For no other reason ...

... Other than to reappear on those who graciously put me on their blog roll.

The no blogging does not mean we have not been engaged, ill health, houses and jobs have all conspired to keep us away from Percy. More about those issues maybe later in the months to come.

I have been to Percy, all carpets are fitted and the boat is now very comfortable. The oil pump, or rather a method of checking it is doing its job still entertains. I have redone my initial install after a slight weep was detected, it shows initial pressure but as the oil gets hotter the pressure drops, I guess to be expected, this is where Tony's install was most probably better as by opening a small screw it allowed some oil to bypass the splash system via a sight glass. The sight glass was always difficult to see and sitting typing this it occurs to me if I painted one side of the glass white the black oil would obliterate it showing flow..... Mmmm thanks for that self reflection is a good thing... sometimes.

We may well visit Percy this weekend to wind him, sounds like a baby ! We prefer to have the bow pointing north as it puts the saloon so we sit looking onto the canal and the preferable engine room doors with the inverter land side for lawn mowing !!

For no other reason than I like em... Here are a few previously used pics

It was something we were visioning when we first considered Percy, the kitchen and the lounge... One down and just the furniture to add to the other.

It's ok doing the work ( well Adele did most of the technical stuff) but at some point you have to enjoy it.

Today we have been viewing houses, maybe more on that later, but we ended up on board after treating ourselves to a dine in for 2 M&S special.

So the kitchen is now a working space once again, all plumbed in and with a new addition to the boat - a microwave. Not for primary use but useful, and another cooking source should be ever run out of gas.... Not that we should.



Once again thank you Adele a great job done to time to quality and to budget. A thanks to Norwyn ex of Shellbell who passed on Adele's contacts, thanks Norwyn, if you are ever this way let me know and I'll buy you a pint in the mucky duck.


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Location:The finished product

Job done (lots of photos) - well nearly !

At last Percy looks more like a relaxing place to stay rather than the back room of a charity shop !!

Adele did a great job for a very fair price. We extended the specification of works to include removing the curtain that separated the under counter space and replace it with scumbled boards and an access hatch. It looks 100% better and a place Rachel is happier to spend time in - she thought spiders were multiplying under the counter!

Adele also made us a small book case and boxed in the newly exposed water pipe and electricity cable when we removed the fixed furniture.

Before...

Large gas fridge and no work space, the round sink bowls were tired looking and the formica worktop was cracked and the edging too pronounced....

During....

We wanted to keep the base units and the plate racks, in fact we wanted not to detract from the excellent hand made cabinets and the work Tony had put in. A new kitchen would have looked out of place on our 1990's boat.

Complete.... well nearly

We have a Waeco 12v fridge under the counter now. It only draws .9 of an amp, the solar was putting in between 2 and 4 on Sunday and I ran it while working to keep my drinks cold. the batteries never dropped off the 100% on my Smartgauge. It has a freezer compartment so we will drop in some freezer blocks to move to the fridge overnight so we can turn it off.

What is not too obvious is now when we open the side hatch we will get all the light the old counter top fridge blocked. Adele and formed a microwave housing, It is another cooking option albeit a battery hungry one, we intend getting a simple mechanical (dial not digital) type microwave for infrequent use.

The sinks have been the biggest challenge, to source and subsequently to get fittings for them. They are a 3 inch recess and all the modern Belfast/Butler types are 3 1/2 inch. For now I have fitted the latter but it does not allow the water to drain fully so plan B is to turn 1/4 inch off the flange to let it drop into the recess...

I will take some photo's of the bookcase (when stained and varnished) and the back counter panel.

As we had removed the fixed furniture a new carpet was in order, I fitted that on Sunday with the help of Leia.

I did the bedroom carpet at the same time

I still need to fit the water filter (Rachel is still choosing a tap) plus the strainer between the new pump and the water tank.

Then I'd like to replace the Kitchen and Bathroom vinyl with something a bit more hard wearing.

We need to decide on a settee or two captain chairs - any advice?

Then we may go cruising !!

You can contact Adele via her Facebook page

Watercolour Property Solutions

The greaseomatic update

One of the engineering technologies if there is such a thing fitted to Percy was a Greaseomatic automatic greaser for the stern gland. I blogged about it here.

I was going to set it for 9 months but I greedily opted for 12 and recently after moving Percy back to his home mooring realised I needed to check the stern gland drip tray. I installed a small electric pump off eBay and used it to remove a couple of litres of T&M finest indicating the greaser was ready to be replaced.

I had a spare that went on for another 12 months, hopefully with some more cruising it may not make the full 12 months.

Before I forget I need to order a couple more, not cheap at nearly 20 quid a piece but for the piece of mind of continuous protection worth the money. I guess if I ever do the CCing then I'd revert back to a manual greaser.

The end is in sight

I have had a couple of days off to sort the house and garden out now the days are a little longer. You certainly understand how age slows you down and the aches are a lot more. Having said that Callum my youngest has been a great help in getting a lot of heavy stuff done so it has been progressive.

Yesterday after sorting and tidying the garage I treated myself to 120 miles of joy as I piloted my ST1300 Pan European across the Derbyshire and Staffordshire dales.

I did have a bit of an eeny meeny miny moe moment but the bike won out !

I went up to Clay Cross for a cup of coffee then set the sat nav on a large loop taking in Winster, Hartington over to Stone, Burston and stopped of at Percy to check the work Adele had completed.

This was the stop and take a photo view near Brackenfield at the start of the ride....

I still very much like Burston and would love to live there.

It is a short walk from the canal and has a good if old fashioned pub called the Greyhound. The jewel in the crown is the lake. I spent half an hour there talking to an angler some while back, lovely carp lake.

I stopped off to see the progress on Percy. Adele is progressing well and hopefully by the weekend we should have him back to put back on the mooring. There will be some work to do still as I opted to do the plumbing and electrics as well as some carpet laying. Pictures will follow.

I am having major withdrawal symptoms as are Rachel and Leia !!

It is certainly not a staid and boring life at them moment for sure.

29 years wed, Valentines Day and plans...

Friday was our 29th wedding anniversary, on valentines day, yep that is me the old romantic !! We took the opportunity to take ourselves away for a couple of nights to North Wales, to the Sychnant Pass country house 

It is a lovely place with a very friendly host and top food. We used it as a base to view a range of properties we may consider as one of the plans we are cooking at the moment. Our lives are jigsaw puzzles at the moment and until we can start joining a few pieces together we cannot see what the picture of our future is.

One thing for sure it was a good way to see Wales, very wet and stormy. Rachel is aware of how Wales can be, she lived on Anglesey for many years and Charles her late father lives there pretty much all of his adult life.

We saw some stunning properties, some very rural that I would imagine brings its own challenges. We were lucky we visited two days after the really big storm and we saw many instances of its damage, including power lines still down. There were many instances where trees had been cleared from the road and they were big old trees !! We suspected it was the local community (farmers) which were out there keeping the roads open, but I expect there were many properties without and still without as we travelled around.

Some of the properties were so remote they were on gated roads.... good job I was driving !

The rain was snow on the mountain tops.

We started the day looking at a lock side property in Welshpool.... nice and a shame it is not yet connected !

We finished the day at another canal side property, this one a lot different....

It is on Chirk bank...a perfect location, only.....

In my opinion the tow path gives a clue to one of the significant challenges this property would present you with....

There are obvious signs of slip into the valley below, so whoever takes this on will have their work cut out. It'll make a fabulous house when done as it comes with half an acre of land....

All of the viewings between, well maybe or maybe not time will tell, like I said a lot of pieces still to be joined up.

Percy sinks

... O' my goodness I hope I do not regret that jolly jape....

I am playing with words, to introduce you to Percy's sinks

Rachel has tried very hard to keep the kitchen changes in keeping with Percy's age. We tried to get old sinks re-enamelled, we even brought a sink to be plastic coated to look like enamel. Our last resort a few weekends ago was a reclaimers year up Alfreton way. We had visited three already and were eventually guided to Fletchers yard at Somercotes. There were three, these two were the best, £50 I like old stuff, mainly because that is what I am fast approaching ! Plus is it recycling. I have no idea where they came from, they are quite small and shallow ideal for Percy's small kitchen.

We took a punt on these two ceramic sinks they were dirtier than this, they have been left in our garden to have a little wash or ten. They are set out in our house ready for a good scrub.... hopefully next time you see them they will be on Percy set in a new worktop .... watch this space.