3 days on the Shroppie

With the change in the weather (April like in early February) a few days on the Shropshire Union Canal seemed like a nice idea.

Very quite on the canal, only saw one other boat on the move, but lovely clear blue sky. Spent the first night at Wheaton Aston and on the second day cruised to the winding hole at Church Eaton.

Stopped at the winding hole to have lunch at the Royal Oak, only a ten minute walk into the village. Unfortunately the pub is closed at lunch times, according to a couple I saw walking their dog it doesn't open until 4pm.

Decided instead to head back to Wheaton Aston and spend the evening in the Hartley Arms instead.

On the third day travelled back to our mooring at Wolverhampton Boat Club. Once again absolutely gorgeous weather.

Weed Hatch Fun

First excursion of the year to the weed hatch today. Twenty minutes after leaving the engine starts to judder. Quickly into neutral, where the engine sounds fine. Try forward again, still juddering, put into reverse and the juddering is worse. Nothing else for it, leave the boat drifting in the middle of the canal and open the weed hatch to find an orange bag wrapped around the prop.

Ten minutes later a builders '1 tonne' sack removed.

The water was freezing though, took twenty minutes to thaw out my hand & arm.

Summer Trips

Standedege Tunnel Marsden Portal

Begining to start planning our summer trips. First up is a trip to Stourbridge for a friends party, being held in the Bond Warehouse.

Next is a trip to Chester for a food show.

Chester Shops

Mooring at Chester

After that we are volunteering for the Crick Boat Show again.

In the summer we are currently planning a trip that will take in the two Pennine rings, including a passage through Standedge tunnel.

Standedge Tunnel, Diggle Portal

Birthday Present

My Birthday and a present from my Granddaughter Rachel.

Solar Panel Effective?

The solar panel has been installed for three months now, probably the 'worst' period of the year for generating electricity (November through to January).  Below is a table which slows how effective it is in keeping the batteries charged.

As a matter of routine I keep a record of the battery voltage and mostly record the figures each time I visit the boat. The table below shows the eleven visits prior to the solar panel being installed and the eleven afterwards. I've only shown the battery voltage at the start of each visit, before running the engine and only on the occasions when the boat had been moored, unattended, for at least 3 days.

At first glance there doesn't seem to be much difference, but for the eleven visits prior to the Solar Panel the batteries were lower than 12.7 volts on 8 occasions out of 11. After fitting the solar panel the batteries were higher than 12.7 volts on 9 occasions out of 11.

The average reading for the visits is also higher after fitting the panel, not by very much, but enough to show that despite there only being winter sun available the battery is kept topped up.

                                                                             

	Domestic Battery Voltage
	Before		After
	12.82		12.73
	12.64		12.85
	12.62		12.73
	12.67		12.80
	12.71		13.05
	12.57		12.53
	12.67		12.89
	12.74		12.70
	12.76		12.95
	12.20		12.85
	12.44		12.88
Average	12.62		12.81

First Trip of the Year - Brewood for Lunch

Maxine was visiting for a couple of days and we decided to have a short boat trip to Brewood for lunch.

Josie & Maxine walking the dogs on the way to Brewood.

Nice warm boat waiting for us as we left the pub (The Bridge, excellent pint of Sunbeam & very nice steak sandwich)

Boating house number

Got round to sorting out one of my Xmas presents today. Attached this house number plate next to the back gate.

Using this drill (another Xmas present)

End of Year Stats 2018

Miles, Hours, Locks L/Ms per hour etc for second year of Hamwih

(May 18th* to December 31st 2018)

Beta Marine 43 - This years engine

Beta 38 (Last years Engine)

Beta AC Panel

Total engine hours      420.2;      Total distance 600 miles;         Total locks 548;  Avg L/MpH 2.46
Home mooring hours# 47.5;                 Distance 30.5 miles;                  Locks 0;      Avg Mph 0.64
Cruising hours            372.7; Cruising distance 569.5 miles; Cruising locks 548; Avg L/MpH 2.69

Total litres used 624.2, this includes the stove running for 97 hours at half-a-litre per hour.
The engine therefore used 549.9 litres which equals 1.38 (1.29) litres per hour.


The diesel cost £504.76 which works out at £1.20p (1.09p) per hour the engine was running.

(The figures in brackets are for 2017 and are lower than this years due to the smaller engine)

* Boat having engine replaced & other works Jan to May.
# This includes running engine to top up batteries, moving boat to top up with water and or fuel + winding in preparation for next trip.

Saloon Furniture

When we first ordered furniture for the saloon we used a 'Captains Chair' from our previous boat and ordered a new 'Boatman's Chair Bed' from  Elite Furnishings,

Captains chair on Notos.

The problem with two separate chairs is that one of the chairs is positioned very close to the stove (see picture below) and has to be moved when the stove is used. With the 'Captains Chair' it is very difficult to place the chairs side by side.

The two chairs in their 'summer' position.

Ordering a second chair means that in the winter we can, by removing an arm from each chair, use them as a two seater settee.

The two chairs side by side facing the stove.

 The different/alternating patterns on the two chairs is a deliberate decision.

As well as ordering the new chair we also ordered two footstools, which apart from providing some extra storage space also means that we can convert the two chairs into either two singe beds or a double bed, albeit a very small one.

Hamwih