Herbie is back from her travels along the Lee and Stort.
They have had some lovely weather but as I sit here typing the rain is lashing the roof and the wind has picked up, is that the last of the warm spell?
We had the stove lit last night but again, it was far to warm with it alight and far too chilly not to have it. Im going to pop out later and get some logs to see if that will be more managable heat wise rather than coal in this transition period.
The stove pipe seems to be sealed well enough with no more drips down the the outside of the pipe and a good draw for the fire so am quite pleased with it.
Next jobs on the list are the oil filter and topping up the batts which are now just coming upto a year old. I last checked them 5 months ago and all were in good condition so will be intersting to see if they need any top up or not.
One thing I have badly neglected is the Gennie, but bearing in mind ive only run it 3 times it does kinda sit out of sight out of mind, so full service filterwise for that little darling and of course check the Mud box as it is raw water cooled.
Time has flown by for our first year afloat. it didnt take long for the licence renewal to come along and within the next few days we're expecting the bill for this coming years moorings. We are hoping to do just 6 months this time in order to try and spread the costs, as we have been hit for the BSS cert. The BW Licence and Moorings all within a 2 month period so 6 mths will make it not quite such a big hit in one go...or at least it will in our minds.
Ive been contemplating what, if any changes we would like to make internally having now spent 12 months aboard and I am leaning towards slight changes to the Boatmans Cabin.
We use the rear doors as our main entrance and exit and the cabin does tend to get littered with coats, shoes and bags. Im thinking sof keeping the bed on the starboard side but converting the Port side into full height cupboards/wardrobe. The Drop down table is never used nor is the computer desk that Trevor fitted as we are wireless and the laptop is plonked on a tray on ones lap in the saloon when on line.
Our main wardrobe at the moment is the engine room which has to be cleared everytime we set off anywhere or if I want to do some tinkering so this new space would be invaluable.
Time to do some drwaings me thinks and see if im brave enough to attempt to emulate Trevors excellent wood working skills....oh dear..I fear the worse
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7 comments:
Hi! I've popped over from the Vereeniging site that you visited. I must admit I thought it might be a spam comment, but am thrilled to read your blog about your narrow boat. I don't always write about my barge on my blog, as I use it to write about all sorts of other adventures too, but now I'm going to do a bit of shameless self promotion. I've written a book about my first year on board. It's called Watery Ways and there's a link to it on my sidebar. You might be interested in the Dutch side of things ;-) It might also encourage you to write a book about your first year on your narrowboat. After all, you've got all the material on your blog, no? I love boat log books, and many others do too, so if you haven't already done so, why not?
Thanks for putting the link to my blog. I like that. I'm now going to go back and read some of your previous posts. Great to find a new blog pal of a like mind!
Hi
Same as for Val goes for me: read your most recent post with great pleasure and now checking out your older posts.
We'll keep in touch.
Kindest greetings
Koos
Born on a working Dutch barge
Many thanks folks, Good to hear from you. Its always a big encouragement to have comments and hear other peoples perspective on things...Cheers
Hi Geoff, your last line here about woodworking made me chuckle. I have had to brave that feeling throughout the entire construction of my barge's interior as I've had to do it all myself. I am no great carpenter and I know I do everything the wrong way, but the result isn't too bad. In July I had steel sides put under the wooden panels of my hold to make it more weather and waterproof, so I had to re-do all the interior walls above the top of the hull (don't know the English word, but we call it the potdeksel here). this link is the post I did shortly after I'd put in all the insulation and timberwork.
I've now put yours and Herbie's blog as links on my blog too. I hope this is all right with you. I shall of course, tell the Herbie blog the same.
Hi Val, The pics look fantastic, If I can get close to something similar I will be very happy.
Geoff
Thanks Geoff, I've very much enjoyed reading some of your previous posts, and laughed like a drain over your experiences at the festival with no lights. Looking forward to reading more of yours and Laura's adventures on those beautiful English canals.
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