A Bit Of Everything

It has been a real mixed bag this past week. Took a bit of a break from T-A with a visit to Karen’s mum on Saturday where it was pointed out that it was the first trip to see her this year, all other times she had been up to see us. Oops!

Sunday was spent tidying up the garden and picking and freezing more goodies.

Monday morning with the Grantham Canal Society cutting grass and generally tidying up Woolsthorpe depot and in the afternoon in the workshop starting to cut new trim for the ceiling. It has been too warm for any serious work, even the dogs are seeking out the shady areas of the yard.

The following two days were spent down at T-A fitting the new wall lights in the lounge and pulling the appliances out of the kitchen area

ready to rewire and possibly re-run the gas pipe which runs across the cupboard floor.

It is passable but I personally think in this position it will be prone to damage and intend to see if I can run it across the top of the cupboard. Every panel you remove reveals more rubbish left behind. Note the screw standing proud.

The wiring across the bulkhead is nearly complete and will soon be ready to be panelled in but the section between worktop and conduit will be removable.

All loose battening in the ceiling refixed.

Thursday was a long day out with the GCS clearing the fencing round Woolsthorpe Top Lock. While I finished up at the depot with farmer John the rest cranked up ‘Corvus’ the work boat and set about clearing debris from the cut. Once finished it was round by road to join them at Denton Wharf.

A motley crew approaching Denton.

A really sunny afternoon spent cruising up to Grantham and back – good fun all round.

General chores mixed in with retail therapy on Friday and today was spent routing the edging on the new ceiling trim for T-A and making the holes for the concealed screws. I soon realised that the existing holes had been drilled freehand so all measurements and centres were approximate. Had a bit of a think and came up with this solution.

The jig is placed face down on the trim and the dowel on the left drops into the last hole drilled and the shoulders keep the work piece centred. Seemples.

Also producing ash plugs on a commercial scale from the old trim.

Should be able to get the ceiling back up next week and get T-A looking a bit more presentable again.

Pottering and All Clear

Not a lot to record this week. Bit of general work round the home and garden. Some time on T-A with the wiring but not much progress because I got a call from Bill Rosie the engineer who carried out the initial survey on T-A at the start of the dispute. Bill is semi-retired now but as he had been involved at the start was interested to see how things were developing. We agreed to meet up on Friday (today) as I had asked for his advice on a few items and wanted him to give the work carried out the once over to see if I had made too many cock-ups.

Spent Thursday tidying up and clearing some of the clutter so  as to able to get into the nooks and crannies for the inspection and spent this morning in thoroughly enjoyable boaty chat. Looks like work to date complies with regulations and what modifications I have made or plan to make should not cause any problems, on top of that he passed on loads of pointers and tips which should make life easier.

It’s surprising how a morning spent with someone in the know can clear the fog and give you a clear idea of the way forward.

Back to business in earnest next week with a couple of GCS work parties thrown in for good measure.

Even the weather seems to be picking up. J

Wiring Continues

Well I’m still at it, the 12V wiring in the forward part of T-A is nearing completion, all that is left is the sensor for the water tank, the extractor fan in the bathroom and the reading lights in the lounge. All the overhead lighting is complete but as usual nothing was straight forward and the bedroom ceiling had to be operated on to get the cables through. Nice new reading lamps installed. 

Trim had to be removed and panels prised down. Ran a blade along the edges of the battens to stop the ash veneer pulling up as battens are glued as well as screwed and it worked a treat, only veneer under the strips lifted.  

Battening back up with just plugs to insert.

The wiring under the gunwales has been a pain – literally – in avoiding the screws that are poking out of the woodwork, but I’m pleased with the way its turning out. Gone is the cats cradle of blue and brown.

To be replaced by red and black (Yellow is the draw cord for any further additions) and the 240V is now running in its own separate conduit.

The new ceiling lights in the lounge have been installed as has the extractor fan over the hob behind a fancy new vent.

Just the panelling to replace.

As for the rest of the time it’s been cutting grass, harvesting and freezing broad beans, digging new potatoes ----- Mmmmmm nice bit of chicken served up with new potatoes and broad beans fresh out of the garden all covered in parsley sauce – can’t be beat. (Sorry Tony – delete chicken and substitute haddock)

Making Work

Well we’re back in the water as of last Monday after getting most of the jobs done on the outside. After the launch it was a case of secure up back at the pontoon and have an early day as I was about ready for a break. While doing the rewire you start thinking – “While I’m doing this I may as well do that and how about that” etc. So on Tuesday we went to Midland Chandlers at Mercia Marina to purchase two new wall/reading lights for the lounge and two more for the bedroom with two replacement ceiling lights for the lounge, along with four nice stainless steel grilles for the ceiling vents. While we were there we had a quick look across the marina for any familiar names or boats but nothing seen.

Wednesday was another quiet day catching up with jobs at home. Down to T-A again on Thursday doing a bit more of the wiring inside with the weather being so foul.

Felt really sorry for this little swallow on the TV aerial of the next boat looking dejected with the rain hammering down making no attempt to move.

The wiring continues and the inside of the boat still looks like a war zone.

This is the galley area with lights now in and working and that’s a fan dangling there.  Again, while I’ve got things in pieces the vent over the hob is getting an extractor fan installed as is the vent in the bathroom – picked them up in Maplin. Also got a load of PC case fans to be fitted in the bilges and behind the fridge/freezer to aid circulation. On top of all that there are 4.5mm cables being run down each side to take cigar lighter type sockets to be mounted to operate 12V ancillary equipment.  Not forgetting LED floor lights for the wheelhouse and steps still to be wired in.

This is the third bag full of cable recovered, about 75% of the way there now but I haven’t been able to achieve my goal of removing all old wiring as some is jammed behind panels. It will have to be left but at least it will not be connected to anything as there will be no connections to the battery but mine. To that end I have even managed to get some super flexible 70 sq. mm cable plus terminals to replace the main feeds between battery and inverter.

All a bit chaotic and boring but bear with me as this wiring/rewiring will take a while longer yet but at the same time I hope to get other jobs on the go. Popped into Nottingham last Wednesday and got some 8x4ft sheets of ash faced ply in 6mm and 3.6mm as well as 18mm birch ply, ready for making new cupboards, battery boxes and the like.

Looks like there is more work coming up with the Grantham Canal Society in the near future, Shame I missed out on the new gates going in at lock 18 which was put back and clashed with T-A being out of the water.

In The Sh*t Again

Down at T-A every day since last post but coming home too tired to do any blogging.

At the moment I am replacing the wiring for the ceiling lights and (touch wood) am being able to do so by only removing one side of the ceiling panels,

but in doing so some of the battens are coming down with it as they are only stuck in with mastic.

I don’t know if this is normal practice but it doesn’t seem very secure.

The new trip switch panel is slowly being populated and we now have a working horn and at long last a tunnel lamp.

Friday and Saturday Karen spent the days cleaning the posides and touching up the flaky paintwork, pity the inside doesn't look so tidy.

The day before T-A was slipped we went round to the pump out point and gave the system two tokens worth of sludge gulping as one of the jobs to sort was the temporary bodge done to the black water tank to get us away last summer. The Nearly Trip

I was somewhat surprised when I removed the inspection cover to find effluent only three inches from the top. This is not what I had hoped for, so set to removing all the tape and sealant from the pickup pipe.  On removing the extraction pipe top I Find that the pipe has dropped down and is resting on the bottom of the tank effectively blocking it. Had the bottom of the pipe been cut at an angle as shown in the Vetus manual it probably would have carried on working. Of the ‘O’ ring also listed there was no sign. New ‘O’ ring fitted to pipe and pipe tightened into correct position, hopefully this will cure the problem but at the same time I will see if I can obtain a new pipe and cut it as per the manual.

As is often said on the railway “We’re always in the sh*t – it’s only the depth that varies” J