Dog in Harness

Arrow is a dog who loves to pull on a lead. He's like a small carthorse when he's got his lead on. That's why he now wears a Halti head collar whenever he is out with us. The collar stops all the pulling.

Girly Switch Back On

After some consultation with Vetus I have managed to fix Syncopation's bow-thruster. The problem began when I inadvertantly replaced the bow thruster battery back to front after removing it for charging. The main supply fuse blew when the bow thruster battery formed a short circuity with the main domestic battery bank. After correcting that problem I found the bow thruster control panel would not switch on. After I checked all the wiring and the supply fuse at the bow thruster end I was at a loss. After a quick call to Vetus and a post on the Canalworld forums I decided to check the supply panel fuse inside the bow thruster unit. I had found this fuse before but it looked like another socket for a cable connection. Today I replaced the fuse and everything works!

In the meantime, Mill Wharf Boats have replaced the main water supply pump filter housing under guarantee. The filter cover has cracked three times since we took delivery and leaked into the saloon. Hopefully a complete new filter housing will resolve this.

Time to Get the Haynes Manual Out

On Thursday Cathy started the Picasso up not realising the wipers were switched on and the blades were frozen to the windscreen. Both wiper arms were bent and the wiper blades were destroyed.


On the Picasso the wipers cross in the middle of the screen, passing wihtin about a centimeter of each other. They were impossible to bend back accurately and so one of the arms had to be removed so that the drivers side wiper could work unobstructed.

Our friendly local mechanic tried to order new wiper arms only to find that there are none available until after 24 Feb.

So we hit the internet looking for second-hand wiper arms and came up with a good deal from Cit-Ren. The parts arrived today (the day after they were ordered) and I will fit them this weekend with the help of my trusty Haynes manual.

Lunch Time in the Snow

Lots of snow here so I'm working from home as the transport infrastructure between here and Central London is somewhat unreliable. So in my lunch break I was able to play with the family. We built snow men, sledged down the slopes in the nearby fields on teatrays, had snowball fights and watched the dog running around.