It has been an 'interesting' few months.

A cold snap ?

At the time of writing this page we have just gone through a cold snap that saw temperatures drop to -13 and the canal has been frozen solid for 2 weeks. Despite smashing our way through it to create a clear area around us it re-froze every night. We switched on the Eberspacher one morning and were 'rewarded' with some horrible noises that made me turn it off again quickly. With much horror I checked under the back deck to see what damage may have been done - fortunately - and luckily none.

It turns out that the water in the heating system was within, to quote that well known phrase 'a gnats fart' away from being frozen. At this point I recalled that I hadn't checked the anti freeze level bar that tried, and now I am very aware 'not to be trusted' method of dipping my finger in it and licking it. Anyway, convinced that it wasn't actually frozen I did a re-start and Ebby burst forth into life and warmth was to be had.

Borrowed an anti freeze hydrometer and discovered that the current protection was down to a mere -8. We were lucky. On to an anti freeze hunt - me and everyone else by all accounts - but three garages and 2 supermarkets later I have a gallon of the marvellous blue liquid. Duly added it by bleeding the furthest radiator and topping up the header tank with initially neat anti freeze, then slowly back to a solution that the hydrometer told me was good to -28.

Not cold enough ?

Going back a few weeks we noticed that our fridge wasn't doing the business and faced with the prospect of having to buy a new one we were spurred into looking for a different solution. It wasn't just the cost, the thought of trying to get it out of the boat - and a replacement in - was even worse. We found a place that offered a potential solution - a replacement thermostat. A few days later we received a small parcel containing a long coil of wire with a box of tricks on one end.

Quite literally 1/2 hour later the job was done and much to our happiness a result was had.

More electrical woe

Many moons ago our de-humidifier gave up. I took it to enough pieces to uncover the circuit board and discover that one of the resistors had got so hot it had melted its' way out of it. The resistor itself was fine, but the board was in a bad way and despite my best efforts was beyond repair.

This lead to an 'interesting' hunt for a spare. Homebase - whose sticker adorns it, deny emphatically ever having heard of it - despite it being only 2 years old. We eventually typed in the part number on the circuit board and found it on the 'net - in Italian. We worked out that we wanted the part - we could work out the price but we couldn't for the life of us work out the postage. We enlisted the help of a friend who speaks Italian to translate the site for us and she told us which option we needed.

A few weeks later a lovely new circuit board arrived and was duly fitted. That's two successes on the trot then.

It didn't all come out in the wash

For some time our washer / drier has been making what can only be described as 'ominous clankings' on the wash cycle and even worse when it tried to spin before going into self preservation mode and shutting down - leaving the washing clean but wet. Several phone calls to assorted repair men revealed that no one was interested in the job. We finally got one to agree that if he sourced the parts we'd fit them.

Some 2 days later even this hadn't resulted in progress so I decided to take the washing machine out and see if I could get to the bearings then source them locally. 1/2 hour later I understood why no one wanted the job and I gave up. With the help of some friends it is (at time of writing) residing in the scrap metal skip on its' way to the washing machine graveyard.

So off to the internet we turned to try and find a replacement and stunning as it seems we found a replacement. Second hand, same manufacturer (Candy) and same size (compact - a compact is the same width and height, but not as deep front to back). It has to be a compact because although there is enough space for a full size under the counter there isn't enough space to get it through the door. Not only was it exactly the right thing, it was also a mere 4 miles from home.

With help from the same friends we collected it, and carried it in through the door - with all of 5mm clearance, achieved by laying it on its' side.

Once more to the internet dear friends and we were in possession of a manual and thus suitably armed we are able to do our washing. Better than that the new machine is very smart - in fact it is called 'Smart' and certainly lives up to its' name and we've been really impressed. It is only when you 'hear' the new one you realise just how poorly the old one was - this one is damned near silent.

And back to the cold

Not only has the water been frozen solid, but the taps from which we get our drinking water suffered the similar fate. Our tank is a fair size so we can normally go several days without any problem  but after 5 days we were down to 1/8th capacity and so were our neighbours so with a team effort we ended up joining sufficient hoses to allow all of us to re-fill. Everyone was so low that it took all afternoon to fill up all of those needing water but at the end of the day, everyone that needed water got it.

And that is something that makes life afloat what it is. When times are hard we all look after each other, we, as boaters, have community. And that my friends - is boating.