We all need a bit of maintenance at times – some of us more than others. Homes, offices, boats and ourselves. The saying goes that BOAT stands for Bring Out Another Thousand, so we’re lucky that all this month’s work has been reasonably economical, although it’s adding up and has cost dearly in time.
Regular readers who travel with us may remember the recent saga of the water pump – and anyone who’s been working on Teams meetings or interviews with me will certainly recall the flatulent noises it’s been making rather too regularly!
Steve went through a systematic researching of every part of the water system. First, he took out the accumulator, but with the existing pump, there were still problems of it firing up day and night (always at inconvenient times). That narrowed things down to the pump, so he took that out and replaced it. We actually had no idea how old the pump was – we knew it wasn’t 1989 vintage as old as the boat because there was an old pump lying around on the boat when we bought her so it seemed there had been at least two in the time.
Replacing the pump solved the problem. Then we had another issue. Without an accumulator the pump is working overtime every time we turn a tap on. So he replaced the accumulator. The previous one had been quite small and not working as it should have done, so the replacement of the two seems to have resolved issues for umpteen years.
Our home runs on a BETA 35. This is not an historic beast that excites sighs of envy (as a Lister, Gardner or Russell Newbury might). It’s not an engine that needs its own room on the boat (as many of the afore-mentioned), or one on which Steve (it’s lucky that’s not me) needs to lavish loving hours.
Our engine is a reliable, turn-on-and-go sort. In order to keep it like that it needs regular attention, and we need to keep an eye on the number of hours it runs, so we know what maintenance it needs in terms of oil changes etc. Until now that’s been easy – fire up and glance at the hours meter. That was until it started showing blank. We think it, like us sometimes, doesn’t like too much moisture. So, we’ve been recording manually our distances travelled until this week when Steve ordered a new hours meter and began the trial of fitting it. It’s not quite as easy as you might imagine – not just bung it in where the old one was. The existing hours meter is inside the tachometer, but fitting that sized replacement would be £50-100 with a lot of electronic wizardry required.
A new hours meter fitted neatly alongside came in at £12 plus free post and packing, and it’s an electronic mechanically driven version so we can see it at any point – even without firing up the engine. Steve’s doing it now because we’re at 3,000 hours, which gives us a nice easy start point to add to what the new device records.
So that’s all the internal of the last few weeks. Externally we’ve done some painting and our chimney has perished – that’s the only word for it apart from total disintegration!
Chimneys need replacing from time to time and this one hasn’t lasted long – we bought it in July 2021. Being conveniently near some friends who have allowed us to use their postal address to have a parcel delivered has been wonderful – it has meant that we’ve been able to invest in a Little Chimney Company chimney. It’s great to buy from another boater, and these stainless steel chimneys come with high recommendations of durability. I cannot tell you how excited I am about this – been longing for one of these beauties for years (sad?). When the rain stops and the sun is shining I will photograph it in all its glory on the roof.
We’ve gone for a double skinned 18 inch one and it is nothing short of gorgeous. The fire is drawing better as a result (yes, we’ve relit the fire since Storm Nora swept in!)
So we’re feeling sorted inside and out for the time being. Sometime this month we hope to be able to get a shower tray – for the time being we are making do with a plastic tub and trying not to overbalance into the hole in the floor beside it!
We have a few weeks to wait until our major welding work – bulkhead and the main hatch – can be done. As soon as it is, then we’ll be off – travelling into the wide blue yonder once more. We can then enjoy the journeying.
Our plans are up to the Bridgwater, onto the Leeds Liverpool, over the tidal Ribble Link to the Lancaster, up the Lancaster, back from the Lancaster and up the Rochdale, over to Ripon on the River Ure and of course all of this planning can change in a whim! Plus we have some hugely exciting news about other new plans that we’ll share with you very soon.
Pickingupducks 