Prepping for a 'multi hazard event'

Of course on the boat the prep is mostly done in that you are responsible for your own heat power and water as well as waste, very much off grid living  - which is why it is a bit attractive to me. Having said that is it hard work and I have the upmost respect to those living on the cut. The marina dwellers have the umbilical cord of power and water on the pontoon as well as toilets and showers on site so really not the same hardy boaters as those on the canal.

When we were aboard we saw it first hand with daylight bringing the boaters out to top up water while the various water points were still unfrozen, chopping wood for their stoves bringing coal into their boats for their stoves and getting provisions from the local shops as certainly where we moor the lanes would easily become impassible. That is more to do with the type of farming as it is mostly arable not dairy. The dairy farmers round us do some lane clearing to enable the milk tankers to get to the farms to take away their milk. The other year one skidded off the lane near us but again there is a lot of decent heavy equipment on the farms to extricate the tanker so it wasn't stuck for too long. 

Here at the cottage we are supposed to be in the line of fire for storm Goretti which is reportedly  bringing the multi hazard event. Being boaters and having lived out here for a good few years now we have an understanding of what the impacts might be. We are lucky in that we do not get too many power outages here ( tempting fate) and where they do occur they are usually quite quickly resolved as the transformers that are on our lines are in the local farmers fields.

But having been caught out with the beast from the east which turned out to be the flame detector on the oil boiler unit ( I now have a spare plus others ) where we or rather I didn't have any heat in the cottage for four or five days  - Rachel was on the south coast in the cottage down there. The 8kw stove that is in the middle of the cottage was a god send as it kept me and the whole cottage warm. 

I have since brought the  Ecoflow and extra battery plus I have two generators at the cottage a 2.2kw that still needs a new choke, I have fashioned a repair but I also have the Honda 1kw that is uber reliable. The latter can recharge the Ecoflow in a couple of hours  - the benefits of the Ecofow battery are detailed elsewhere on my blog. I'd not be without one here or on the boat and am looking at adding extra when the time and budget it right. 

So I have both fires in the cottage set to be lit, I have the Ecoflow fully charged and whilst not go a full 5 litre tank of petrol for the genny I have three motorbikes with petrol in their tanks I can syphon off if needed. I've also filled the storm lantern and we have oil lamps and candles as well !

I'm following the line of thinking if I'm very prepared then I'll need non of it....

The smaller 4 kw multi fuel stove that can get the lounge up to 24c white easily 

This is the 8kw stove that is a wood burner and can eat through logs very efficiently but we do have a decent store of those for the remainder of this winter 

 I'll let you know how we get on....

A tale of two locations

I  woke this morning after a very long sleep last night to snow at the cottage and a photos from our boaty neighbour Mandy off NB Don't Panic. I do feel a tad guilty but we needed to be home for a variety of reasons.

All is not lost  - I may have made noises about investigating the diesel heaters readily available on Amazon and elsewhere. Well after another  long day with a decent amount. of icy road miles I came back to one left outside from the committed Amazon drivers. This one is destined for the garage for polishing and fettling bikes in hopefully a warmer environment. If its proves practical then I have some plans for fitting one on the boat......

A new low for us

There was eerie sounds on Percy in the small hours....  not heard for many years. As the canal froze and nature locked Percy into her icy stronghold the smallest of movement on the boat creates a creak and a groan quite unique in the world of sounds. Steel and ice holding tight to each other and the movements seem to echo under the water.... I would what the fish think of it ? 

The photos tell the tale of our early morning ...

I've been putting the coal cage in overnight as that controls the burn and does not make the boat too hot. As you can see we woke to 16c in the boat and -7c outside the boat. The engine room that is unheated next to the bathroom was 3c. The three logs I have left will soon bring the boat up to 20c 

The canal has lost the battle with the cold and now frozen over hence the creaks groans and strange echos in the night 

The frames of the windows has ice on the inside 

It is a lovely winter wonderland outside but as you might imagine quite bitter.

Colin and Viv have got a roaring fire going, even with the smoke going straight up the wood smoke smells quite fragrant.

I can't recall being aboard in such low temps and its gratifying that Percy's systems ( touch wood) have been a match for the cold. I do recall a particularly cold spell when I was living aboard at Fradley - a boater was trying to beat the ice and failed

Part 2 even more power even less progress 

I did go out and help him reverse back to the junction up three locks. He got some abuse from other boaters as they don't like the ice being pushed against their boats as it removes the blacking as does cruising in ice of course. 

Running for home later as we have a decent amount of snow forecast  up our neck of the woods ( as well as here at Shebdon.) Percy will be drained down and locked up and left in peace until the next time. 

Maybe some walking along the Caldon in the snow ? 

Testing weather - which is fairing better

As forecast the weather is coming in  - the north westerly weather we are now getting at this time of the year is a test for heating systems. As I type this on Saturday afternoon it's gusting and bright but cold. The wind is now close to east by north east and is bitter. We've just been into Newport for a few supplies and lunch. It is a nice town always worth a visit, nicer in the summer when more options to eat and drink outside are sensible ! 

I've been keeping a watch on our temps at home for the guests. We are burning through some oil  - I think yesterday the Google nest tells me the boiler was running for 6 plus hours. That is to keep the cottage at 18-19c which is a comfortable temperature. The dog house is down to 10c but that is all electric heating and is being held there with the far infer red panel. Obviously not being used right now but it soon can be up to 19c. 

The boat heating has been on since we got on board. The 5kw iirc Morso Squirrel with its long run of 38mm copper pipe is a brilliantly engineered heating system. The boat is easier to heat and cheaper. We are chewing through the coal but the boat is a lovely place to be when its so cold - certainly much warmer than the cottage. However if we light one of the two stoves at the cottage it can easily compete. we have a 4kw multi fuel stove and a 8kw wood burner... the latter in the middle of the cottage and it can easily heat the whole place but it can consume copious amounts of wood ! 

So both are looking after themselves, obviously with the tech at the cottage its easier for that to be left. When we leave Percy tomorrow she'll slowly cool to 5c and hibernate for as long as we are away. It is not lost on me how capable the boat is to live on  - bigger issue and what kept us off last summer was the heat - but then again there are solutions to that with portable AC units that with the amount of solar would be a viable option. 

Back to this morning it was cooold outside, I had to venture out to get a shot of the moon setting and the sun rising. 

I must sort out a proper chimney for the boat. The double skinned one we have the inner skin does not seal the flue so we still get condensate onto the roof  - this simple rolled up sheet of aluminium( ?) seals perfectly so we get nothing onto the roof. 

A proper winter picture of our boat Percy 

Even colder tonight apparently, the coal cage will do its job again, keeping the boat warm but not too warm. I've a few logs left for heat tomorrow that soon expires something we need when leaving the boat. 

Right coffee is on .....grab a mug !

Going to need a bigger spanner !

Sitting here in a very warm boat contemplating a few hours in a very cold engine room  - the boat is 25c the engine room is 7c

Lovely day after a spattering of snow overnight. Just had a nice cup of tea with our long term boaty neighbour and friend Mandy off NB Don't Panic..... lots of catching up and chat around boat jobs toilets and batteries etc!

Came back and started to look at the job of the day which was to remove the exhaust manifold only to find the adjustable I thought would do the job isn't big enough. I need to review my photos from when we had the engine decoked a while back to see if there is a clue there of how it was done.... otherwise its a plan B job....

It is the large nut at the end of the exhaust manifold upper left ( pictures from when the engine was decoked in 2019)

At least I know we removed the manifold from that junction. It is a 90mm or 3 1//2 inch ring.... i've ordered some filter pliers that I hope will do it... in the mean time it'll get a regular application of penetrating oil. I'll be interested to see if one of the other cylinder outputs is more coked up that the others that might indicate a tweak to the respective injector pump to ensure they are both working as hard ... 

So that's that job sacked off today.... the  next job was to add a security lock to the inside of the hatch so when we are board we can actually lock the hatch from being opened from the outside. Just finished that job, had to get the drill and taps out but my goodness it's cold, even working in the hatch its bitter. Back in the boat now for the rest of the day/evening.

The coal cage got put in earlier  - a great device for regulating the burn on a solid fuel stove. Not good for logs if you need a lot of heat fast but once the boat is up to temperature the coal cage works well. I'd still prefer a Refleks diesel stove  if i was living aboard full time, much more consistent and controlled heat. We've tons of space in the forecabin for a decent sized fuel tank for it. Maybe that ship had sailed with the direct Morso replacement for what we need its spot on. Still pondering a cheap air blown diesel heater, just the exhaust and the heat pipe run, again it could live and operate in the forecabin..... that has more legs as it would /could be a companions to the Morso .....Mmmmm 

A few early morning shots 

It's not a real volcano

I still dream of my old job a lot and last night was no different so a strange nights sleep. We spent the evening reviewing 2025 phots to realise we'd been on Percy more than we thought. We heard Market Drayton fireworks at the turn of the year then went to bed and I dreamt.

This morning 1st - we've been lazy with a brunch and then waiting for a gap in the weather for a walk. When we set out it was bitterly cold with a fierce  north westerly wind that is due to bring some sleet tonight. Rachel is working tomorrow from the boat - if I can get motivated I want to remove the exhaust manifold and clean the exhaust stack and manifold as we were getting annoying carbon bits on the roof last cruise. I also have a couple of other jobs to do.... we will see.

Our Shebdon walk 

You can see how late we left the walk as the sun was going down. 

Re the Wrekin pictures it is not a volcano obviously but it is made of very old 600-700 million years ago volcanic rock ( Lava and Ash) Its cone shape was made from later geological processes. 

Not the best start of the year for C&RT

 Just picked this up ( New Years Eve) from Staffordshire fire and rescue 

🚨 Please be aware we currently have crews in attendance at the Boat Inn, Cannock Road, Penkridge. The bridge over the canal has collapsed therefore, the road is currently closed for pedestrian and vehicular access at this time whilst we work with our partners at the Canals & River Trust.

Talk about punch drunk …. The canals are in such a sad state right now. We’ve been boating a long time and I can’t recall a time where there was so many incidents. Maybe I didn’t  hear of them back in the day? Let us hope this is a manageable and repairable incident and is being over exaggerated otherwise the four counties might be another casualty for cruising next year.