Two grandchildren later and maggots

 Its been a while and I really should fill the gap between April 7th and now - but that's later maybe.

We've had Percy booked for blacking at overwater for many months on recommendation from Mandy our boaty neighbour. We've not been able to get to Percy due to family stuff and health stuff (us) with Rachel getting a nasty virus off one of the Grandkids on Mothers day and still struggling with it now. I'm sure it's another covid varient. A quite horrible virus.

Anyhow life goes on and  Lyra Ivy and George Eric both now safely arrived to grow our lovely family and we are so proud of our sons daughter in laws and the other grandkids. It's a worry and it'll never go away but we are blessed and life has worries but it also has joy.  

So lots happened between  the last update and now but we needed to move Percy to Overwater for the 20th. So we arrived loaded up with bikes and Ecoflows to in the pouring rain to find our farmer landlord for some reason had strimmed our little bit of grass all over the boat. if he'd strimmed the other way it would have gone onto the bank!! I was doubly annoyed as I'd brought a replacement grass box to cut the grass as I must have left the original on the mooring and I can only assume it was nicked or blown into the cut !! Grrrrrr 

So pissing down with rain grass all over the boat I set to getting the hose out to fill with water and wash the grass off then I notice maggots on the roof - bloody anglers I thought only then I see them on the non towpath side of the boat crawling up the we side ! Not being squeamish I start picking them off then notice the dead pigeon between the boat and the armoco alive with maggots !! That got persuaded out  with a stick but the maggots kept coming  - they were in the vegetation that ironically said farmer thankfully had not strimmed growing out of the armco. So then it was angry gardener time removing all that including some giant hogweed that has burn me before with the sap  -  so that was dealt with with thick gloves on.

Onto the boat and it was an oil change  - 9 litres of Morris sae 30... checked the oil pump was pumping and topped up the coolant from the last time we were on the boat  - checking the inners of the crank and oiling the bearings prior to a overdue engine start.

For the record the oil was change at 1054 hours. 

Finally got all done and onto the boat for a nice night but it was so wet we lit the fire ! 

More to come !

Kathleen batters Percy

Seems we have a new storm and therefore a new name 'Kathleen' is hitting us as we are aboard Percy for an unprecedented long weekend  after only just being here two weeks ago - Five months no visits then two in two weeks !! 

Part of the reason is to fettle the donk on Percy. Five months is a long time to leave an old engine so I want to get inside and oil up the journals just as the 1929 vintage book advises. 

Not done it yet... typing this Friday night before the storm hits but will update with a few pics when it's done and we have the engine thumping aways all oiled up !!

A bit of a split saw me start the work about 4pm last night  ( sat) and finish up with the engine running after three hours Sunday. To get into the crank door I have to drain the block, remove the pulley guard. Then remove the Alternator the water pump and the starter then the lower water elbows. i can then open the 'door' to check the bottom end ( all good) and for good measure give the bearings a good oil before she starts up. Then its the reverse process  - 6 hours all in all but I feel better knowing the bits that need oil have it and the pump and dippers will do the rest going forward. Some pictures  - I take loads to ensure it all goes back as it should mainly the electrical connections. 

Still blowing hard out side  - we will try for a little cruise tomorrow if possible but not of its still blowing 

The Whaley bridge repair

It seems like an age ago that we were watching the tv and being told of an impending disaster as the Toddbrook reservoir spill way was in danger of breaching and the town of Whaley bridge was being evacuated. As in all good disaster movies the event was avoided and all was well.... apart form the cost to C&RT for the repair . I took the opportunity to have a ride that way the other day while out for a longish shopping trip to Screwfix !  

What a work of art it is to incur costs to all canal users.... banksmen on the road below trying to stop traffic  - I rode by. All the site is protected from prying eyes by hundreds of yards of hoarding all nicely painted, The fella sitting in his road sweeper truck watching vids ( I presume )  on his phone - very little site work being done as evidenced by the chains on the gates.  Goodness knows what the ongoing daily costs are are who is clerking the works and signing off the bills and the need for the 'extras' ?

I'm sure some of it is needed and the repair certainly, but please for the love of all the canals please C&RT get on with it and reduce the costs where you can  - it must be costing us thousands of pounds each day ....

Abuse and monitor

My last couple of posts have been about batteries  - the things on boats that are a another disposable item (recyclable for money) but are essential to make being or living on a boat a bit like being in a house... It's a good thing now more houses are getting like boat dwelling in that for some or all of the time they are also now being powered by batteries. 

In the boat situation cheap solar and now lithium  - for the wise, have opened up the options of living like connected to the grid. Lithium is so powerful and so flexible in charge and discharge properties compared to old lead acid tech. 

Home systems such as ours also save money  - my return on investment is calculated at 6 years with much of the tech well able to see past 10 or even 20 years.... it is also essential to allow the grid to load balance  - in winter when little sun for the solar we load up out batteries at 9p per kw and use that all during the day... most days not needing any 29p electricity. Our last electric bill for February into March was £42 and over £15 of that was standing charge. So less than a pound a day. 

Back to the boat and I checked I added two 160a/h AGM ( Absorbed glass matt ) in February 2019 at a cost of £220 each. They are dropping to 50% on the smartgauge quite quickly after a few hours of duty. I could make them last another year and may well do so  - abusing them into the 30% range knowing they are fubarr'd. As in my last post the Ecoflow will be my backup so for now I'll abuse and monitor 

https://nbpercy.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-victron-bmv-712-and-batteries-go-in.html

I'm still unsure how to replace them. On the 12v FB group there is much talk and support on a hybrid system of lead acid and Lithium.... the lead acid being the buffer for the instant BMS ( battery management system) shut of of charging that lithiums have. The benefit of lithium is they will take as much charge as they can as their charge limit is set by the BMS - that is adjusted for temp also. They charge to full then shut off instantly which can bugger up the alternator ( my understanding ) hence the buffer lead acid to take the alternator output when the BMS shuts off. Also there is the concern about alternator over heating as they work hard instantly and stay at max output unless charge rates are adjusted in the BMS  

I'll abuse the resident batteries and watch this space  - one issue is space literally as I'm limited on Percy so that is always a consideration. The other consideration is cost... they are an investment in fit and forget which if we intend to keep the boat for any length of time makes sense... if not it'll be another brace of AGM's. 

Final question I have  - some who read this who know may wish to comment  - not good to leave Lithiums at 100% and if on a solar panel thats what the leads get. I am presuming within the BMS you can set a charge limit so if leaving the boat for a period of time and not wanting to have the Lithiums at 100% you'd set the max charge to their recommended storage setting ? 

Anyhow here is the website of the recommended supplied for interest .

About my Ecoflow Lithium battery

While I was waiting for the main house batteries to be sorted and to give some blackout cover at the cottage I purchased an Ecoflow Delta 2. 

They are sometimes what is incorrectly called a solar battery. Its so much more than a dumb battery. It is a 1024w 51v LiFePO4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate)battery  which is married to a 60v 15 amp Mttp solar controller, a 1kw battery charger plus a 1800w inverter ( 230v out) it also has USB type c x 2 USB type A fast and slow ports. A 12v 10 amp cigarette style port. It can be fast charged up to 1100w down to 100w by the app  - yes its all app controlled. It can be charged at 80w from a car charger while driving. Its very versatile

At home it has a 1024w extra battery attached so its makes it a 2kw battery. It is charged overnight slow time to protect the battery on cheap rate electric. I have a 380w solar panel to go onto the gable end of the workshop (south facing ) so it'll be charged up for free for 3/4 of the year and maybe more. When at home its job is to run the fish pond pump and UV filter as well as the fridge freezer and wine fridge ( don't judge me ).

When it comes to the boat it has its own solar panel to charge it up  - see last post. If no sun it can be charged from 5% to 95% in an hour off the Honda 1kw genny. While being charged its running the boats electrics via the shore line hook up which includes the battery charger for the boats batteries  - which after I think four and a bit years are showing their age.

That one hour genny charge or free sun charge brings the Ecoflow onto the boat and it'll be plugged into the hook up and can run the tv and the battery charger if needed... last night it ran the microwave to start the baked spuds ! Then it gets plugged into the 12v circuit by a pig tail to the bus bar and is fed by the 10 amp cigarette socket - not idea but it works. On the more expensive units there is an Anderson port for more amps. It'll stay like that now all night running the fridge and the router ( 12v ) as I sit typing this just lights on the boat is using 25w 

Incidentally our cottage is running on batteries right now .... drawing 205w but the pond pump will go off shortly so that will drop overnight. We charge up in winter on cheap rate electric 9p a kw in summer we charge for free depending on how much sun we get !

It is all work in progress on the boat and the cottage  - still learning. The cottage gauges above are from a little Raspberry Pi running Home Assistant  - there are a ton of automations that I need to develop but for now it is a good monitoring base for me ( better than the app that comes with the inverter and batteries) 

I like that I capture the suns energy and save it and reuse it  - small things please simple minds as they say ! 

The only thing is it is quite compulsive watching and measuring. But I'd remind you of the adage I worked to at the University  - If you are not measuring it you are not managing it  !!

More to come no doubt and what fun it would be to have an electrically powered canal boat.... more are having them and I have pondered what it would take to replace Percy's engine with a generator and a load of batteries ....!! Now that would be a project 

Harvesting the sun

Yesterday was a bit of a long day. My youngest son Callum came over to the cottage for 7.30am and by 8am we were removing the two solar panels I'd put up on the North East facing workshop roof.  The two panels were a trial to see what I could get before the main panels on the south west facing roof. It was an encouraging trial with the two 375w panels giving a good start to the solar harvest each day. So much so i upped them to 5 x 425w panels. One of the two panels coming off the roof may go onto Percy to replace the 15 year old 175w panel... my Victon 15/75 controller will take that nicely.

It was bitter cold and a bit rainy but we got them all up and the sun came out just before they were energised into the Dc coupled inverter I have in the workshop - so now a 4.1kw system. Today we harvested 12.4 kw of 'free' power. it bodes well for covering the demand from the house meaning less need for charging the batteries up overnight certainly for 3/4 of the year. All good. 

We then manhandled two 1.2 x 2.4 metre sheets of 9mm plasterboard onto the vaulted ceiling timbers I'd constructed.... glad he was there to help and id not have been able to do it myself easily. We then hotfooted to his nearly completed house in Chinley to do some stuff there  - only we noticed a person slumped at the side of the road so turned the car and offered assistance. Turned out to be a local lady very worst for wear on the drink. But it was 5c and raining and a bitter wind and she was wet and in the gutter.... my lad phoned the ambulance service and they sad TEN hours for an ambulance. We phoned the police and they said not our problem  - yes they did say that. So I phoned the ambulance service and said she was starting to suffer hypothermia as were we and we got an ambulance in the hour.... the loaded her up and we went off to do what we were supposed to be doing 2 hours ago. I got back 8pm but pleased with the progress at both places.

Skip forward to today and we got to the boat after I'd tidied the wiring up under the panels and the solar was working well. Very pleased with my part DIY system but still got G98 approval  - look it up ! On the boat I plugged in the Ecoflow Delta 2 to the 38-w panel I put up last year made from floorboards from my lads house in said Chinley. it was instantly taking nearly 300w and the boat about 80w so charging up and running our other home  - excellent when a plan comes together. 

We pottered and then went for a lovely short walk as Rachel is still recovering from a nasty virus. Back at the boat I made a banana loaf and Cauliflower cheese and bakes spuds - gas ovens still make the best baked potatoes. We enjoyed a brief glimpse of spring but are ready for rain tomorrow with the stove set for lighting as we may just hunker down eat cake and drink tea  tomorrow. The engine will wait for another warmer drier day when it will be a pleasure to open up the crank door and oil all the bearings prior to its 2024 startup !! 

Some pictures.... 

Nice day after a busy but productive day yesterday 

She survived the winter very well

It's always a bit of a concern to be visiting the boat after so many months being left all alone. This made more concerning after dreaming Percy had sank in a lock !! In fact on checking we were last with Percy on the 9th October 2023.... See here 

I'm so ashamed I/we  left the boat all winter  - thats 165 days or over 23 weeks  - more than 5 months. Wind rain snow ice. The storage box had twisted in the wind other than that externally she looked very well. Inside the same  - we stripped the bed and turned and vacuumed the mattress. I cleaned the bathroom after filling and testing the water heater - always a weak point. I blow any water out of it via the shower hose and wrap it in my dressing gown thankfully it survived, some orange flames  on startup but other than that worked a treat. I also gave the kitchen a good clean while Rachel vacuumed the boat and the curtains. 

Outside I added a bit of oil to the genny and it went on first pull and ran the vacuum perfectly. The delta 2 portable battery was plugged into the afternoon sun and was getting 250w off the panel so that bodes well for summer on board. The batteries were at 100% confirmed by the Smartgauge and also the Victron shunt that showed just 2.3 amps going in from the Delta 2 running the shore line into the boat. 

We didn't stay aboard as I've DIY here and at my youngest house tomorrow but we would like to be back on Sunday for a few days . I want to strip the engine to get into the crank case. I'm uneasy starting the engine after leaving it so long and I'm sure the 'book' says open the crankcase door and oil the main bearings after a long lay off. It'll mean removing the water pump started motor and alternator but I've done that before Hopefully I can get the door off not trashing the gasket as they are only available in kits of full gasket sets which are expensive.... 

So well done Percy, you have done us proud - lets hope the donk after a little TLC  - I'll check and adjust the tappets starts and behaves! More to come hopefully