We passed through Leighton Buzzard today with it's very usefully located canalside Tesco store. The nearby DIY store is great for hardware bits as well.
We passed this caravan and lots of wildfowl including several herons and a pair of mandarin ducks.
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.
After two weeks of battery-pampering I returned the batteries to Syncopation. There were five to refit: four domestic and one bow-thruster. I put the bow-thruster back in first and then got to work trimming the side of the battery box to make replacing the domestic batteries easier. Twenty minutes later I had all the batteries in and began connecting them. I connected the cable from the bow thruster battery to the first in the domestic bank and was surprised by a fat spark. When I touched the terminal with the cable again there was a bigger spark and the nearby fuse blew. Oops! A quick check revealed I had put the bow thruster back in back to front, so the 175 Amp fuse protecting the bt battery charging cable blew when I completed the circuit.
When everything was connected I started the engine and checked the battery voltage and found as I suspected that the domestic alternator was supplying no charge. I switched on the Travelpower and fired up the Victron Multiplus and found a healthy charge going into the batteries.
A check of the instrument panel revealed no red light on starting the engine for the domestic alternator so I traced the cable from the back of the panel. The loose cable looked suspicious and proved to be the connection from the alternator to the charge light - so no charge. It was easy to fix - just plug it in - and the domestic alternator was still not charging. Further investigation required I think.
I set off up the hill with Arrow to the excellent Napton post office and stores to post some letters and packages for Cathy and buy some milk and bread.
We made our way up to the Old Engine Arm to turn at lunch time then made our way back to yesterday's mooring at Napton.
All the way around Napton you can see the windmill:
Also prominent are the WWII pill boxes by the canal side, part of the strategic defences against invasion in 1941:
On the way back I spotted nb Skyy, moored near the butty Betelgeuse, another picture here. The men from Canal and River Services were busy between locks 9 and 10 dredging the pound and remaking the towpath.
I decided to have a go at fixing the prop shaft coupling myself. With a little help from folks at the Canalworld Discussion Forum I found out what needed doing. I dug out my trusty torque wrench and set about undoing all the bolts that held the propshaft in the coupling. With a little persuasion the collet came out of the coupling and I could then slide the shaft back in with it and tighten everything up again. Job done. About an hour's work.
The coupling is the big round thing at the bottom of the picture. The eight bolts at the top end hold the shaft in. It's not very accessible because of the engine's soundproof cocoon but for once the cocoon made life easier because it was comfortable to lie on top of while I worked.
While I was at the boat I thought I'd check under the bed as there has been an unexplained coolant leak from the engine for the last couple of weeks. The puddle under the calorifier said it all. Looks like the boat's still not going anywhere until I've found some PTFE tape and clamps and remade one of the joints where the engine cooling system joins the calorifier.
Syncopation's propellor shaft has come adrift from the flexible coupling that connects it to the gear box. It was wrenched out in an accident. I was moving Syncopation back to the boat yard from our mooring, a journey of about 50 yards, to fill up the water tank. What I didn't know was that there was an old mooring rope lying under the water and it got wrapped around the propellor as I moved the boat forward. Normally this is not a problem as the rope can at worst stop the propeller. In this case the rope was still tied to the bank. As we moved forward , the boat was brought to an abrupt halt by the rope tangled around the propellor. 20 tons of boat caused the shaft to be pulled out of its mounting on the Centaflex coupling until it hit the rudder. Fortunately the boat was moving slowly so no more damage was done and the shaft was not pulled right out of the boat, which would have sunk Syncopation quite quickly.
On a brighter note, the shoe cupboard is fixed in the engine room now, so I won't have to move it every time I want to lift the deck boards.
I went to Syncopation to change the engine oil today and a relatively easy job turned into another more difficult one. As usual it took me over half an hour to actually get to the engine as the engine room floor and the cocoon has to be dismantled before the engine itself is visible. While doing this I noticed what appeared to be water in the stern bilge below the stern gland. I started pumping it out but had to stop when I realised the brown foam-like stuff pouring into the canal was red diesel. Oh dear. There was four or five gallons of diesel in the bilge. It was just beginning to spill over into the inaccessible part of the bilge under the engine cocoon.
I put off dealing with this while I changed the oil and filter (50 hour service but nearer 110 hours) and failed to tighten the engine alternator drive belt due to its being inaccessible.
After some thought I made a temporary container for the diesel by cutting the top off a 6 pint milk container. I was able to place this under the bilge pump outlet and reach the switch for the pump. After the first container full I decided the diesel was clean enough to go back in the tank, so in it went. The leak was a loose fuel pipe union that I disturbed when I removed the filter when we ran out of diesel. Over the last week it has been dripping at a rate of about one drop every five seconds.
After I had cleaned up I left the cocoon and decking dismantled: I'll have to ask Mill Wharf boatyard to tighten my alternator belt and I'd hate to have to pay them to take all that apart again: they'd probably put it together for me as well, an expense I don't need.
Spent this evening finishing covering my port hole bungs.
I don't like the brand. It should be Brindley Place. But I do like the place. It's all about everything that's attractive about the urban canalscape. Birmingham's vibrant canal centre.
We left our makeshift mooring spot on the Aston flight and made our way up Farmer's Bridge locks, passing under several large office blocks and the site of the Youtube Farmer's Bridge Wakeboarding video,
arriving at Brindley Place just after lunch.
Moored at Brindleyplace for the night.
One of the navigation guides says unequivocally that you should not moor away from a recognised secure location in the city of Birmingham. We stopped for supplies near Tyburn bridge and while we were tying up were advised by a passing local boater that it would be a bad place to stop for the night. We pulled the pins and carried on - the Birmingham and Fazeley canal was deserted for literally miles after that. We passed under Spaghetti Junction and didn't stop at Cuckoo wharf. We were lucky enough to find safe haven at an office development half way up the Aston flight at Aston Cross where we were watched over by security guards and CCTV.
The Minworth and Aston flights are supposed to be secured with anti vandal keys but I found that most of the anti vandal locks are broken or can be opened with a light tap from a windlass.
Moored at Aston Cross.
We spent the day at Drayton Manor Park. Or as it was in my day: Drayton Manor Park and Zoo. The emphasis today is on the theme park although the zoo is still there, almost hidden behind the theme park. We all enjoyed the day. Everybody is tired and we expect to sleep well. It's a great venue to visit by canal. There's plenty of space to moor by the gothic footbridge and although we had to cross the busy A4091 most of the traffic was stationary, waiting to get into the theme park.
Cathy had to take Arrow to the vet in Tamworth in the afternoon because his left fore-paw is giving him some discomfort. He's got a seed lodged under the skin between his toes. The vet couldn't remove it but it will probably work loose. We have some antibiotics to give Arrow to keep the infection under control.
Moored tonight near Drayton Bassett. We moved half an hour away from lat night's mooring to get away from the traffic noise.
I put the washing machine on for a quick wash this morning and there was a sound of rushing water. All as normal I thought until Cathy drew my attention to the fact that there was water running down the middle of the saloon floor. Quite a lot of water. Luckily we had read the label that marked the position of the stop cock and quickly found it and stopped the flow of water. The pump was still running so we disconnected it at the distribution panel. The water was mopped up from the bunk room through to the front steps and the steps pulled out to reveal the to cover
over the pump filter had cracked right across:
We called Michael at Mill Wharf as this was definitely a guarantee issue. He came straight out and met us at bridge 54 at Polesworth with a spare cover. The old one was very difficult to remove: it was attached much too tightly - probably the reason it broke. The pump was fine and we were on our way again.
While we were waiting we were passed by Uisce of the Floating Abode blog.
Moored tonight at Drayton Footbridge on the Birmingham and Fazeley canal.
We set off today with a destination in mind. We're making for Drayton Manor Park. A much better day weather -wise than yesterday. After an overcast start we finished the day in bright sunshine. We travelled up the Oxford canal and turned onto the Coventry canal at Hawkesbury Junction:
We passed Charity Street dock, with its amusing display of manequins:
This afternoon we came down the Atherstone flight, passing Barry Hawkins' boatyard and have stopped for the night below lock 1.
I spotted Granny Buttons today!
We were passing Newbold on the way to the tunnel when I spotted her. I excitedly called the crew up to see the celebrity, then fumbled for the camera and ended up having to get off the boat, walk back, take my photo then rejoin Syncopation. We went through Newbold Tunnel soon after.
Tonight we are near Ansty.
We had no less than three sets of house guests last weekend: Our old friend Costa came down from Coventry where he's just gained a Masters in Computer Science and stayed with us on Friday night, Cathy's school friend Theresa and her husband Jack stayed with us on Saturday night and my sister Judi and her fiance Brian and my nephew Adam stayed with us on Sunday night.
