2014 - a reflection on our year in blogland

I now seem to do these every year, more for my benefit than yours but if you are interested this was a summary of our year, in text and pictures.

If I was doing an exec summary it would be less blogging but more time spent on the boat. Lots of miles travelled but all by car. The bike that was ever present in 2013, took a back seat or a garage position for 2014. More time apart than we have ever experienced since we were in our teens. Excitement and sadness still missing loved ones.

So...

January 4 posts starting about the cost of living afloat and some useful observations on engine use. When we filled up with diesel at Burton upon Trent as we came back to our mooring from our failed (not our fault) kitchen refit cruise from Willington the engine hours had 131 on the clock. I recall when leaving the boat earlier this week we had about 236 hours.... so in the whole year I ran the engine for just over 100 hours.... and we did a cruise to stone and back over one week.... when you consider I have lived aboard for 6 months it shows how well the boat performs  - or am I a power minimalist freak !!!! More to blog about in the coming weeks about power and the batteries.

February 3 posts reflecting on where our previous boats now were on the cut. Spooky really as when walking over the Christmas period along the Coventry canal we spotted our shared boat Sylph moored up looking good and obviously in private ownership now.

 This was taken when we were going up the Tardibigge flight some years ago now...

I blogged about the sinks we had found and were cleaning up for the kitchen refit on Percy...

Before...

After...

I finished by blogging about where we were for our 29th wedding anniversary...Wales looking at cottages to buy, if only we knew ! One thing for sure for our 30th we will not be celebrating - in February, all leave in cancelled at Rachels hospital for senior staff due to an important visit so like our honeymoon which was also not permitted by the NHS.... we will have to wait !


March 4 posts, mainly about the excellent job Adele did on our kitchen. But there was detail of me riding the bike... gratuitous Bike and Alfa shot here....

Some blurb about the greasomatic - a reminder I need to change it in the next couple of months, I did check it before leaving to come south and it was still performing well.... seemed like it had a couple of months left.

The work done to make Percy a little more accommodating for us....

Before

After

Before

After

What makes me happy is I now recall how nice the weather was in March... bike riding and also I recall cutting the carpet on the dry grass outside the boat... roll on spring, I hate winter !

April 5 posts. Dominated by two events, a great trip to America to see family and friends and news of a life change job opportunity resulting in me living on Percy and Rachel taking a cottage in the South Downs.

Before that I was blogging about oil pressure gauges - a failed experiment as I have now reverted back to Tony's very simple but logical mode of checking the oil is pumping on Percys' Lister. It is a splash system that relies on a pump to refresh the oil bath that the cups on the crank use to flirt oil over the engine inners, simple but effective.

May I peaked at 6 blog entries !! Mainly a lot of images from America...

We ended the month in Somerset with the bike group I ride out with. A great couple of days, some wet but that helps hone the skills....

June just 3 blog posts.... really about boat painting and downsizing - or decluttering. Ironic as neither came to full conclusion, the boat painting was put off 10 months due to stoppages & me living aboard and the house not selling meant the decluttering was a only part one. We have to hope both were for a reason, certainly we can see the former was.

July a heady 5 entries into my blog.... And perhaps the most intense month emotionally and activity wise for many many years in our lives.

My 1st July entry, that is quite insightful...

Sitting in the warm late summer sun, garden in full bloom and beer with wine to follow flowing, contemplating being homeless for the first time in 30 plus years.....

We will have houses but not homes... well not just yet. We have a house full of belongings behind me waiting to be spread out 200 miles away on the South Downs.

This time next week I will be a liveaboard on the Trent  and Mersey canal. Going into that eyes wide open, maybe with a tad too much focus on the long dark winter months.

It is funny to see how breaking down the home affects the cat and dog... both have become so much more clingy  - certainly the cat cannot be closer to us right now !

It's a adventure, one quite off script, interesting to re read this in 12 months to see how the pages of our lives have turned and what chapters have been written,

So the next post might just come from a floating home in Staffordshire .... or a South Downs cottage

.... to be continued !!

In some order we had a great few days in North Yorkshire - I still have cottages saved to my Rightmove list in Masham.

I embarrassed myself with a crash whilst racing Callum on the Segways !

During our good news developing Tom announced he was to marry his girlfriend Courtney and we all came together for a beautiful day in early July for the wedding.

Without taking too many sleeps we were then off on our adventure with a move down south to a cottage in the south downs.

Leaving our home of 20 years behind..

To come pretty much straight back up take up some degree of residence on Percy

I caught the middle of summer... then the dark winter, maybe something to blog about in the future

The joy of living aboard in the summer is the endless fishing....something I am looking forward to again this year.

August 5 posts.... and all fairly reflective of the new living arrangements. Not surprising really. Seems there was a lot of work going on on and off the boat to make it better, I am looking forward to finishing the decking I got installed around this time. Plus we will be adding a small bench on the water side in memory of Charles my father in law, so we can sit and reflect. I will need to add some slabs for this and a small retaining sleeper.... that will be a springtime job I guess this year.

It was getting used to the early morning starts and commute as well as the longer weekend commutes for both of us.

We did have a nice visit from Sharon and Andy - Rachels Sister and her husband.

September - 1 post ! Getting on with the routine at this point I guess, the days were getting shorter and nights colder, I do recall thinking a lot about diesel heating at this time.

October 3 posts and I have realised reading back now we only cruised ONCE in 2014... we may have winded a couple of times but we only went out one time up to the the winding hole at Meaford for a week, that is so bad and quite sad.

I also had only used 48 litres of diesel since the beginning of the year and that fill up was on the return from Meaford at the pig farm at bridge 69....engine hours 180 so I used 48 litres for 49 hours engine time.... cheap living for sure, well for diesel use !

November 4 posts... but quite an active month, and I blogged about how little I liked the month. From one end of the country to the other, well not quite but two countries in one trip when I went from the South Downs to my good friends John and Carrie in Scotland in a day.

Nice walks in the Downs...

Cycle rides in the Downs...

Window shopping at the NEC bike show

 First frosts

.. and the M25 

I also replaced the batteries and brought a twin tub washer... and there in lies another challenge to be updated in the New Year, the batteries that is, the washer is still in its box in the forecabin waiting for summer  and a forecabin refit.

December the last 4 posts of the year. No real happenings. I did catch up on the bloggers I met while about Fradley, thank you all again for the wine and coffee but more importantly the company.

So that was one of the slowest blogging years to date. A lot gone on that does not need blogging about. Let's see what 2015 brings forward.

Tiller arm safety

Looking at many boat pictures I see seats either side of the tiller arm. Really comfortable and sociable I guess but how risky is this 'driving' position? Recently Mags off Seyella took a dive - literally I understand when the rudder hit an underwater obstacle arcing the tiller arm with enough force to push poor Mags into the cut.

I am the last person to preach H&S, I prefer it to be the responsibility of the person to consider their own safety, and I am sure that it only takes a repositioning of the steerer and bad timing to experience the tiller being something akin to one of the 'its a knockout' type of apparatuse's.

Our boats have been Cruiser, Cruiser, Semi Trad and now Trad. The first two put the steerer right in the way of the arc of the tiller, mainly by virtue of the morse control. Waterlily was better, but you could very eaily find yourself altering your position for a change and being within the arc. Percy's position is more natural to the point Tony Redshaw adjusted the tiller arm to be about 30 degrees off centre to go forward so that when standing within the boat my arm is at a good angle, not directly behind me - if that makes sense.

The down side is that when there are two or more they are either within the confines of the hatch or standing on the gunnels (preferable unless you are very friendly)

Ultimately it is down to whoever is steering I guess, and the views on risk. However you do it just be safe?

Checking my thumps....

...not not been on the alcohol - if fact off it at the moment and feel better for it.

I brought one of these...

It is a digital tachometer. Percy having an 1929 designed engine only has a speed wheel and forward/reverse handle. From my research the CS2 makes 20 HP at 600rpm.... but what is 600 rpm.

We now I have a much better idea of the RPM at different speed wheel positions..

No turns = tickover is 330 RPM (under load it dropped to 312 RPM)

All other RPM figures are in neutral

1 turn = 380 rpm
1.5 turns = 440 rpm
2 turns = 490 rpm
2.5 turns = 545 rpm
3 turns = 595 rpm
3.5 turns = 650 rpm
4 turns = 685 rpm
4.5 turns = 732 rpm
5 turns = 781 rpm

I rarely have the wheel above 3.5 turns, as the boat is pulling too much water and it drops to near the bottom of the canal... we do not do much river cruising (yet) but I expect Percy motors on with deep water.

In fact I prefer moving along at tickover.... I have on a few occasions nodded off while moving along at tickover - not out of boredom but from the beat of the engine !

Anyhow if anyone wants to borrow it let me have your address and I'll mail it on so long as you mail it back !!

12 months later .....

We have just had a  nice last 2014 meal in which we reflected on the last year and pondered our 2015. We were not sure where we were this time last year... checking back on the blog we were actually on board for the New Year in 2013, without any forethought or inkling what 2014 would deliver.

It is ironic that in 2014 I posted on 48 (including this one) occasions - less than one a week and I lived aboard for 6 months of the year - I think that says something, not sure what ? Last year it was 94 posts....

So for my record we were in a cottage in the South Downs for the New Year 2014.... lets hope we are all fit and well to blog about where we are New Year 2015.

One thing that has been missing in 2014 is motorbike miles,  (certainly compared to 2013) last time I rode the Pan was in July  - ironically a week or so before we moved out of the house. It would have been so much better if we had got a place with a garage down south but the place we have costs enough so that might be on the wish list for 2015.

Anyhow, tomorrow Rachel is at work so I will do my annual review of the year, always a good time to fully reflect and plan for the New Year. As she is on an early we will be asleep when the New Year arrives so I will end with a wish for one thing to you all, good health as without that the rest is much less important.

Nev

One more day to go....

We moved our Derby base to Staffordshire on the 9th July. I guess you could say it was all downhill from there.... well light wise it was  and until you live on a boat for an extended period of time you do not understand how dark the experience can be !

Ok so not a doom and gloom post but the reality of living while still working on a boat is you get up in the dark and come back in the dark. No daytime cruises to get your vitamin D. I spoke to Kev my neighbour and he casually said it is an existence over the winter aboard. This is much the case when you are off the grid and living on 2 leisure batteries. It can be cosy, it can be romantic(not when you are on your own mind) but it is bloody dark most of the time. The irony is I bet when I return to land living in the spring (good timing !!) to sort out the house to sell I will miss the boat I guess, even more so as the days will be getting lighter all the time.

So why the post today.... well I pushed across to water up and empty the cassette, and then decided to give the batteries a real good top up as well as top up my vitamin D with some wind blast sunshine and rain. We only went to Alrewas and back for winding but it was a challenge in the wind. Talking of winding, the Alrewas winding hole can be a pig if the wind is in the wrong direction, today it was and would have caught me broadside and slowly pushed me onto the far bank if I had not passed the stern rope to Rachel whole kept the stern near the armco while I winded - almost felt like I knew what I was doing!

The one more day is tomorrow up to 23:03 when the earth's orbit sees it lengthening the exposure to the sun in our northern hemisphere

The winter solstice itself lasts only a moment in time, so other terms are used for the day on which it occurs, such as "midwinter", or the "shortest day". It is often considered the "first day of winter" or the "start of winter" (Lidong in the East Asian calendars), although in meteorology winter spans the entire period of December through February. The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days

So from 23:03 tomorrow night the days get longer and the nights shorter and it feels like survival, only some consider tomorrow the start of winter and as we all know we have yet to have a blast of cold weather for any sustained period. 

Bottom line is we moved the boat today, we are together now for 16 days, it's Christmas in 5 days time and goodness only knows what 2015 holds for us !

Happy Christmas and a safe and secure New Year to you all.

It's on its way..... !!

They came through ....bloggers and friends in one

Fellow bloggers. Totally remiss of me not to have posted while I enjoyed the hospitality. Being on board part of the time now I do get to intercept the bloggers I know as they come through.

It started mid summer when John and Louise brought Ploddin'Along through Fradley....

I got an invite for drinks and a show around what is a really well spec'd and comfortable boat. I am sure it will get many lock miles under its baseplate in the coming years.

Next invite was from the 'A' listers on the cut, Doug & James from NB Chance. I was welcomed aboard as if a long standing friend, the red wine was top class as was the boat and company.

The next invite was for a curry in Alrewas with Halfie and Jan from NB Jubilee while they were out as part of their first decent retirement cruise, as I recall I think Jan had technically retired either that day or that week. Anyhow we had a great chat over food and back on the boat.

After Rachel departed one Sunday for her long drive south I went looking for more long term live-a-board bloggers, Lesley and Joe of NB Yarwood They had just had a new Refleks stove fitted and I was interested in the install and the performance. We had a really good chat and I walked with them through to Common lock after watering at Fradley. Fletcher and Floyd put up with Leia while we talked ......

Our most recent visit was to Geoff and Mags from NB Seyella We hailed Geoff as we were walking to Woodend lock last Sunday and he kindly invited us in for tea on our way back (plus home made cookies !) Look at the symmetry of those logs on the roof... you can spot a long termer by his logs !!

We were alarmed to read that Mags had been in the cut at Colwich seems apart from some bruising she is ok, now that is a tough lady.

So if you are passing invite the cuckoo aboard.... ;-) Or if the lights are on and the smoke is being made breast up below Hunts lock and demand Tea !!

It has been good meeting you all and you have helped me settle into what can be a challenging and sometime lonely existence. I will look out for you when the ropes eventually are untied and Percy starts his system voyage.

Do you agree with my thinking here...?

Frustrated from Fradley needs some advice!

I trumpeted my battery swap out here....Clicky Over the last few weeks I have been frustrated with the performance of the new batteries, any small load (TV 25w ) sees big %'s drop. initially I put it down to the Smartgauge calibrating the new batteries, but the solar controller was giving me its verdict of half empty batteries too often.

I began to suspect I had a bad battery. So last night after watching a dvd via the Mac HDMI link to the tv I went to take Leia out and the Solar controller was giving me the red light and the Smartgauge was saying 47% dropped from 74% and a voltage of 12.2  That % drop was not consistent with running a 25w tv for 3 hours with a few pump cycle and little lighting as we had the Christmas tree lights on !!

So this morning it was on with the overalls, the genny was set to charge the computer and Ipads up while I investigated. The multimeter said the starter was sitting at  12.76 v and the two leisures were 12.74 v so I disconnected the two leisures and they were showing  12.58v and 12.91v Now they were new together so you would expect them to be close to similar voltage when not connected (am I right here?)

So I swapped the starter with the lower (questionably faulty battery). Gave the engine some TLC, the 1929 design means an oil can rather than oil pressure lubricating its workings... and started the donk up.

It went to EP  - engine battery priority, basically putting all the alternator output into the starter battery  (for those who would be interested in the Smartgauge/Smartbank system the manual is here ) I expected this as the questionably duff battery was low and starting the engine would draw it lower so the system gives it all the alternator output.

It then went into connected mode (CON) meaning it was charging both starter and leisure, however this went on far too long indicating to me that the starter was not taking the charge as it should, the smartgage was detecting this and keeping it connected (via the relay) to try and get it to an acceptable level (am I right here?)

So the test will be in how the two leisure batteries hold up over the next week. I am not a power user, water pump, shower pump some low power lights, no fridge at the moment just the 25w tv. I'd expect the two 110a/h batteries to cover this with loosing only a few % each evening?

Any advice or observations welcome.


PS.... I drafted this last night while out at my sister in laws, came back to the boat at 11pm from leaving at 3pm to find I had left the inverter on and the engine room light.... only lost a few % on the SG so that looks promising.