Category: Life aboard

Vlog 27: Pump Up The Volume

Posted on March 11, 2016February 24, 2024 by David Johns

This was going to be an entirely different Vlog but I have a problem with my water pump going off randomly – usually the sign of a leak somewhere in the pipework. But where?

Vlog 26: Dinette Is Served

Posted on March 5, 2016February 24, 2024 by David Johns

Just a few weeks after putting in the order for new dinette cushions for my canal boat, they have arrived! No doubt to immense anticipation, in this video I described why I didn’tlike the old ones and show off the replacements.

Vlog 22: Grate Expectations

Posted on February 14, 2016February 24, 2024 by David Johns

After a viewer request I hereby present a (rather long, sorry) video of how I set and light the Villager Puffin stove on my canal boat. I do two examples, one of lighting it from cold and the other of rekindling it from dying embers.

Vlog 21: The Gas Man Cometh

Posted on February 9, 2016February 24, 2024 by David Johns

A nasty discovery one day when I went to turn the gas bottle off as I left the boat, finding it leaking ever so slightly which it must have been doing since I installed it three months earlier.

Vlog 20: Dirty Laundry

Posted on February 4, 2016February 24, 2024 by David Johns

How on earth do you keep your clothes all clean and lovely whilst on board a narrowboat cruising round the canals? In this video, I explain the options.

Vlog 17: Watering Hole

Posted on January 8, 2016February 24, 2024 by David Johns

For viewers who do not own a canal boat but are curious about life on board, this Vlog shows one of the most frequent domestic tasks undertaken by liveaboards. No, not the toilet emptying. The other task.

Vlog 13: The Lights Fantastic

Posted on November 30, 2015May 7, 2024 by David Johns

It’s rainy, cold and blowing a gale outside so I made a quick video about five simple things – three of them lightbulbs – that make my life nicer on board my canal boat!

Vlog 12: Bring Out The Braunston

Posted on November 20, 2015February 24, 2024 by David Johns

I was supposed to be taking the narrowboat to a winter mooring in Warwickshire but for reasons I explain in this video, I didn’t. Instead of cancelling the trip though – as I had invited a friend along to show me how to do canalboating properly – we went for a two-day cruise to Braunston. This is the video of that trip.

Vlog 8: Night Rider

Posted on October 5, 2015February 24, 2024 by David Johns

Vlog 8 and I spend my first night aboard the canal boat – still on land! There’s all kinds of squeaks and groans and bumps in the night and they’re not from me. No, it’s nothing saucy, don’t get your hopes up…

Vlog 4: Le Tour de Boat

Posted on August 24, 2015February 24, 2024 by David Johns

This is a tour of my canal boat from top to tail. It’s still on chocks at a marina whilst I line up some maintenance to be done on it but will hopefully take to the water again in a few weeks – just in time for winter!