I’ve had a busy few weeks, keeping myself occupied with various projects on the boat.
The Power Station
The meters which monitor battery charging had become unreliable, so when the chance came of buying a new Clipper BM2 monitor for less than a third of the retail price I grabbed it and set to work fitting it along with two digital “Hall Effect” ammeters which just need the sensor to be slipped over the relevant cable.
I now have a redesigned monitoring panel for the electrical system
Testing Testing
The Boat Safety Examination certification expires in November and as it is permitted to be tested up to two months early I contacted the examiner who did the first test in our ownership of the boat as he was not too far away. The purpose of the BSS is to help minimise risks to third parties rather than to advise on the “seaworthiness” of the boat and is valid for four years.
In preparation I resealed the stove’s flue pipe with high temperature silicone sealant, cleaned & resealed the glass and gave the whole thing a coat of paint.
The day came for the test and the examiner was very helpful, fixing minor issues as he went along, A couple of cables needed a protective sleeve to prevent chafing (a small piece of water hose sufficed), a length of wood (a piece of decking board) to prevent the batteries moving inside their box, a label on the gas locker to say “Gas shut off under” and a clip to secure a gas pipe behind the cooker. The only further item was to secure the stove to it’s plinth (strangely a recent requirement) Our neighbour Barry came up trumps with two angle brackets which I duly modified and painted black to match the stove. The only expense incurred was the purchase of masonry bits to drill through the tiles on the hearth.
So now we are certified (certificated?) until November 2026!
Ding Dong! (in the immortal words of Leslie Phillips)
This bell has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, I first saw it at my grandparents’ home where I spent a lot of time as a small child, I inherited it when my mother died and it has been in our homes ever since both on land and water.
This week I decided it was time it was put it to practical use as a door bell.
Delving into my “come-in-handy-box” I found a Kensington laptop security cable, which is a plastic coated steel cable intended to secure a laptop to a desk. Following the route of the solar cables it was threaded through the workshop cupboards and through a redundant hole to the back deck of the boat.
Now all that was required was a nice brass knob to operate it, but a trawl around all the charity and antique shops in town failed to find one so a brass plated reproduction was found at B & Q.
To obtain the correct jangle the cable length was adjusted and a makeshift balancing weight added. I can see further investigation of car boot sales to find something more attractive will be required!
Narrowboat Wrens-Nest 