Can I interest you in a quick jiggle ? Some while ago now Sally had the great idea to check the diesel, without which not only can we not move the boat, but can't run the heating / hot water. Given that by the time I get home from work the marina has shut it is proving difficult to get diesel during the week and lets face it, weekends are for boating. However . . . as where we live is a tad on the agricultural side several of the local garages sell red diesel and I have a handy 25 litre plastic drum. All we have to do now is get the diesel from said plastic drum into the boat's tank, preferably without spilling any into the canal.

I can tell you after not much research (once was enough) that trying to start a siphon using your mouth is not a good solution. You can be as careful and as clever as you like, but sooner, rather than later you too will have diesel breath. Then we remembered seeing a gizmo demonstrated by a Dutch (we think) gentleman at the Burton IWA festival that started a siphon merely by jiggling a pipe up and down. Cue the internet, search for 'siphon'. We didn't find our Dutch man or his invention but we did find a site giving details on how to make your own using nothing more than a 15 - 22mm copper reducing fitting, a marble, some fuse wire, a cable tie and of course. . .a length of 15mm pipe. To use this wonderful device all you do is insert the 'jiggler' end into the container you wish to empty, insert the other end to where you want it to end up (please note it's a siphon so it only works downhill), then shake the 'jiggler' end rapidly up and down a few inches about a dozen or so times and hey presto . . . fluid moves. Not only that but it will siphon right down until the merest of drops are all that remain. We think that this has cost us less than £3.00 and unless you really love the taste of fresh diesel is a sound investment.

The diagram above shows the construction. The marble needs to be slightly larger than 15mm so that it doesn't fall out of the small end. The strand of thin  wire (30 amp fuse works well) is fitted by drilling a small hole through the fitting then threading it through and twisting the ends together. This stops the marble falling out of the bigger end.

So far so good, now the tricky part. In use the 15mm end dips down into whatever liquid it is you are trying to siphon, the 22mm end has the pipe attached that is going to take your chosen fluid downwards. Once you have created the masterpiece above all that remains to be done is to convince 15mm plastic hose that it really can, and does want to even, spread to 22mm. The trick it seems is to immerse the end of the pipe into BOILING WATER. Hot water isn't enough, it must be BOILING. leave it a few seconds to soften then with help from a passing friend use a pair of long nose pliers to stretch the pipe open whilst pouring more BOILING water over it.

Once you have stretched it as far as you can put it under a cold tap, this stops the pipe contracting. You should now be able to easily fit the plastic pipe over the 22mm end, making sure that you cover the wire (this is to stop it from leaking air). Once you are happy this is in place pour some BOILING water over it all and the pipe magically shrinks to a tight fit. To make absolutely certain we fitted a cable tie around it too.

Did I mention the water must be BOILING !!! We found out the hard way.

And on a completely different subject, you may recall how happy a washing machine can make you. You may also recall that said washing machine weighs a fair bit and we ended up with a list to starboard that meant Robert often went bump in the night as he fell out of bed. If you were really paying attention you will remember that I searched for bits of ballast that I could cunningly conceal around the boat and this cured the list. Last weekend we gave Oliver (our long suffering toilet) his monthly pump out. Oliver's' holding tank is, as we worked out &$£%ing huge and slightly offset to starboard so when we emptied it we developed a list to port. This pleased Rob no end but then Jason started going bump in the night (he sleeps on the starboard side). Now I have some small concrete path edge slabs that I move about from time to time to try and keep us vaguely even.

Did we mention the new furniture ? Very nice it is too. At present we have no dining / living area. Rob and Jason have a single each at the blunt end, Sally and I have the permanent double in the middle and Em has a single at the pointy end, my 'office' is between Em's bit and the kitchen. After much measuring (a feature of living in a small space) we designed a compact desk unit that gives me a 4ft wide desk, including a 2 ft 6 inch wide keyboard tray, space for the A3 photo printer I use for my photos a small hanging wardrobe and what will end up being the headboard of what will be the dinette double. We had this built by those very nice people at the Pine Warehouse (www.pinwar.com) who did a brilliant job of creating in reality what we struggled to create on paper. Not only that but they also remembered it had to fit through our narrow doors and managed to make it in component pieces small enough to fit into the back of the car for ease of transport.

The next plan is to measure up to create said dinette / double. This leaves the lads at the blunt end, Em in the permanent double in the middle and Sally and I with the dinette / double, kitchen and office at the pointy end. It also creates a family space where we can all sit down together for meals and games. All other things being equal we intend to put a freezer under one end of the seating area too. Haven't yet decided if this is going to be accessed from a top hatch or come out on runners like a filing cabinet drawer. What we do know is that the Pine Warehouse will be building it.

We now have a name, not actually on the boat, but we have a name. Decided that hand painting all of the graphics and sign writing was not something I'm good enough to make look good so I approached a local vinyl graphics company, sent them the artwork and a week or so later took delivery of all of the graphics plus the boat name. Have fitted the cabin hatch graphic and one side but need to do some paint work before I can fit the other side or the names. Still, the evenings are getting lighter so hopefully the good boat Wych Way will soon be resplendent with a full set of graphics and names.