Big load? The Volvo isn't floored

We picked up the ingredients for flooring the lean-to conservatory in a house in Birmingham today. These included four sheets of 8' x 4' plywood (or their metric equivalent), all of which - fortunately - needed cutting down slightly. I had measured the boot of the 240 and ascertained that they would fit, albeit at an angle.

It was a tighter squeeze than I'd thought but, after we'd moved the front seats and tilted the backs forward, and with a bit of juggling, everything fitted. That's two sheets of 1.99m and two of 1.77m length, by 1.22m wide (and 18mm thick). There are six packs of laminate flooring in there too.

Getting it out at the other end was, somehow, harder work. Now all I have to do is make it all fit in the house. (I've not attempted this sort of thing before.)

After the heat wave of last week, some boats near us have had their stoves going. Not us.

Oh, back to the Volvo: when I started it up today the ignition warning lamp stayed on. The alternator belts were still in place. I switched off and on again, this time the lamp went out. Coming away from the builders' yard the same thing happened. I think that, after 199,000 miles, the alternator may be giving up. Come on, car, just another thousand miles! You can do it!

Stove fixed and a short boat trip

Just over a week ago the fitters came to fix our woodburner at home. The rear blanking plate had broken, so it was a case of "simply" refitting a new one.

I'm very glad we paid someone to do this as an angle grinder was needed to remove the old bolts, and the three holes in the new blanking plate needed drilling slightly wider to fit the new bolts.

The job took an hour. As soon as it was done we drove to Milton Keynes and lit the stove on the boat - the one at home would have to wait a few days. On the Saturday (a week ago today) we drove up to Birmingham to sort out a loo problem at a house we let; on Sunday we took the boat out of the marina.

We only went as far as Old Wolverton, all of one mile and one lock away. It took more than an hour as we stopped at the services to empty the loo, and there were all the moored boats of Cosgrove Marina to pass.

Our mooring opposite The Galleon was convenient for Jan's BCF committee meeting there on Monday. Later Ally and Josiah visited the boat. No danger of him hitting his head on the gunwale.

Josiah enjoyed watching the ducks with Mum from the side hatch.

The next day we returned to the marina and drove home. The boats on the left are on the Cosgrove Marina moorings; ahead is Cosgrove Lock.

Now we are at home I can report that the stove works better than it has done for a considerable time. It draws better and there are no fumes. Yes, I will get a CO detector. (We do have one on the boat.)

Nev on Percy prompted me to write this post, so here you are.

Woodburner blanking plate broken

Our home woodburner had been letting out a bit more smoke into the room than usual, and probably dangerous fumes as well. When I looked round the back of the stove I discovered this. The stove is on the left, can you see the crack?

From inside, after removing the baffle, you can see that a piece has fallen off the blanking plate which covers the unused flue exit.

From the front nothing looks amiss. This is a Cottager 01 stove, which we had fitted 18 years ago.

The blanking plate is normally hidden by the baffle - or throat plate - which itself was a bit cracked and distorted but I don't think that matters so much.

We are having someone to come and sort it out next month. This would have to be the coldest time of the year.

This is our view of the sun breaking through the fog this morning.

Hang the basket!

It's been some time since my last blog post, so here's an update. Last Wednesday, 5th October, we took the boat out of the marina and cruised gently a mile or so down to The Galleon where Jan had a BCF committee meeting.

This is just below Cosgrove Lock looking towards the iron trunk aqueduct.

We had plenty of sunshine but it got cold enough in the evenings for the stove to be lit (hooray!) I'm using up some of the logs I chopped up in April; when they've gone we'll burn coal when we need to. We have a stash of split ash logs but I'd like to season them before burning. (Salt and pepper to taste ...?)

We saw some of Josiah (and Ally and Ben) while we were here. As we were just about to leave the 48 hour moorings on Friday we saw Wendy and Robert on Gerty who had just come down to wind. They stopped and came aboard for coffee; it was good to catch up and share our news. We last (and first) saw them at Etruria in June.

No rope on their tiller arm, oh no. A hanging basket for them!

They were heading for Ely; we're planning to do the eastern waterways some time, perhaps in 2018.

We reversed back to a nice bit of bank where we could knock the pins in and stay a bit longer; we had to go the next day. I did some rust removal and painting on the cabin top and below the front doors. I also sealed round the chimney collar with silicone. Back at the marina we loaded up the car, drained the water from the shower hose, left a fan heater on a low setting and locked up. That's it until - ooh - next month, when we'll be using Jubilee as a stopover as we go to South Normanton for the BCF AGM.

Now we're at home. It feels weird.

Aargh! This is why the stove kept going out

We filled up with diesel at Fazeley Mill Marina this morning: 70 litres after 69.6 engine hours. The one litre per hour rate of consumption is much less than our overall average last year of 1.24 l/h. I put this down to a lot of stationary engine running to charge batteries.

Just outside the marina we saw a pair of swans with a young family. I counted four cygnets on one parent's back (only two are visible here).

Just east of Fazeley Junction on the Coventry Canal is a lovely pile of old paddle gear. It's on the offside by a work boat and has been there for at least five weeks.

And now to address the title of this post. For a few days the Morso Squirrel stove has been very difficult to light. The newspaper would burn, and sometimes the kindling too, but logs just wouldn't catch. Opening the door would release a great cloud of smoke into the cabin.

Today the same thing happened. Scrunched up newspaper burnt, but the kindling was barely even charred when I looked at it after a few minutes. On feeling around the baffle plate I immediately discovered the cause of the problem. Great rusty flakes from the inside of either the flue or the chimney were on top of the baffle plate blocking the flue. I cleared all the rubbish by hand and relit the fire. Success! It's drawing fine now and the fire lit easily.

If it hadn't been raining I would have swept the flue. I'll do it tomorrow (if the rain holds off long enough).

We do have a carbon monoxide detector, but this could have been dangerous. Memo to self - and you - check the flue is clear if the stove doesn't seem to work as it should.

We stopped for today after the first two locks of the Atherstone flight.

Sweeping the chimney

While we were having some building work done at home the other day, which involved removing the top section of the woodburner flue, I took the opportunity to sweep the chimney. I had tried to do this before, but I couldn't get the brush past the "butterfly valve" in the bottom of the flue. This time I was able to put the brush in from above, as is the usual procedure on a boat. It was a successful operation, with a pile of soot landing in the stove. That's a 6-inch ruler in the photo below.

Given the length of the flue, and the period of time since installation - this was its first sweep - there wasn't really very much that came out.

I get more than this every time I sweep the boat chimney, which must be a quarter the length. In the boat, though, half the sweepings seem to consist of rusty metal from the chimney. In the house the flue is twin-walled stainless steel. (Should I admit that the flue was installed 15 years ago? At least it's swept now.)

We'll be back on board very soon - I think I'll sweep the boat's chimney before lighting up ...

February half-term cruise days one and two

Tuesday 18th February 2014

We left Thrupp Wharf Marina yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon, after removing nearly all of Ally and Ben's remaining things. Hooray! Now the mess can be ours mine and not theirs! (They were very tidy, really.) If I were not feeling so grotty I'd be putting lots of my things away, but it's still sitting in a fruit box*.

Another thing I did yesterday was wash the side of the boat against the pontoon before setting off. I managed to pick about the only rainy spell to head down to Cosgrove, but it had stopped by the time we reached the service block. For a change Jan set the lock while I motored in.

We stopped at the visitor moorings at Wolverton and tied up for the night. I was feeling well enough to go to the North Western pub for a meal: Jan had hunter's chicken; I had liver and bacon casserole. Each meal was less than a fiver. I returned to the boat by myself for some R&R leaving Jan helping Ally with some studying. Ben brought Jan back later.

We have been burning wood foraged from a previous expedition: it's been giving out a lovely heat. All I have to do is remember to feed it now and again. (oh dear: it's just gone out.)


Wednesday 19th February 2014

I washed the other side of the boat this morning as it was against the towpath. There are some tiny rust patches which I need to do something about soon: today would have been a good day but I was ready for a long rest after my bucket and sponge exercise.

Eventually we left Wolverton and got all the way to Great Linford (not far at all) where we tied up on the 48 hour mooring. After lunch on board we walked round the mostly picturesque village.

I would have loved to have tried out the Nag's Head pub, but haven't felt up to it. I chopped some kindling instead.

What ails me? The return of a sore throat and lethargy, mainly. Nothing in comparison to what poor old Keith of Hadar is going through, though, so I'm not asking for sympathy. (It will be nice for Jan when I'm better!)

The original plan for tomorrow was to have winded at Campbell Park, possibly stopping for coffee/lunch, and then returning to Wolverton ready for a short cruise back to the marina on Friday; then doing boat jobs until driving home. The way I'm feeling we might whizz straight to the marina and come home early. Well, it's not as much fun on the boat for either of us when I'm like this.

Photos to come later.

*Supermarket fruit boxes are the most useful free "storage solutions" I have come across. Perfect for transporting actual supermarket shopping in the first place - just load items from checkout straight into the box on the trolley; lift into boot; lift from boot into house: no bags to split or fall over and more environmentally friendly - and then they stack for longer term storage.

Winterising Jubilee

With freezing temperatures forecast for tonight in central England I have asked Ben and Ally to help prepare Jubilee to endure the cold.

The best thing would be some of this:

with us on board. As that's not possible, Ben is going to drain the water pipes.

Now, I read somewhere that it's possible to drain the system without having to drain the water tank, so Ben has closed the stopcock immediately after the tank and opened the taps. He's also allowed the shower head to dangle in the shower tray to drain off water from there. I hope this is sufficient! When all the water had stopped flowing he turned the water pump off. Thanks, Ben!

And Ben has just told me that they lit the fire to keep the boat nice and cosy tonight, which is good. A shame, though, that there is no-one on board to enjoy it!

Attempting to seal a leak; controllable coal

We didn't move far today, just from the marina to Wolverton via the services at Cosgrove. Travel time: one hour. Before leaving the marina I had a go at sealing round the oval thing which the chimney pushes onto. We've had an intermittent leak of drips of water finding their way between the tongue and groove ceiling lining in the vicinity of the stove. The only place I can think of where the water is getting in is around where the oval thing joins the roof. The paint has cracked in one or two places. While we've been on board since Christmas it hasn't happened - even in heavy downpours - probably because we've been keeping the boat nice and warm.

This part of the flue system never gets hot as it is attached to the roof, so I used a builder's mastic. First I cleaned the area with white spirit, then I applied the mastic. Half way through smoothing it down it began to rain quite hard! Oh well. We'll see what happens.

Controllable coal? Yes, on this outing we've been burning mostly coal, and finding that it gives an excellent even heat. The fire stays in overnight, keeping the boat at a comfortable temperature. We lit it on Friday and allowed it to go out only on Monday, when we were away from the boat during the day. The coal in question is Stoveglow. It's worked superbly in the Morso Squirrel: every lump burning completely, leaving no part-burned remnants as I've encountered in the past.

Advantages of coal over logs: easy to keep going for long periods; even heat; takes less space

Advantages of logs over coal: "free" fuel if you cut/chop it yourself; produces a lot of heat quickly (but needs constant feeding); smoke smells better

*********************

This is my last post of 2013, my most prolific blogging year so far. I'm not sure I will keep it up at the rate of one per day - we'll see.

Thank you for reading my variable quality efforts. With the sound of fireworks exploding above Milton Keynes, I wish you a Happy New Year.

Turning up the heat

Well, we've finally succumbed. At about 8.00 pm today, 4th November 2013, we switched the central heating on. The outside temperature had dropped to 4.2C and it was feeling a little chilly inside the house. We have had the wood burner going a few times, but if we're now in full CH mode it will probably see action only at weekends.


Of course, many boaters will have had their boat stoves going for weeks, suffusing the autumn air with the intoxicating odour of burning wood. Some will have been burning coal, giving a sharper, more acrid but not unpleasant whiff.


My brother David has just been on Shadow - I bet he had the stove going.

(Above photo taken at Fradley Junction on 5th April 2009)

Ilkeston to Langley Mill to Trowell

Snow report: today I saw NO SNOW! Perhaps it has all, finally, melted.

I'm sweltering writing this this evening as I loaded the stove up with some coal to see if it will keep the boat warm all night. This morning there was a hard frost, and we woke up with cold faces to a cold boat.

This morning we went with Alan and Hazel, on whose mooring in Ilkeston we were guests last night, to their church, a small Elim church nearby. By the time we got back to the boat and set off it was nearly 1300, so we were likely to run behind schedule, especially as I wanted time to explore the various canals at Langley Mill.

We got to Langley Mill at about 1530. We'd been slightly delayed by having to remove rubbish from the prop at Eastwood Lock: a piece of rope and several pieces of carrier bag. At Langley Mill we went up the final lock on the Erewash Canal - which was actually, apparently, the first lock of the Cromford Canal - into Great Northern Basin. We progressed to the very end (something I have to do), winded with millimetres to spare between boats, and descended the lock to tie up by Lidl. There we got some supplies, and I went for a walk round the basin, seeing an end of the Nottingham Canal as well as a short isolated stretch of the Cromford Canal. It will be amazing when the whole of the Cromford is restored.

As I was walking back to Shadow the Cromford Canal's trip boat Birdswood was just exiting the lock. It is going to return to the Cromford end of the canal (by lorry) after some work. Sorry (again) for the lack of photos.

Our return down the Erewash Canal has (so far) been easier than our ascent yesterday, as most of the locks have been in our favour. At Gallows Inn Lock a wide hopper boat was adrift across the canal. One end had a rope still on the towpath, but not attached to anything, and I managed to pull it in just enough for me to reach the rope on the other end with a boat hook. With the hopper secure, I was able to turn the lock and continue.

We tied up shortly afterwards on the edge of Ilkeston by extensive playing fields at Trowell. It is very quiet - I can't even hear any trains - and I haven't been aware of anyone passing on the towpath. As for anyone passing on the canal, well, that's almost guaranteed not to happen. We saw just two other moving boats today: one was Jack Daniels on its way down from the top; the other was Birdswood as mentioned above.

In a change from eating out, Jan cooked a delicious chicken stew. This was ready shortly after we tied up. Just before Jan served up, I chopped some logs on the towpath. The logs themselves I had sawn from longer lengths found by the Trent and Mersey yesterday.

Tomorrow I'm planning on a reasonably early start so as to make up for our being about two miles and three locks short of our intended stop tonight. And then it's back to rivers, crossing the Trent onto the Soar, ready for more wide locks.

New stove glass? Cracking!

Shortly after lighting the stove on Shadow a week ago the stove glass cracked. Grr. It looked like it had been only just fitted as part of the winter maintenance.


I didn't go overboard, as it were, with cleaning it as BCBM said they would replace it.

Again.

The wood that wouldn't burn

Ally and Ben report that the fallen tree I slaved over, sawing by hand into stove-sized logs, doesn't burn.

Can anyone identify this wood?

This is the tree before I attacked it with a bow saw, not that this leafless tangle of branches can help much with identification.

A+B tell me that the logs are very reluctant to catch light, even when positioned on a bed of burning coal.

I cut the logs a month ago, and they have been protected from rain and snow. I know they are not "seasoned", but I would have expected them to at least repay me a little for all the hours I spent in the rain cutting them up.

********************

Ben the Snowman update:

Two days after birth ... and he's lost his head.

Maffi's prediction

Fenny Compton Wharf to Cropredy

Before talking about today, here's a photo from Saturday as we cruised from Napton Junction to Braunston. Sun has been a welcome feature of this holiday so far!


Oh, and here's another photo from earlier. We've had the stove going (hooray!) to combat the chilly mornings (and evenings). Shortly after lighting, the amount of smoke pouring out of the chimney can hinder visibility somewhat. No danger of that today, though, as the wind has blown the smoke away as soon as it dares to emerge.


Our view this morning looking from the bow back towards the Wharf Inn.


I woke Maffi at half-past nine, and he came on board Shadow for a cup of tea and a chat.


Maffi reckons this will be another harsh winter, judging by the number of berries on the trees. At Cropredy Lock this tree was certainly berry-laden.


This must be one of the shortest cruising days we've done, travelling on the Oxford Canal from Fenny Compton Wharf to Cropredy - about four hours.

We're in no rush as we want to be in Thrupp for Thursday evening, so we stopped in the sunshine below Cropredy Lock.

It's been quite windy today, making the entrance to most of the locks a matter of sliding along the coping (on the left) with the tiller held over to the right, until the nose popped in to the chamber.

The first of the season - and a mini quiz

I lit the fire today (even though the outside temperature hadn't dropped below 10º, my usual criterion). It's now nice and warm in the sitting room. I think we've done quite well holding out this long. Of course, we did have the recent balmy weather when a bit of cool was a welcome relief! I wonder how long it will be until we have to get the central heating going?


But I think we're all in for a few months of log burning. Or coal, for those who prefer it. I can almost smell the woodsmoke drifting from boat chimneys lining the towpath. One slight downside to a woodburner in the house is that you rarely actually smell your own smoke. Not like cruising along with the boat stove going: you can't help breathing in lovely lungfuls of the sweet smelling stuff.


Here's a mini quiz: where was the above picture of Shadow taken?

A stately pile

Just down the road from where we were staying in Broseley in Shropshire recently was the most amazing log store.


It rather puts our pile to shame!


Incidentally, I heard - was it this morning? - that now that log burners have become more popular as a result of the increased cost of gas and electricity, thefts of logs are increasing.

Free fuel for the early bird

Ray of No Direction mentions that he's on the lookout for fallen trees to cut up to feed his fire, and says the problem is that he's not the only one looking. But wouldn't the wood be rather too "green" to use straight away in the stove? Don't you get large amounts of tar condensing inside the chimney? Or doesn't it matter, as long as it doesn't trickle down the outside of the boat? The instructions I got with the woodburner we had installed in our sitting room at home stressed the importance of using seasoned logs, where the sap had had a chance to dry out. Perhaps on a boat the risk (of a chimney fire, I suppose) isn't as great as in a house, as the flue is much shorter. A short flue will heat up better than a long flue, thus minimising the tendency for condensation.

This reminded me of Neil's (Herbie) posts earlier this year (here and here) on weight loss by evaporation from some ash logs he'd obtained. Neil draws an impressive graph of weight against time here. After only five weeks his test log had lost nearly a quarter of its original weight.


The difficulty on a narrowboat compared with a house is that of storage. Some boaters, such as Ten Bob Note pictured last year, load their roof with piles of logs; others fill their well deck with them. Unless you're happy to carry a load of logs around with you all year, it must be difficult not to burn them "green".

The picture at the top of this post, by the way, is of a pile of logs-for-the-taking by the towpath of the Llangollen Canal just north of Whitehouses Tunnel. But they're unlikely to be there now - I photographed them two months ago.

Christmas present stirring it up

For Christmas I received* an Ecofan. It has been in almost continuous use since then, wafting the woodburner's hot air around the sitting room. It has made an amazing difference: the room has been hotter than I've known it in winter.


Of course, it could be just that we've had the stove alight more often than usual, but I don't think the effect is merely psychological.

I thought pictures of the thing in action better than seeing it stationary, but you can't see how many blades it has. So I'll tell you. Two. You can't see the cooling fins directly very well, but their shadow is visible in the top photo.

While searching for the link for the Ecofan I was pleased to discover that spare parts are available: replacement motor and replacement blades.

*I actually ordered this myself. I found the most convenient source to be canalshoponline at Whilton Chandlery.

Happy New Year to all.

(edited to remove typo)

It'll soon be that time again...

... when smoke will be seen coming from boats' chimneys filling the air with the sweet smells of burning logs, or with the different but not unpleasant smells of coal fires.


But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's enjoy the sunshine and warmth of this Indian summer while we can. Although I realise it might not be quite so balmy where you are - Adam's had rain in Manchester, for example. And I expect many of you have already had the stove going. I just live too far from the network to smell for myself.

This seems a long time ago ...


... but it was February this year.

Woodburner

Lit the woodburner again this evening. Even though the central heating's on. It's just a warmer heat, somehow. Well, I know how - it really is warmer. We have the TRVs set quite low - we're not old yet - so any extra heat is noticeable. I'm burning oak and willow at the moment. All the wood has been donated: the oak from a tree which had died in a friend's garden; and the willow from a tree which fell over next door. I helped my neighbour to remove it and he said I could have all the wood. I was a bit doubtful that it would burn nicely - I'm sure I read somewhere that it would spit - but it's been really good. It burns quite quickly and gives off a lot of heat, whereas the oak seems to burn cooler but for longer. I've recently been chopping up some cedar from a huge branch which fell off a tree in the rectory garden. Must get that under cover soon.

While cutting the cedar I managed to kill my electric chainsaw. I'd noticed that it wasn't using much oil - but didn't consider the implication: no oil used = no oil lubricating where it should be lubricating = overheating and melting of vital plastic bits. Haven't got round to dismantling it yet.

The fire has died down and I am tired. Off to bed! "Who's going to read this?", says Jan.