Water and Electricity but no Shocks

Bank Holiday Monday! A good day to laze around and update things! Epiphany is going “live”. I.e. the domestic batteries, inverter and travel pack are in. Maybe tested with an electric kettle? “Fin-rads” I hear you say – why not, I hate the white radiators, as they can be so intrusive in a small space. They will not be the only source of heating, as we shall have the ubiquitous Morso Squirrel multi fuel stove. In a fairly open plan boat the stove will also heat the rest of the boat. We have experienced how much heat they throw out. On Twelfth Night we have been known to open the bow doors and windows during the winter to cool off! On one occasion the heat melted the curtain rail – we were not the culprits though.

The water pump is as far away from the bedroom as possible as I wake up at the slightest noise! Hopefully we shall be able to leave it on now and not have to turn it on at night to have a drink and wake the sleeping partner. Anyone for a shower? Oops, no shower cabinet yet but the towel rail cum radiator is in.

A few interesting design points, arrived at in discussion with Bath Narrowboats and ourselves – the anchor brackets in the bow and the integral dip stick for the diesel tank. One of our security requirements is the locking filler cap. Remember the security rings on the bows?

If you think that the inside of the boat looks dark it is because the portholes are covered by the american oak lining which of course will be cut away and replaced by the porthole glass in due time.

Watch this space

To come: comments and thoughts on the latest pictures

See next post!

In case you were wondering!
This photo was taken on one of our habitual forays to the nearest canal to the place we are visiting by car. In this case it was a very hot humid day, walking the tow path of the Grand Union Canal

Have engine, will travel - eventually

We made it to Sells Green this time. We decided on a very early start to avoid all the visitors returning “up country” after their wonderful holiday in sunny, beautiful Cornwall. Commercial break over!

That gave us time to explore the area around and on the Kennet & Avon canal as the weather held out for us. We walked the towpath at Seend and spoke to some of the boat owners on the go and moored up. One lady was very kind as we picked her brains about live aboard cats. She had a lovely grey Persian who seemed quite at home. We didn’t go into the Barge Inn this time, as we shall enjoy that when we cruise.

Epiphany has continued to “grow”; she has been lined out, cabin sides and roof. The Shire engine is in and running. BJ turned the key, a familiar high pitched whistle and the engine turned over! I had the privilege of turning her off once she had been revved thoroughly! I am sure that only those of you who have experienced this too will understand our excitement and pleasure to hear the engine. Others probably think we are nuts.

Alan, Bath Narrowboats accomplished boat painter has started on the external coach paint. We had a long discussion on the finer points and look forward to seeing further progress. The cream colour is just as we imagined – just wait for the blue to see the full effect.

It seems we will have hot water as the calorifier is installed – but obviously still need the heating boiler! We had big discussions about the next stage, galley cupboards, lighting, fixtures and fittings to name a few things. It seems that the differences and progress will appear to slow down now as the more detailed fitting out takes place, or so Jon assured us. All in all a very satisfactory if exceedingly long day for all involved.

"The best laid plans"

A weekend away – but not on the canals unfortunately as it was a visit to our son’s new home. We also arranged to return via Sells Green too. We did spend some time walking on the Lancaster Canal and visited Tewitfield. I think that is as far north as it is possible to be on the main system at the moment. Hopefully the next time we will cruise there on Epiphany. Who knows, maybe even the northern section may be restored in our lifetime so we can use the locks and not just take photos of dereliction. Who put that motorway bridge there anyway?

There were more photos from Sells Green at the weekend though. Lining out, stern greaser and fuel lines and engine room painted, so things are really moving well. We gather that the engine is now in and ready to be connected up.

We had planned to visit there on our way home but the car had other ideas and broke down on the M4. The fourth emergency service returned us home – eventually. We passed J17 (the one for Sells Green) at about 9pm on a relay truck so didn’t think we would try our luck then!

We now hope we may be going up this weekend as there are things to discuss and of course more photos to take so expect lots more!

Looms and Horses

Progress continues – we now have evidence of electric wiring! Electrical activity will of course take longer! It looks as it was quite a complicated process – more akin to knitting maybe. Jon had all the diagrams for us to approve when we were last at Sells Green. We may seem to have a lot of sockets but they are all in convenient places according to use. Needless to say all the electrical equipment will not be running at the same time – we are actually careful how we use the electrical systems as flat domestic batteries can be a nuisance. Lots of cruising helps, and on our share boat (Twelfth Night) we had worked out the optimum number of hours required to top up the batteries.

The Shire engine looks shiny and new – installation is proposed for next week. Again we have experience of this engine from TN and have been impressed with its performance.

The security rings are something we asked for as we have ideas of using a system that is more secure than just ropes when necessary. This again comes from experiences and narrow escapes on Twelfth Night. Notably on the Leeds and Liverpool!

Next Stage

More photos from Sells Green – wonderful, things are progressing well. Battens, spray foam etc. Epiphany is coming to life – how fanciful! I think that some of our friends may be a little fed up with our main topic of conversation so if any of you are reading this we are sorry! Little wonder that our son suggested we call the boat “Obsession”. I suppose it is partly that long-term we hope Epiphany will be our home. We sold our house years ago when BJ had a change of career and so it’s a bit like starting again. Anyway this whole exercise is keeping us “out of mischief” and giving us a shared interest and goal and that cannot be bad. Maybe there are some who may learn through our experience being so fully documented in cyberspace! Our family has grown up with technology thanks to BJ’s first career and abiding interest in ICT development and systems analysis. So it is not surprising that we embrace this medium