Fire & Ice

It's bloody brass monkeys out there!

Thankfully I have my crap stove to keep me warm.

It's a pretty rubbish stove, but better than nothing!

Stoppage on the Lee navigation

Here's a few pics of a lock that being refurbished.

Very geeky in a Fred Dibnah kind of way, but hey...

I got my (M)TV

I now have a TV again! After just finishing a 12 year stint of working 'in tv' the last thing I should want to do is watch the damn thing, but after spending the last month living in a stripped out steel tube, in a ditch, getting my TV back is the light at the end of the tunnel (or steel tube).

I've also made my desk, a rather nifty fold up one that virtually disappears when folded, which is pretty handy on a narrowboat.

Galley, highwire and haggis

The galley is nearly finished! All of the woodwork has been done (except the floor) and i've just got the cooker to connect and some (more) painting to do.

Saw some engineers working from a cradle attached to electricity lines, these things were really high! Rather them than me...

And onto the haggis!

Marc, the man with the knife, is Scottish and invited me round for a St Andrews Day meal, which was rather nice!

I think it was just a meal to him though, I'm sure it's haggis at every meal, washed down with buckfast.

A lil' more progress

The galley is progressing, oak has been cut and sink is in!

Still got plumbing to sort in the morning but thats the easy part.

I still have to install the cupboard in the starboard (right) side but that has no plumbing or holecutting so it should be easier.

My engine has also decided to stop working again, which is nice.

I think its crap in the fuel tank, so galley work might be halted to fix that.

Aquanomad :O)

Got paint.

It's been a bloody long day for me today, got woken up at 4 AM with some really heavy rain. Rain on a steel roof is quite loud, no, actually very loud.

Jasmine now has a bit less 'antique pine' on show, took bloody 3 coats of undercoat to cover the damn stuff up though!

The ceiling is 'Old English White', and I rather like it. Still got the walls to do though, along with about a million other jobs.

Oh and thats my new stainless steel cooker in the middle of the room, should have the galley (kitchen to you land lubbers) finished by next Friday all being well

I have a floor!

Well almost!

The front half of the bilges are nearly done and I am rather happy with the results.

All of the rust has been converted with the help of Jenolite and then covered in 2 coats of zinc primer.

Still got a bit of floor left to do tomorrow then it's onto painting the ceiling and walls.

I'm looking forward to seeing a lot less 'antique pine' in the future!

Here's Ken again, grafting with a roller in his hand.

Holey boat Batman!

The work on Jasmine has begun in earnest, starting with the galley and saloon.

Saloon has now been ripped out and access holes cut in the floor to allow the treating of any rust and subsequent painting.

I hadn't initially planned on taking the refit this far, but if you're gonna do it, you should do it properly, plus I have Ken to help, which is makes the job a lot less daunting :o)

It's this kind of work that can increase a boats lifespan considerably.

Here's Ken doing what he does best, bilge diving!

Stoppages, dogs and rust.

Well, It's been a busy few days, I've been cutting holes in my floor and finding lots of rust!

Not ideal, but rust generally looks worse than it is, this is because the steel 'grows' to about 10 times it's original size when oxidised, basically a 3mm thick bit of rust only means you have lost 0.3mm of the thickness.

Well thats enough of the rust, on to the stoppages.

When we arrived at Ware lock, the Environment Agency were there in full force, divers and all.

There were some issues reported with the lock and they were doing an inspection.

It turned out to be a bit of debris stopping the lock gates closing, or something like that, but here's some pics.

Now on to dogs..., I'm dogsitting for my friend (Ken) and his scruffy little pooch is a bit of a character!

Silver lining...

Well it's been a bit of a day, I've performed a skintank bypass and it was successful.

Jasmine will probably survive. I can't say the same for my once 'baby soft' office worker hands.

Back on the move tomorrow, more pics to come!

Good night

Aquanomad

Good the bad and the ugly...

First the good (via the medium of photograph)

Not sure what this man was doing rowing a childs toy down the river, but hey...

Ken and Toffee on Halcyon leaving a lock

Ken and Toffee again

More Ken and Toffee

Halcyon and Jasmine in a lock

Ken and Toffee will probably be a feature in my blog for a while, as we're been cruising the same waters together for several week, and hopefully for a lot longer. I met the travelling pair at Little Venice, I was having engine trouble and whilst my back was turned for a couple of seconds Ken dived into my engine compartment and got to work on my engine. Over the short time I've known Ken I've seen that unconditional offer of help continually given to all. Ken, you are a Legend.

Toffee has also helped by licking the dirt from my ever hairier face (Toffee is a hairy terrier type dog BTW).

Now to the bad, I might need some steelwork done on Jasmine. It appears that one of my skin tanks (which is like a radiator on a car, but also part of the boats structure) has corroded so badly that it's leaking coolant into the cabin bilges. In laymans term, BAD!

And the ugly? Well there is no ugly, even the bad is not that bad.

So I might run out of money sooner and have to get a job before I'd planned, so what, I'm still living the dream...

Aquanomad.

More explosives

Couldn't crop these unfortunately, on my 'other' laptop...

DIY and Explosives

A slightly misleading title, but here's a pic of Jasmines internals.

And here's some pics of fireworks.

Watham Abbey

Took a walk into Waltham Abbey tonight, the church in the town square is rather nice.

As was the beer (not in the church, in the pub(which is my church))

Aquanomad.

Work begins!

Today was a very productive day for me, I actually started work on Jasmines interior :O)

After four months of putting up with the chintzy caravan style curtains I've started on making some nice contemporary shutters.

I've surprised myself with my woodwork skills, in the past I'd spend ages fashioning a piece of perfectly good wood into something only fit for the fire, or perhaps the Turner prize, but this time my work actually vaguely resembles what I had in mind!

Before

After

During

Obviously it's not finished, but I've started. And that can only be a good thing.

Aquanomad.

Where's mine?

All of the birds flock to my boat for breakfast.

Pics are back!!!!!

Well I went out and bought a new camera today, which means that I'll be posting pictures again!

I am now the proud owner of a Canon Powershot SX200, I went slightly over budget, but it's a great camera. I gotta work out how to use it properly, but here is a shot of Jasmine taken in auto (idiot) mode ;o)

Aquanomad

Freedom

Well it's here, the big U! Yes, I'm officially unemployed.

Still not too sure how I feel about it, but I was so close to going postal I guess it's the best thing all-round.

Anyway, back to business...

Doing my trans-London trip today, and it's not really gone according to plan.

First, whilst speaking to a another boater in Camden, by Hampstead Road Lock, I hear that there is a big party tonight at Kensal Green, I left Kensal Green this morning. DOH!

And secondly, Actons Lock, the last lock I had planned to do today was fucked!

So basically after about 20 mins, I realised that I could never fill the lock due to a broken bottom paddle (which I didn't spot due to it being dark).

So after turning round and travelling about 2 miles back to Islington, here I am, just upstream of Sturts Lock.

Well that was interesting, just let another boat moor alongside me (yes, right now I stopped typing to help tie them up), I guess that's my good boaty deed for the day.

Peace.

Aqunomad.

Windows 7

Well my copy of Windows 7 arrived today and I’ve got to say, I really think Microsoft have got this one right!

I’d only used Vista for a couple of hours before having to go back to XP (even with 4gb of ram!), but 7 is really good. All of the drivers installed automatically including the one for my TV tuner and multitouch trackpad. I got it all working in a matter of about an hour which is much quicker than with other OS installs.

Right, I'd better go to sleep now, serious lot of code to write tomorrow!

Aquanomad.

Real cooking cont...

I think I'm onto something, just made steamed chicken and veg with red wine gravy on the stove in a single steamer! Not only that, but i'm boiling the chicken leftovers on the stove overnight to make soup!!

This might be normal to your grandma, but I have no grandma so am rediscovering this shit for myself, no medals required though, it's just part of being an abandoned child.

I can see a trend forming here and with being aware of the relatively high level of susceptibility addiction in my system, I can say I'm addicted to cooking on my stove. So much so that I'm looking for pots and pans to fit the meagre space afforded by my stove

Well gotta go, ebay is calling...

Aquanomad.

Real cooking!

I have just discovered the delights of stovetop cooking, which is basically using the heat radiating from the multifuel stove on my boat to cook with!

With the sad demise of TV chef Keith Floyd I feel there is a gap in the market for an 'off his head' chef, perhaps I can help out....

Aquanomad.

Woohoo!

My engine appears to be behaving itself at last, it started quite well after a pretty cold night and that makes me happy :D

So I'm back on track, and have the 'other' engine issues to fix, namely the small, but nit fatal, water leak that drians about 1-2 ltrs a day from my cooling system and an oil drip.

Gotta go, gotta make soup.

Aquanomad

Engine victory, perhaps...

Well my engine is now working, or at least it has been all day. The real test will be in the morning.

And talking of morning, I'll have to go to work :(, mind you, I've only got 2 weeks left there and then I'm off!

Talking of off, I'm thinking of going up the Lee and Stort first and back in London for Xmas, then off up the Thames to Oxford, If you didn't get the hint, I'm in London for Xmas, so fully able to occupy a seat and eat turkey if anyone has a spare seat and too much turkey...

Aquanomad.

Still stuck!

Well I'm still here in Little Venice, which unfortunately means my boat is still broken :(

I had to call a marine engineers in, yes, I know I was supposed to do all my own work on the engine, but after 3 days I had run out of ideas.

It turns out that the 'lift pump' had failed, which although not good, means that I could never got my boat started and it's also a difficult thing for a newbie like me to diagnose.

So I'm left feeling quite positive about the situation, having the parts delivered tomorrow morning helps too!

Aquanomad

Air leaks and arsonists

Well my engine is still not starting properly, I've narrowed the fault down to an air leak in the low presure side of the fuel system.
Looks like another day of spanners and smelling of diesel for me tomorrow, but I don't really mind, it's all part of the boating experience!

Talking of the boating experience, one thing I've yet to master properly is lighting the fire.
I'm now begining to wonder if I should have spent more of my youth lighting fires, pehaps that could have assisted in my current dilema. Lighting them is not that much of a problem actually, it's just that my firelighter budget is eating into my wine budget and that concerns me.

Aquanomad.

Dirty fingernails...

Well after 2 days crouching over my battle-scarred engine I'm beat, next stop seems to be re-con fuelpump city.

I'm not complaining, I've learned loads about my engine and have replaced all of the serviceable parts, and checked all of the other parts.

Things I've learned:

• I have 3 electrical systems, a 12v, a 24v and a 240v
• Pumping the oily crap out from my engine bay means it's easier to crouch down in the two and a half foot high steel dungeon that is my engine compartment.
• How to change a diesel filter, also how it feels to be covered in diesel.
• How much I owe to a long lost friend, Tom Barrett, that man taught me everything I know about engines and it's coming in very useful now, thanks Tom, wherever you are...
• I probably need a new fuel pump.

Well that's It, till next time.

Aquanomad.

Chainsaw

Well I've started equiping myself for the winter and have bought myself a chainsaw.

I think every man should have a chainsaw, I can say as a chainsaw owner that a certain amount of satisfaction can be had from knowing my saw has a chain.

Next on the list is a generator; with those items I can cut down tree and pollute the air with the waste from my mini power station whilst keeping warm by burning those awful trees.

Next on the list is a small nuclear reactor...

Paddington Basin

Well I'm in Paddington Basin again and have explored a little.

The developers have done a good job, it's a very nice environment, infact i'd actually like to work here, if i get another job in London.

Still no camera phone, so no more pics, which is shit :O(

Aquanomad.

7 weeks and one day...

... not that I'm counting.

But It's the exact ammount of time before I am off.

Off from London, off from the drudge.

Bloody eBay Traders!

Well my new C905 phone that i've been using to post to my blog has been barred by Orange.

Considering i bought the phone as a referb, sim free, unlocked and all that it's a bit of a shit!

So i now have no camera to take pics with :(

ARSE!

Liking the Lee!

Can't believe how quiet it is down here on the Lee, I thought it would all be chavs on stolen mopeds but i'm pleasantly suprised :-)

Virgin crew...

2 new sailors were born yesterday, they boarded like they were jellyfish, but left men, carved of oak. Thanks guys :-)

The Lee

After the first London cruise, Brian, Trev and myself have arrived at the River Lee. I'll stay here for a week or two perhaps, but it doesn't offer the same kind of safe feeling as Little Venice or Paddington Basin.

Paddington Basin

Well after i did my first DIY pumpout i thought i'd go have a look at Paddington Basin,

and WOW! It's still a bit of a building site, but the visitor moorings are very cool.

There are also bars, restaurants and shops all around the waterside, very cool.

Getting there!

It's my tenth night in Little Venice and i've nearly packed my stuff away. I've done my first wash in my portable twin tub washing machine, which was a little more manual than i'm used to, but I have clean clothes now :-) it'll do til I refit the kitchen and get a proper, if smaller automatic machine.

The more time I spend on Jasmine, the more time I want to to spend aboard her, but not in one spot. Which is lucky as Saturday is moving day!!!