Wroxhall Abbey, covid and filter fun

Anne (Izzy the dog's owner) had celebrated a nice round birthday a while ago but our joint celebration was set for January as she had so many other "events" booked. Just before we were due to head to Wroxhall Abbey for a little pampering, her youngest son tested positive for Covid. Yes, not totally a surprise as the kids seem to all be little super-spreaders. 

Not tempted to her company under those circumstances and as it was too late to cancel the booking, we amended it to take the Toddlers instead. Their first escape from Hythe Marina since covid kicked off so quite an event.

The hotel is a lovely old building, recently refurbished, with the old Abbey in the grounds as you can see: 

Have a look at their website for more information on the history of the place, very interesting  - Hotel website link

Part of the birthday treat for Anne included a bottle of prosecco in each room so for the first couple of nights we enjoyed "Prinks" before dinner;

and this seemed to make Mrs Toddler smile a lot although she kept a tight hold on her face mask just in case:

Mr Toddler was way more relaxed:

The real issue was day three when we had run out of fizzy stuff. Mr Toddler pointedly told us that as we were going out, we could buy another bottle. For some inexplicable reason, we complied.

There is plenty to see and do near the hotel:

Stratford-Upon-Avon and Royal Leamington Spa were the chosen destinations as we didn't know either of them well. Both were well worth visiting.

Close to the hotel is the famous (well, to canal boaters anyway) Hatton flight of locks. 21 of them in a very short distance that looked like hard work to us:

Quite a busy day getting through all of those, we much prefer the single lock out from Cardiff bay into the sea which is hydraulically operated by lockkeepers  too. The tea rooms at the top lock are a real throwback to the days of friendly family run places and the advertised "famous scones" really are very good. Just don't use the customer toilet in cold weather.......

We loved the buildings and buzz in Leamington Spa too. Somehow this broken glass repair seemed very apt:

and the views from the riverside walk were good if gloomy, thanks to the weather:

All in all a good little break!

Maintenance news:

It starts to feel like "preparing for the new season" time. So, the captain had his annual diesel fuel fun and swapped out the fuel filters. Only 8 this year as the heating system filter was new during the summer. The worst bit was taking them up to the filter disposal drum in the marina to find that it had gone (apparently it was run by the now failed marine engineering shop, Team Marine). So, they came back and resided in the engine room until alternative arrangements were possible. That was fine until one of the strong ziplock bags holding them decided that it had a poorly made seam which allowed a little diesel to weep out. A little diesel makes a lot of smell that likes to linger too. So glad they were in the engine room.

Why 8 filters? Well, one polishing filter to clean fuel pumped from the storage tanks into the supply tank. A pair of Racor primary filters for the main engine (redundancy) and one on engine filter. Then a primary and secondary for the genset and the same for the wing engine. This year was way easier than before having swapped out the original primary cannister type filter on the wing engine (it was horrid) for a Racor turbine unit. That saved a good 15 minutes and lots of bad words.

It was on a Wednesday (not Monday) morning.......

Warning, this is ultra boring even in comparison to the other stuff we write.

For the older UK readers, you might recall the Flanders and Swann song about the gasman coming to call (if not, look at you tube clip to appreciate the style of humour). Well, it was on a Wednesday not a Monday but the gasman did come to call. 

The boat has a gas hob with two propane cylinders in an aft locker to feed it. Some time ago a new regulator and solenoid valve were fitted together with the "pigtails" that link to the cylinders from the regulator. However, the gas piping through the boat was the original and certainly not to the UK Gas Safe regulations. It also made us sleep a little less happily than we would like so the time had come to renew it.

We were recommended Stuart from Gas Safety Marine and it was a good move. He fought his way through an M5 closure to get to Penarth and then replaced pretty much everything bar the solenoid valve between the cylinders and the hob. Getting the electric Miele oven out from the housing was amusing but with some advice from an ex Nordhavn Europe man, it surrendered, allowing access to the gas fitting under the hob:

The amount of dust in the housing was impressive. You can also see the new pipe -- flexible stainless steel with a yellow sheathing - waiting to be connected:

and some insulation with nice Chinese symbols on it. Pulling the new pipe through the lazarette, then into the engine room and up to the hob was tricky but luckily the builders had fitted a nice big piece of conduit in the blind area behind the port fuel tank. The new pipe ran through there OK and then up to the hob. 

Here are the renewed gas locker fittings with just the original solenoid valve being reused:

So, we now have a gas safety certificate, pipework from the cylinders to the regulator that is OK to 2033 (doubt that will worry us) and a regulator that is good for 6 years. Well worth doing. If you get tempted then check out Stuart's website

New Year, Cornwall and fixing things, rather slowly

After a few very wet or blowy or grey (ie miserable) days, finally some sun peeped out and we decided that the boat needed a warm up. The usual around the bay madness followed and apparently it upsets the phones of some stalkers who are using Marinetraffic to alert them when we leave or arrive at a port. Pottering up and down the bay, we arrive in Cardiff and leave Penarth several times. Must do this trip one night just to give them the 3am ping treatment:

After warming up the main and wing engines we returned and had to lock into the marina. The bay level had been allowed to drop quite a bit. This did not cheer up the crew who had to deploy fenders on the port side, where the floating pontoon is situated in the marina lock. The day failed to improve as after lunch we needed to wash off the bird poo and green gunge that had started accumulating on the decks. Two hours of unadulterated fun. Amazing how very wet weather fails to wash off the poo but promotes green gunge so happily.

We did manage to escape the work bit though, and headed off to Cornwall to catch up with Norman and Julie and the new addition to their family. Meet Stanley the puppy:

Yup, dead cute, still at the nibbling / biting stage and he liked practicing this on the ears / legs / jowls of the two resident labradors, Roxy and Indie. 

You've seen them before but as a memory jogger here is Indie:

in sleepy mode and here is her mum, Roxy:

As you can see from this video, Stanley does like playing /biting and Norman was rather hoping he would suffer for it (you need the sound on to understand why):

Thanks to soggy weather we managed a couple of brief trips to the beach at Rock, plenty of chatting and many card games. The Fitbit step count was appalling apparently. At least it stopped raining for our drive to the south coast of Cornwall  and a rental apartment for the week. This place was a very lucky find  -   The Bolt Hole  and the interior and fittings were as good as the pictures on that website suggest. We amused ourselves by driving along the tiny single track roads to Cawsand where we had a different view of Plymouth Sound to the one we are used to when we arrive by boat:

We have anchored in the bay there before - it is usually a lot busier than in this picture. Funny how the name for this little cottage was picked for a building that had as many bare patches and rust streaks as paint:

The beach at Downderry where the apartment is located was a great place to watch the sun go down. Some horse riders thought so too:

and then the sun really dropped down as we walked towards Seaton:

A memorable evening indeed.

Where else did we get up to? Well, a visit to Polperro was a must do. Mainly because it is 38 years since the last visit. Yes, we are very old indeed. Little change was visible bar in the shop fronts. Still a picture postcard village and little harbour:

with waterfront cottages who have davits outside to launch their dinghy from:

In a moment of madness, we drove to Bodmin and then cycled the Camel trail to Wadebridge, meeting up with Norman and Julie once more. The trip there was pretty much all downhill. Very little effort involved. After a rather large soup and cake lunch, the return was a bit harder but we resisted upping the level of electrical assistance from the Bromptons beyond the lowest setting.  Perhaps having N and J cycling with us added a little competitive element to the trip for the Fitbit addicted crew? Anyway, the carrot cake had to be burned off somehow as the trip was only 7 miles or so each way.

Maintenance news:

That ***** manual bilge pump. After resurfacing the corroded faces which the gaskets had to seal using metal reinforced epoxy, then fairing them off, then treating the corroded parts of the pump with Bonderite (producing a chromate coating), then painting them, then making up a new gasket for the blanking plate, replacing the flap valves (here is one):

the pump was rebuilt with a new diaphragm and re-plumbed in. Only the ***** thing leaked from the outlet valve gasket. When you tighten the fitting it seems to like displacing the narrow part at the bottom of the gasket and letting it leak. The captain was delighted when he tested it and it leaked more than before he started all the work. Bad words about rubbish aluminium not the supposed bronze pumps were used. For quite a long time.

It was all taken to pieces again (involves removing and draining the outlet hoses which is highly amusing) and cleaned up once more. The blue Hylomar gasket sealant used to help fill any remaining imperfections in the pump surface was helping the bottom of the gasket slide as it was tightened but we think it was needed. So, another attempt and this time we also ordered some new reinforced hose to replace the rather stiff elderly exhaust hose that was originally used on the outlet. To add to the fun, some idiot in the factory has used a load of sealant on the original pipe not just the two hose clips which made removal of the stiff wire reinforced hose a "cut it off with a Dremel" job. We would love to get hold of the guy who used black goop on so many hose fittings for no good reason, only with something heavier than a Dermel in our hands.

After our Cornish break, the captain felt brave enough to fit the new hose (plenty of amusement there too) and test the pump. The good news was that it pumped out water and didn't leak any more. It doesn't look much different (bar the new see through bit of outlet hose):

The time spent and bad words expended were significant. It did avoid the wild cost of a new pump though, at least for now. It cost several glasses of wine mind you. The pump will continue to be be carefully monitored.