Quick note on schedule - hopefully setting off in a week's time (8th), assuming I've got a few jobs on the boat done (new instrument panel, currently sitting prefabricated on my sofa, for a start), an also the sound system (which won't be on the boat, fear not). I'll be off the cut from around the 24th July to the 4th Aug, due to other commitments, then back more or less solidly until the end of the month. I don't intend to be back by then, but will work my way back in long weekends through the autumn

It's difficult to say exactly where I'll be when, as that's the idea, to see how things go - but if you do weant to come along, chose some dates and be prepared to be a little flexible over location, but I'll do my best to be near a station or accessible point by arrangement. Some bits follow train routes anyway, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

the grand plan

(click map for bigger version)



Map above stolen wholesale* from Jim Shead's excellent site, which I suggest you go straight over to, as the original version is clickable and goes straight to a guide for each individual canal. Yellow is the intended route up, orange the way home (dots are possibilities, depending on how the time goes). It's moderately ambitious for a dawdleathon, but I'll see how the time goes.

Speaking of useful websites, also look at Canalplan - looks a bt daunting, but just put in a start & end point (say 'Iver' to 'Llangollen', hit 'plan journey' (if asked to set your options, just press 'continue') and it'll give you an itemised list of the route blow by blow. More fun is then pressing 'virtual journey', which gives you a slideshow of the route. I hardly need to bother going in reality. ;-)

* with retrospective permission - with thanks.

thoughts

I've got July & August off work (tee hee), for an extended trip, as well as a few other engagments wioth the sound system (see above). Map to follow, but initial plan is up grand union, quick foray up to Leamington/Warwick before North Oxford Canal, Coventry (and possibly Ashby) Canal, Trent & Mersey (inc Caldon), Then a bit of the Shropshire before the Llangollen. Route back will depend on how much dawdling I've done in the mean time (lots, hopefully) but may well include the rest of the Shropshire Union, bit of Brum and Evesham for a course for work late September.

Boat - new engine temperature gauge (that works) from Calcutt - the fuel gauge sender has failed, too, it's like a cistern float. I know what's wrong with it - the sensor resistance wire is broken at one end, and is currently in my work bag for a sneaky look later... lots of misc woodwork, sorting out storage & the like.

Also new(ish) batts via Mike - great to have a pair of domestics. I'm not sure if the donated starter is holding charge that well, but if not my 'old' domestic will replace it.

Currently waiting for for the official go-ahead from Corgi for my Morco to be re-installed - every other boat I see has the same one if not an ancient Paloma, but I know these things aren't as easy as they could be some times.

Other than that, just looking forward to getting out there & travelling, although I must admit the Iver moorings are just getting nicely socialable again - once everyone's outside moor I've spent a lot more time nattering, being vegetarian at barbecues and all that kind of stuff. I suspect every time I leave the boat I shoudl carry some alcohol, just in case, as I keep drinking other people's with nothing to contribute. Also met Neil from Herbie - despite being at opposite ends of the same mooring and heckling by internet, we hadn't actually met before.

Well, post done, although all words and no pictures make Simon a dull boy. I'll try to remedy that soon. ;-)

Little Venice catch-up

The problem with trying to keep a blog as a full record as that the more you do, the more behind you get on documenting it all... anyway, Tortoise is back at Iver after a couple of weeks away in town. Cathi had a course very close to little venice ten days before the IWA cavalcade itself, so I broought Tortoise in as a portable hotel which went very well, including an evening in the Prince Alfred and pizza afterwards at Red Pepper over the road.


Meanwhile I'd been able to do this with a big surge of furniture building; kitchen unit and the three bed assemblies have all been constructed out of 2x2 timber and seem pretty solid - here's a quick view of the kitchen under construction - it's good to have a working sink again (and inspiring cupboard doors on Paul's boat 'Chuggamuffin'), and a view towards the front of the boat with the doors lined, temporary shelves in place, and beds, and even one set of curtains.

The week before the cavalcade, Delaware Terrace filled up; Protea, a 45' shared owndership boat asked if they could moor up outside of me, which was fine by me, although got a little awkward on the Friday when I wanted out and they weren't around - would have been fine only the towpath gap was shorter than their boat...

Friday afternoon (having affixed vinyl name stickers I joined the random melee of boats moving into the basin, after meeting up with a lot of Iver people who'd come over that day. I had a plum position on the east side of the basin, Rembrant Gardens; hardly any distance by water, but a long way round by foot. I was only a few boats away from Jim & Mary, prevous owners of Tortoise, now on Heebejeebe, who'd brought Salad days in for the CC many times. I had a pretty good view from the front, too - in fact Sunday night Jim & Mary joined me for the illuminated boat parade, watching front the front deck. I wasn't too far from this 20' Sea Otter - immaculate inside & out, but you'd expect that for the price...

Sat morning I did a guided tour of Paddington led by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, although he was recognised as 'Andrew' at one point. Highly amusing, although it was sponsored by Paddington development corporation and lingered alittle too much on newer buildings rather than older ones for my taste. he also failed to mention Hadar moored in Paddington Basin - having looked at their posted I realised I'd seen Hadar's crew about, but not on Hadar herself...

Saturday afternoon I was offered a lift on Moontiger up to Camden & back, not realising I was going to be lock monkey; perhaps they thought I could cope with being heckled by goths (in fact very few goths in evidence, mainly just drunk wannabees and a capoeria troupe). Amusing to see a younger passenger being shown the canal traditions, but Foster's? Oh well.

Later than night (after another trip to the Warwick Castle) I spotted that the Pirate Club had pressganged one of the Paddington Arm statues into membership.


Sunday was mainly spent elsewhere; Monday half the boats had left, but that afternoon was my 'open house' day, I think the maximum number of people at any one point was 14, but back down to 9 or 10 when I moved the boat back to Delaware Terrace before I got too drunk. ;-)

Tues I had a short notice day at work (grrr), but came back to the boat late Tues night, and set off first thing Weds morning - left 7.30 and got into Iver at 1pm, including a stop at Sainsbury's; a little quick for 19 miles, but technically legal, thankfully.

So now back alongside Breeze; electrics, engine and domestic, and next, I think, and finding someone to restore the gas. very solid, tangible, progress, and also very usefully cruiseable, more importantly.

(a lot of links above are also pictures)

Little Venice

Proper progress update shortly, but Tortoise is currently hanging out in Little Venice; we did the run in Sunday; that section of the canal's getting nicely familiar, as is the vegetarian section of the Black Horse's menu.

I've managed to blag a late entry to be in the basin for the Canalway Cavalcade at the Bank Holiday weekend, but since a friend from out of London had a course very close to Little Venice, I thought I'd bring her in early.

Obvikously if anyone's around that weekend, come & say hello, although I may not be around all day every day; Monday may be the best bet daytime.

Noise annoys

Another aspect of my life crashes in - yesterday I was looking after the sound for a charity/awareness gig in Brixton. One of those frustrating events full of good intentions, but failing at every hurdle - too many self-interested bands, far too little time for soundchecks let alone for me to get, my head around the gear and find everything I needed to, and being let in late wasn't a great start. Due to start at 3, it eventually kicked off at 4 and went on to 11, eleven hours slog for me. Nearly every band stood around chatting until it was their turn, ignoring the previous acts, and then left - not yet aware that to get anywhere in the music business, you have to at least pretend to take an interest in other people. Thankfully a couple of good acts - one an old friend - gave a bit of fulfillment. That, and the knowledge I can hold together a gig of 8-plus acts on a sound rig I've never seen before, although I much prefer the little acoustic gigs I do with my bicycle powered sound system.

Much more akin to a canal mindset. ;-)

I'm used to seeing plenty of wildlife from the boat, but it's good that I'm getting more in my own back garden, mainly due to the fewer number of cats around nowadays. I like to think this robin is the same one I've been seeing for a few years; this winter I've hung a bird feeder from the cherry tree, and he's been pretty good about chasing off any other customers... a bully, but a tiny cute bully, I guess.

Boat trip back to Langley is possible this weekend, if anyone is interested...

It's a steel front deck! A nice job too, unsurprisingly. Doors & stove to follow, rain permitting.

Meanwhile, I did some long overdue measurements on the alternator. It gets to 14.0v - barely adequate (and when the diode splitter was still in, no damn use at all), but only at fairly high revs, possibly even higher than a slow cruising speed. This is something I'd been idly considering away from the boat, and on inspection, it could certainly do with a smaller pulley wheel on the alternator (largwe one visible top left in picture). One of the problems with using them human powered is getting them to run fast enough., Slower, it doesn't generate enough power for it's own field coils and the voltage drops drastically. The previous owners had the previous alternator changed, presumably on some very bad advice, to solve charging problems. There's some curious voltage drops within the instrument panel and ignition switch; as soon as I rewire & rebuild all that the better. I also intend to investigate modifying the alternator to get closer to 100% charge, hopefully including some kind of automatic system to switch these out to go back to a better 'float' charge level.

Fingers crossed, there's a new steel front deck & front doors going in as I type, replacing that lovely bit of shuttering ply you can see above. It'll probably rain, though, or something.

I did a trip into Paddington on Tuesday to Travis Perkins - despite being right next to the canal, once I'd found the one guy who knew anything about wood (not to mention customer service) they don't have any trollies, and he had to get special permission to help me carry a big sheet of ply down to Tortoise. I wanted to get some timber too, but found it easier to buy it in B&Q the following morning and carry it over myself. Anyway, that, and the 12.5% central London markup they add will mean I stick to Warrens or Albion Timber in Brentford as usual. I did get to dispose of some rubbish in the skip, though, and hoisted out a lovely set of metal drawers of all sorts of shapes & sizes, which turned out to be Mick's which he dumped a few days ago.

Having acquired the ply, I could replace the temporary side floor in what was to become the toilet 'room'. Having done that (and got the battening from B&Q) I put in the only internal bulkhead on the boat, separating kitchen from toilet - a simple frame of 34mm sq timber around the edge and a couple of cross braces (one in the right place to support the Morco water heater, too). I also fitted a plinth for the loo itself (the outer thirds of the boat floor slope, remember). I can't help speculating how long it'll be until I put a proper door on this - coud be a while - but an old shower curtain will do fine for now, right? ;-)

Once the front & the stove are welded, and I can finish off the lining around the front, and hopefully rationise the stash of bits of new & old ply I have - especially old, which however have come in useful over the months. After that it'll be building the galley unit and she'll really start to feel homely again. I'm keen to build the galley base as a unit removeable in one piece, rather then bodged together screwed to otherbits - of course it'll be screwed in, but I like the idea of it being removeable easily if necessary. I'm not entirely sure why as there'll be easy access to all services (run under the gunwhale bar the waste outlet, of course), but at least it'll make sure it's solid.

I've also been reading up about lead acid batteries & alternators; I need to do some volatge measurements, I think. I've also been working on stuff for the cycle powered sound system which is eriely crossing over into this territory...

When I bought the boat, one of the small rear windows was already broken, covered internally with wood. This was a low-priority job, but once I'd stripped out the sides etc and decided on the new window layout, it was worth getting it sorted. First attempt was a local glazier, who said they could do it, but ended up fitting a wonky piece of laminated glass that cracked, and the frame was out of square. I was reluctant to drill holes for it whilst in that state, so it stayed half-fitted for a long time. Recently I got on the case again, swent it off to Channelglaze who have redone it properly, albeit it at six times the price of the local job. So today I was able to seal it in, removing the ugly peice of ply that's been screwed over the hole for the kitchen window. Finished result visible, the most central window.

I briefly mentioned painting in the last post. A neighbour at the moorings had painted his boat with a roller without laying off, leaving a more matt finish I quite liked. When I went over the roof, I did the same. I'm still undecided about the aesthetic effect, but one point to notice was after a short but heavy shower today, it really showed up the difference - matt on the top right, there. The gloss finish resists water better, and also allows the surface water to flow away, rather than sitting in small patches, as visible here. I think it'll be back to laying off, but it was worth the experiment.