Stories about boats and waterways
What would a narrowboat look like if you were able to start with a blank sheet of paper and design it so that the boat was still very usable in later life or with limits on your physical agility? A couple from Hampshire have done just that so I went along to see the finishing touches being put to the boat ahead of it going on display at the Crick Waterways show in June.
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A sit-down chat about how the new 540W solar panel helped over winter, and mention of the lead carbon batteries I installed in summer 2019.
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Boat life is much like owning a house inasmuch as there’s always something to be fixed or maintained or tarted up. Here’s a compilation of minor things I did around the boat over the last few months, including fixes after the boat failed its four-yearly Boat Safety Scheme examination.
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This is a long video indeed. It covers the complete installation and configuration of an additional 540W solar panel along with two new Epever Tracer MPPT solar charge controllers and all the wiring etc.
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At the end of May 2021, I attended a narrowboat trials day arranged by boat builder Ortomarine. Starting on the River Severn and going up the Droitwich canals, eight boats using a variety of power plants would have their fuel, efficiency and any solar input measured and compared. This video summarises what happened and the results.
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Partly because of a leak and partly because I never liked the tiles anyway, I have refurbished my shower cubicle with shower panels, stuck over the old tiles. This is the tale of how I did it.
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Some footage filmed from summer-winter last year that I have now compiled, about the new cratch board and cratch cover I had made.
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I did a video about this very early on when I got the boat but I’ve changed the components since then so here’s the updated version.
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A few weeks ago, I sanded down and touched up a load of rusty spots on my narrowboat’s roof but I didn’t then have the chance to finish the job and overcoat the whole thing in its entirety. I was also unsure what paint to use. Now, at last, I have had a few days of decent weather and got the whole thing done.
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Over recent months I have noticed a number of unsightly rusty spots erupting on the boat’s roof. Some, I assume, are from bits of grit rubbing through the paint as I’ve walked over it; for others I have no idea as to their origins. All needed tidying up and the rust stopped in its tracks though so in this video I show you my initial attempts, which fall short of a full repaint.
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