Meeting the maker.... not a negative post this one !!

For once not a post about death or old age but a happy meeting of Tony and Gill Redshaw. 

We were looking after our youngest grandson at their place that backs onto the Erewash canal at Barkers lock. I was in the kitchen and looked up and  thought I saw Irene from Freespirit who I know moors in the basin... so I went out. It wasn't Irene but the other boat had a fella who I thought I recognised but I could not see the boat name to confirm as he was furthest boat across the lock. 

I took a chance and asked 'its Tony isn't it ?" .... the other couple confirmed and then I saw Gill .He looked a tad confused as to who was hailing him then I said I had Percy ( your boat) and immediately got recognised. Gill said a nice thing about how well we had looked after Percy which we appreciated. 

Really nice to meet them again and pleased to see them out cruising.

Tony built Percy on the Ashby in 1991/2 and owned her until 2012 when we took over her ownership. 

 

Percy gets some lithium

 I've long harboured plans for a house battery, ironic really when you think how many boaters live ( as I did) totally off grid. My plans were for a modest solar array ( 2kw) on the workshop roof feeding a Pylontech battery bank  with an off grid inverter charger Mttp controller. However rules and regulations  seem hell bent on preventing  me doing at home what people do surrounded by water.

So I left the solar on the roof that will be used by a local company who will install the battery. I've sold  what I have left from my aborted install. I did reinvest in an Ecoflow Delta 2.

I've been tracking this technology for a while. Like most things it has positives and negatives  ( sorry). It's all in one design makes it portable between house and boat. Right now at home its running two fridges a freezer the pond pump and UV filter as well as the cctv cameras and has charged up two smaller battery banks. just off oneof my five panels.  If needed it takes a charge from the low cost grid overnight. I think it's saving me about £2 a week so over £100 a year and we have used it on the boat.

On the boat it's like a silent generator. I have rigged a changeover on the 12v side so I can run lights pumps ( except the bath pump) internet and fridge off this unit easing the load on the now tired AGM's. To run the bath pump I simply plug the Ecoflow into the hookup and turn on the battery charger.... this maintains the batteries usually at float level passing what is needed to the bath pump. Obviously this is very 'lossy' inverting from the Ecoflow and transforming on the battery charger. When we have showered I tend to swap it to the 12v side from the 10 amp supply on the Ecoflow. This covers all evening stuff and if we need the TV again I plug it in to the hook up and it'll supply 12v and 230v simultaneously. 

It's a 1024w battery with over 3000 cycles so I calculate about 80 Ah at 12v - we on an evening use about 40 ah. A decent hybrid between home and boat.

Only issue is it'll not charge off the boats inverter when the engine is running as it needs a pure sine wave charge source so I'll invest in a 500w pure sine wave inverter that'll charge the unit in about two and a half hours. I'll also get a land based second hand solar panel that I can charge the unit with on the mooring. Slightly counter intuitively I can charge with the genny in about an hour and a half and then use the stored power as needed rather than as the genny does running all the time regardless of load. (and after 8pm!)

I have an option of adding a lithium to my house batteries as the 12v canal group are doing they call it a hybrid setup - just issues around the smart bank that I have asked advice about from Mark the proprietor at Life batteries. 

So it's been interesting. Hopefully at home by the  end of next week we will finally have a solar battery albeit quite small but I've always wanted something to head off the standing load of about 200w and if the sun can do that and add some to the battery for the evening even better.   

I'll report back on how it all performs as and when.

Age comes with anxiety for sure and 21 months later we are back where we started

A new phrase in our household is 'don't let the old man in' (or old woman) a reminder to not give in to old age either mentally or physically. The physical bit in some ways is easier to control than the mental bit. As I get older confidence waines and with it comes a sprinkling of anxiety  - especially so when despite copious amounts of planning things run out of your control. I may be being hard on myself as all through life plans are made then events outside of my control render the plans adjusted busted and/or lost or changed. I guess as you get older you tend irrationally to blame yourself rather than the universe for such happenings.

Back to that later... to complete this story of Percy's adventure we have to look back a few days to the last post when we arrived and our mooring had not been vacated by the incumbent boater the alternative offer was too short so we ended up with great relief onto our friends mooring just past bridge 44, she being away for blacking.... all up to date?

Saturday saw me get the electric (ha!) Brompton from the forecabin pump the tyres up and head off 18 miles back to Great Haywood to collect the car.... despite judicious use of the electric motor the battery gave up on me about 8 miles in ! Not wishing to give the battery a free ride I dumped it under a hedge in an industrial park just off the A34 noting the location on my phone and peddled the remaining 10 miles to collect the car. Fed and watered at the canal side cafe I drove back picked up the useless battery ( I need to rebuild it with new cells.... any experience of that out there or links to places that do it ?) and back to our mooring squat. 

Then off to Derby for event 1 in young grandsons Teddy's 6th birthday weekend, a meal at TGI Fridays in Derby.... god I'm old - loud loud loud .... I was sooo glad to leave not helped by a banging headache. Back to the boat, eat sleep wake drive back to Trowel this time to help set up for his 'official' birthday party complete with about 15 'mates' who had a high level of competency in screaming and running around all fueled by sugar... He had a good time as did his little brother Benny who I had the honour of accompanying on the bouncy castle !

Tranquility restored by getting back to the boat, anxiety increased by lack of contact I was expecting from the mooring manager/owner/farmer etc etc. A contact was made to Overwater marina for a plan B and a few options reviewed but sadly discounted associated with a possible mooring when we used to moor just past bridge 44.

A frustrating and somewhat mardy (me) night saw us getting up on Bank holiday Monday ( yesterday) pondering a few jobs and waiting on contact re the mooring as we were time limited on our friends mooring obviously. We decided we needed a good walk so took ourselves off to the Norbury canal festival about a six and a half mile round trip back down the canal but a very enjoyable walk as it was when I used to take Leai for breakfast at the cafe at Norbury - she always having the sausage off my plate as her part of the treat. 

Pizza coffee and cake consumed plus a few bits for presents and a txt saying we could put Percy on a different larger mooring  - spirits raised we yomped off back to Percy deciding if to move that evening or wait until next weekend. As we were committed in some part next weekend we fired up the donk, and set off north to wind at the canopy makers winding hold before a slow fly past our old moorings again to head south to hopefully a new home for Percy to the short/medium/long term... to look back on when we know the answer to that  ! 

The wind got up blowing off mooring ( always helps - not) and a boat approaching a small final test of patience and reward. Of course nothing having been in this mooring for a while it was silted up more than off side moorings usually are... with the wind being mean and the canal bottom close to the top we had to use what muscle power I have to drag Percy to the edge, using the prop to dig and pull the silt thru the mooring  noting with some envy the ratchet straps and shroppie wheels used by one of the boats adjacent - tells is story in one. 

In tied up introduced ourselves to the neighbour and car fetched we had arrived. We were told it was a traders mooring and they were away for the summer - I don't want to move mooring again so that might be an issue later in the year.... 

So we left Shebdon just after bridge 44 September 2021 and arrived back between Bullocks bridge and bridge 44  May 2023.... some blacking cruise !