Stourbridge December 2022

Trip to Stourbridge for drink with Friends.

Route Using new GPS Tracker.

New Fuel filter

Installed a Fuel Guard filter as a prefilter. Not because I've experienced any problems, but as a precaution.

The new filter was installed in the same position as the old filter. The photo shows the rail installed to enable the old filter to be move a bit further along. The old filter can be seen on the left in the photo below.

Trip!? to Service Point

 GPS track of short trip to service point & return. Just to show how the new tracker works.

Magnet Fishing Success

 What goes into the canal separately, but comes out together.

A windlass

And

a magnet

The GoWinlass cost £80 so when it slipped into the canal, off a lock beam, I was determined to find it with the magnet. It took about 20 minutes, but eventually it was successfully 'snagged' and lifted on board.

Battery Problems?

 

Possible Battery Issue

Have received some alerts from my battery monitor*. It sends, via email, an alert if the battery drops to 60% and again at 50%. The only time I’ve received these in the past have been when we are on the boat and over using the inverter.

I’ve not received any warnings for several months, but in the last couple of weeks there have been 4 warnings. The chart below shows how the voltage of the battery rises during the day (thanks to the solar panel)and then declines during the night. Up until 3 weeks ago during the day the voltage would regularly reach 14 to 14.5 volts, but suddenly this has declined to 13 to 13.5 volts (The spike at the right is when I ran the engine for a couple of hours).

I’m not sure what is happening, but suspect there may be a battery problem. I have checked the levels in each battery and topped them up. Now it’s time to wait and see what happens.

*ChargeMetrix see here for post when I installed it.

Extra Storage Space

 

Cupboard Under the Bed

For some time I’ve been thinking about using the space under the bed for storage. There is not much space because the black water tank is positioned under the bed. However there is a small gap between the tank and the bed edge.

There are three panels at the side of the bed and today I put a handle and hinges on one of them and there is space to store the electric drill and accessories.

Stained Glass Portholes

Two stained glass portholes in one photo

 

"End of Year Stats 2021"

Miles, Hours, Locks L/Ms per hour etc for the fourth year of Hamwih ownership : Jan to Dec 2021

Year	Total Days	Moored Days	Working on Boat Days	Upgrade 2018 Lockdown 20&21 Days	Cruising Days	Trips	Engine Hours	Cruising Hours*	Distance Miles	Locks	Avg Lock/Miles Per Hour
2021	365	180	39	87	53	10	297.3	286.2	530.25	337	2.92
2020	366	208	41	84	28	4	144.5	137.2	233.50	156	2.84
2019	365	224	45		96	10	570.3	541.7	902.25	747	2.89
2018	365	123	48	129	65	12	420.2	372.7	600.25	548	2.73
2017	161	99	22		40	2	189.7	170.7	308.75	157	2.46

* Cruising Hours are the total engine hours less those used for topping up the batteries, moving the boat to top up with water and/or fuel + winding in preparation for next trip.

For 2017 & 2018 about 90% of the engine hours were spent cruising. In November 2018 I fitted a solar panel and for 2019 & 2020 the cruising hours were approximately 95% of the total hours, in 2021 it was 96%. Up until the solar panel was fitted, when visiting the boat to keep an eye on it, I used to run the engine to top up the battery. Since the solar panel was fitted I’ve not had to do this, thus saving about 5% to 6% a year on fuel.

The engine hours recorded in the table below are the accumulation of the total hours the engine has been used since the previous fill up. Therefore the hours recorded at the first fill up for each year includes some hours from the previous year, whilst hours completed after the last fill up for the year are not counted until the following year. This explains the difference in hours recorded in the table above, where the engine hours are counted on a daily basis.

Year	Engine Hours	Litres	Litres per Hour	Cost	Cost per Litre	Overall Cost Per Hour	Central Heating Hours	Litres Used  @ 0.5 per Hr	Cost Per Hour	Engine Litres Less CH	Litres Per Hour	Cost per Hour
2021	297.4	492.61	1.66	£398.59	£0.81	£1.34	65	32.5	£0.40p	460.1	1.55	£1.25
2020	151.2	259.00	1.71	£172.63	£0.67	£1.14	64	32.0	£0.33p	227.0	1.50	£1.00
2019	583.3	916.66	1.57	£777.93	£0.85	£1.33	167	83.5	£0.42p	833.2	1.43	£1.21
2018	430.2	624.02	1.45	£504.76	£0.81	£1.18	97	48.5	£0.41P	575.5	1.34	£1.08
2017*	159.8	353.90	2.21	£303.87	£0.86	£1.90	50	25.0	£0.43p	328.9	2.05	£1.77

* 2017 engine was a 38HP Beta Marine. Since 2018 the engine is a 43HP Beta Marine

 

Stourbridge for drinks

Meeting some friends in Stourbridge for a drink on Saturday 27th November and decided to travel down by boat. A bus from my house takes about an hour, the trip by boat takes a day-and-a-half!

Started out at about midday on the Friday and managed to just get through Bratch before it got to dark. Moored just below Bratch and settled in for the evening, woken up during the night by heavy rain and winds. I didn’t know at the time, but this was Storm Arwen.

Woke up in the morning ready to set off, but discovered that snow had fallen overnight. I decided to wait until the snow melted before moving off, although this put me behind scheduled.

Snow below Bratch Locks 27th November 2021

The rest of day was uneventful until I reached Stourton Junction. I was about to turn into the locks when I was told that the third lock up was out of action (a gate was being replaced). So much for mooring in Stourbridge and going for a pub crawl. There was nothing for it, but to go through the bridge and moor opposite Stewpony Wharf.

Unfortunately I didn’t notice the tree that appeared to be half blocking the bridge hole and got stuck about half-way through. To cut a long story short the friends I was due to go drinking with came down to Stewpony and after much pulling on ropes and pushing with the boat-pole helped me through the bridge hole.

Stourton Bridge (33)

Moored opposite Stewpony Wharf

After mooring the boat we drove into Stourbridge for a drink and a meal. Then a taxi back to the boat later in the evening.

The plan for Sunday was to start the return journey and arrive back home sometime on the Monday. However a quick look at the fallen tree and it was clear that although I had managed to drive over it the previous afternoon there was no way I would be able to reverse back through the bridge hole.

Tree blocking bridge from above

Tree from Stewpony Wharf side

A quick call to C&RT established that due to storm Arwen several trees had been uprooted on the Staffs & Worcester and it was unlikely that that the tree would be removed on Sunday. So spent all day on the boat hoping that the tree would be cleared on Monday. Fortunately at about 10am on Monday a gang of contactors appeared and started to cut up & remove the tree.

I was back underway by midday and with the help of some some unseasonal weather (very warm & dry) I was able to make good progress and got home late on the Tuesday. 5 days just to have a Saturday evening drink with some mates, the joy of boating.

Bow doors film

 

Bow Doors Privacy Film

Bow Doors

A few months ago we had some film applied to our street facing windows at home. From the off-cuts there was enough to use on the bow doors. This means that we can open the blinds to let light in, but not worry about people looking into the bedroom.

I finally got round to fitting/installing the film and am very pleased with the result as the photos below show. 2 with one door complete and the a couple showing both door windows covered.

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