Crick Boat Show

We were there on Monday! Unlike Maffi. The weather was showery with occasional downpours but enough time between to dash from attraction to attraction. I would have liked to have seen the interior of a lot more boats, for fit-out ideas but three children get bored of boat interiors quickly. Still I took plenty of pictures of details I'd like incorporated in Syncopation, like this stove:
In case you're wondering, It's a Petit Godin on the Simpson boat (which was voted best in show).
I was quite lucky to catch our prospective builder with his show boat at the show because he was leaving when we arrived at his pitch at 3.00PM. He graciously tied up again and showed us over the almost complete boat. I'm still glad we've decided on him. Quality was better than all the other boats I looked at (I'll freely admit I didn't see inside all the boats). I looked over the boat next door and the builder of that one grumbled about the early decampment of his neighbour and the fact that he was only showing for three hours the preious day. I also discovered that builders paid £1000 to show each boat.

I was shown just how quiet a cocooned Beta propgen engine can be when the salesman kindly started the one on the Beat display stand. Like a magician performing a magic trick, he took a panel off the housing: diesel engine noise, and then put it back: quiet hum. I think we'll have one of those. Being gas free, Syncopation will have her engine running while moored when we cook and so quietness is essential.

We Went To See The Queen's Jewels

We went to the Tower of London.
There was a lot to see. It used to be a royal palace and parts have been restored to the state they were in when Edward I was there. Other parts still have the inscriptions carved into the walls by people who were held prisoner in the Tower. We saw the room that served as Sir Walter Raleigh's study when he was a prisoner. The most spectacular part was probably the jewel house. Actors re-enact scenes from the lives of people whose stories are connected to the Tower. The children loved watching the actors. So did I.

Power Budget

I'm in the process of working out Syncopation's power budget . I've listed all the appliances that are going to be used, how frequently, how long and if they are likely to be used with the engine/generator running. The next step it to flesh it out with the power consumption of each device and work out the power required to keep everything running every 24 hours, how long the generator must be run and how many batteries are required to run the appliances that will be operating when the generator is off. So far I've ignored the batteries required for electric propulsion. More of that later perhaps , when I've decided if it's going to be included in the final design.

I've Bought My Ticket To Crick

I've bought my ticket to the Crick boat show and I'm excited. I'll be meeting our proposed boat builder there and taking a look at his latest build. We'll also be looking for ideas for interior design and features for Syncopation.

Quiet Week Plumbing

I spent last weekend putting in a new bathroom for some friends. The kids took it in turns to be ill for last weekend, so there was not much chance of doing anything interesting during the Spring bank holiday. The bathroom job consisted of: Saturday: rip out old bathroom. Sunday: Install toilet and start installing bath. Monday (still part of the bank holiday weekend): finish installing bath and install basin. The plasterer came to have a look on Thursday and gave an acceptable quote so my friends are having him back to plaster the whole bathroom next week. That meant that I had to make sure everything was ready on Saturday for the plaster; this meant removing the old radiator and putting in pipes for the new heated towel rail that will replace it, finish installing the plumbing for the electric shower that will go above the bath and ensuring that the cables for the shower were in place.
I 'm going back on Wednesday night to remove the toilet cistern and basin so that the plasterer can work behind them. I suppose I'll be going back next weekend to put these two items back and finish installing the towel rail. The tiling will then be done and I can finish installing the shower and boxing in the plumbing.
They were quoted £6000 by professionals to do this. I'm in the wrong business.