhhh, he came with his dad (who paid) after his mum had noticed the sign on the bikes, and then blow me down if a chap walking his dog wanted a bike for his wife, he left a deposit and is coming back tonight to pick up the bike and the rack. Thank goodness they are out of the way, mind you no doubt we will get somewhere and wish we had a bike but that's a chance we will have to take. We only rode them a few times so I am sure we will cope.
Another visit to Wickes to purchase some trunking to re run the TV ariel cable under the gunnel away from the voltage cables as we are convinced this is giving us a signal quality problem.
Once the work has been completed the next job for Paul to tackle is the electrics, he has decided that rather than keep putting things right it would be easier to rip it all out and start again then that way he will know where everything is and hopefully the consumer box wont be overloaded with cables. Gear box oil has also been changed then its the anti freeze. Although it has been relatively dull with the additional 50w panel the batteries have been keeping a full charge over a 24 hour period.
I just couldn't resist a visit to Next now have a nice new pair of jeans tucked away in my wardrobe shhhhhhh don't tell Paul.

New glasses are how much!!!!!!!!!!

Trip into Rugby this morning for eye tests and a visit to the Vodafone shop. Must admit we have 3G here for the first time ever so internet speed has been very good. Any way, Vodafone weren't any help at all. We have had a contract with them for the past 2 years and when we got our new dongle I had to re-new the contract which is fair enough but our initial contract was for 3G at £30 a month now the 3G is only £15 but I am still paying £30 so I assumed I would be getting 5G oh how wrong it is to assume as I am still on 3G. The chap in the store said they couldn't do any thing in store as they didn't have the access on their computers so I must ring customer service. "Can you ring them for us" we asked no was the reply, So off to the nearest pay phone call made and were they any help no they weren't. Answer was as you have passed the 7 day opt out period you are stuck with the what you have, now they didn't really say that but that is what they implied. (i can change it after 9 months) So back into the store to ask the question how much to opt out of the contract, the reply was you have to pay the monthly rental for the remainder of the contract so that would work out at £480 so it looks as if we will be keeping the contact running. I just wish the women in the store had told me our options when the contact was renewed as we have been more than happy with reception etc. but she didn't she was only after her commission.
After this little fiasco it was across the road to Specsavers we had managed to get appointments for eye tests early afternoon as I had had an eye test in January I didn't need one, Paul did though so off he went came back and as expected left eye has changed so off to choose our glasses. All round the store are the promotions buy one pair get another free or if you are over 60 you can get 30% off one pair, the girl was very helpful and worked everything out for us, I had decided to just have one pair Paul was going to go for the 2 pairs well by the time everything was worked ie; varifocal thin lenses, reactalite lenses plus the frames at £75 each Paul's bill for the two pairs was nearly £500 so needless to say he ended up with one pair, he has to have the varifocal lenses so no reactalite this time and the final bill for his pair was £206 my pair came out at £108 so it is a good job we wont need glasses for another couple of years. Think I will open a savings account to save up for the next lot.
By the time we got back to the boat we both needed a stiff drink to get over the stress don't want another day like today I can tell you.

Rugby yet again.

Yesterday we left the mooring and headed up to the marina at Hillmorton. After a lot of manoeuvring we managed to reverse onto the mooring there. Barry and Roy came on board did a lot of measuring up and now we have to return first week in October for the work to be done. True to Andrew at Blue Sky Power's word the solar panel turned up not long after we did. We spent the night in the marina and set off this morning for Rugby. We called into Clifton Cruisers for diesel and a gas bottle. We noticed that they had a sign on their pump saying that as of 1st September they would only sell their diesel at a 60/40 split unless you are already a registered customer. This is because the staff have taken a fair bit of abuse from boaters who wanted to declare a full 100% as domestic and the staff wanted proof. Luckily for us we registered with them back in April for our winter fuel at a 20/80 split but we did our summer split 60/40,(it is still summer till October) this time I wanted to declare 30/70 but because we are registered as 60/40 I couldn't do that, must admit I was a bit peeved but there you go. Apparently they have received correspondence from Customs and Excise and also have been to meetings, the onus is now on the marinas to make sure that the boaters are declaring legally, we were led to believe it was down to us to declare what we wanted then if we were boarded prove these declarations were right. Will be interesting to see if any other marinas follow suit. I think in future we will be using the work boats for our diesel again after all it only takes a phone call to find out where they are.

Any way we are now moored up in Rugby have already been to Wickes to get the metal strapping for Paul to sort out the new panel, he has also bought himself yet another drill a Bosch this time hopefully it will last a bit longer than the last one. We also picked up some really nice brass light switches,

well I say picked them up we needed 3 double and 6 singles and there were only 3 doubles and 5 singles on the display but according to their stock record there should have been 6 singles so hopefully they are going to check to see if the missing one is in the warehouse and give us a call once they have found it or some more will be ordered asap. Lets hope that they don't discontinue them if they do those that we have bought will be going back. We plan to get a few things done while we are here, have to go to Specsavers for our eyes to be tested and I need to pop back into the Vodafone shop to clarify our contract. Have another bag of stuff for the charity shop as well, seems to be only me that is de-cluttering. Must also get more dog food.

Paul has just come below to tell me that the new panel is now fitted and is up and running. He will be monitoring these 2 over the next few weeks to see what the advantages are with having the extra 50w (would you expect anything else of Paul). We will be staying here until Monday was very surprised when we came past Brownsover park this morning as there were only 2 boats moored up with our friends on Chickadee just coming in on the 24hr by the park, needless to say once under the bridge there was only one space left which we grabbed.

Paul also says if anyone wants a cheap 10amp control box for a solar panel get in touch. It will save you a few a quid.

Indian Summer!

What glorious weather we have been having these past few days although the nights have been a bit on the chilly side so I have had to unearth the duvets from under the bed suppose it wont be too long before the fire is alight on a regular basis. Talking of fires Iain and Alison came by today on Gosty Hill so we purchased 6 bags of Stoveglow in readiness for the fire lighting season. Had a nice chat to them they are a nice couple.
Paul has succeeded in painting the hatch doors and the back doors he just has to touch up the green paint now (using the mixed paint) and that job will be done. He also had a bit of a result yesterday, we have been trying for ages to source another Shoreline solar panel but they have discontinued the one we have so it meant finding another panel of the same size although the style would be different. We found a company in Towpath called Blue Sky Power, Paul gave them a call a week or so ago to discuss what we wanted and the chap he dealt with called Andrew was very helpful. Any way as we knew we would be in the marina next week Paul called and placed an order with Andrew for a 50 watt panel to go with the 80 watt we already have, Paul had hoped that the controller we already have would be man enough to run the two panels but Andrew did a quick calculation and said we would need another controller so the two things were ordered to be delivered to the marina on Tuesday with no postage charge. Paul could not believe how helpful Andrew was and his technical knowledge was first class. Paul had heard that there was a new panel due to come out that was half the size of the current ones but Andrew said these wouldn't be produced for another year or two and would be very expensive so that really made up Paul's mind to get another panel now. So it looks as if a trip to Wickes is in order to get the bits to link the two panels together. Another job to go on the list.
Paul has also changed the tap in the kitchen we found a nice one in the Argos catalogue and bought it while in Daventry. So all the faffing around a week or so ago with old one was really a waste of time. Strange though that since changing the tap and the pipe work the water pump has stopped "hunting" is this coincidence I wonder.
This really is a lovely spot and the dogs have had some good walks, so will prove to be one of many nice spots for the winter.

Bridge 81

Yesterday went off on the bus to Daventry with a trolley full of stuff for the charity shop and a long list for my Tesco shopping. Tuesday is market day in Daventry and Paul had the cheek to buy himself yet another body warmer, at least this one was only £15 so now we have one for everyday and one for best and this morning he informed me he needed a new pair of trainers, hang on a minute this is so out of character I think I need to sit down.
Around 10 this morning we left the mooring went up to wind then quick visit to the sanitary station and we were on our way in brilliant sunshine (Paul in his "everyday" body warmer) at a very sedate speed to find a nice spot for a few more days as we have an appointment next Tuesday. Consulted my Nicholsons where I had marked up the nice moorings and we have ended up here by bridge 81 not too far from the prison. Will be a nice spot for the winter. I noticed a footpath that goes across the field in the direction of the prison where the bus runs to Rugby so will have to walk it to check it out. Looks as if we are going to be lucky with the weather till the weekend so hopefully the hatch doors will get their second coat and who knows the back doors may get rubbed down as well.

Back Home.

Butter wouldn't melt, thank goodness for kiddies TV.


Arrived back to the boat absolutely EXHAUSTED, don't know how I managed with 3 of my own mind you I was 40 years younger. The kids were really good which was a bonus.


Needless to say Paul has received a bit of abuse from a couple of boaters while offering them some help/advice.(cant leave him alone for five minutes) First time he was helping a couple moor up in the wind and and there was a few choice words exchanged why I don't know probably thought they could get right up to the bank when you cant here, any way Paul's reaction was "do it yourself next time". Then a boat was coming along with two young children running along the roof Paul said "shouldn't let them do that if I were you there could be a nasty accident" the dad turned round and told Paul to "mind his own f******g business" and no it wasn't a hire boat and apparently the guy on the tiller who was obviously the owner of the boat and the grandad had the grace to look embarrassed so I'm afraid in future we will offer help when asked and not interfere when the kiddies fall in the canal because their parents think its good to let them run on the roof.


In to Daventry tomorrow to top up the larder then we will move out into the country for a few days. Oil has been changed and the painting is done so what little jobs will get done I'm not sure.

side hatch doors have to have another coat of paint but we can only tackle them if it is a good day as they have to come off, we will see, just take each day as it comes. I am so looking forward to have a decent nights sleep and not being woken at 6.30 by 2 little voices at the bedroom door asking nanny Lynne if she is awake!!!!!!!!!

Babysitting

Well here I am at Jack and Clares doing my "nanny" bit. I got here on Thursday, it was Alfies first day at school so we all wandered down to pick him up. Milly had given me the evil eye as she hasn't seen me for ages so I was a bit concerned that things for the weekend were going to be a bit fraught to say the least. Alfie totally ignored me so that went well but he was more concerned with telling mum and dad about his day at school. I made sure I kept a low profile and after a couple of hours they were chatting away and insisted that I read them a story which turned into nearly their whole book collection, but at least the ice was broken

Friday was a busy day Jack was back at work so once Alfie was at school it was a quick trip to Staines to get bits and pieces Clare and I were quite frazzled by the time we had to get to school. Needless to say last night a couple of bottles of wine were consumed and I woke up this morning with a bit of a head. Paul appears to have been busy I have rung him everyday and he assures me he has painted the other side of the boat and an oil change is earmarked for today.

Jack and Clare left for their friends wedding so I am alone with a 4 year old and a 2 year old I have been told the routine and if all else fails put the TV on and they will be fine. Certainly takes me back a bit but I must say it is nice to be able to spend sometime with the grandchildren and so far so good. At least the sun is shining so we have spent a couple of hours playing ball. I am sure by the time bed time comes I am going to be absolutely shattered but wouldn't have missed this for the world.

They live right near to Heathrow so I can almost see the passengers on the planes as they pass overhead after taking off but after a while you get used to the noise, if the queen can live with it when she is at her place in Windsor so can I.

Well got to go Millie wants yet another "Spot the dog" story will know them off by heart soon and there is only 8 books in the collection.