More trials and tribulations.

I left my Giffard Park mooring on the 28^th February and cruised back to Fenny Stratford, it was bright and dry but decidedly chilly, I found out after about an hour’s cruising that I wasn’t properly dressed for the cold but I pressed on.

I liked the front window arrangement on this boat.

Passing beneath the many bridges around Milton Keynes.

Not a view motorists above get to see.

Real monstrosity's some of them. 

Before arriving back at the visitors mooring I texted Karl to inquire of the mooring situation, he replied that the space I'd vacated two days before was still empty so I pulled in there keen to get below and get warmed up!

I intended to move on Thursday 2^nd March but it was very blowy so I stayed put and did some shopping instead, Friday it was raining so again the decision was made to stay and I walked to Travis Perkins and bought some more wood making a start on the wardrobe framing to eventually carry a pair of sliding doors.

Saturday it all looked much brighter so having had a final coffee with Karl and said our goodbyes I headed off through the lock to the service point where I did the usual empty and fill.

This new boat had a familiar name, it will probably look better once it's sign written.

It was a pleasant morning cruising along.

By midday I was getting hungry so I looked for a suitable stop and pulled over for lunch, while I was there I put a load in the washing machine, all was good with the world.

Lunch stop mooring....

...that became a longer stay.

After lunch I decided as it was so nice I would stay and carry on with my wardrobe, I began by moving all the clothes and dismantling what there was to allow me to sand all the surfaces within the wardrobe, the engine was running still because I was using the washing machine and the batteries were showing 100% charge, I used my palm sander (240v) to do the sanding and then got the hoover out (240v) to tidy up a bit of the dust, I then carried on with making up the frame, all seemed to be going reasonably well, once the washing load was finished I switched off the inverter and put the hoover and sander away, I glanced at the battery monitor and was surprised to see the reading was now 86% but assumed it was just because of the useage of hoover etc. Half an hour later I looked again and it was still 86%, damn, that’s not right, for some reason it wasn’t charging.

The joys of boatlife and batteries! Being an expert (not) I started investigating, all the little lights seemed to be glowing in the correct colours as they should be, next checked the alternator, that ‘seemed’ ok, next check the batteries, yep big black things all looking fine, now begin checking voltages, I don’t know much about electrics but I do know you should have the same voltage going in and coming out of a fuse, I have 2no. 100amp fuses in line from the two alternators, one was ok (starter battery charging) one was blown (domestic battery charging), I dunno how but I presumed I had overloaded it!

The upshot of this was no domestic battery charging, luckily I have a generator for just this eventuality, so that was put to use, the downside was I only had about 2litres of petrol and no service station for miles around, oh well can’t be clever about everything.

So methinks no wasting ‘lecky, no TV, no radio, no laptop, conserve what I have for lights,pumps and fridge, good job I have a Kindle and a wine box and thanks to my foresight clean clothes once they’ve dried!

Sunday after a couple of phone calls I headed off to buy a replacement fuse, the nearest place was 4 miles away so the bike was bought back into service, fuse obtained and heading back a sharp right turn downhill on a slippery surface saw me end up on the ground, being me I did what I always do in these situations, I leapt back up, brushed myself down and checked the bike for damage all in the space of a few seconds, 'nothing to see here people, it was intentional, just testing my safety equipment', and rode off again,  half a mile further on I noticed blood dripping from my hand onto my jeans, back on the boat I cleaned myself up, two grazed palms with a nice triangular flap of skin on the blood leaking left hand, a small graze on the chin and a large dent in my self esteem. The next day lots of aches but I’ll survive.

I fitted the fuse and..... it promptly blew again, quite an efficient way to dispose of £10 (£10! I know, shocking, but it is a big fuse) but proving it was not just the fuse, time to call upon an expert!

I phoned a marine electrician I had met before but being Sunday I had to leave an answer phone message.

Yesterday I waited till 9:30 but got no response to the message so I phoned a well known mobile marine engineer who was also more local, answer phone again so another message.

I decided to move further South, 3 reasons, 1: nearer my eventual destination for this trip, 2: nearer a petrol station and 3 good access for the engineer.

The cruise itself was pleasant enough and dealing with Stoke Hammond lock (23) no problem apart from having to clear vegetation debris from behind the gate to allow it to open fully.

Next came the flight of 3 Soulbury locks with the Three Locks pub alongside.

Bottom lock of three Soulbury Locks, pub adjacent.

There was a single hander coming down already in the middle lock and he had set the bottom lock for himself so I waited for him and locked him through, that also meant the middle lock was ready for me with one gate left open, at the top lock some debris prevented the bottom gates closing so I had to mess about before eventually clearing that and then continuing on.

Nice artwork.

I reached my stop just beyond The Globe pub, leaving a good space behind me in case I needed to run the generator and looking for a gap in the trees to allow the solar panel a good line of sight to the Sun.

Current mooring:

During the afternoon the solar panel managed to get the domestic battery bank charged so I was happy again, but still conserving power by not using anything unless absolutely necessary, in the late afternoon the local engineer rang me and arranged to visit on Wednesday pm.

Today I carried on with the wardrobe, finishing off all the framework and preparation apart from the doors (I have to source sliding gear), so it is ready for painting, when I get the paint!

The sun has been very warm and again the solar panel has charged the batteries, with the hope of a repair tomorrow I felt confident to fire up the laptop and update the blog :-)

Sorry it was such a long post, needs must though.