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2016 01 17 Newsletter – Essential Onboard Equipment Part 2

My computer woes are almost over. We purchased a refurbished 13” MacBook Pro to replace Cynthia’s aged 15” MacBook with its coffee-washed keyboard. It’s a joy to use but we still only have the one device between us.

I’m trying to get my two year old Samsung laptop working as well. The hard drive failed, so I’ve bought a new one which has been fitted by my boating guardian angel Russ Fincham, Calcutt Boats fitter, Boat Safety Scheme examiner, Hire Fleet Manager, and all round good guy. The hard drive’s been replaced but unfortunately the laptop appears to have some other more serious problems which may prove too troublesome or costly to repair.

Back in the boating world, I’ve had a productive week. The Muck Boots Cynthia bought for me last week are wonderful. Over the colder winter months when I was maintaining the grounds at Calcutt Boats I always wore Wellington boots. They usually did a pretty good job of keeping my feet dry, apart from the two pairs of Dunlop boots which split at the ankle within six months, but they always failed to keep my feet warm no matter how many pairs of socks I wore. My new Muck Boots are very warm indeed. They’ve kept my feet toasty warm all week, without making them sweat.

I thought they were going to get a very thorough workout today. I had a rare winter discovery day booked. I don’t often take bookings for January or February because of the weather. Any ice on the water means that cruising is possible but inadvisable. Even as little as a quarter of an inch is enough to strip the protective bitumen coating off the steel hull. I was stuck in the ice at Yelvertoft for three days last winter. I waited until a rare hire boat came through to break the ice before I moved, but even gently pushing my way through broken shards on my way back to Norton junction was enough to remove most of the paint from the waterline.

I wasn’t terribly bothered at the time because the boat was due for blacking. The cost of blacking a 62’ boat is about £600 but because of my connection with Calcutt Boats I was able to borrow the equipment from them in March and do the work myself over three physically demanding days and pay just the slipping fees and the cost of the paint.

I don’t want to have to paint the hull again this year so I have been very nervous about the weather leading up to today’s planned trip out. This scheduled discovery day unfortunately followed the two coldest days of the winter so far. By Saturday there was a thin layer of ice over the canal and sub zero temperatures forecast for last night. I had to postpone the day.

This morning we woke to more ice and a dusting of snow. Julia and her partner are going to reschedule for later in the year and I’m going to do some work on the site. Cynthia has threatened to take Tasha out to help her build a snowman but she isn’t very hopeful. She’s used to the kind of snow you can hide cars under. The quarter of an inch which fell last night hasn’t impressed her at all.

We’re probably going to stay on our canal-side mooring for the next week rather than return to the marina. As marinas go, Calcutt Boats has two of the best in the country. In addition to the on-site facilities including engineering, carpentry, boat blacking, coal, fuel, gas, a very well stocked chandlery, and a shower and toilet block with two washing machines and a dryer, there are 110 acres of beautiful Warwickshire countryside to walk around. And the site is very secure. There’s a half mile private drive up to electric gates which are closed at night. The only other way onto the site is by crossing the gates over the top lock. To my knowledge none of the boats moored there have suffered any breakins or thefts.

The marinas are just about perfect but they are marinas and as such they feel a little restrictive after nearly nine months freedom on the cut. At this time of the year we share our dump barge mooring with four narrowboats owned by the Royal Navy. We’re sandwiched between them and the rusting steel dump barge so we have no view at all. The mooring is both secure and convenient but it’s quite depressing.

We’ll stay on the canal above the Calcutt flight for a while, enjoying views across open fields through the port side windows and the on the other side of the canal, Napton reservoir’s forty acres of open water. The beautiful view will help compensate for the sadness we both feel at the moment.

We’re now down to just one dog. Loveable five year old Bromley has gone. Keeping him with us on the boat wasn’t fair to him, and wasn’t easy for us. Because of his neurological problems he wasn’t able to climb on and off the boat on his own, which meant that he needed to constantly wear a sturdy harness with a handle so he could be lifted like a bag onto the boat and over lock gates where his unsteadiness frightened us both to death. He was subject to the occasional spasms which would have been catastrophic if he was on the gate over an empty lock.

Yesterday morning we loaded Bromley and Tasha into our old Mercedes and drove an hour and a half to a Basset rehoming charity in Rugeley. The lady we took him to is a stone’s throw away from Great Haywood junction, one of my favourite places on the canal network. Cannock Chase’s twenty six square miles of forest and heath is within walking distance of the canal there. It’s a wonderful place to moor for a week or two but that’s a pleasure for later in the year. Yesterday we stayed just a few minutes before climbing back into the car for the journey back to the boat.

A new home has been found for Bromley with a retired couple on Burton-on-Trent. He spent his first night with them last night. He appears to have settled in well. Both Cynthia and I realise that this is the best option for him long term but, after having him close at hand to offer emotional support through some tough times over the last six years, Cynthia is missing him terribly.

Dogs are wonderful companions on board but they are far more difficult to deal with on a boat than in a more spacious house, especially at this time of the year. Cynthia and I have boots which are easy to slip on and off so the sodden towpath isn’t really a problem. The dogs don’t have the rubber boot luxury. I think if some were available Cynthia would like to try them but you have to draw a line somewhere. Footwear on dogs is a bridge too far.

Bromley’s inability to get on and off the boat on his own created a few problems. He had to wear his harness at all times ready for his frequent requests for an immediate toilet trip outside. We weren’t always able to react quickly enough. When he was living with Cynthia in her house in Vermont he had unlimited access to her garden through a dog flap. Given that he could only contain himself for four or five hours, one of us, usually Cynthia, had to wake to his insistent barking, dress and hoist him out onto the wet and muddy towpath for him to relieve himself, hoist him back in again and then clean his paws before bringing him inside again, undressing and returning to bed.

Bromley’s in a better place now for both him and for us, but the boat is a quieter and more lonely place without him.

Apart from our all too brief cruise from the marina up through the Calcutt flight, and our brief visit yesterday to canals further afield, I’ve spent most of the week painting.

After three weeks laboriously sanding, grinding and wire brushing one of Calcutt Boats twelve hire boats, I’ve finally been able to put some paint on. I painted my own boat in April 2012. Newsletter readers who have joined me for a discovery day have told me that I’ve done a good job. Thank you for that. I don’t agree that it’s particularly good, but it’s not bad for a first attempt.

I wasn’t too concerned about the end result when painting my own boat, but painting a boat for someone else is a completely different kettle of fish. My technique is slowly improving but I’m still painfully aware of every drip, sag and run.

My current commitment to Calcutt Boats ends on Thursday 25th February. After that I’ll have time to repaint my own roof and touch up some of the accumulated scrapes and chips from last year’s cruising. I’m looking forward to seeing the end result.

Last week I wrote about essential equipment to carry on board with you. I didn’t quite finish the list because of my computer problems, so here’s the rest of the list.

Anchor – You’ll need one if you venture onto rivers, and you’ll need to have it ready to deploy in an emergency.

Draper wet & dry vacuum – I use this very often to suck up any water in the bilge and to vacuum the back deck and engine bay. At just £46 for compact vacuum with a phenomenal suck you just can’t go wrong.

Recovery magnet – This is a very handy piece of equipment. I have used mine to recover my boat keys twice, mooring pins and chains several times, several lengths of chain and half a dozen shackles.

Binoculars  – There’s always a pair hanging up in the engine room within reach of where I stand to steer on the back deck. I find that these days I use them more for reading canalside signs than passing wildlife.

Paracord – I use it as a line for my recovery magnet, emergency boot laces and a washing line.

Brasso – It’s the best of the brass cleaners as far as I’m concerned. I use it for my tiller and eagle tiller pin and for my four brass mushroom vents.

Suitcase generator – I’m not terribly sure whether I want to keep this expensive piece of equipment. When I’m away from my mooring and an available connection to the National Grid I have to generate my own electricity. Electricity generated by the engine’s alternator is stored in my leisure bank of four 160ah AGM batteries and my single 110ah lead acid battery which is used exclusively for starting the engine. If I want to run any mains appliances on board I have to convert the electrical charge from DC to AC using my boat’s 1,600w inverter. I can run devices up to about 1,500 watts before my inverter begs for mercy. If I need to run devices bigger than 1,500 watts I need to use my portable suitcase generator.

The generator I have is made by Kipor. It’s an IG2600 which means that it will run appliances up to 2.6KW. I thought I was going to need it to run a hair dryer, hair straighteners and an iron but it’s been used on just two occasions since April last year.

It’s rarely used because it’s a bit of a pain. At over 30kg it’s a bit of a lump to get on and off the boat. It needs to be off the boat to prevent exhaust gases filling the boat so it has to go on the towpath when it’s running. Suitcase generators are much sought after by towpath thieves so leaving it on the towpath is a little risky, even if it’s chained to something immovable. Bolt croppers make short work of all but the thickest chains.

A thought at the back of my mind was that I could use it in an emergency to charge my battery bank if my alternator failed. I had an opportunity to test the theory over Christmas when my four month old alternator died. I ran the generator for an hour but there was no change shown for the leisure bank capacity on my Smatgauge battery monitor. I now know why.

The IG2600 is advertised as having an 8amp output for battery charging. I had my engine alternator assessed a year ago. At 1,500rpm the alternator produces 57 amps, which is seven and a half times as much as the suitcase generator. My engine will replenish my battery bank at a rate of 4% per hour at this time of the year when the solar panels aren’t helping at all, so the suitcase generator would take nearly two hours to increase my battery bank capacity by just 1%. It’s as much use as a chocolate fireguard.

I don’t pretend to know anything about electrical systems on boats, but I think I have these simple calculations right. If I want to use my suitcase generator to charge my battery bank, and if I need to run my engine for about two hours on a normal day to recharge my batteries, and if the suitcase generator takes seven and a half times as long to do the job as the alternator, then I will need to run the generator for fifteen hours a day. Clearly I can’t do that. However, I see boaters regularly using suitcase generators to charge their batteries so I must have something wrong.

Shore line – Rather than fry my woefully inadequate brain trying to work out how long to run my suitcase generator, I can simply find a mooring with shore power and plug in my 25m shore line.

A plentiful supply of alcohol – After a hard day’s cruising on a hot summer’s day, being able to relax in a camp chair on a sunlit towpath with a glass of Australian red in hand is a real pleasure. This twelve bottle wine rack from Amazon is perfect for the job, but taking a photo at this stage of the day was a mistake. I’m going to leave you now so that I can find out why Cynthia has replaced one of my bottles of red with a half full bottle of white. I assume she’s been using it to clean her boots. I can’t think of any other use for it.

Cynthia Says…

Making adjustments……

It has been nearly two months since winging my way across the pond to my new life, and it is hard to believe the time has passed so fast!  I knew before setting out that my life would require adjustments in a number of directions and I am doing my best to make the necessary ones as they show up in my new life.

Of course the biggest adjustment I currently have is getting used to the idea that Bromley is no longer here and part of our family…….I miss that sweet boy very much.  I am happy to report that it sounds like he is adjusting well to his new home with a retired couple in Burton-on-Trent.  I shall update as I learn more….And of course, Tasha is adjusting to life as a solo dog.  She is doing fine so far.  Her overall adjustment to boat life was quite smooth—once she started paying attention and no longer exited the wrong side of the boat into the canal instead of onto the towpath!

Adjusting to Paul’s work schedule has added its own twists and turns.  I used to bring him a hot drink and a treat mid morning and mid afternoon until about a week ago, when I spent too much time in the area where he was painting, and became overwhelmed with the toxic fumes from the paint.  Took me several days to detox from that.  I now pack his hot drinks and treats after breakfast and lunch.  I can now adjust my time constraints between breakfast and him coming home for lunch as well as after work, and get more done.  But I have to admit, I do miss seeing him!

I am still adjusting to the driving and need to have less trepidation and venture a bit farther afield. Each time I go out with Paul and observe how things work on the roadways I gain a bit more understanding.  I also obtained a copy of the driving rules and regulations and will study those to help me become more proficient.

The easiest adjustment has been just being on the boat and working in the tiny environment.  I know this is easier for some than others.  For those of you considering this as a full time lifestyle I suggest you give it a try with your partner for a couple of weeks to see if it suits you both.  Paul and I get on very well, so we never feel as though we are infringing on one another’s space.  I have my little niche near the front companionway with the stove to my right and Tasha behind me on the settee.  A nice place that suits me perfectly!  And if the heat becomes too intense I just open the doors and let the fresh air keep me awake and alert!

It is nice adjusting to the longer days with more light—spring is just two months away and I am excited about all that it promises to have in store for us—especially our wedding that is scheduled  for 1 April which will be followed by continuous cruising until the end of the year.   An adjustment I relish!

I was married for 23 years and have been on my own for about the same length of time.  So once again I find myself adjusting to incorporating another person into my life.  I didn’t know how well it would suit me as I have learned to be quite independent over the years.  I must admit in all honestly, it has been quite easy.  I promised myself I wouldn’t settle, that I would only consider marriage again if and when the right person came along. And low and behold, my dreams came true!  I feel most happy I have found my sunshine….I know where I am lucky!!

And on a final note of adjustment…..I am finding it a wee bit difficult adjusting to the fact that Paul refuses to allow Tasha to wear Wellingtons.  Oh well, guess you have to draw the line somewhere!

See you all next week—-and keep in mind that the more flexible you are about making adjustments in your life, the more opportunities for fulfilment, happiness and joy will show up.  I promise!

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Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I run my discovery days roughly on the first ten days or so of April, June August, October and December.  If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day next year you can do so by viewing the diary here. You may want to stay locally the night before, the night after or both, in which case I highly recommend this B & B. It’s a five minute stroll from the mooring where I begin my discovery days.

In the meantime, meet recent discovery day attendee Peter Martin who kindly produced a short video of his discovery day experience for me to use on my site. The video is below followed by his comments.

“With two and half years before I can pick up my work pension, a break up of my marriage, kids now independent and need for downsizing, now seems like the time to plan what I’ve often dreamed about over the years.

Living on the cut seems to fit in very well with my lifestyle. I like the outdoors, love boating, independence and getting back to nature.

Having not spent any length of time with live aboard boaters, the Discovery Day was was really just an opportunity to pick up the vibes that go with life on the inland waterways. I needed to do this before committing myself further in the discovery process. Easier to nip things in the bud now if it didn’t appeal before my imagination runs away with itself!

It was a very enjoyable day. I particularly enjoyed the warm welcome of coming in out of the cold to sit in the heat of a toasty, warm cabin. That sold me the lifestyle straight away. It also confirmed that I definitely need a solid fuel stove as primary heat. I know it means hard work lugging coal etc., but what better way to get some outdoor exercise.  I’m also now sold on composting toilets! I never imagined I’d spend the following  week viewing endless YouTube videos of people’s loos!

The helming and boat handling were great experience. By the end of the day I had got over the intimidation of  controlling  60 feet and 20 tons of metal.  A very worthwhile 10 hours and it has confirmed that I’ll continue along this pathway.

The hard work now begins in downsizing, straightening out the finances and then the enjoyable part of finding the right boat.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.

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2016 01 10 Newsletter – Essential Onboard Equipment

As soon as I sent out last week’s newsletter, Cynthia and I endured the wettest cruise I’ve taken since I moved on board nearly six years ago. Cruising on lock free stretches of canal isn’t a problem at all. My Guy Coten trawlermen’s waterproofs are bomb proof. I can stand for endless hours in torrential rain and stay bone dry. The waterproofs are heavy duty plastic which is perfect for hours of rain soaked immobility. Unfortunately they are less than perfect for working through locks.

Neither the jacket nor the trousers are breathable so as soon as I start doing any work in them I overheat very quickly. They are also quite restrictive, which is a bit of a problem when I need to constantly climb down a wet and slippery ladder onto a rain soaked roof and walk thirty feet down a narrow corridor between the cabin side and my solar panel array before vaulting down into the cockpit.

The waterproofs are restrictive but first class for keeping my body dry. My achilles heel at the moment is my footwear. I have a good pair of fur lined rigger boots for the winter months. They are warm enough but a little cumbersome and water resistant rather than waterproof. I would usually have worn them on such a foul day but I can’t wear them at the moment because of the discomfort they cause due to a worn and uneven insole. Instead I wore a cheap pair of steel toed trainers I used to wear for work. They were probably the most inappropriate footwear I could have worn given the state of the lock-side towpath.

The footpath was completely flooded for most of its length. Rather than wade through inches of water covering the towpath  I walked on the mud beside it which used to be grass. Slipping and sliding in restrictive clothing next to an expanse of frigid canal isn’t the most enjoyable way of spending a Sunday lunchtime, especially with Cynthia struggling with the weight of some of the lock gates on the Braunston flight. They are very heavy and are often too much for all but the strongest ladies.

Heavy rain over the preceding day or two had substantially raised the level of the canal. A waterfall cascaded over each pair of downstream gates in the six lock flight increasing the water level in the pound below. Each lock took an age to fill, especially the bottom lock.

Just to make the day more interesting, the boat was hit by a gale force squall as I approached the bottom lock, pinning the boat at a forty five degree angle across the canal. The only way to get the boat in was to power round pivoting on the bow where it rested against the towpath upstream gate. The boat slid in reluctantly but the bow rubbing strake hung the bow on the gate until the boat dipped alarmingly to starboard and then dropped back into the water with a crash.

The last two hours of the trip was wet but otherwise uneventful. We moored for the night above the Calcutt flight before taking the boat down onto our marina mooring on Monday morning for two or three months of national grid hook up and the unfamiliar luxury of unlimited hot water and permanently charged batteries.

One of Cynthia’s priorities as soon as we moored was to order me some appropriate winter footwear. Cynthia has spent many years outdoors in the States dealing with temperatures far lower than anything we see in the UK.

Cynthia, born in sunny California, has spent the last ten years living in Vermont. During that period she spent much of her time looking after horses which involved spending many hours outside on winter days where the temperature dropped as low as -35 degrees celsius.

The footwear that Cynthia and many of her horsey colleagues preferred was the Muckboot brand. Muck Boots  are like Wellington boots but unlike Wellingtons they are both durable and warm.

Cynthia has just ordered a pair of these for me from the UK Amazon site.  The neoprene boots have received hundreds of positive reviews on Amazon from outdoor enthusiasts. I think they will be perfect for boating. I’ll keep you posted.

So that’s my cruising done for another year. During the last nine months of 2015 I ran my engine for 1,031 hours during which I cruised 1,753 miles and negotiated 948 locks. I’ve had the unexpected pleasure of welcoming a one tonne bullock onto the back deck, been stung by a swarm of angry wasps, come close to overturning the boat in a Thames lock and sinking it in a Llangollen lock and I’ve had my raw water system collapse twice. I’ve had the pleasure of negotiating a lock flight with a pair of mole grips after throwing both my windlasses in the canal. I’ve replaced two alternators and an alternator belt, serviced the engine four times,  switched the boat’s cooling from raw water to keel cooling, installed a diesel heating system and a composting toilet and stopped on more beautiful and peaceful moorings than I can count. I’ve had an exciting and thoroughly enjoyable year.

While we’re between cruises at the marina and have the car close at hand we’re making the most of our National Trust membership. Cynthia and I have reached the stage in life where we want to spend as much time as possible surrounded by things older than us.

Yesterday we spent three very pleasant hours exploring Upton House and Gardens. National Trust membership is perfect for tranquility loving boaters. There are over 500 properties to explore in the UK, many of them within easy reach of the canal network. I’m very much looking forward to exploring Shugborough Hall at Great Hayward junction later this year.

In between National Trust visits we’re taking things easy while we plan next year’s adventures but there are still plenty of jobs to do on board. I spent an hour last night freeing two sticking knobs on my hob with a pair of mole grips, a needle and a tube of Molykote gas cock grease. Over the next day or two I need to find out why my bilge pump has stopped working and then find some time to move some more ballast to correct the remaining slight list to port and then schedule a week to repaint the cabin roof and touch up the sides. On second thoughts, maybe I’m not resting as much as I should.

While I was sitting in the engine room considering what to do about the bilge pump, I looked around me at the equipment neatly stored on wall clips and hangers and in bags and boxes and I remembered an email I had received a few days earlier  from a previous discovery day guest.. She’s now sold her house and purchased a boat so now she’s considering the logistics of moving her life afloat. She contacted me to ask for a list of what I consider to be essential equipment to carry on board. I don’t think there’s a list anywhere on the site, so here goes…

Ropes – I have four on the boat; a bow and a stern line and two centre lines. I use the bow and stern lines just for mooring, and the two centre lines for controlling the boat when I’m cruising. You will struggle to effectively control your boat on your own without a centre line. I have two, one running down either side of the boat. My three solar panels and the rack with my pole and plank are at the back of the boat so with only one centre line I would be forever trying to flick it over the roof furniture, often at a time when I need to step off the boat quickly.

Pole – Very handy if you miscalculate and end up with your boat in the shallows. You can push your boat back into deeper water. The only times I have used my pole this year is to push the bow out from the side when I’m trying to move away from a lock landing or a mooring when the wind is pinning the boat against the bank.

Plank – If you can’t moor your boat close enough to the bank to step on and off the boat easily you can use your plank to bridge the gap. Please note that planks can become very slippery. If possible, add a non slip coating.

Mooring chains – I carry four on board. They are excellent for securing yourself firmly to Armco rail but aren’t popular with some boaters who struggle to bend or kneel down. The chains have different sized steel rings at either end. You pass the chain behind the Armco rail, pass the smaller ring through the larger ring then pass your mooring lines through the smaller ring.

Piling hooks (also known as nappy pins). These server the same purpose as chains but they aren’t as secure. They may suit you though if you have mobility issues because you don’t have to bend down as far to fix them in place.

Mooring pins or stakes – If you don’t have any Armco to secure your boat against you’ll need to use a stake. They’re not ideal. In the winter they are easy to knock in but just as easy to pull out when a boat passes. In the summer they’re less likely to pull out when the ground is firm but you need to work quite hard to knock them in.

Lump hammer – For knocking your pins in, or for knocking the imbecile in who tries to untie your boat in the middle of the night.

Tiller – If you have a cruiser stern boat your tiller may be fixed in place. A traditional stern boat usually has a removable brass tiller with a wooden handle. It’s a good policy to remove your tiller and secure it inside your boat when you’re not at the helm. The same imbecile who likes to untie boats also collects shiny tillers.

Tiller Pin – These are for securing your tiller in place. The most basic are a brass knob with a protruding pin but there are some very fancy tiller pins on the market. I have one. Until July this year I had an eagle tiller pin I bought at the Crick show in May. A brass rod screwed into the eagle. The rod secured the tiller in place. The screw thread vibrated loose on a discovery day allowing my eagle to go for an unscheduled dip. That was the last I saw of him. Cynthia bought me a replacement for Christmas from Draco Crafts. They offer a bespoke tiller pins. Their service is excellent.

Water Resistant Grease – You will probably have a stern gland greaser somewhere in your engine room. You need to tighten this greaser every day to prevent canal water filling your engine bay. You will need to regularly top up your grease. I carry two tubs on board.

Engine oil – Especially if you have an old engine like mine which needs topping up with oil once a week.

Antifreeze – For your engine’s cooling system and possibly for your boat’s central heating

Three in one oil – Very handy for lubricating hinges and hatches

Paint and brushes – I keep the two major colours on board for touching up the cabin when necessary.

Clothing – You might want to buck the trend and do a little cruising in adverse weather. If you do you’re in for a treat. You’ll have canal mostly to yourself. Remember, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing”. With warm and waterproof gear you can cruise for as much of the year as you like. My Waterproofs are from Guy Coten. You don’t look stylish wearing them but who cares when you’re dry?

I was going to write more here about handy equipment to keep on board, but my computer woes continue. A couple of weeks ago my Samsung laptop’s hard drive failed. I have been using Cynthia’s aging MacBook Pro since then but yesterday that too died a painful death.

I had a break while I made myself a mug of coffee. I was carrying the steaming brew back from the galley when the mug’s handle fell off, decanting half a pint of sticky sugar sweetened coffee into my lap and over the MacBook’s keyboard.

My groin has recovered but the keyboard hasn’t. I borrowed a laptop from work today to get me out of immediate trouble (Thank you Russ) but I don’t have the energy to write much more tonight. I’ll finish the equipment list off next week and also include a detailed list of all the tools you should keep on board.

Cynthia Says…

Finding the Silver Lining…

Well, this past week presented several challenges that we have been successfully dealing with so far!

The first one of course was our stormy encounter with the approach to the final lock at Braunston….out of seemingly nowhere along came a small gale and Paul had quite the challenge lining up James to navigate the lock.  Finally with the combination of his superior skill and the help of a nice man (who happened to be at the right place at the right time on the towpath) and myself, we were finally able to negotiate the boat into the lock.  The silver lining here was actually twofold.  First, the kind gentleman who helped us.  We would have had a tough go without his assistance to be sure!  I continue to be amazed that when I need someone or something to show up in my life it (or they) do so.  Second, after experiencing a morning’s worth of rain and soggy wet feet, I thought that having an appropriate pair of weather proof boots was essential for Paul, and the Muck Boots immediately came to mind.  As Paul has stated, they are superior footwear and I can attest to that firsthand in all my horse dealings of the past.  For those of you diehards, you could also take the Amish route to keeping your feet warm—toss a couple of bricks in the oven for a spell, then wrap them in a few layers of brown paper and stand on the lot—ummm warm feet indeed!

On a sad note, I made the decision to re-home our Basset, Bromley.  I don’t think he is so happy with the boat life as he doesn’t have much freedom to move around.  And getting him on and off can often be a nightmare depending on weather conditions and location.  Back in Vermont he had 24/7 outside access with a large kitchen to run around in.  I contacted the Basset Rescue that is recognized by the British Kennel Club and I believe we have found him a great home with a single retired lady in Nottingham who has owned Bassets in the past.  Giving this lovely boy up has been a true hardship for me as we have been so close for most of his life since I rescued him at 9 months.  The silver lining in this situation?  After much thought, I feel at peace and happy thinking that I am able to provide someone else with the opportunity to have a wonderful companion in her life and that makes me feel good.  I wish miss him terribly.  Thank goodness for dear affable Tasha.  She is the perfect answer for a boat dog at this time, and I think she will do well as a solo dog….time will tell!

Friday was Paul’s first of three days off, and we had made plans to drive to an organic food shop in Leicester.  Most of the drive in the countryside was wonderful, but negotiating the downtown streets of mostly cheerless Leicester was less than inspiring.  We both wondered aloud why we had made this decision and were saying that we most likely would not return.  But, alas, once again, you are never safe from surprise until you are dead.  We drove up to what looked like a dilapidated warehouse our hearts kind of sank.  When we walked through the doors, we were the only ones there.  We started to make our way down the aisles and low and behold the organic treasures nearly jumped off the shelves into our cart!  And the fresh organic produce was the best we’ve found so far.  Paul, one of the founding members of this food cooperative, was most kind and helpful and we departed with lighter wallets, but with big smiles on our faces and a boot full of good and healthy food….we shall return.

And last but not least, our first National Trust outing yesterday since becoming members.  Upton House and Gardens.  The house is beautifully located on a piece of land that has much scope for the imagination, but in all honesty, the house is quite somber and dark.  The only semi-inviting room was the cozy downstairs reading room with the big fireplace.  After a quick bite at the lovely eatery with the beautiful Palladian window, we decided to take a stroll towards the pool and gardens.  What a truly delightful surprise!!  The woods were enchanting and ever so inviting and the gardens extensive.  We had fun imagining how gorgeous and colourful they will be come spring and summer!  A beautiful silver lining on the final day of this week.  We plan to enjoy visiting one trust property each week on one of Paul’s coveted days off.

I shall wrap this up with a favorite quote which speaks to our simply life aboard—

“The greatest step towards a life of simplicity is to learn to let go.”

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Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I run my discovery days roughly on the first ten days or so of April, June August, October and December.  If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day next year you can do so by viewing the diary here. You may want to stay locally the night before, the night after or both, in which case I highly recommend this B & B. It’s a five minute stroll from the mooring where I begin my discovery days.

In the meantime, meet recent discovery day attendee Peter Martin who kindly produced a short video of his discovery day experience for me to use on my site. The video is below followed by his comments.

“With two and half years before I can pick up my work pension, a break up of my marriage, kids now independent and need for downsizing, now seems like the time to plan what I’ve often dreamed about over the years.

Living on the cut seems to fit in very well with my lifestyle. I like the outdoors, love boating, independence and getting back to nature.

Having not spent any length of time with live aboard boaters, the Discovery Day was was really just an opportunity to pick up the vibes that go with life on the inland waterways. I needed to do this before committing myself further in the discovery process. Easier to nip things in the bud now if it didn’t appeal before my imagination runs away with itself!

It was a very enjoyable day. I particularly enjoyed the warm welcome of coming in out of the cold to sit in the heat of a toasty, warm cabin. That sold me the lifestyle straight away. It also confirmed that I definitely need a solid fuel stove as primary heat. I know it means hard work lugging coal etc., but what better way to get some outdoor exercise.  I’m also now sold on composting toilets! I never imagined I’d spend the following  week viewing endless YouTube videos of people’s loos!

The helming and boat handling were great experience. By the end of the day I had got over the intimidation of  controlling  60 feet and 20 tons of metal.  A very worthwhile 10 hours and it has confirmed that I’ll continue along this pathway.

The hard work now begins in downsizing, straightening out the finances and then the enjoyable part of finding the right boat.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.

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2016 01 03 Newsletter – Trials and Tribulations

I’m back! I missed another week’s newsletter but I think I have a good enough reason. I’ll explain a little later.

I spent my last three days at Calcutt Boats sanding one of their hire boats ready for painting early in January. I thoroughly enjoy the unfamiliar exercise but I’m always delighted when I can down tools at 4pm and collect towel and soap from the boat to use the marina showers to wash off the day’s grime. Our shower on board is more powerful but the marina hot water supply is unlimited so a long and cleansing soak makes the short walk worthwhile.

On Christmas Eve we needed to stock up on food and drink for our week away. Our first stop was in Rugby and the busiest butcher’s shop I’ve ever seen. Joseph Morris had thirty butchers serving a queue of at least sixty people during our mid morning visit to collect the order Cynthia placed a few days earlier. Fillet steak for New Year’s day and three veal shanks for Cynthia’s Christmas Day treat, osso buco.

After fighting our way through the Christmas crowds we returned to the welcoming tranquility of an empty canal for a twilight hour and a half cruise to our evening’s mooring at Flecknoe.

The following morning, while many people sat wearing pyjamas among piles of discarded wrapping paper eating crunchy nut corn flakes soaked in Baileys Irish Cream, Cynthia and I tackled the Braunston flight’s six locks followed by Braunston tunnel and a peaceful and deserted canal up to Norton Junction before turning left up the Grand Union Leicester Line and the approach to the seven lock Watford flight. And there we stayed.

If I was given an unlimited number of guesses for our mooring location on Christmas Day this year I don’t think I would have come even close to pinpointing it.

I love cruising for many reasons. One of the most important to me is to be able to choose a spot away from artificial noise and away from other people. On Christmas Day we managed neither. We had the M1’s roaring traffic on one side and both the A5 and the West Coast Main Line on the other. We were surrounded by noise and hurtling vehicles but we had a wonderful time. We drew the curtains, threw some coal on the fire, turned the music up and opened a bottle of Wolf Blass (for me, Cynthia doesn’t drink often). What more can you ask for?

We had the Watford flight to ourselves the following morning. We reached the top in under an hour then moored for a few minutes to let the dogs off to attend to business and to allow me to tighten a squealing alternator belt.

I’m not the world’s most competent mechanic so after tightening the belt and starting the engine I was delighted that the squealing had stopped. I wasn’t quite so pleased to see that the quieter alternator now wasn’t charging my five batteries at all.

After whimpering for a few minutes, I carried out all the diagnostics within my repertoire which involved making sure that no wires had come loose, then starting the engine again to see if the alternator charge light had gone out. It hadn’t.

During normal use we consume roughly 10% of the domestic battery bank each day. I have four 160ah batteries for our domestic supply and one dedicated 110ah starter battery. I knew we could last a few days without charging the domestic bank but I didn’t know how long the starter battery would last. If I ran the starter battery down too low I knew that I could use the jump leads I carry on board to draw from the domestic bank but, even with careful power management I knew the batteries wouldn’t last nine days until we returned to our mooring at Calcutt Boats and access to an engineer or two. We needed to resolve the issue fairly quickly but I didn’t expect many or even any of the local marinas would be open for business over the Christmas period.

In order to conserve our dwindling battery charge we needed to avoid using the inverter and any 240v appliances on board. My laptop is normally on and charging for at least twelve hours each day. My old Samsung laptop died a month ago so I have been using Cynthia’s old MacBook Pro instead. Unfortunately its battery is dead so the laptop will only run when attached to the mains. We decided to run the inverter for just an hour a day for phone charging which meant that I couldn’t write a newsletter last week. I apologise for another missed week but I suspect that you were too busy eating and drinking to excess so didn’t miss it anyway.

We cruised for an hour to Crick marina.I tied up on their diesel filling point and then sat in the engine room looking blankly at the alternator while Cynthia scoured the marina for signs of working staff or boat owners who could offer advice.

Within minutes she persuaded a mechanically minded boater to lend a hand. He wasn’t able to do much other than confirm my own suspicions. No wires were loose, the belt was tight enough and the charge light stayed on when the engine started so the indications were that the alternator wasn’t working.

I couldn’t understand why. The alternator which came with the boat when I moved on board in April 2010 died in August last year. It’s replacement was just four months old so there shouldn’t have been a problem with it.

Cynthia found another couple who didn’t have any mechanical knowledge but they suggested joining River Canal Rescue. I have mixed feelings about RCR. I have used them twice before for engine servicing. I’ve had the same engineer, Kerry, each time. He’s been excellent but the office administration has been awful.

I considered joining them in April last year when my aging alternator belt snapped. I decided not to at the time because of their terms and conditions. You have to wait 72 hours after you join before they will come out to you. Last time I asked Calcutt Boats to supply and fit a new belt. On this occasion I thought we could limp along for three days so before we left Crick marina I paid £200 online for their Gold membership.

We cruised for another couple of hours before mooring mid afternoon. I was still concerned about our ever depleting batteries so I phoned North Kilworth Wharf to see if they had a mooring for the night where I could plug my shore line in to charge the battery bank. I didn’t really expect to reach anyone late afternoon on Boxing Day but shortly after trying the landline and mobile number listed on their web site my phone rang. It was the very helpful lady manager. She couldn’t help me with a mooring, and couldn’t offer me any advice about me troublesome alternator, but she offered to try and find her husband who knew a thing or two about them. I thanked her for her kindness but there probably wasn’t any advice he could offer me which hadn’t already been offered.

On Sunday we cruised thirteen miles to the Foxton flight without seeing another moving boat. We had the flight to ourselves. Two of the three lock keepers on duty were busy roping off a floating towpath caused by flood water from the fields undermining the towpath. The third and elderly lock keeper was on duty but asked if we could manage on our own as he wasn’t feeling too well.

Cynthia enjoyed her first attempt at taking a narrowboat through locks in front of an attentive audience. Despite the constant rain dozens of visitors lined the locks watching her progress.

The original plan had been to try and book a mooring with power at Union Wharf in Market Harborough but their office wasn’t returning my calls. We decided to turn left at the bottom of the Foxton flight to try Debdale Wharf for moorings instead.

Debdale’s marina office was closed but lights were on in one of their sheds so I knocked on the door. I thought I was in luck. Ex Calcutt Boats engineer Jim Garrett popped out of the shed where he was refitting his own boat. There were no staff on site to authorise a temporary mooring so I suggested to Jim that I could moor on an empty space inside the marina entrance until manager Steve came into work the following day. Jim didn’t think he would allow me to moor there so he tracked Steve down somewhere inside the marina to ask permission.

Steve wouldn’t allow us to stay in the marina for the night, which I thought was odd. I was more than happy to pay for a space and I certainly wasn’t in anyone’s way as the marina was closed for business. I know the staff at Calcutt Boats would have been happy to help a boater in distress but the spirit of goodwill didn’t appear to extend as far as Debdale.

We left the marina in the fading light to look for somewhere to stay for the night. Fifteen minutes later we were back at Foxton. As we negotiated the swing bridge next to the Foxton Locks Inn we decided to treat ourselves to a meal there at the end of a long and troublesome day.

We moored the boat on the towpath a few hundred feet away and hurried back to the pub to eat. Unfortunately for us the pub had stopped serving food twenty minutes earlier. We had a quick drink and, more in desperation than anticipation, decided to try Bridge 61 opposite.

Bridge 61 is a quarter of the size of the Foxton Locks Inn. It’s not as smart looking, it has a tiny little bar and was full of scruffy boaters. We loved everything about it. The atmosphere was warm and inviting and the food cheap and delicious. We both ordered beef stew in a plate sized Yorkshire pudding for just £5 each. The icing on the cake as far as I was concerned was a pint of mysterious draught ale. The staff didn’t know its name or strength or much about it at all other than it was selling very well. It was wonderful.

The following morning we dodged showers on the two hour cruise to Market Harborough before mooring in the only free space on the canalside moorings just outside Union Wharf. As soon as I moored I phoned RCR to ask for an engineer. As I had only joined two days earlier I expected to be told to wait another day. The Christmas spirit which had bypassed Debdale Wharf had clearly reached the RCR offices in Stafford. They agreed to send an engineer later that day once they found my membership details. The half hour delay was a small price to pay for a same-day engineer.

We spent the morning exploring Market Harborough’s fascinating town centre. All of the town’s hundreds of independent stores were filled with happy festive shoppers. We did a grocery shop at Sainsbury’s, and I purchased a pair of overalls and a set of pry bars for an important job I had scheduled for later in the day.

James was listing to port, so much so that water was overflowing the draining board, then pooling between the kitchen worktop and the cabin side. Water was also accumulating on the port side of the shower tray, and on the port side of the engine bilge. Condiments slid across the polished surface of the table in our Pullman dinette and the flower vase on the forward bulkhead cupboard top spent most of its time crushing plants against the cabin side.

The list is my fault. The boat was balanced perfectly when I moved on board, but in November 2011 I over-plated the original perished wooden cabin with steel. The new cabin top made the boat water tight but added a tonne to the boat’s weight. I raised the boat’s centre of gravity while meant that it wasn’t quite so stable. The additional weight also increased the boat’s draught by two inches.

I managed to decrease the draught slightly by removing half of the steel ballast bars from the engine room. All was well until November last year when I added another quarter of a tonne to the boat, all on the port side. I had the engine cooling system modified from raw water to keel cooling, and I had a large double radiator installed in my office under my desk.

I talked to the staff at Calcutt Boats about the problem. They suggested either moving the boat’s ballast from port to starboard or, if I didn’t have access to the ballast, welding a heavy steel plate to the starboard side to balance the boat.

I still had several dozen steel ingots in the engine bilge, some of which were on the port side. The idea was to move them to the starboard side to decrease the weight on one side of the boat and add it to the other. That was the plan for later in the day after the RCR engineer hopefully resolved our alternator problem.

Senior RCR engineer Kerry arrived at 3pm. A quick visual check told him that there was nothing obviously wrong, then a couple of minutes with his multi meter revealed the problem. The alternator, new just four months ago, had stopped working.

Kerry wasn’t surprised when he discovered that I was asking the alternator to replace 10% of my domestic bank’s 640ah each day. He suggested that even in such a short period of time I had worn it out. I’m hoping the alternator is still under warranty. Next week I’ll check with Justin Green who fitted the alternator in August.

Within an hour Kerry had the old alternator replaced with a new 70 amp alternator from his van stock then phoned their office so that they could relieve me of £70.

As soon as Kerry left I moved all of the ballast bars I could reach in the engine bilge. Cynthia tested the new trip scientifically. She fried two eggs. Success! They stayed in the middle of the pan rather than huddle together on the hob’s port side.

The boat’s not quite level yet. I think I can solve the slight list by moving the remaining dozen ballast bars which are jammed under the engine. They are quite difficult to get to though, so I will save that joy for a day when I am feeling particularly energetic.

We spent our remaining two days in Market Harborough wandering around the town eating as much as possible.  I can recommend Veneto for inexpensive and delicious Italian food, Simple Simon for their goat’s cheese and beetroot panini, and The Cook Shop on Church Street for its ridiculously comprehensive range of high end cookware.

On our last day, Tuesday, we collected a full load of washing from the dry cleaners on Coventry Road. They did a large “twice the size of a domestic load” service wash for £15. Fifteen pounds was a little more than I wanted to pay, but we had some items to clean which were too big for our little cheap and cheerful on board twin tub so we decided to splash out.

The laundry was spotlessly clean and beautifully folded when we picked it up. The only fly in the ointment was that they charged us £30 rather than the suggested £15. They said that they didn’t want to mix two different colours in our wash even though they told us everything we brought them would go in the same wash when we first visited. We didn’t have a leg to stand on though. The ticket they gave us when we took the washing in, which neither of us had looked at, clearly indicated the increased price. You live and learn!

We battled a lively breeze on the way back to Union Wharf and then spent the evening listening to small branches break off the trees above us and crash onto the roof. The wind gusted to 45mph making cruising very difficult indeed. Fortunately we didn’t have to until the following day.

Our cruise back to Foxton the following morning was interesting. In several places wind-blown trees hung precariously low over the canal. Two had crashed into the water but we squeezed past them with a little cabin scraping and then wound our way around numerous large waterborne branches.

We had to moor a mile before Foxton. A large fallen tree completely blocked the canal. It had toppled from the offside over the stern of a moored boat and even blocked the towpath. The tree had fallen the previous morning. CRT contractors had cleared the obstructed towpath but not the canal itself.

Within half an hour three contractors arrived from London, one English, two eastern European. Within minutes they cleared branches from the moored boat then tried to winch the tree out of the canal from the offside. They stopped very quickly when they realised that an underwater branch was trapped beneath the boat and was lifting it out of the water.

One of the Polish guys simultaneously demonstrated his balance and his disregard for health and safety rules. He climbed from the listing boat onto the fallen tree in the middle of the canal carrying an enormous chainsaw with four feet long bar. As he tried to maintain his balance on the slippery trunk, he poked his chainsaw bar under the water to locate the hidden branch. Once he found it he jumped back onto the boat, started his chainsaw and then, helmetless, gripping the boat’s cruiser stern rail, leaned out over the water, poked the saw four feet under water and began cutting. He was frightening to watch, but very effective. Within two hours the tree had been cleared and logged and we were on our way again.

We pulled onto the landing beneath the Foxton flight next to Bridge 61. While I walked to the head of the flight to book us in with the lock keeper, Cynthia attended to lunch. Normally this involves an hour preparing fresh locally bought produce. On this occasion all she had to do was walk into the pub with two of our bowls and ask the staff to fill them with jacket potato and beef stew.

Halfway up the flight Cynthia handed me a steaming bowl. I suppose her Californian accent was to blame but the beef stew turned out to be chilli but I wasn’t complaining on a cold winter’s day.

The wind and rain returned as we left the flight. We moored at Kicklewood Spinney in a squall which bent the trees above us and soaked us with heavy horizontal liquid sheets.

New Year’s Day was cold. We had our first winter frost and a wind which cut like a knife. After three hours wrapped in fleeces, gloves, waterproofs and my very fetching trapper’s hat, I was chilled to the bone. We moored next to Winwick Manor and called it a day.

Yesterday we cruised a little further before stopping briefly to allow Cynthia to walk into Yelvertoft to Squisito for a little culinary retail therapy. She returned an hour later with a loaded box and an unloaded wallet.

While she was away I received a call from RCR. They wanted some money from me even though I had given my debit card details over the phone when Kerry replaced the alternator.

They also wanted an additional £75 from me for their ‘on the spot joining fee’. I was told that because an engineer had visited me within the initial 72 hour exclusion period I had to pay extra. I refused. I pointed out that I wasn’t advised of this fee when joining or during any of the conversations I had with their staff prior to the engineer arriving. To their credit, RCR backed down immediately but, once again, they’ve demonstrated their appalling office admin.

With Cynthia back on board, we carried on for another three hours before mooring as we lost the light beneath the Watford flight, close to the noisy M1 which was thankfully invisible and inaudible with the curtains drawn and our music on.

Our winter break has been a thoroughly enjoyable and eventful ten day break from my winter work, but today I need to cruise for five hours to reach the Calcutt flight. We’ll moor above the locks tonight ready for the hour’s descent tomorrow and my return to sanding and painting until our cruising season begins again in April. We’re both very much looking forward to our adventures this year.

Cynthia Says…

As most of us know, life often requires one to hold one’s hand to the fire and face one’s fears.  This is how my holiday began on 24 December.  Paul and I had to go to Rugby to do some last minute food shopping prior to setting off on the waterways.  I was determined to make Osso Buco for our Christmas dinner, and had put in an order for veal shanks at a butcher on the outskirts of town.

As you can well imagine, driving in any market town the day before a big holiday brings one face to face with sharing the roads and roundabouts with lots of others in the same boat.  As the English roundabouts are still my Achilles heel, I was more than just a little anxious!  Thanks be to my ever-patient Paul I made the journey without mishap.  The need for practice overshadowed the fear….

All went smoothly until the morning of Boxing Day when the alternator decided to take a holiday.  We thought the suitcase generator would give the batteries a boast, but, alas, that was also not to be!  We were grateful to be able to continue on our way to our beloved Market Harborough, with a quick stop at the Foxton Locks.  We made our way to the Inn and had a drink expecting to be able to sit down to a nice meal and relax.  Well, that was not to be either—-the gods had other plans for us once again!

I love the twists and turns that life always throws your way, and we were rewarded once again for our persistence.  I was thinking the pub across the canal might still be open, so we made our way over the bridge and found ourselves enveloped in the lovely atmosphere of this special place.  We were taken not only by the ambience, but the colourful characters, and then there was the food—-a gift from heaven—some of the best beef stew I have ever consumed, surrounded by a tasty shell of Yorkshire pudding.  My what a lovely evening that was!  It was sort of a celebration of my first go at negotiating the locks of the Foxton Flight.  Paul asked me just as we arrived at the top if I wanted to handle James and I immediately agreed.  Another great opportunity to face my fears, and to do so in front of the many Gone-guzzlers who eagerly lined the locks.  I had a few minor mishaps, but nothing bad, and boy did I ever learn a lot!  This was to be one of my New Years’ resolutions and how nice it felt to be able to actually do this during the last days of 2015!

Market Harborough did not disappoint us—we indulged ourselves gastronomically and enjoyed every morsel.  A little shopping was also part of the experience and finding our perfect kettle was the icing on the cake.  As soon as we return to Calcutt we will once again rejoin our healthy eating patterns.

All started out well for our first days’ journey back to the real world of Calcutt Boats, until we began to hear stories from those along the footpath that there was a fallen tree ahead blocking the passage, and soon enough we came upon it.   We were quick lucky in the fact that the CRT people were there fairly soon and managed to clear the canal in order for us and those behind us to continue our journey.  As we made way to the bottom of the Foxton Locks, we decided another go at the Bridge 61 pub was in order.  Unfortunately when I went to order I was told they don’t do take-away, so I gave some quick thought to how to remedy this situation and asked if I could bring our own bowls.  Happily the answer was yes, so I ran back to the boat and grabbed them.  Shortly after Paul started into the locks our order was ready and I collected it then placed the bowls in a warming oven so our lunch would be ready for us once we moored at the top of the locks.

This time around I was the lock lassie.  I wanted to take James up the flight, but after the last episode, I felt rather ill due to the breathing in of all the toxic diesel fumes.  As I want to continue to operate the boat through the locks, I made a decision to buy and wear an appropriate respirator when doing so in order not to feel ill.

Life hands us many opportunities to learn and grown and do something that scares us every day.  This is always a goal of mine every year.  The past week plus was filled with such opportunities and I welcomed each one.

Hope you all enjoyed the holidays—we both feel very fortunate we have one another and our lifestyle—everyday is new and fresh!

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Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I run my discovery days roughly on the first ten days or so of April, June August, October and December.  If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day next year you can do so by viewing the diary here. You may want to stay locally the night before, the night after or both, in which case I highly recommend this B & B. It’s a five minute stroll from the mooring where I begin my discovery days.

In the meantime, meet recent discovery day attendee Peter Martin who kindly produced a short video of his discovery day experience for me to use on my site. The video is below followed by his comments.

“With two and half years before I can pick up my work pension, a break up of my marriage, kids now independent and need for downsizing, now seems like the time to plan what I’ve often dreamed about over the years.

Living on the cut seems to fit in very well with my lifestyle. I like the outdoors, love boating, independence and getting back to nature.

Having not spent any length of time with live aboard boaters, the Discovery Day was was really just an opportunity to pick up the vibes that go with life on the inland waterways. I needed to do this before committing myself further in the discovery process. Easier to nip things in the bud now if it didn’t appeal before my imagination runs away with itself!

It was a very enjoyable day. I particularly enjoyed the warm welcome of coming in out of the cold to sit in the heat of a toasty, warm cabin. That sold me the lifestyle straight away. It also confirmed that I definitely need a solid fuel stove as primary heat. I know it means hard work lugging coal etc., but what better way to get some outdoor exercise.  I’m also now sold on composting toilets! I never imagined I’d spend the following  week viewing endless YouTube videos of people’s loos!

The helming and boat handling were great experience. By the end of the day I had got over the intimidation of  controlling  60 feet and 20 tons of metal.  A very worthwhile 10 hours and it has confirmed that I’ll continue along this pathway.

The hard work now begins in downsizing, straightening out the finances and then the enjoyable part of finding the right boat.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.

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2015 12 20 Newsletter – Near Misses and Christmas Wishes

Monday’s discovery day was memorable for a number of reasons; It was the last of the year, 6’6” Andy was my tallest guest on board to date, and, last but not least, I made a foolish and costly schoolboy error.

The day started off as usual. After Cynthia had made the couple a hot drink, I spent an hour walking them through the boat explaining the layout and the pros and cons of design and equipment options. Then we donned fleeces and waterproofs ready for a winter’s day on the cut, and headed to the back of the boat so I could explain how to operate both the Morse control and the tiller.

We removed the mooring lines, made sure the stern line was stowed in the engine room so it couldn’t slip in the water to foul the propeller, pushed the bow away and prepared for a sedate cruise to Braunston.

Our relaxation lasted less than a minute. There was a deafening bang, the fourteen feet long wooden pole secured on a steel bracket by the cockpit on the starboard side jumped four feet in the air, and the engine cut out.

The boat drifted slowly and out of control across the canal towards a line of moored boats, much to the consternation of both Trish and Andy. They had yet to embrace the concept of gently bumping into other craft without incurring either wrath or insurance claims.

I tried to start the engine again. It ran as effortlessly as normal in neutral but as soon as put it into drive the engine cut out again. “What’s wrong with the engine?” asked Andy, images of an aborted discovery day no doubt flashing through his mind.

I considered his question carefully drawing on half a decade’s boating experienced before telling him in a non too calm tone, “We have a serious problem. I think the engine’s f****d!”

With those reassuring words I quickly opened the weed hatch to check for any major obstructions which may have prevented the propeller from turning, found nothing, cursed fluently and at length and then sprinted down the towpath to Calcutt Boats’ office to ask for some advice.

As usual, Calcutt Boats’ owner, Roger Preen, was a font of useful information based on four decades in the business and his own extensive cruising both in the UK and on the French waterways.

“You have something substantial on your prop,” he confidently assured me. I told him that I had checked and that the prop was clear. “Go and check again,” he suggested, “You haven’t checked properly”. Shaking my head in exasperation, certain of my own thoroughness, I ran back to the boat for a second time wasting grope around the propeller.

A quick feel around the propeller convinced me that I was right… until a length of familiar blue rope rose to the surface. It looked suspiciously like the braid-on-braid line I use on bow and stern and on the roof for my two centre lines.

I quickly jumped to my feet to check both centre lines. The port side line was still where it should have been, running back from the boat’s centre and coiled neatly so that it was in reach of my steering position. The starboard rope wasn’t. It stretched bar straight from the rooftop fixing ring over the cabin side and disappeared into the canal in the general direction of the propeller.

I have always been aware of the potential danger of having a centre line long enough to reach the propeller but in five year’s boating I have always made sure that I checked its position before I started the engine. Obviously I didn’t check it on Monday and I paid the price.

The first financial penalty was the cost of a new centre line. I tried to save the line by starting the engine and slowly engaging reverse hoping to unwind it from the drive shaft where it was tightly bound. The engine cut out every time I tried.

I’ve been moaning about my braid-on-braid lines for months because of their water absorption but I’m sure there are less extreme ways of disposing of them. With the aid of a sharp bread knife I released the pressure on the line by cutting it in two and then spent an hour shoulder deep in frigid and murky canal water hacking away at several dozen turns of tightly bound rope.

The second financial penalty was the cost of replacing the starboard brass mushroom covering the vent from my Airhead composting toilet. The mushroom covers a 12v fan which helps to draw moisture from the toilet’s solids tank. Until I had time to source a replacement I weatherproofed the opening with a rubber band and a plastic bag.

I was very lucky. Roger Preen told me that he has seen massive damage done to engines in similar circumstances.  Sometimes the gearbox ratio can result in the engine being ripped from its mounts by a suddenly jammed propeller, turned over in the engine room by the force and smashed into small and barely recognisable pieces. All I lost was a length of rope I didn’t particularly like anyway, a brass mushroom and a little credibility.

The rest of the day passed as smoothly as normal. I had to make a small adjustment to my temporary vent repair at lunch time when I noticed how smelly our normally odour free toilet had become. Just three hours with a sealed vent had regressed our high tech composting toilet to the level of my old cassette toilet. It stank. I replaced the plastic bag with our saloon mushroom. Within an hour the smell had disappeared.

Tuesday was a bit of a shock to the system. Two hundred and fifty eight days after finishing my full time work for Calcutt Boats I was back again, this time for a more civilized four days a week. I’ll be there until next spring when Cynthia and I set sail on another eight month adventure on the inland waterways.

For five years I worked at the marina helping maintain over 110 on site acres. This time I will be helping with the business’s annual hire fleet refurbishment. Each year each of the fleet’s twelve boats are blacked. Each year three or four of the fleet’s least aesthetically pleasing boats also have their external paintwork refreshed. My first job was to sand one of them ready for painting. But before I could begin work on Tuesday at 8am I had some basic housekeeping to manage.

For five years I lived at the marina where I worked. Utilities are far more difficult to manage on a boat than in a bricks and mortar home but on a marina mooring they aren’t quite so difficult.

Bags of coal are normally on sale close to where you’re moored, National Grid electricity is within easy reach of your shore line and there’s usually a water supply less than a hose length away. Apart from moving your boat to empty a pump out toilet tank you can stay in the same spot as long as you like. You’re living in a floating flat with all mod cons within easy reach.

Living out on the cut is more of a challenge. We still have a mooring at Calcutt Boats but as we’re out cruising for eleven days over the Christmas period we decided to stay moored above the Calcutt flight with a panoramic view of Napton reservoir rather than in the marina hemmed in by other boats.

On Tuesday morning I needed to top up our water supply before going to work. No problem. The water point was on the opposite side of the canal fifty feet behind us. How long do you think the return journey of a hundred feet took us? Twenty minutes? Half an hour? How about an hour and quarter?

A gentle breeze was blowing down the canal towards the Calcutt flight as I set off. Narrowboats have, at best, very little steering in reverse. You simply try and reverse in a straight line backwards then go forwards to correct your line when you notice the bow starting to swing. That’s fine on a calm day or if you have bow thrusters. On a breezy day without any way of correcting a swinging bow you’re pretty much at the mercy of the wind.

I reached the water point with my stern at the same time as my bow reached the lock landing on the opposite side of the canal. Using my centre line, a new, less stretchy and less absorbent rope than my propeller wrapped braid-on-braid rope, I spent an energetic quarter of an hour pulling the twenty tonne boat around against the wind and then another half an hour filling the tank, returning fifty feet to my mooring and tying up.

By the time I reached Calcutt Boats’ reception ready for the start of my day’s work I was ready to go home again. If you still need to work and you’re considering taking on an on line mooring without facilities please consider the logistics of managing your life afloat, especially replenishing your water supply on a dismal winter’s day.

I don’t have to struggle like that very often I’m happy to say, especially with a physically demanding day ahead of me. Preparing a boat for painting is a time consuming but very satisfying process. With a plentiful supply of sanding disks in various grades, a good quality orbital sander for the bulk of the work and a needle gun and compressor for dealing with any rusty patches, protective goggles and ear defenders for use with the needle gun and a robust dust mask for sanding and, last but not least, a loud radio, my three day working week this week flew by.

On my discovery days I always emphasise the need to stay close to the towpath side of the canal when going through bridges. If you insist on scraping your boat against one side of the bridge if you miss your line, the towpath side will treat you gently. Your hull’s rubbing strakes will brush against the stone so, at worst, you will lost a little easily replaced bitumen. On the other hand, if you allow your boat to make contact with the much lower offside bridge arch, your cabin top will make contact first. The hire boat I worked on this week had long stretches of missing paint along the top of the cabin on both sides caused by inexperienced helmsmen.

Much as I enjoyed my working week I was ready for the start of my three day “weekend” at 4pm on Thursday. Both Cynthia and I are still trying to integrate our lives. The process has been difficult enough with me trying to set aside thirty hours a week to maintain the site but now I have almost full time work there’s much more of a hurdle to overcome.

One of the most difficult challenges for me has been to come to terms with having a handicapped dog on board. Cynthia brought two dogs with her, both basset hounds, and both beautiful dogs full of character and love for the world in general.

Tasha, the nine year old bitch, is no trouble at all. She doesn’t demand much in the way of walks, she likes to sleep quietly for twelve hours at a time, she always has a smile on her face and she keeps herself to herself. Five year old Bromley needs much more attention.

Bromley has a neurological problem which affects his walking and control of his bodily functions. When Cynthia rescued him he couldn’t use his hind legs. She’s managed to rehabilitate him now to the point where he can walk after a fashion, but he can’t jump or even step very high. He can’t get on and off the boat on his own.

Bromley weighs thirty seven pounds and is torpedo shaped. The harness he wears makes lifting him on and off the front deck possible but not easy. Dainty Cynthia struggles to handle his weight, especially since she pulled a muscle in her back, so any lifting is safer for me to do.

Bromley’s control of his bodily functions was a little difficult for me to deal with when he first moved on board. He is very sensitive to stress. His occasional accident caused me stress which caused Bromley stress which in turn caused more accidents.

He’s fine now, partly because he’s settled into his new routine on board but more so because I am more relaxed with him. He’s learned to bark to let us know when he needs to go to the toilet but, because his maximum duration is five or six hours compared with Tasha’s ten, his bark alerts are often in the middle of the night. I wasn’t very happy having my much needed beauty sleep disturbed initially but now that I’ve accepted that as far as beauty sleep is concerned I’m a lost cause, his five minute off boat excursions are done on autopilot with very little stress or loss of sleep.

After my three day working week this week we decided to treat ourselves yesterday with a day out at Blenheim Palace. It’s a forty minute drive from our Napton-on-the-Hill mooring, no problem now that we have an old but super reliable car.

Tasha and Bromley came with us. After many years of driving coast to coast in the states they were more than happy with such a short drive. What they weren’t quite so happy with was the journey to the car.

Neither dog had had the dubious pleasure of negotiating lock gates. Agile but elderly Tasha had no problem in the light on the way out but she needed carrying on the way back. Bromley is too unsteady on his feet to take the risk so he needed to be carried both ways. Thanks to their Ruffwear harnesses even Tasha at forty five pounds was over the potentially dangerous gate in seconds.

I’ve seen a number of accidents involving dogs and lock gates. One happened when an owner lost his footing as he carried his dog over the narrow gate walkway. A good harness is indispensable if you have an unsteady or nervous dog.

I have work again tomorrow, and for the two following days but on Thursday we’ll be heading off to Market Harborough. It will be the fourth cruise there for me this year and the second for Cynthia. I hope your Christmas is as pleasant and relaxing as I know ours is going to be.

Cynthia Says…

Transitions—–

As per the past two weeks, this week was also one of transitions on several levels.  It is difficult to believe I have actually been here only three weeks and two days and that so much water has flowed through the locks and under James during that time.

Transitioning from discovery days to Calcutt Marina work days has actually been a nice one for me.  I like the discovery days and meeting new people and all, but become a bit frustrated when I can’t spend time at the tiller, which is what happens when we have more than one person come at a time.  I always love to be back there and to learn from Paul even though I am not actually controlling the tiller.  Now that he is working at the marina, I like that I can take coffee and a treat to Paul mid morning and then have him all to myself at lunch time.  And most afternoons I can return to bring him his afternoon hot drink and a quick snack.  And the fact that he finishes work at 4pm is great so that we can enjoy a leisurely dinner together followed by relaxing evening in front of the telly with the dogs beside us.  We are quite the sight the four of us on the settee!  Everyone knows their stations and it seems to work out well.

One of the best transitions of the past week was getting our 1984 240 TD Mercedes estate car.  I have owned a number of these autos in the past and love their reliability, the sound of the economically diesel engine (we are now a two Mercedes engine family!) purring away, and the safety of the car.  I am still a bit timid about driving in this unfamiliar land on the right side of the car, but Paul has been the ever-patient teacher and mentor for which I am most grateful.  I named her “Freedom” as she represents just that for us—we can take off far and wide at our discretion and the kids can join us as well.  Our first official trip out yesterday to Blenheim Palace was an absolutely perfect day together, and the kids were angels in the car.  For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of discovering this delightful place, please put it on your list of must-sees.  The grounds are spectacular to hike, and the food at the Palace in the cafe is of great variety and delicious.  And a walk around the town of Woodstock is definitely worth your time—picture perfect in every way.

It was unfortunate Paul had to begin the last of our discovery days this year with the rope and prop issue.  As he so aptly stated, it could have been much worse and we were fortunate that so little damage was caused.  As I have spent quite a few years on sailboats, I gently suggested we might think about tying off the end of the centre line rope on a cleat close to stern so that such errant ropes will remain under control until needed.  

All in all, it was a very good week and I feel I have learned a lot with Paul’s ever-patient guidance.  He is a godsend in my life and I remain grateful every day that I am able to make this transition from a life on the dirt to a glorious life afloat with this loving and thoughtful man.

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Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I run my discovery days roughly on the first ten days or so of April, June August, October and December.  If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day next year you can do so by viewing the diary here. You may want to stay locally the night before, the night after or both, in which case I highly recommend this B & B. It’s a five minute stroll from the mooring where I begin my discovery days.

In the meantime, meet recent discovery day attendee Peter Martin who kindly produced a short video of his discovery day experience for me to use on my site. The video is below followed by his comments.

“With two and half years before I can pick up my work pension, a break up of my marriage, kids now independent and need for downsizing, now seems like the time to plan what I’ve often dreamed about over the years.

Living on the cut seems to fit in very well with my lifestyle. I like the outdoors, love boating, independence and getting back to nature.

Having not spent any length of time with live aboard boaters, the Discovery Day was was really just an opportunity to pick up the vibes that go with life on the inland waterways. I needed to do this before committing myself further in the discovery process. Easier to nip things in the bud now if it didn’t appeal before my imagination runs away with itself!

It was a very enjoyable day. I particularly enjoyed the warm welcome of coming in out of the cold to sit in the heat of a toasty, warm cabin. That sold me the lifestyle straight away. It also confirmed that I definitely need a solid fuel stove as primary heat. I know it means hard work lugging coal etc., but what better way to get some outdoor exercise.  I’m also now sold on composting toilets! I never imagined I’d spend the following  week viewing endless YouTube videos of people’s loos!

The helming and boat handling were great experience. By the end of the day I had got over the intimidation of  controlling  60 feet and 20 tons of metal.  A very worthwhile 10 hours and it has confirmed that I’ll continue along this pathway.

The hard work now begins in downsizing, straightening out the finances and then the enjoyable part of finding the right boat.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.

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2015 12 06 Newsletter – Cruising in High Winds

Trying to reach locations for specific times is always a challenge when you’re moving at an average of two miles an hour. When you’re moving so slowly and battling a stiff breeze, getting anywhere on time is quite difficult.

Our destination was Rugby town centre, just twenty minutes away by car, but five hours by boat. With 40mph winds forecast we decided to abandon our plans for the day and head back to our discovery day mooring about the Calcutt flight on the Grand Union canal close to Napton junction.

High winds and ice are the only conditions which stop me. Cruising through even a thin layer of ice quickly removes any protective hull coating, especially along the water line. I was iced in on a towpath mooring on the Leicester Line close to Yelvertoft between Christmas and New Year last year. I waited three days until a rare winter hire boat charged past me smashing through the ice with little regard to the effect the jagged broken pieces were having on the hull. I followed in the hire boat’s wake gently nudging past the half inch thick slabs. Even though I didn’t need to break any ice myself I still lost most of the bitumen protecting the water line before I reached clear water at Norton junction.

High winds, although not nearly so damaging, make cruising equally difficult. My 62’ boat has a four feet high, fifty feet long cabin so I have two hundred square feet of “sail”. Even though my boat has a reasonably deep draught at 2’6”, the amount of sail combined with a flat bottom means that in anything more than a gentle breeze I spend much of my time crabbing along the canal.

Steering becomes very difficult in 40mph winds. You need to be acutely aware of the wind speed and direction at all times, especially when negotiating bridge holes and locks. You have to allow for lateral drift to avoid painful contact with inanimate objects, something which Cynthia is now acutely aware of after trying to cut a chicken with a very sharp knife when we broadsided none too gently into a lock wall.

We had no locks to negotiate on Sunday but plenty of bridges and then a very interesting turn in the entrance to Barby Moorings marina.

Barby Moorings is one of the many marinas with a sign close to the entrance warning boaters not to turn there. I don’t understand why the marina owners object. Boaters aren’t doing any harm. I’ve never paid any attention to these signs, and never had anyone complain when I turn in a marina entrance.

With the wind howling along the mile straight leading to the marina I had to turn aggressively into the entrance to bring the bow around against the wind, and then wait for the stern to be pushed around by the breeze. Unfortunately I couldn’t do anything about a thick section of steel rail running along the offside bank two feet into the marina entrance.

The boat drifted into the rough rail end. I had the pleasure of listening to the sound of steel scraping steel as I watched a ten feet long two inch wide strip of bitumen curl away from the hull. Fortunately after sixteen hundred miles along the inland waterways over the last seven months the scrape was one of many so the loss of a little paint didn’t cause me too much anxiety.

After two and a half very pleasant but windy and often wet hours later we moored for the night on an unusually boat free stretch close to Flecknoe. We settled down for a relaxing evening on a warm and cosy boat out of the weather. Sadly, the evening wasn’t quite as relaxing as Cynthia would have liked.

Basset hounds are intelligent dogs. Tasha and Bromley have adapted very well to boat life after just three weeks on board. Tasha the nine year old bitch is particularly good. After she’s jumped off the boat for a toilet break she comes when called and jumps nimbly through the cratch cover onto the front deck before standing patiently for her paws to be cleaned.

On Sunday night, in the middle of a particularly blustery squall, she bounded up the steps from the cabin onto the deck and then energetically leaped over the gunnel out of the boat. I think she would have preferred to jump onto the towpath rather than into the dark and murky water of the canal but she didn’t tell me what was on her mind so I don’t know.

What I do know is that Cynthia, to put it mildly, wasn’t very happy. To me it was just another silly dog going for a surprise but harmless swim. To Cynthia the event was terrifying. She was sure that Tasha wouldn’t be able to swim, wouldn’t be able to find her way back to the boat if she could swim, wouldn’t be able to climb out of the water, would be too heavy to lift out of the water and would have caught Weil’s disease or, at the very least, pneumonia.

Thanks to the sturdy Roughwear harnesses both dogs wear day and night, by the time Cynthia drew breath for her first mortified scream I had a wet and sneezing Tasha back on the front deck. Both Tasha and Cynthia have recovered now. My little girl is very careful now before she leaps off the boat onto the towpath for a poo. Tasha is more cautious now too.

We arrived back at the water point about the Calcutt flight at midday where we spent an hour cleaning the outside of the boat for the first time in a month. The cream cabin roof and sides look wonderful when they’re clean but they are very difficult to keep that way, especially with a pet hate of mine, my utterly useless but very expensive braid on braid centre lines.

The ropes look good, are wonderfully soft and pliable, but soak up more water than a bath sponge. At this time of the year they are permanently full of water so they leave muddy marks wherever they touch. I hope they wear out soon so I can go back to the less aesthetically pleasing but much more user friendly nylon ropes.

After two very enjoyable discovery days on Tuesday and Wednesday we had two unexpected days free due to postponements. As often the case, frantic work schedules won over a far more relaxing alternative on board James.

Yesterday we were back on track with a very interesting day on the cut. With the 25mph wind gusting to 40mph again we spent much of the cruise to and from Braunston traveling sideways. Fortunately, because of the wind, there were very few other boats moving. In fact, on the outward leg, there weren’t any at all. We had the wind whipped foot high waves to ourselves.

On the way back we met the kindly crews on three Kate Boats craft who tried to stop dead in the water to allow us to pass a line of moored craft. They obviously didn’t realise that stopping on a windy day, or even reducing speed too much, means being blown somewhere you don’t want to go. In their case it was the shallow water close to the offside bank. We left them thrashing ineffectively through mud and white topped waves.

Cruising on open water on windy days isn’t particularly difficult but negotiating locks is a different kettle of fish. We had a few hairy moments trying to line up a very reluctant boat with unforgiving lock gates but finished the day with only a little less bitumen on the hull than when we started.

Today promises to be another challenging cruise on the cut dressed like the Michelin Man. Roll on the summer tee shirt and shorts and lazy days on the towpath reading while the world passes slowly by.

Cynthia Says…

Making adjustments—

This past week has been an interesting one with many twists and turns and has made me see how making such a big move can be a big adjustment on many levels—perhaps more so for me, as I have changed everything about my life to be here and embrace this beautiful tranquil life afloat.  I am happy to have done so, though I do struggle at times.  Tending to a new relationship as well as feeling like I fit into the scheme of things has been easy in some ways, not so easy in others.

Last Sunday was a case in point, as our female Basset, Tasha, took an unexpected dive into the canal.  We had been moored on one side of the canal and she had learned the routine well—when we found ourselves moored on the opposite side, and I wasn’t positioned on the proper side, she found herself taking a surprise swim!  I must admit, I was a bit upset first off and was sort of afraid that she might drown as I don’t believe she had ever experienced deep water before.  Paul was lightening quick plucking her out of the water, and she didn’t seem the least bit fazed.  Thanks to Paul’s experience with these things along with his ability to calm me and reassure me, I am finally able to look back at the incident and chuckle over it.

For those of you about to move to a narrowboat, you too will be facing many adjustments as you downsize your life and possessions.  I was able to get rid of a ton of stuff back in Vermont and I can honestly say I haven’t missed anything I gave away or left behind.

We spent a great deal of time discussing how we want to make small changes here and there to make our life easier and more streamlined on James.  We both love the process of discussing the various changes/enhancements we want to do over time, and I must admit, we made a lot of small but good changes over this past week.  This is an ongoing process which we both embrace.  One of the big projects I would like to do is be able to put in a teak and holly floor.  This would be such a lovely enhancement!  For those of you who aren’t familiar with this rich hued and beautiful floor, take a minute and Google images for it and you will see what I mean. One often sees this kind of floor on traditional sailboats.  Now if I can just sell that house in Vermont……

This has been my first week dealing with Discovery Days and it has been another adjustment, as we don’t have much personal time together except in the evenings.  We are usually exhausted (especially Paul, as he does so much to make these days so successful with no stone left unturned), at the end of the day, and can’t sleep in the next day because we need to do it all over again.  I think I am fitting into the scheme of things pretty well.  I especially enjoy when we only have one guest and I can help out at the locks, which is always a pleasure and a learning experience—Paul teaches me something new all the time, and I love learning.

In summary, for those of you contemplating or actually partaking in living this lifestyle, you will need to make a number of adjustments on many levels.  It is most important to have a sense of humor, look at the big picture and break things down into small daily goals if possible.  And in the personal realm of it all, remember to be respectful and kind to one another, and expect to make mistakes–it’s all part of the deal.  And last but not least, enjoy the process of getting to know one another on a deeper level as you make this wondrous transition to an idyllic life on the waterways.

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Colin Ashby Portraits

My apologies to Colin Ashby who kindly sent me a framed drawing of my boat, James No 194. I promised to mention his service two or three weeks ago but, as ever, I ran out of time.

Colin’s usual focus is pet portraits but he now includes hand drawn sketches of narrowboats. The one he did for me is pictured below. I haven’t done his work any justice with this photo but both Cynthia and I are very pleased with his work. If you would like to contact Colin regarding his service, you can email him here.

Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I run my discovery days roughly on the first ten days or so of April, June August, October and December.  If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day before the end of the year, you can book the single remaining date by viewing the diary here. You may want to stay locally the night before, the night after or both, in which case I highly recommend this B & B. It’s a five minute stroll from the mooring where I begin my discovery days.

In the meantime, meet recent discovery day attendee Peter Martin who kindly produced a short video of his discovery day experience for me to use on my site. The video is below followed by his comments.

“With two and half years before I can pick up my work pension, a break up of my marriage, kids now independent and need for downsizing, now seems like the time to plan what I’ve often dreamed about over the years.

Living on the cut seems to fit in very well with my lifestyle. I like the outdoors, love boating, independence and getting back to nature.

Having not spent any length of time with live aboard boaters, the Discovery Day was was really just an opportunity to pick up the vibes that go with life on the inland waterways. I needed to do this before committing myself further in the discovery process. Easier to nip things in the bud now if it didn’t appeal before my imagination runs away with itself!

It was a very enjoyable day. I particularly enjoyed the warm welcome of coming in out of the cold to sit in the heat of a toasty, warm cabin. That sold me the lifestyle straight away. It also confirmed that I definitely need a solid fuel stove as primary heat. I know it means hard work lugging coal etc., but what better way to get some outdoor exercise.  I’m also now sold on composting toilets! I never imagined I’d spend the following  week viewing endless YouTube videos of people’s loos!

The helming and boat handling were great experience. By the end of the day I had got over the intimidation of  controlling  60 feet and 20 tons of metal.  A very worthwhile 10 hours and it has confirmed that I’ll continue along this pathway.

The hard work now begins in downsizing, straightening out the finances and then the enjoyable part of finding the right boat.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.

0

2015 11 29 Newsletter – Diesel Central Heating System Installation

Oh God, how I have f***g computers!

I spent four hours working on this newsletter yesterday to minimise the time I had to spend on it today. This morning I woke bright eyed and bushy tailed at 5am ready to put the finishing touches to it. Guess what? After a laborious twenty minutes for my not-so-old laptop to boot up I discovered that the Microsoft Word auto save function had failed to save anything other than a week old file containing just three words out of the one thousand words typed into it yesterday. Ah well, I try live a stress free life afloat now so, deep breath, and off we go again.

Last Monday I left my Calcutt Boats mooring for the first time in ten days. Much as I appreciate the security and facilities, not to mention dry paths underfoot, being able to see something other than the side of a sixty feet long hire boat pressed hard against my port side was a real joy.

With Cynthia still stranded an hour’s drive from New York waiting for the outcome of her marriage visit visa application I had both boat and basset hounds to manage on my own. The boat was no problem. I’ve been doing it for years so I can cruise almost as easily on my own as I can with a crew. The two dogs were a different matter.

I’ve owned many different dogs over the years but I didn’t know anything about Basset hounds until Bromley and Tasha arrived on board just over two weeks ago. They’re lovely dogs with a very placid nature, but they would rather follow scents than instructions and with limbs more akin to castors than legs, jumping over the side of the boat into the well deck to gain access to the boat’s front doors is difficult for them.

Bromley, the six year old, can’t manage it at all on his own because of neurological issues which mean that he doesn’t have much control of his legs. He needs lifting on and off the boat and, because his dustbin sized feet drag through the constant towpath mud at this time of the year, he needs a fair amount of cleaning each time he returns from a towpath toilet trip.

Mud, mud and more mud. The conditions rather than the dogs are the real problem. Moving people and animals on and off boats takes so much longer this time of the year. Summer, autumn and spring are wonderful. Even cold and frosty days are a joy, but after a month of almost daily rain squelching through inches of liquid mud just isn’t pleasant.

Having the right footwear helps tremendously. Rigger boots or Wellingtons are very handy. Being able to slip them on and off without time consuming lace tying saves so much time. If they worked as well for dogs as they do for people but Tash and Bromley would have a pair each. Two pairs each I suppose.

The three of us spent a pleasant and uneventful night half way between Napton and Braunston junctions before an early morning start on Tuesday for JG Marine close to Braunston bottom lock. Justin Greene fitted a Webasto diesel burner for me a couple of months ago. This scheduled two day visit was for him to remove the three old radiators plumbed into my stove’s back burner and replace them with four new radiators.

I had forgotten just how much upheaval is necessary when you have major work done on a live aboard boat. In November 2011 I had my old and leaking wooden cabin over plated with steel. I spent weeks returning the boat to some kind of order after the work was done but at least I didn’t have to disrupt all me precious possessions too much. This time all the work was done inside the boat by up to three people simultaneously working in different locations.

The thirty eight year old radiators were filled with a thick tar like sludge which Justin’s plumber friend, BJ, tried very hard to keep away from all my soft furnishings and clothing, but he wasn’t always successful. As he removed each section of copper pipe he carefully plugged either end with wads of blue roll before throwing the six feet lengths through my side hatch onto the wharf. Inevitably one of the wedges fell out, as did the black slurry within. Unfortunately Cynthia’s snow white and very expensive chef’s apron was the first victim.

When the boat was originally built, the plumbing was fitted before any of the boat’s built in furniture so in order to remove the old pipes and radiators, I had to empty cupboards and alcoves, drawers and dressers before BJ could reach them. My boat has plenty of storage space but all of it is used, especially now Cynthia has moved all her worldly goods on board. Consequently when a section of the boat needs clearing so work can be done there’s very little free space to move it to. The boat looked like a bomb had hit it. The door frame between bedroom and engine room didn’t survive the explosion.

The frame had clearly been a problem for many years. Two copper pipes ran through it to the old heating system’s header tank in the unheated engine room. The hot metal pipes running through the cold space meant that condensation formed on the copper then ran along the pipes back to the door frame where it soaked into the wood.

The door frame fell apart when the pipes were removed. You can see the extensive damage in the photo below. A block board patch has been put in place until I can have the door frame rebuilt next year. The patch is an effective but unsightly short term remedy.

All of the destructive work was done on Tuesday. I spent a couple of hours on Tuesday evening cleaning up the mess, taking the dogs through the slipway slurry to a muddy patch of nearby grass to attend to business, and then cleaning muddy paws before settling down for a couple of relaxing hours before bed.

When Justin disconnected the old radiators from the stove’s back boiler he told me that I might notice a little steam rising from it until all the water evaporated. I hadn’t had any heating on in the boat during the day. There was no point. The front and rear doors and the side hatches were open to allow access. By early evening the boat was cold so I lit the fire and settled down with my Kindle and a large glass of red for a much needed break.

I noticed the promised hint of steam after about twenty minutes. Then the hint of steam gradually thickened and swelled until clouds of billowing and acrid smoke filled the cabin. I had to open both front and rear doors wide, turn on my galley extractor and the powerful fan I have fitted to the cabin roof to push heat from the stove towards the bedroom.

I sat wrapped in coat, scarf and fleece hat, wine replaced by hot chocolate, until midnight when the smoke cleared enough to satisfy my every faithful combined smoke and carbon monoxide alarm so I could shut up the boat and go to bed.

While BJ began fitting three radiators on the starboard side the next morning, Justin collected another radiator from Daventry’s Screwfix before both of them tackled a little curve ball I threw them the previous day.

The three old radiators ran back from the stove on the boat’s starboard side. I wanted three new radiators down that side but I also wanted one fitted on the port side beneath the desk where I often spend ten or more hours sitting motionless typing. For the last five years it’s been quite a cold space. The small amount of hot water flowing back thirty five feet from the stove did little to heat the radiator behind me. I wanted some effective heating in my “office” but that meant running pipes from the engine room, through the bedroom and under my shower tray to the space under my desk.

After two tense hours, and much manly cussing and tool throwing, the pipes were through and the new keep-Paul-warm radiator fitted firmly in place. By mid-afternoon the radiators were filled and bled and an unfamiliar but very welcome warmth filled the back of the boat.

What a difference the central heating system makes! The back bedroom has always been cold and slightly damp. It isn’t now. Both bedroom and bathroom are toasty warm. I didn’t have enough room in the bathroom to fit a much wanted towel rail but there’s just enough space to drape a pre shower towel over the new radiator behind my composting toilet. What a deep and unfamiliar joy to step out of the shower and wrap myself in a hot and dry towel.

Wednesday was a great day. Not only was my much anticipated central heating system complete, but I also received an unexpected and very welcome phone call from Cynthia. She had just received an email from the British Consulate in New York to tell her that her marriage visit visa had been granted and that she was about to book a flight back to Heathrow on Friday. Hooray!

By the time the heating system had been tested there was too little light left for me to move away from my mucky mooring at JG Marine so I had another paw cleaning night on the wharf before a dawn start on Thursday back to my discovery day mooring above the Calcutt flight and a day’s intensive cleaning after two days’ turmoil.

For the third time in as many weeks I collected a hire car from Enterprise in Daventry, a pretty little red Toyota Aygo this time, before an early night and a ridiculously early start on Friday for Cynthia’s 6am Heathrow arrival.

She sent me a text at 6.15am to tell me she had landed, then another at 6.30am to let me know that she was back in her least favourite place in a room at terminal three’s immigration detention suite. Thankfully the delay was just a formality so by 7am she was free to enter England after a nine day, seven thousand mile delay.

We took full advantage of the hire car and visited Rugby’s wonderful Abraxas Cook Shop to buy a joint Christmas present, a set of Global kitchen knives.

Unfortunately we left one of the knives there so yesterday after stocking up with coal and water at Calcutt we set off on a ten hour round trip, half an hour by car, to collect the missing knife. We didn’t get very far.

Saturday was miserable and dank. I love the tranquillity which winter cruising offers but two and a half hours buffeting by wind and rain was enough. I pulled over to a relatively mud free section of Armco barrier on the north Oxford canal about a mile from Braunston and, with some difficulty, moored for the night. A stiff breeze was blowing the boat away from the bank so I had to use my windy weather technique as Cynthia was catching up on some much needed sleep inside.

The problem you have as a solo boater when trying to moor a boat which is being pushed away from the bank is that, if you can pull the boat in at all, by the time you have either secured bow or stern, the other end has blown away from you again so you have to begin the whole painful process again.

The simple solution when mooring on Armco – a much more secure method on soft and muddy towpaths than pins – is to step off the boat with three mooring chains and your centre line. You pull your boat to the bank with your centre line, then use on of your three chains to secure the boat temporarily via the centre line. Neither bow nor stern can swing away from you with the centre line secure so you can then tie off both ends at leisure.

With the bow and stern secure I then remove the centre line chain. With the cabin held down by a line attached to the roof the boat is far more likely to rock in the wake of passing boats.

We’re still on that mooring now. Our plans to reach Rugby have changed. We now can’t get there and back to Calcutt in time for the first of my discovery days on Tuesday. I suppose I could just about achieve it if I pushed myself but with heavy rain and high winds forecast for today I’m not keen. We’ll probably hire another car for tomorrow to finish out final joint house making shopping before settling in to our winter marina routine.

We’re going to need a car of our own soon. I won’t really need one but Cynthia will be stuck if she has to rely on public transport. Calcutt Boats two marinas are in a wonderful and tranquil location. They’re extremely peaceful because they’re in rural Warwickshire a mile and a half away from the nearest main road. Consequently, access to public transport is difficult. The nearest bust stop is on the main road a mile and a half away. I believe that there’s a service running to the market town of Southam once every two months. Buses possibly run more frequently but certainly not often enough to make the journey into Southam practical.

Not that Southam offers much in the way of entertainment or shopping. A modest Tesco store on the town’s outskirts, two much smaller convenience stores in the main street, a bicycle repair shop, two florists, several hairdressers, half a dozen take away outlets and the same number of little visited pubs is all there is on offer. A further bus to Leamington Spa ten miles away is needed for any serious shopping or entertainment.

Hopefully I’ll be working back at Calcutt Boats over the winter so I won’t either need or have time for many jaunts off site. Cynthia, on the other hand, is going to go quietly mad before the beginning of April when we begin next season’s cruising.

After selling my own car two and a half years ago I couldn’t see myself ever having another. I have to admit though that having a car available recently has been very handy indeed. I’m going to add a car to my Christmas list and pray that Santa thinks I’ve been a good boy this year.

Cynthia Says…

The Long-Awaited Homecoming—

At 0602 Friday 27 November 2015 I touched down at London Heathrow for the last time this year….whew–what a relief!  As those of you know, who have been faithfully following the newsletter for the past few weeks, you are well aware of the ups and downs we have navigated obtaining the proper marriage vista visa.

I spent a long week and spent a lot of money sorting it all out—I was told it would take a couple of weeks to over a month, which didn’t make either Paul or myself happy needless to say!  I had only enough clothes and things with me for a 3 day stay.  Thanks to my dear friend Christina with whom I stayed, I was provided with a few additions to my wardrobe that helped me through.

This past Tuesday morning 24 November, I had a strange feeling shortly after awakening, and at 0822 I received an email that turned my world around—my visa had been granted and printed up!  I immediately let the visa services person know and he informed me a short while later that all was in order and I could pick it up the following day.

Once I had confirmed all of this, I called Paul straight away (who was standing in the middle of a field as the work was being done on James for the new heating system), and told him the good news—he was as elated as I was!  I felt as though someone, once again, had handed me the moon.

I immediately made plans to return the rental car and find a suitable airbnb spot in Manhattan the next day so I would be in place to take the 1825 flight back to Heathrow the following day, Thursday, 26 November which was Thanksgiving Day for us in the US.  All my thankful energy was directed towards Paul who has made this horrendous immigration ordeal a cakewalk.  He never let me down and remained tireless in dealing with all the aspects of this at his end, and lovingly supporting me—and all of this while having to cope with the heater installation as well as the day-to-day chores AND looking after the dogs!

I booked my passage across the pond on American Airlines, from whom I am retired.  I was lucky once again, as I was able to settle into a Business Class seat and enjoy the nice service along with a flat bed fit for a good nights sleep.

When I arrived at Heathrow and it was my turn to step up to the Immigration officer, I began to feel a bit nervous as memories of my nightmare of two weeks ago flooded my head.  I was escorted to the detention box once again, but only as a formality, and five minutes later I was released and able to collect my baggage and make my way as fast as I could out of the immigration hall and into Paul’s welcoming arms.  I have never been so happy to see anyone in my life!  We had a speedy trip back to James, took a bit of a nap then spent the rest of the afternoon taking advantage of the rental car and went about our shopping.

I can’t begin to tell you all how delighted I am to be back on James with Paul and our Bassets.  Home again and I couldn’t be more happy or at peace.  And I don’t have to cross the pond again until the end of May when I must apply for the next visa, the spousal one.  Should be another bit of a roller coaster ride!  Stay tuned…..

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Handy tools and winter preparation

This newsletter now goes out to 6,200 narrowboat enthusiasts. Between 1,000 and 1,500 are current boat owners. If you are one of them I would like your help.

Next week’s newsletter will detail handy tools to keep on board. It’s a list inspired by prolific forum contributor Peter Earley. The following week’s newsletter will contain tips and tricks for making the miserable winter months more tolerable. A thousand heads are better than one so PLEASE, if you are a boat owner, spend just a couple of minutes of your time to tell me about your indispensable boating tools and what you do during the cooler months to protect yourself and your boat. The survey is here. Please don’t leave the job for someone else to do because all too often they’ll be expecting you to do it for them so they won’t bother.

Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I run my discovery days roughly on the first ten days or so of April, June August, October and December.  If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day before the end of the year, you can book the single remaining date by viewing the diary here. You may want to stay locally the night before, the night after or both, in which case I highly recommend this B & B. It’s a five minute stroll from the mooring where I begin my discovery days.

In the meantime, meet recent discovery day attendee Peter Martin who kindly produced a short video of his discovery day experience for me to use on my site. The video is below followed by his comments.

“With two and half years before I can pick up my work pension, a break up of my marriage, kids now independent and need for downsizing, now seems like the time to plan what I’ve often dreamed about over the years.

Living on the cut seems to fit in very well with my lifestyle. I like the outdoors, love boating, independence and getting back to nature.

Having not spent any length of time with live aboard boaters, the Discovery Day was was really just an opportunity to pick up the vibes that go with life on the inland waterways. I needed to do this before committing myself further in the discovery process. Easier to nip things in the bud now if it didn’t appeal before my imagination runs away with itself!

It was a very enjoyable day. I particularly enjoyed the warm welcome of coming in out of the cold to sit in the heat of a toasty, warm cabin. That sold me the lifestyle straight away. It also confirmed that I definitely need a solid fuel stove as primary heat. I know it means hard work lugging coal etc., but what better way to get some outdoor exercise.  I’m also now sold on composting toilets! I never imagined I’d spend the following  week viewing endless YouTube videos of people’s loos!

The helming and boat handling were great experience. By the end of the day I had got over the intimidation of  controlling  60 feet and 20 tons of metal.  A very worthwhile 10 hours and it has confirmed that I’ll continue along this pathway.

The hard work now begins in downsizing, straightening out the finances and then the enjoyable part of finding the right boat.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.

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2015 11 22 Newsletter – Protection for your Four Legged Friends

After eight months “on the road” as it were, I’m back on my mooring pretty much full time now. I have to take the boat to Braunston on Tuesday to have the rest of my Webasto diesel central heating system fitted, and then a block of fourteen discovery days to do at the beginning of December. (The only day left is Thursday 10^th December so if you want to experience life afloat in the winter you can join me if you’re quick by booking the date here.) After the discovery days I’ll be on my mooring until the end of March next year.

I guess that many boaters wouldn’t like my mooring. I have a 62’ boat tied to a 36’ long rusting dump barge. If I want to get to the stern from the outside, I have to walk along my perilously narrow gunnels, reduced to just 2” wide when the original wooden cabin was over plated with steel, which are almost impassable in icy weather.

The mooring is difficult to leave at the best of times. The prevailing south westerly pins the boat to the barge so I have to pivot the boat’s bow on the barge’s “bow” until my stern is pointing into the wind and then charge backwards into the middle of the marina before the wind blows my boat onto the narrowboat moored thirty feet behind me.

For all its faults, the mooring suits me well enough. It’s in the north westerly section of Locks marina far away from other boats with an open view of the Grand Union canal off my starboard side and, usually, a wonderful view of the marine through my port side windows.

Unfortunately I have no view of the marina at all at the moment. Part of my mooring agreement is that I share the dump barge in the winter months with the four 60’ long narrowboats owned by the Royal Navy and maintained by Calcutt Boats. When I left the marina to travel to Heathrow very early on Friday 13^th November I had an open and unrestricted view of the marina. When I returned with Cynthia twelve hours later my floating home, from which I’ve enjoyed stunning views of rural England and Wales for the last eight months, was sandwiched between the dump barge and four other narrowboats. I suppose it was a fitting end to an already traumatic day.

I’ll be back out on the cut for a week starting tomorrow. I’ll need a little help slipping the boat out of its sardine tin mooring before a pleasant two hour cruise to Braunston and Justin Greene. Along with a plumber friend, Justin will remove the three single radiators currently plumbed in to my stove’s back boiler then fit four new double radiators in their place. They will be connected to the Webasto Thermotop C diesel burner he fitted at the beginning of October. Once that’s done, and the Webasto is also plumbed in to my calorifier I’ll be free for five days until my first discovery day on 1^st December. Unfortunately my discovery day guests won’t be able to meet Cynthia.

Cynthia’s second visit to me on James wasn’t quite as relaxing or as enjoyable as her ten day cruise to Market Harborough in September. She barely had time to recover from thirty six exhausting hours travel on her outward journey before we both had to deal with the logistics of flying her back to the States again.

After six hours detention at Heathrow terminal three’s immigration department, she was refused entry into the UK but was given a week’s period of grace before she had to leave. The airline which flew her to the UK, Virgin Atlantic, was duty bound to fly her back to her point of origin, Boston.

Unfortunately Boston is a four hour drive from New York where Cynthia needed to go to try and fast track her marriage visit visa application. Thanks to the very helpful immigration case officers at Terminal Three we were able to book a flight with Virgin Atlantic directly to New York and at the airline’s cost.

I booked another hire car, a much smaller car this time, with the wonderful people at Enterprise in Daventry at very short notice. Enterprise offer a first class service for carless boaters. Not only will they pick you up and drop you off at either end of your hire period, but they will also travel considerable distances to do so. The Daventry branch offer this service within a seventeen mile radius.

After a 3am start on Wednesday morning we were back at Heathrow at 6am as instructed by the immigration department ready for the 8.50am flight.

We had to telephone immigration as soon as we reached the airport so that they could give Cynthia the paperwork she needed for the check in desk. The immigration officer handed Cynthia a single form then left her with the instruction to phone again once she had checked in and completed all security checks.

Unfortunately Virgin Atlantic had no record of Cynthia for the 8.50am flight so we had to call immigration again. Two of their officers joined three Virgin Atlantic staff for a twenty minute cross counter conference. Immigration claimed to have phoned Virgin to check availability then confirmed Virgin’s acceptance of Cynthia’s seat on the flight by email. Virgin denied all knowledge of the booking. The flight was full. Cynthia would have to come back another day. No she wouldn’t, immigration told Virgin, Cynthia would be leaving on the 8.50am flight so another passenger on the flight would have to be taken off.

Apparently in matters of deportation, immigration outrank the airlines. Cynthia made the flight.

Nineteen hours later Cynthia was still sitting in a visa agent’s office in New York. After paying a considerable amount of money to the agent for his services, and even more for the visa itself, she was still compiling the information needed for the application.

At 8am she was back with the agent putting the final pieces into the complex jigsaw which is the visa application. After the indignity of having her fingerprints taken at Heathrow, she had to catch a train across New York to stand in a queue thirty people long to have them taken again.

The application was submitted on Friday. All we have to do now is wait. One of the senior case officers at Heathrow immigration told me that, if you have to hang around for days on end, November isn’t a bad time to do it. It’s a quiet time of the year for marriage visit visa processing. People generally don’t want to consider making a move so close to Christmas. However, the process is going to be far from the one or two day processing we naively hoped for.

The British Consulate in New York closes down for three days next week for their Thanksgiving celebrations. The application is more likely to take weeks rather than days which presented Cynthia with a bit of a problem.

Before she left the States for her flight to the UK just over a week ago Cynthia closed down her life across the pond. She sold or gave away most of her possessions, shut up her house in Vermont for the winter pending its sale in the spring, sold her two vehicles and terminated her phone contract.

She flew to New York with a carry-on bag holding enough clothes for a few days, a few mild autumn days at that. She’s now staying with a friend in rural Massachusetts while she waits for an email from the British Consulate in New York with the much hoped for details of her visa approval.

So here I am, rattling around in far too much space on my boat again. The saving grace is that I have two wonderful but useless dogs to keep me company. Basset hounds aren’t exactly the perfect boat dogs especially, if like six year old Bromley, they have neurological issues which mean that they fall over regularly and can’t jump at all. Both of them are just the right size and shape for pushing against doors to keep the draught out. Frustratingly, they are both far more interested in lying in front of the fire to keep the heat away from me.

Both Bromley and ten year old Tasha have very sturdy chest harnesses so that they can be lifted in and out of the boat if necessary. Tasha is the elder dog but doesn’t have any mobility issues. However, she has shown an unhealthy interest in the marina’s large and feisty cob swan. Clearly in America a very large water bird swelling its chest, spreading its wings and hissing loudly means, “Hello friend, why don’t you come here and play?” I don’t want her to discover the unpleasant truth the hard way so the chest harness’s sturdy handle allows me to lift her out of harm’s way.

Bromley isn’t too steady on his legs. His balance is poor and he’s subject to occasional spasms which throw him to the ground. Usually he doesn’t seem to mind. He just shakes himself off, struggles to his feet and carries on sniffing and walking.

Initially, watching him walk unsteadily across the metal walkway between bank and barge was a stressful experience, then I relaxed a little as his routine developed. He cautiously walked onto the metal bridge – like most dogs he doesn’t like being able to see througha walkway to water four feet below – tottered over the walkway until he was three feet from the end, and then rushed the final yard to safety. Inevitably, as soon as I was sure that he was safe crossing the bridge on his own he had a spasm and toppled towards the water. His harness handle saved the day. I was able to grab it as he disappeared over the side and haul him onto terra firma. I don’t want to risk him falling in and possibly hurting himself so I carry him, briefcase like, over any difficult obstacles which, for him, is anything taller than a blade of grass.

If you have a clumsy or an older dog which isn’t too agile, these harnesses are a very useful tool. Neither of the dogs will be out of the boat when we are negotiating locks. They are hounds so pay far more attention to their noses than to human command. They’re far more likely to follow a wonderfully smelly scent than do as they’re told so they will stay inside when we need to focus on getting the boat safely through a lock. All too often I see owners trying and failing to control dogs at locks and not concentrating on the job at hand. It’s a potentially dangerous situation.

So the dogs won’t be lock-side when we’re negotiating locks but they will see them very often when we take them out for walks. Bromley isn’t capable of negotiating a 12” wide lock gate on his own. The prospect of him having a spasm walking ten or fifteen feet above the unyielding concrete sill of an empty lock is too terrifying to contemplate. His harness carry handle will be used to quickly transport him from one side to the other without risk.

Harnesses with handles are very useful for dog owning boaters. They can be used to safely carry reluctant or unsteady dogs over lock gates and they’re very handy for lifting accident prone or water obsessed dogs out of steep sided canals and rivers.

Canals are often impossible for animals to climb out of on their own. The sides are often strengthened by vertical Armco style metal pilings or concrete. A good chest harness means that a potentially life threatening situation becomes just a mild inconvenience requiring a little brute force. Of course, how useful these harnesses are to you will depend on the size of your dog and your own ability to lift him.

Bromley weights 17kg or 37lb in old money. A full bag of coal weighs 25kg/55lb so Bromley’s as heavy and unwieldy as three quarters of a bag. While I’m still young and fit – OK, just fit – lifting him like this isn’t a problem. To be honest, if I’m no longer able to lift a bag of coal I need to think about moving into a ground floor flat in a sheltered accommodation complex. Either that or strapping my anchor to my chest and jumping in to a lock. I think his chest harness will be fine for many years to come.

Cynthia Says…

Life’s trials and tribulations—the blissful five days Paul and I were able to spend on James went far too quickly, however we were able to accomplish a lot and found a nice rhythm of working together in a small space to which both of us are easily suited.  All my worldly possessions fit into the capacious drawers and there was even an empty one left over!  We put our heads together and came up with some more good ideas for proper storage as well as some redecorating options.  I enjoy making small changes based on the seasons that help us to feel more comfortable.  I brought a new red and white plaid duvet cover across the pond with me and it looks quite smashing on our bed, and makes for a welcoming and warm entrance at night! We are going to find a nice material that  coordinates for the window dressings.  If we can find quilted fabric,  all the better—this will help keep the cold out.  We are also considering new shams in the same fabric for the settee pillows.

We spent a good deal of Sunday and Monday sorting out the immigration issues.  Tiring and tedious to be sure!  Paul has been a darling dealing with all this–he never loses his patience and focus.  I couldn’t do it without him!

We experienced a bit of an ordeal at Heathrow Wednesday morning, as Virgin told us the flight was full.  Immigration stepped in and insisted they put me on.  Once I hit the pavement in New York I went directly to the British Consulate and they said I needed to see a visa services agent in order to complete the extensive paperwork for the marriage visit visa.  They were very accommodating and I couldn’t  have done this without them.  Paul had to submit a lot as well.  We completed this Thursday afternoon and it was submitted yesterday.  I just received an email and am keeping my fingers crossed it will be a faite à complet within two weeks.

In the meantime I am staying with a dear friend in Massachusetts and doing my best to get by with what I have.  Once again creative thinking and planning has enabled us to make it through this ordeal.

And the silver lining here?  I believe it has brought us even closer (if that is possible!) and we have proved to be a Great Team with a very positive attitude and no tension.  We help each other out when one of us is a bit down and that is the way a committed long-term relationship should be, right??

Stay tuned—hopefully in next weeks newsletter I will have good news, and can return to my rightful place next to the love of my life….

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Water Saving Shower Head

Following his April Discovery Day, Australian Chris Smith sent me a sample of a water saving shower head, the LoFlo shower head he markets down under. The shower head needed an adapter before it would work with my shower, so he sent me that as well.

I’ve now been using his shower head for a few months. It’s absolutely marvelous. Chris tells me that an average shower can use over twenty litres a minute. Having thrown my old shower head away I can’t verify his claim but I agree with his claim that the water saving shower head uses just five litres a minute when it’s dispensing water but one of the really useful features of this shower head is the trickle switch.

The trickle switch helps save more water. You can turn the flow off at the showerhead while soaping up, without having to re-adjust the hot and cold taps to get the correct temperature. “Submarine” showers are a pain with mixer taps because you have to waste valuable water adjusting the temperature. With the trickle switch you simply turn the flow off at the shower head without having to touch the taps.

The last thing is that it really feels like a regular shower, whereas most low flow products simply reduce the flow and feel weak, and ladies find it difficult to rinse shampoo out of their hair. I imported a lady with hair all the way from Vermont to test it out. She was very happy with the end result. In fact, having spent many years living on a 35’ sail boat she was far more familiar with the submarine shower concept than me.

The patented nozzle is non-clogging, with a large outlet. Most low flow shower heads use a small rubber o-ring to reduce the flow, and then a myriad of tiny hole in the outlet which are both prone to clogging.

I am very happy indeed with this shower head. Not only does it save water, but it feels far more powerful than my old traditional shower head.

If you’re interested in a high power low flow shower head for your boat, caravan or home, you can let Chris Smith know via email. Chris is currently arranging UK distribution.

Video Survey Results

Two weeks ago I asked if you would be interested in seeing more video on the site. An overwhelming majority of those who responded (94%) said that they would. All that I need to do now is establish which the most popular subjects are. Over to you again. Here’s a list of video subjects requested in the survey. Please select all that interest you on the list. If you want to see something not on the list, please add your comments at the bottom of the survey. I look forward to reading what you’ve chosen for me.

Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I run my discovery days roughly on the first ten days or so of April, June August, October and December.  If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day before the end of the year, you can book the single remaining date by viewing the diary here. You may want to stay locally the night before, the night after or both, in which case I highly recommend this B & B. It’s a five minute stroll from the mooring where I begin my discovery days.

In the meantime, meet recent discovery day attendee Peter Martin who kindly produced a short video of his discovery day experience for me to use on my site. The video is below followed by his comments.

“With two and half years before I can pick up my work pension, a break up of my marriage, kids now independent and need for downsizing, now seems like the time to plan what I’ve often dreamed about over the years.

Living on the cut seems to fit in very well with my lifestyle. I like the outdoors, love boating, independence and getting back to nature.

Having not spent any length of time with live aboard boaters, the Discovery Day was was really just an opportunity to pick up the vibes that go with life on the inland waterways. I needed to do this before committing myself further in the discovery process. Easier to nip things in the bud now if it didn’t appeal before my imagination runs away with itself!

It was a very enjoyable day. I particularly enjoyed the warm welcome of coming in out of the cold to sit in the heat of a toasty, warm cabin. That sold me the lifestyle straight away. It also confirmed that I definitely need a solid fuel stove as primary heat. I know it means hard work lugging coal etc., but what better way to get some outdoor exercise.  I’m also now sold on composting toilets! I never imagined I’d spend the following  week viewing endless YouTube videos of people’s loos!

The helming and boat handling were great experience. By the end of the day I had got over the intimidation of  controlling  60 feet and 20 tons of metal.  A very worthwhile 10 hours and it has confirmed that I’ll continue along this pathway.

The hard work now begins in downsizing, straightening out the finances and then the enjoyable part of finding the right boat.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.

0

2015 11 15 Newsletter – Engine and Lifestyle Improvements

On Wednesday morning I reversed off my rusty dump barge mooring and across the windblown marina to the back of the engineering workshop to see if engineer Ian could find the cause of my recent engine overheating.

The first job was to remove the heat exchanger stack, a 21” long cylinder of hollow brass rods, which keeps dirty canal and clean engine water separate. Now that I have a closed system the heat exchanger is no longer necessary but blockages in the stack can reduce water flow around the engine. He thoroughly pressure washed the stack to remove any blockages but left the stack out of the heat exchanger.

Over the last few weeks I’ve received a great deal of advice from newsletter readers. A common suggestion was to check the engine’s thermostat to make sure it was working properly. I asked Ian to check it so he removed the thermostat and dropped it in some hot water to make sure it was working. It was.

As he was replacing the device he realised that the thermostat was working but ineffective. It had been fitted the wrong way round by a guy who did a few odd jobs around the boat for me a year or so ago. With the thermostat fitted incorrectly the engine water wasn’t circulating around the recently fitted skin tank.

With the hoses fitted back in place and the engine coolant topped up again we left the boat running in gear for half an hour. The engine temperature crept up to seventy degrees and stayed there so I decided to take the boat out for a spin to test the engine further.

The initial signs were encouraging. The engine used to always run at seventy degrees but now it was running slightly cooler. I took the same route as I did on my last engine test three weeks before. I turned left out of Calcutt marina entrance and headed west on the half hour lock free stretch before the start of the Stockton flight.

Over the last few weeks since my engine’s cooling was modified from raw water to keel cooling, the engine reached ninety degrees after an hour at my normal 1,500rpm 4mph cruising speed. Because the cruise to Stockton and back would take no more than an hour I opened the engine up to 2,000rpm, roughly 6mph, to increase the engine temperature more quickly. I didn’t want to travel too far at this speed because (A) I was creating breaking wash which causes bank erosion and (B) at faster speeds the stern digs down into the water increasing the boat’s draft and the likelihood that my already deep drafted boat would ground on any shallows.

No matter how fast I went the temperature stayed at seventy degrees. Yippee! Yet another boating problem resolved. The only remaining concern now is the engine’s smokiness. It’s too early to tell yet but the engine appears to be less smoky now it’s running at a lower temperature. Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me, but on the short one hour return trip I thought that the air around me at the back of the boat was much cleaner.

I’ve received many emails from newsletter readers over the last couple of months as a result of my regular engine problem updates. Some, in the nicest possible way, have accused me of being slightly obsessive. I suppose they’re right, but if you live on a boat your engine performance is very important. Even as a static live aboard boater if, like many boaters, you need to generate your own electricity, your engine needs to run effectively, but if you’re cruising continuously along different canals and rivers in varying weather conditions, you need your engine to be at the top of its game. Thankfully, mine is now.

On Thursday I drove a car for the first time since I left the marina in April. I sold my own car two and a half years ago. I didn’t miss it at all while Sally was with me, because she had a car of her own which I used whenever I needed transport. I didn’t miss owning a car when she left either. I was cruising continuously so I just planned ahead and made sure I took advantage of the wider selection of stores available in the larger towns I cruised through.

This week though I had a problem I couldn’t resolve without transport. Cynthia’s flight was scheduled to land at Heathrow’s terminal three at 9.05am on Friday. She was bringing all her worldly possessions with her packed in three large and one small suitcase and two rather expensive crates in the plane’s hold for her two Basset hounds, Tasha and Bromley.

My original plan had been to take the boat down to Uxbridge, moor in Willow Tree marina and then take a taxi to the airport to collect Cynthia, her dogs and her luggage. Winter stoppages prevented me from taking the boat down to London and using public transport was out of the question so I needed to hire a car to collect her.

I chose Enterprise in Daventry. They offer a pick up service essential to carless boaters moored in rural marinas. The Daventry branch are regular visitors to Calcutt Boats two marinas to collect boaters.

I was picked up by Lisa, a Hungarian former bank employee who has spent the last four years living and working in rural England to improve her English, and to experience first-hand good old English small town racial prejudice.

I was a little worried about the car hire process. I’ve read many accounts of live aboard boaters having problems providing sufficient documentation for hirers. I had nothing to worry about with Enterprise, probably because I’ve had a fixed address at Calcutt Boats marina for the last five years. I took two recent bills for recent boat repairs (I have plenty of those) and my driving license. Five minutes, six signatures and £289.96 later I was on my way. I only hired the car for a day but it was a full sized people carrier to accommodate guests and luggage and I paid a little extra to reduce the default £1,500 excess to £100, and paid a mandatory £200 deposit.

I hadn’t missed having a car at my disposal for the previous six months but I have to admit they make life very much easier sometimes. I drove from Daventry to Rugby to shop at Sainsbury and the independently owned Wild and Free organic store in central Rugby before returning to the boat and an early start the following morning, Friday 13^th November.

I’ve never been suspicious. I mentioned the date in a previous newsletter and said that I would be breaking mirrors with black cats while walking under ladders on the way down there. Maybe the gods were listening. Maybe I should treat them and this terrible date with more respect in the future.

The day started off well enough. I left the marina at 6am to allow me three hours for the hour and a half journey to Heathrow. I parked in terminal three’s short term car park at 8am and settled down in the arrivals lounge ten minutes later with my Kindle for the expected hour and a half wait until Cynthia landed and passed through customs and immigration. That’s when all of our careful planning quickly unravelled.

I knew that Cynthia’s phone either wouldn’t work or would be prohibitively expensive to use in the UK but I also knew that we would both be able to connect to the airport’s free WiFi network so we could communicate via WhatsApp. It’s a wonderful app which allows free calls and texts via the internet. At 10.30am I received a series of distressed texts and then an even more distressed and tearful call from Cynthia. The reason for her distress was entirely understandable. She had been detained by immigration for interviewing. She was allowed to make a single call to me before having her phone and luggage confiscated and being escorted into a cell like room to wait for her interrogation.

The reason for her treatment was explained to her. She had entered the UK without the correct paperwork. Cynthia is not only extremely organised but she has visited the UK hundreds of times during her career as a language qualified international flight attendant with American Airlines. She spent countless hours prior to this flight arranging the medical checks and paperwork necessary to bring two overseas dogs into the UK, preparing her house ready for sale, selling vehicles and fitting a lifetime’s accumulated possessions into three and a half suitcases. She also checked on the UK government’s web site to make sure that she was allowed to stay in the UK for six months before next spring’s momentous event, our marriage.

Our marriage will allow Cynthia indefinite leave to stay in the UK and eventual UK citizenship. Of course that’s not the reason for our marriage. We are like two peas in a pod, similar in so many delightful ways, committed to a lifetime together exploring the UK’s thousands of miles of connected rivers and canals and the hundreds of delightful towns, cities and villages they pass through. Marriage isn’t just a convenient solution to a difficult logistical problem, but it certainly helps.

Unfortunately Cynthia’s research didn’t reveal the need for a special kind of visa if she wants to enter the UK with a view to marriage. At least she spent some time checking to make sure she could stay with me for six months. The thought didn’t even occur to me.

So after three hours of scrutiny in a locked room, the indignity of having fingerprints taken and treatment similar to a benefits obsessed asylum seeker, Cynthia was granted a one week stay of execution and released into the airport terminal.

Her main concern while she was being waterboarded by the Gestapo was her beloved dogs. They had been delivered to Heathrow’s Animal Reception Centre hours earlier, each in a small plastic crate with just a thimbleful of water.

She had nothing to worry about. The reception centre is wonderful. Their only concern is the well being of the animals in their care. The dogs had been fed, watered and given the run of a spacious kennel. Tasha and Bromley were quite happy, which is more than could be said for Cynthia and me.

After returning to the short term car park and considering kicking the ticket machine when I discovered that I had to pay £26 for my five hour stay, and then not feeling quite so bad when the guy at the machine next to me was asked to pay £286, I realised that my twenty four hour car rental period ended at 4pm. We left Heathrow at 3pm for the hour and a half drive back to Enterprise at Daventry and then, of course, ran into gridlocked Friday rush hour traffic on the car park sometimes known as the M25.

We reached the marina at 5.30pm after eleven and a half tedious hours traveling for me and an exhausting thirty six hours for Cynthia. We then had to deal with the logistics of shoe horning Cynthia, Tasha and Bromley and the contents of Cynthia’s three bulging suitcases and busting at the seams carry-on bag into a three hundred square feet space already occupied by my own five years of accumulated possessions. We had a half-hearted stab at it on Friday evening but both of us were exhausted.

On Saturday we made the most of a now unnecessarily large hire car to visit Rugby’s cook shops and food stores to buy more stuff we didn’t have any space for. Hungarian Lisa from Enterprise arrived at the marina soon after us. She checked the car for scuffs, dents and scratches then promised to arrange for the remainder of my deposit to be refunded on Monday. I don’t think there’s going to be much left after they’ve deducted the cost of another day’s hire and three quarters of a tank of fuel.

We had another stab at unpacking yesterday but the real work began today. I’ve had to adopt a policy of one in, one out now that the almost countless cupboards and drawers are almost filled to capacity. If you’ve visited me or watched my storage space video, you’ll know that, for a narrowboat, I have a great deal of storage space. It’s all relative though. No matter how well designed the boat is for live aboard boaters, and I’ve seen very few boats which can hold a candle to my boat in that regard, the cabin is still only fifty feet long by six feet wide. Both of us have had to be ruthless. My chainsaw, helmet, trousers and all the bits and pieces needed to make effective wood cutting safe and efficient have gone to a good home, my cheap non-stick pans have been thrown out to make way for Cynthia’s pro quality stainless steel alternatives and countless baking trays, tins and accessories, and two out of the three large suitcases Cynthia brought with her have been consigned to the skip.

We’re just about there now. Order has returned to the boat after two days of upheaval. Now the easy part has been sorted out we can focus on the far more important job of obtaining the paperwork necessary for Cynthia to stay in the UK.

In order for her to stay, she has to leave. The immigration officials at Heathrow’s terminal three have confiscated Cynthia’s passport and organised a one way flight on Virgin Atlantic back to Boston next Friday. An airline is required by law to transport a passenger back to their point of origin if they are refused entry into the country. No one can tell us at this stage if they are obliged to transport her at their cost.

I phoned Virgin Atlantic yesterday to establish whether Cynthia would be charged for the flight. They couldn’t tell me. I asked who would be able to give me a definitive answer. They didn’t know. I will try again tomorrow.

Cynthia worked for American Airlines for many years so she still enjoys substantially discounted flights. She understandably doesn’t want to have to pay for a full price ticket on the flight immigration have booked for her if she can travel on AA for a fraction of the cost.

We’ll also call the British Embassy tomorrow to establish which of the two similar visas Cynthia needs and how quickly it can be expedited. We’ll also call immigration to try and switch their proposed return flight booking to one of Cynthia’s choice. This isn’t the best introduction to the idyllic and stress free life Cynthia hoped for but I know we’ll sort it out. All things are relative. Cynthia isn’t looking forward to her unexpected return to the USA and the tedious bureaucracy but it’s a minor and insignificant glitch when we consider the recent events in Paris.

Cynthia Says…

3 November 2015–I arrive after a Very Long days journey, which began at zero dark hundred in Vermont.  The trip to the airport and the check in for both me and my two Bassets was flawless.  I highly recommend Virgin if any of you out there are ever planning to travel with your pets in cargo.

You have already read what Paul has to say regarding the events which followed after stepping up to the customs officer and announcing that I was here to stay, so I won’t cover that ground again.

I have learned throughout the years that one must often endure hardship and chaos before settling in to a new and tranquil life, such as living on a narrowboat full time.  So for those of you with partners who are seriously considering this lovely life of peace, beauty and tranquility, be warned that it is a BIG change that will require you to be respectful of each others preferences and boundaries.

Paul and I are very lucky in many respects, the above being one of them.  I have spent many years living on much less commodious sailboats with my former husband, so I am very adaptable to living and thriving in cozy small environments such as a boat.  James seems like a mansion when I compare it my other floating homes!

When two people are kindred spirits and look at life through the same lens, it is much easier to adjust to living in small spaces.  And being well-organized certainly helps!

Out of chaos and confusion (such as that which we experienced these past couple of days), comes contentment and tranquility.  After a long day of sorting and throwing out, and re-organizing, we are now reaching that blissful state of happiness as our life falls into place.

I am the luckiest person in the world to have found Paul and this beautiful life, and I wish every one out there who wants the same thing to Go For It!  You can get to the end of your life and say, “I’m glad I did, or I wished I had.”  Choose love and take and leap of faith and you will be richly rewarded as we have been!

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Would You Like To See More Video On The Site?

In December 2013 I purchased a Sony Handycam with the intention of adding useful video content to the site on a regular basis. I produced a few videos  including this very popular first attempt on the importance of internal storage space afloat. Then I ran out of steam as my full time job and general site maintenance vied for my attention. I don’t have a full time job now so I have much more free time. I’m going to focus on adding more video content now if you tell me you want it.

I’ve created a very short survey. Please take just a couple of minutes out of your busy day to help me improve this site’s quality. All I want to know is whether you think video content would be useful to you and, if so, what you would like to see. Here are a few suggestions for you; time lapse video of my cruises from April to December each year, how to moor a boat securely, which knots to use and how to tie them, how to change a gas cylinder, light a fire, regular engine checks (I might struggle with that one!), reversing a narrowboat and turning in a winding hole. These are just a few ideas to jump start your imagination. I’m sure you can think of many, many more which haven’t occurred to me. Here is the survey form. Please spare a minute or two to complete it.

Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I run my discovery days roughly on the first ten days or so of April, June August, October and December. As winter approaches more and more site users are booking the relatively few discovery days still available. There are just six dates remaining this year. If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day please check the diary before it’s too late. You may want to stay locally the night before, the night after or both, in which case I highly recommend this B & B. It’s a five minute stroll from the mooring where I begin my discovery days.

In the meantime, meet recent discovery day attendee Peter Martin who kindly produced a short video of his discovery day experience for me to use on my site. The video is below followed by his comments.

“With two and half years before I can pick up my work pension, a break up of my marriage, kids now independent and need for downsizing, now seems like the time to plan what I’ve often dreamed about over the years.

Living on the cut seems to fit in very well with my lifestyle. I like the outdoors, love boating, independence and getting back to nature.

Having not spent any length of time with live aboard boaters, the Discovery Day was was really just an opportunity to pick up the vibes that go with life on the inland waterways. I needed to do this before committing myself further in the discovery process. Easier to nip things in the bud now if it didn’t appeal before my imagination runs away with itself!

It was a very enjoyable day. I particularly enjoyed the warm welcome of coming in out of the cold to sit in the heat of a toasty, warm cabin. That sold me the lifestyle straight away. It also confirmed that I definitely need a solid fuel stove as primary heat. I know it means hard work lugging coal etc., but what better way to get some outdoor exercise.  I’m also now sold on composting toilets! I never imagined I’d spend the following  week viewing endless YouTube videos of people’s loos!

The helming and boat handling were great experience. By the end of the day I had got over the intimidation of  controlling  60 feet and 20 tons of metal.  A very worthwhile 10 hours and it has confirmed that I’ll continue along this pathway.

The hard work now begins in downsizing, straightening out the finances and then the enjoyable part of finding the right boat.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.

0

2015 11 08 Newsletter – New Video Content For Livingonanarrowboat.co.uk

On Sunday afternoon I dropped down the ten staircase locks of the Foxton flight while I chatted to fellow boat owner Trish and other half Andy. Trish doesn’t live on her boat full time yet but uses it as often as possible to escape the pressure of modern life. She’s certainly a step ahead of me with regard to living afloat economically. I have all the electrical toys on board I could ever wish for, including a battery draining 1600w Nespresso coffee machine. Trish is happy settling down on her river Ouse mooring to read by candle light. I don’t think I could ever be comfortable living such a frugal existence.

Once through the flight, Trish and Andy helped me through the swing footbridge opposite the Foxton Locks Inn. I moored on the towpath just beyond the bridge so that we could sit with a pint in the sun in Bridge 61’s beer garden for an hour. They left to explore the remains of Foxton’s inclined plane boat lift so I raced back to a warm boat in failing light regretting the thin tee shirt which had seemed such a good idea in the brief sun an hour earlier.

In the foggy dawn light I cruised along a mirror smooth canal with my tunnel and navigation lights on. I couldn’t see much further than the boat’s bow so each bridge came as a rather unpleasant surprise.

Two hours later I reached Market Harborough’s Union Wharf and plenty of free moorings. The official water point is in the basin itself next to a very smart toilet and shower block but there are four additional water points next to a line of visitor moorings on a curved concrete bank just outside the basin. I moored next to one of them.

I shut the engine down, drew all of the curtains on the towpath side so unsavoury characters walking by couldn’t see in – not that I expected to see anyone unpleasant in Market Harborough but old habits die hard – then slipped my 70l rucksack over my shoulders and marched a mile through town to the Sainsbury store at the far end of the high street. Market Harborough is a wonderful place to replenish your supplies. In addition to the Sainsbury store, there are Waistrose, Tesco, Lidl and Aldi stores.

With a full and very heavy pack I staggered back towards the boat but stopped for lunch at a Subway store in the high street. The very kind guy who served me obviously thought the old guy in front of him was struggling a little because he called me back as I walked away from the counter then dropped a free of charge and still warm chocolate chip cookie on my tray. What a lovely chap!

Back at the boat I swapped my grocery rucksack for my small day sack then headed back into town again to try and find some brackets my a new water saving shower head kindly sent to me by Australian agent and former discovery day guest Chris Smith.

There was nothing even remotely appropriate in the town’s Homebase store but I struck gold at Screwfix a further mile out of town. The fog had thinned at midday but as the last daylight disappeared the fog thickened again highlighting a thousand yellow lights decorating a high street jewellery store.

Market Harborough is a gem of a town. It’s vibrant, clean and friendly and is full of beautifully maintained historic buildings as well as dozens of thriving independent retailers. I’ve covered many, many miles on my cruises this year but too quickly to fully explore fascinating towns like this. I think Cynthia and I will enjoy much more leisurely cruising next year and definitely another trip to Market Harborough.

After a twenty minute trudge along a half seen high street and a circuit of the misty canal basin the warm yellow light filtering through my closed curtains was very welcoming.

Early the next morning, cloudy but thankfully fogless, I cruised for two hours to the bottom of the Foxton flight, said a quick hello to the first heron on my current cruise just outside Market Harborough and then spent a very pleasant two hours on the ascent, including a half hour delay to allow three boats to pass in the small pound between to the two sets of five staircase locks.

There is very little traffic on the canals at this time of the year. After four hours on the move I passed just three moving boats, all of them on the Foxton flight, and then just two more during the next three hours before I moored for the night.

Of course Sod’s Law dictates that you never meet another boat on an open stretch of canal. The unexpected meeting is always on the blind approach to a narrow bridge hole or, in my case, inside Husband Bosworth tunnel.

It’s a tunnel I’m not particularly fond of. Apart from the usual problem of not being able to see the boat coming towards you or how well it’s being handled, the walls appear to be more uneven than other tunnels in the area. Last year I lost a riveted fender hanger and earlier this year caught my cratch cover. Thankfully the damage was a scrape rather than a rip but the sound of steel or canvas meeting brick is never pleasant. Husbands Bosworth tunnel also feels very shallow. I struggled to make any headway as did the two boats which passed me. In fact both of them were followed by a boiling but ineffective wake.

As the light faded I pulled over close to the first convenient section of Armco barrier, jumped onto the soggy towpath and then spent ten minutes straining at my centre line trying to pull the boat over the shallow mud to the bank. I couldn’t pull the boat closer than three feet away from the towpath so I jumped back on the boat and carried on in the gloom for another half mile before finding a deeper mooring.

I set off the following morning at 7.30am on my penultimate leg to Calcutt Boats. I usually follow the same pre cruise routine. The first job at this time of the year is to empty the stove’s ash pan into a galvanised metal bucket on my enclosed front deck. After burning a hole in the carpet I have over the deck matting soon after I first moved on to the boat I realised how hot the stove ash can be, and how well a metal bucket transfers the heat to whatever it’s sitting on, so I now have a heatproof mat under the bucket.

With the ash pan empty I then throw some more coal briquettes on the fire which is usually alight from the night before and, after leaving the stove door open for a while to cool, I clean the stove glass.

Next job while the kettle is boiling is to empty my composting toilet’s liquid container. The container will just about last two people for a day. I empty the container outside in a nearby hedge (EA approved as there are no chemicals involved) and then, before I fit the container back on to the toilet, I add a spoonful of sugar to stop the urine from smelling. I give the container a quick wipe with an eco-cleaner then the toilet is ready for another day.

After a quick breakfast I check my engine oil and water, start the engine, fit my tiller and secure it with a tiller pin, make a hot drink in my insulated travel mug, put the mug along with my camera, voice recorder, map and glasses on the engine room hatch, undo the bow line from either the mooring stake or piling chain I’m using, remove stake or chain, do the same with the stern line and finally push the bow away from the towpath then hop on the stern and glide serenely into the canal centre. I’m a creature of habit but the routine works for me.

Almost immediately I had to stop the boat in the middle of the canal to put on my wonderful waterproofs. I can cruise, and often have, in torrential rain all day without a drop getting through. Heavy rain fell for the next four hours until I reached the head of the Watford staircase flight.

This flight is usually manned but, despite an open door to the lock keeper’s office, there wasn’t a soul about. I was half way through the second lock before one of the three keepers on duty appeared. He apologised for his fully understandable absence.

An elderly boater, waiting at the bottom of the flight for his turn, had died the day before. The three lock keepers were organising the boat’s removal. News of someone’s death is never pleasant but this guy had apparently died of natural causes doing something he loved. I hope to follow in his footsteps in another thirty years.

At 3pm I moored close to Welton Hythe marina for the day, quickly shut down the engine, closed my curtains on the towpath side – a security measure every time I leave the boat – and then marched down the towpath towards Norton Junction and the now closed Bucky flight. I wanted to visit the Abraxas Cookshop in the Heart of the Shires Shopping Village and see what progress had been made with the scheduled Buckby flight gate replacement.

I underestimated the distance. After an hour’s brisk walk I reached Whilton marina but with another mile to the shopping village, failing light, no torch and the infernal din of the M1 just 150m away, I turned around and headed back towards the boat.

The highlight of the walk was seeing the drained pound beneath the lock CRT were working on and understanding the work and equipment and money needed to replace a pair of lock gates. Did you know that each oak gate will last 25 years and costs £11,000? CRT makes 180 new gates each year at a cost of £2,000,000. Understanding some of the costs involved in maintaining the waterways makes me realise what good value my annual £1,000 licence really is.

Munching an apple from a help-yourself basket in front of a towpath cottage garden I passed a long line of boats on residential moorings close to Norton junction. Aromatic wood smoke rose vertically into the still night from half a dozen chimneys. I don’t think wood is very practical fuel for boaters but it smells wonderful.

The walk back to the boat would have been perfect if I hadn’t had to hop between islands of almost dry grass in a sea of liquid mud. The condition of the towpath is enough of a reason for me to willingly pay for a mooring away from clinging mud during the winter months.

Living afloat in the winter is a joy when the towpath is firm but the state of the towpath in mild and wet weather, and the resulting mess inside the boat, is a very good reason for finding a mooring for a few months inside a marina. Muddy boots and paws aren’t the only problem. My utterly useless braid on braid rope is a real pain. It soaks up muddy water like a sponge and leaves thin brown lines on the cream paint on my roof and cabin sides. I can spend two hours cleaning the boat and then after just a few hours cruising it’s covered in mud and leaves again. The back deck becomes a mess of mud and rotting leaves and needs daily cleaning to keep the drain holes beneath the deck hatch clear.

Within an hour of setting off on Thursday morning I was inside Braunston tunnel and feeling unusually nervous. I don’t particularly like tunnels at the best of times. I feel a little out of control but at least usually there’s, literally, a light at the end of the tunnel. Braunston tunnel is no exception. It’s just over a mile long and reasonably straight so as soon as you enter it you can see the exit drawing ever closer. However, on Thursday after a quarter of an hour on the tunnel, there was nothing but darkness ahead of me.

Another fifteen minutes and still no sign of the exit. My hyper active imagination began to play tricks on me. It reasoned that if I couldn’t see the exit something was blocking it. I could usually see the exit so something unusual was blocking it… like brickwork from a collapsed tunnel roof. Of course that was ridiculous I thought. The tunnel has been open since 1796 without mishap. But once the seed was planted it began to grow very quickly.

What if the tunnel roof had collapsed? How would I know? My tunnel light isn’t very powerful so would I carry on at my normal 4mph tunnel speed until I crashed headlong into a mass of unyielding and unstable rock? Would the boat sink? If it didn’t, how would I get out? Would I have to reverse for half a mile or more back to the eastern portal? What if my crash into the collapsed section caused more rock to fall above or behind me? What if I was trapped in the tunnel? How would I call for help? How long would my food last? How would I stay warm? Would I have enough air to breath? How would anyone know I was in there?

After a few more minutes of similarly stupid thoughts I saw a tunnel light coming towards me. Phew! If a boat was coming towards me, the tunnel wasn’t blocked after all! Once the boat passed and I reached the tunnel’s half way point I saw the faint outline of the western entrance. Every other time I’ve been through this tunnel the day has been bright so there’s been plenty of light to illuminate either end. Thursday was dull and overcast so there was very little light filtering into the entrance. What a relief to know I wasn’t going to provide a sensational headline for a local newspaper!

Once through the tunnel I flew down the Braunston flight with another boat and then spent the final hours on the very familiar combined Oxford and Grand Union canal between Braunston and Napton junctions. Courtesy of my discovery days I’ve cruised this stretch over two hundred times in the last eighteen months but it’s a beautiful and challenging section with ever changing scenery around a series of tight bends. I never tire of it.

I cruised the section four more times on Friday and Saturday on two equally wet days. Friday was wet and fairly calm. Saturday was wet and very windy. Mark, my Saturday guest, looked a little underdressed in his tracksuit but the heavy rain running off his beard didn’t appear to bother him in the slightest. I think he was too focussed on keeping a flat bottomed high sided narrowboat from crashing into the narrow bridge holes we frequently encountered.

I spent most of yesterday trying to concentrate on writing this newsletter. I was too tired after forty hours cruising over the last week, tiredness which wasn’t helped by eating half of the substantial almond and cherry cake given to me by Deanna and Rob who were out with me on Friday.

Today I’m back on my mooring at Calcutt Boats. I’m going to do very little now until Thursday when I have to pick up my rental car ready for Friday’s drive down to Heathrow to pick up Cynthia and her two beloved Bassett hounds, Tasha and Bromley. It’s a journey I’m looking forward to very much.

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Would You Like To See More Video On The Site?

In December 2013 I purchased a Sony Handycam with the intention of adding useful video content to the site on a regular basis. I produced a few videos  including this very popular first attempt on the importance of internal storage space afloat. Then I ran out of steam as my full time job and general site maintenance vied for my attention. I don’t have a full time job now so I have much more free time. I’m going to focus on adding more video content now if you tell me you want it.

I’ve created a very short survey. Please take just a couple of minutes out of your busy day to help me improve this site’s quality. All I want to know is whether you think video content would be useful to you and, if so, what you would like to see. Here are a few suggestions for you; time lapse video of my cruises from April to December each year, how to moor a boat securely, which knots to use and how to tie them, how to change a gas cylinder, light a fire, regular engine checks (I might struggle with that one!), reversing a narrowboat and turning in a winding hole. These are just a few ideas to jump start your imagination. I’m sure you can think of many, many more which haven’t occurred to me. Here is the survey form. Please spare a minute or two to complete it.

Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I run my discovery days roughly on the first ten days or so of April, June August, October and December. As winter approaches more and more site users are booking the relatively few discovery days still available. There are just six dates remaining this year. If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day please check the diary before it’s too late. ou may want to stay locally the night before, the night after or both, in which case I highly recommend this B & B. It’s a five minute stroll from the mooring where I begin my discovery days.

In the meantime, meet recent discovery day attendee Peter Martin who kindly produced a short video of his discovery day experience for me to use on my site. The video is below followed by his comments.

“With two and half years before I can pick up my work pension, a break up of my marriage, kids now independent and need for downsizing, now seems like the time to plan what I’ve often dreamed about over the years.

Living on the cut seems to fit in very well with my lifestyle. I like the outdoors, love boating, independence and getting back to nature.

Having not spent any length of time with live aboard boaters, the Discovery Day was was really just an opportunity to pick up the vibes that go with life on the inland waterways. I needed to do this before committing myself further in the discovery process. Easier to nip things in the bud now if it didn’t appeal before my imagination runs away with itself!

It was a very enjoyable day. I particularly enjoyed the warm welcome of coming in out of the cold to sit in the heat of a toasty, warm cabin. That sold me the lifestyle straight away. It also confirmed that I definitely need a solid fuel stove as primary heat. I know it means hard work lugging coal etc., but what better way to get some outdoor exercise.  I’m also now sold on composting toilets! I never imagined I’d spend the following  week viewing endless YouTube videos of people’s loos!

The helming and boat handling were great experience. By the end of the day I had got over the intimidation of  controlling  60 feet and 20 tons of metal.  A very worthwhile 10 hours and it has confirmed that I’ll continue along this pathway.

The hard work now begins in downsizing, straightening out the finances and then the enjoyable part of finding the right boat.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.

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2015 11 01 Newsletter – Stealth Cruising

By mid-afternoon on Monday my long anticipated cooling system modification was complete. On Friday ten square feet of the port side swim, the tapered underwater section of the hull close to the propeller, was scraped back to bare steel, a keel tank manufactured and welded in place and the worn cup holding the bottom of the rudder was cut off and replaced with a new tighter fitting shiny steel cup. The old wet exhaust system, including the £140 replacement waterlock I had fitted just two months ago, was removed and the existing exhaust outlet welded shut.

On Saturday morning my heavy steel mud box was removed and replaced with new piping. A hospital silencer was loosely fitted in place before work stopped at midday due to heavy rain and the imminent kick off to one of the two weekend Rugby World Cup semi-finals.

Work resumed on Monday morning with the installation of a header tank to allow the new skin tank to be filled and topped up if required, and a bleed valve was fitted to allow me to remove any air in the system.

The last part of the cooling system modification was lagging the exhaust pipe either side of the silencer, fitting a bracket to hold the silencer in place and then cutting the engine deck boards slightly to accommodate the header tank hose and the silencer bracket.

Then the moment I had been waiting for, turning the engine on.

For the last five years I have been used to obsessively checking to make sure that the sea cock is open before starting the engine and then peering over the boat’s stern for a minute or two to make sure that water is expelled from the exhaust. Peering over the side wasn’t necessary at all. Standing anywhere on the towpath within a hundred metres of the boat was close enough to hear the water’s hissing high pressure expulsion.

On Monday afternoon I turned the engine on but heard nothing other than the gentle rattle of my old Mercedes warming up.

In the afternoon’s fading light I took the boat for a spin around the marina. Three times around the island in Meadow’s marina before pulling onto my dump barge mooring with a very big smile on my face.

I took the boat out for a more rigorous test early on Tuesday morning. There’s a mile long straight on the Grand Union as it heads away from the Calcutt flight towards Birmingham. I have to admit to moving a little too fast on this stretch to check whether the modification has cured the overheating problem. I was a little disappointed to see the needle on my pigeon box mounted thermometer rise past my normal operating temperature of seventy degrees up to eighty five degrees. I ran out of canal before the needle had a chance to move any higher but the initial indications were a little worrying.

I turned the boat in the recently restored arm to Nelson’s Basin half a mile from the head of the Stockton flight. Willow Wren Training opened a base here last year and restored the first hundred feet of the arm. On Tuesday a twenty five tonne excavator and two dumpers were making short work of revealing the rest of the arm’s foundations for the first time since it was filled in some time in the 1960s. You can read about the restoration here.

I spent much of my time on the trip back to Calcutt monitoring my engine temperature gauge. As long as I kept ever so slightly below my normal cruising speed the temperature stayed at eighty five degrees. My engine may still be overheating slightly but at least I will be able to hear the engine coolant if it starts boiling. The difference the new cooling system makes to my cruising enjoyment is astounding.

On my hour and a half return trip I heard sounds which puzzled me at first. Gurgles, splashes, squawks and quacks, wind in canal-side trees and reeds and mechanical clattering and whirring from farm machinery in distant fields. Over the last five years these noises have been masked by the awful hissing and spluttering from my wet exhaust. I can’t begin to tell you how much more pleasant cruising is now that I can hear something other than high pressure water howling out of an inch wide hole in the hull beneath my feet.

Back at the marina I heard through the towpath telegraph that a local boater has been given marching orders by CRT. He’s a well-known and colourful character with a very distinctive boat with a roof invisible under a lifetime’s accumulated junk. Since January he’s managed to travel four miles from Braunston junction to Lower Shuckborough. Not nearly far enough as far as CRT are concerned. They had already written to him to let him know he had to move further and more often but he ignored them. Now they have given him twenty eight days to remove himself from the canal network before they take action to force the issue.

I feel a little sorry for him. He’s a harmless and very pleasant guy who always offers a smile and a friendly wave as I pass, but rules are rules so if you want to stay on the waterways you have to abide by them.

Much as I like my mooring overlooking the canal, I couldn’t settle there for the night. I’ll be spending three winter months there so while the weather is still mild and the towpath firm I want to spend as much time as possible enjoying the peace and quiet denied to boaters on a marina moorings.

I spent a very pleasant hour taking my boat up through the three locks in the Calcutt flight. The locks normally take me forty minutes on my own but the baffled crew of a hire boat behind me needed a little guidance. Due to the large number of narrowboat hire companies in the area, puzzled novice boaters at the Calcutt flight are a regular occurrence.

Once through the flight I moored above the top lock to wait for a parcel delivery. My new Vitamix blender arrived mid-morning. Its function and purpose is a bit of a mystery to me. It’s more Cynthia’s domain. She produced many culinary delights when she was with me in September but the blender will allow her to create even more delightful dishes. It’s a very powerful machine but at 1100w will run comfortably off my 1600w inverter. It’s only going to be used for two or three minutes at a time so won’t have much impact on my battery bank.

With the blender safely on board I headed off towards Market Harborough. I’ve been there twice this year so far but on both occasions only managed a flying visit to the market town. I had nine free days before my next discovery day. The loose plan was to spend three days exploring the town. I also wanted to visit their Sainsbury store to buy a jar of Carte Noir decaf coffee. I know a thirty six hour round trip is a little excessive for a £4 jar of coffee but any excuse for a cruise!

During my two hour cruise into Braunston I was able to further assess the effects of my engine cooling modification. As the hospital silencer heated up there was a strong and nauseating smell of burning paint from the engine room. I was warned to expect this until the exhaust paint burned off. I hoped the smell would disappear before I was sick.

The engine was running fifteen degrees hotter than it was with the wet exhaust but, providing I kept slightly below my normal cruising speed, didn’t overheat. The overwhelming difference of course was the very much quieter running. This was particularly noticeable in Braunston tunnel. The noise of my wet exhaust used to be bearable out on the open canal but almost painful to my ears in enclosed spaces.

I don’t think I’m ever going to enjoy cruising through tunnels. I feel out of control in the narrow confines, especially when I can’t see the boat coming towards me, more so when I can hear the hull of the oncoming boat crash into the tunnel wall as it’s helmed by an inexperienced crew. I’m never going to enjoy the claustrophobic experience but it is much, much more pleasant now I can hear myself think.

Proof of the engine’s quiet operation came shortly before I reached Norton junction. As I slowly cruised past a moored boat, the owner looked across at me and exclaimed, “Wow! Is your boat electric? It’s very quiet!” The engine certainly isn’t quiet enough to be mistaken for electric but the comment more than made up for my worry about the warmer running temperature.

As I turned left at Norton junction and noticed the half dozen CRT work boats tied up there ready for the imminent stoppage to replace several lock gates on the Bucky flight, I thought about my thwarted plans to cruise down to London at the end of next week to pick Cynthia up from Heathrow and the now much less appealing hour and a half drive down there. Ah well, you can’t win them all!

I moored for the night near to Weltonfield Hythe marina, too close to the busy A5 for my liking but better there than at the foot of the seven lock Watford flight with the M1 traffic thundering by two hundred metres away.

The following morning I spent a very pleasant hour and a half ascending the seven lock flight, chatting to the two lock keepers on duty and helping an elderly single guy on the boat in front of me. He was a frail looking man in, I suspect, his late seventies, on his own but determined to carry on with his lifestyle despite his difficulty with single handed locking. I hope to be in a similar position in another twenty five years.

After the Watford flight is a tranquil and little visited twenty mile pound before the Foxton flight of ten staircase locks. I cruised for another two very pleasant hours before stopping for the day.

As I was slowing pulling over to moor my phone rang. The call was from an engine remanufacturing specialist in Tunbridge Wells. The cooling system modification I’ve just had done has been a wonderfully effective solution for one of the three problems I’ve been having with my Mercedes OM636. I need to look for other solutions to the other two issues; regular overheating and debilitating smokiness.

I can manage on the canals with the engine ticking over at cruising speed or close to it, but I have nothing in reserve for rivers, especially tidal waters. With the Buckby flight closed there was an opportunity to travel down to London via the south Oxford and the Thames. I think stoppages on the Thames have prevented me using that route but I would have been very nervous going that way. Cruising down the river aided by the current wouldn’t have been a problem but giving the engine a bit of stick on the way back to combat the water flow would have been too much for the cooling system as it is now. The cooling system is a concern but the exhaust fumes are a real worry.

Breathing in large quantities of exhaust smoke is making me feel ill. If you spend a day with me you’ll be hard pressed to notice much at all, but I’ve stood on the back of my boat with the engine running for eight hundred and fifty hours since the beginning of April. Exhaust fumes are a common cause of heavy metal poisoning and the effects of heavy metal poisoning are accumulative. I’ve reached the stage in my life now where I don’t take my continued good for granted so I have to be proactive and reduce or eliminate as many harmful toxins from my life as possible.

Jay from the remanufacturing specialist company, Modus Engineering, quoted me £3,500 – £4,000 + VAT to bring the engine back to “as new” condition which he guaranteed would cure the smoking issue. He was reasonably confident but not positive that the engine remanufacture would solve the overheating problem.

In addition to a fee of almost £5,000 including VAT I would have to also pay to have the engine removed, shipped down to them, shipped back and then fitted back into the boat. I would be lucky to get any change out of £6,000 for reconditioning a forty year old engine.

An option which I’m still considering is replacing my current Mercedes with a Beta 43 from Beta Marina. The new engine including fitting would probably cost about £3,000 more than the refurbished Mercedes but the result would be an even quieter engine and one which was guaranteed to be smoke and overheating free.

Whichever way I go I’m going to have to start saving my pennies.

On Friday I stayed on my tranquil mooring close to Winwick Manor a mile east of Yelvertoft. Only half a dozen boats and just one hiker passed all day. Apart from the boat engines and the argumentative tone of a constant one sided conversation from the walker, the only unnatural sound I heard all day was the buzz of a chainsaw in nearby woodland for half an hour.

I pressed on towards Foxton yesterday. The day was perfect. Soft sunlight filtered through the reds and yellows of the few remaining leaves of canal-side trees, squirrels scampered from branch to branch and a magnificent pair of buzzards wheeled overhead. All these wonderful sights accompanied by no more than a gentle engine murmur beneath my feet. Seven hours of narrowboat cruising at its very best.

I left Winwick Manor at 9am so I had seven hours to cover fourteen miles to Foxton for the Rugby World Cup final’s 4pm kick off. Normally covering fourteen miles in seven hours wouldn’t be a problem at all but the shallow canal slowed me down considerably. Many passing boats appeared to have the same problem. The solution for most of the hire boat helmsmen who passed was to push the throttle down as far as it would go. Consequently the barely moving boats crawled past trailing a violently boiling wake.

I also stopped for half an hour at Kilworth Wharf for coal, gas and a bag of coal. Then, inevitably, after passing no moving boats for the previous hour, I met three in quick succession inside Market Bosworth tunnel.

At 3pm I pulled over at a lovely spot overlooking Kicklewood Spinney, moored securely, shut the engine down, put my tiller away, locked the engine room doors, made myself a long overdue hot drink, collapsed in front of the telly and then turned it on looking forward to forty five minutes of pre match discussion. Then I cursed, opened the engine room doors, put my tiller back on, started the engine and moved on in search of a mooring where I could get a television reception.

Over the next hour I stopped four more times in the middle of the canal, dived down into the cabin and checked for a reception. Nothing. Eventually I admitted defeat so carried on to the visitor moorings just above the Foxton flight. Expecting the worst I turned the television on one final time and was rewarded with a perfect picture and a 3-3 score twenty minutes into the game. It was a fantastic end to a wonderful day’s cruising.

I’m still there now. I’m going to send the newsletter out then join what I expect to be a very short queue to descend the flight. I had a break from writing this morning to wander around the flight and the remains of the inclined plane. Some of the photos I took are below. I hope you like them.

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Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I run my discovery days roughly on the first ten days or so of April, June August, October and December. As winter approaches more and more site users are booking the relatively few discovery days still available. There are just six dates remaining this year. If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day please check the diary before it’s too late. ou may want to stay locally the night before, the night after or both, in which case I highly recommend this B & B. It’s a five minute stroll from the mooring where I begin my discovery days.

In the meantime, meet recent discovery day attendee Peter Martin who kindly produced a short video of his discovery day experience for me to use on my site. The video is below followed by his comments.

“With two and half years before I can pick up my work pension, a break up of my marriage, kids now independent and need for downsizing, now seems like the time to plan what I’ve often dreamed about over the years.

Living on the cut seems to fit in very well with my lifestyle. I like the outdoors, love boating, independence and getting back to nature.

Having not spent any length of time with live aboard boaters, the Discovery Day was was really just an opportunity to pick up the vibes that go with life on the inland waterways. I needed to do this before committing myself further in the discovery process. Easier to nip things in the bud now if it didn’t appeal before my imagination runs away with itself!

It was a very enjoyable day. I particularly enjoyed the warm welcome of coming in out of the cold to sit in the heat of a toasty, warm cabin. That sold me the lifestyle straight away. It also confirmed that I definitely need a solid fuel stove as primary heat. I know it means hard work lugging coal etc., but what better way to get some outdoor exercise.  I’m also now sold on composting toilets! I never imagined I’d spend the following  week viewing endless YouTube videos of people’s loos!

The helming and boat handling were great experience. By the end of the day I had got over the intimidation of  controlling  60 feet and 20 tons of metal.  A very worthwhile 10 hours and it has confirmed that I’ll continue along this pathway.

The hard work now begins in downsizing, straightening out the finances and then the enjoyable part of finding the right boat.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.