Sunday 27 July 2014

Busy in a leisurely way.

As the title says, I've been busy....... not dashing about like a mad thing, but steady with little periods of sitting and contemplating.
I decided to attempt to get the shower working on Bracken. The taps work ok, as in water comes out of the shower head when turned on. The hot tap even gives out hot water, (as long as the pilot light on the Paloma  is lit first. However, the drain pump has never worked, there is no way of emptying the shower tray except with a scoop into a bucket followed by mopping with towels. Consequently I've not used it so far. Also the socket that the shower head fits into was broken and so had to be held.
Not a great hardship as the shower block in the marina is fine, and what's more they're free to use for moorers.





I started with my multimeter to ascertain that there was electrickery getting to the on/off switch in the toilet compartment.  There was.
Then checked there was power getting to the pump, again there was. I also noticed the body of the pump was very hot to the touch. Tapping the body of the pump didn't make any difference, (thought it might be 'stuck'), so time to extract the offending article and dismantle it.
The pump was situated right at the back of the sink unit, not the easiest place to reach but laying on my back with my head under the unit I was able to get at the hose connections and wiring terminal block
Pump removed, I started to dismantle it.
Oh dear, what a sorry state!
The rotor and motor armature were seized solid, and when i separated the motor from the pump body a load of gooey, rusty crud appeared.










A pretty sorry state. I've not managed to remove the pump from the rotor, it appears to be totally seized so I'll save that for another day. ( maybe a day when I've nothing better to do), I wont throw it away, 'cos you never know when it might come in use.
Fortunately I had a spare pump from the pressure system, so after changing the fittings over to screw-on I was able to install it in place.

Connected up and bingo! A working shower drain pump. The yellow pipe comes from the shower tray, and the red pipe leads to the skin fitting out through the hull.
Next job to fix a socket on the riser rail for the handset to fit into.



A  trip to B & Q at Cannock where I bought  a  Mira handset socket and a length of chromed copper pipe of  22 mm diameter. I cut a length off the chromed pipe to the same length of the present riser rail and slid it over the old rail. That way the new Mira socket  would fit on the old riser rail. It works anyway, and I've had several successful showers since. :)

Jenny came up for breakfast bacon butties this morning, and the doting parents brought their offspring round. Its all part of the training on how to beg the most grub by looking really appealing. Seems to work for them, they got through half a bag of duck and swan treats food!




I need to return to Kent tomorrow to continue disposing of my furniture in preparation for moving aboard Bracken. So see you in a couple of weeks or so when I bring another car load of possessions up.





Monday 21 July 2014

Some fettling and a lick of varnish.

Monday 21st July.

A slightly restless night due to the heat. I'm not going to complain 'cos there will come a time when I'll be longing for warmer weather I'm sure.
After ablutions, followed by breakfast, I did some measuring up for the bookshelves. Out came the trusty saw, drill, tools etc and I set to. One advantage of a cruiser deck is that there is plenty of room to work and it keeps the mess outside and not treading through 'indoors'. Also, the storage boxes make excellent work benches.
The shelves I acquired from Jenny's boss were a little too long and were well weathered from being outside. No problem though, after cutting them down to length, and a good sanding down, followed by 3 coats of varnish, they look a treat.
 The hot weather certainly aided the drying process, and I was glad to get the job done before the hottest part of the day. That left me free to enjoy a lazy afternoon, staying out of the sun and having a good read.

Next trip I bring books!

Sunday 20 July 2014

Saturday and Sunday

After Friday nights thunder and lightning storm, Saturday was a day of dodging showers.
Graham and Jaq were out Saturday night so I went down to Jennies and enjoyed sharing a take away with Jenny, Peter and Sam. A lovely eve was had by all, with lots of chat and catching up and no tele!
I slept like a log that night, and it was only my alarm that woke me Sunday morning. It was a beautiful morning and so  after a wander down to the shower block I came back and did myself bacon and eggs for breakfast, followed by a cup of coffee. What a perfect way to start the day!
After washing up, I washed a few 'smalls' out and hung them on an airer on the well deck to dry. Then i spent some time catching up with the blog till Graham phoned and invited me to join them for lunch at the 'Wych Elm carvery in Burntwood. Nice meal and quite generous portions too.
Jenny had text me to let me know she'd found a set of shelves she thought I could do something with so I popped down to where she works and picked them up. With a little fettling they'll do nicely.


Tomorrows project, then I'll have somewhere to put some of my books when I bring them up, I do so love a good read. :)

Where I love to be.

Friday 18th July.

It was the usual slow trip up the M1 from Kent. It always seems to be around junction 13, the traffic gets slower and slower, then its stop start, stop start. In the heat of Friday it was not a pleasant trip at all. Especially in a Polo with no aircon. 
In all, it took about 4 hours to get to Lichfield, then a wander round Morrisons for some 'vittals' and then on to Kings Bromley Marina.
How lovely to be back aboard 'Bracken'. Going down the steps into the saloon and opening up the boat was like stepping into an oven. Where all the windows and doors had been closed it was incredibly hot in there.
Once the front doors and rear doors were open a nice cooling breeze blew through the boat and it soon became more comfortable. I'm so glad that all eight windows on Bracken have hopper type vents on them, it lets a little more ventilation in, or maybe lets the hot air out.

Preparing to move.

I had a full car this trip. I've spent the weeks since my last visit clearing out cupboards at my bungalow and disposing of possessions in preparation for moving onto Bracken permanently.
 Hopefully this will happen around the beginning of September, but my god there's some stuff to move before then!
The logistics are simple, I'm moving from a detached, two bedroom bungalow with kitchen, bathroom and with garden sheds, to a 40 feet cruiser stern Narrowboat.... Simples!!
Sorting stuff is easy. You empty a cupboard....... you look at the mountain of stuff before you.......... you exclaim loudly " so that's where it went,"  'it' being an object you filed away so long ago you had forgotten you owned it! Then you wonder how you've managed to go so many years without said object, then you put it on the pile.
There are 2 piles,
Ist pile is  To keep.
Second pile is  To Dispose of.
Obviously the first pile should be the smallest, that way you have less stuff to transport 200 miles from Kent to Boat.
The second pile is the difficult one. This pile can be divided into numerous other piles. Like:-
Rubbish, take to the tip.
Rubbish, might be saleable though.
Junk,  might be saleable though.
Junk, see if anyone in the family want it.
Junk, donate to charity shop.
Not forgetting another slightly embarrassing pile.
Items you borrowed off your best mate all those years/months ago, and you were SO sure you had given him/her back And you told them repeatedly you'd given it back and they must have leant it to someone else who had'nt returned it cos you'd definitely returned it.
Now you have to make a decision, do you  (a) fess up and say to your mate "hey buddy, look what i found. Or do you say nothing, and place it on one of the other piles, after all, he/she had already accepted the loss and probably replaced it with a new 'it' anyway.
Decisions decisions :)

So i have brought with me numerous items from the first pile, consisting of Kitchen equipment, plates bowls etc. Also numerous items of winter clothing, tools, ornaments etc etc. 

Saturday 19th July

I've had a slight leak from the accumulator under the sink so On Saturday i removed it and took it over to Graham's house to make use of his garage/workshop.
After renewing the brass fittings and applying plenty of PTFE tape to the threads of the fittings i re-assembled it and Graham and I refitted it on the boat. Time will tell if i've cured the problem.

The red accumulator tank is in the water supply from the pump to all taps.
Inside it has a 'bladder' which fills when you turn the tap off which basicaly means if you only run the tap for short periods the pump dosn't keep switching on and off or 'cycling' until the internal pressure in the accumulator drops.
What it means is, you get a smoother flow of water, and it's better for the pump pressure switch.