Toddling and maintaining

Not too many updates recently as we have been focussed on getting the toddlers moved from their Essex abode into our house in Hythe. All the planning came to a head when the removal truck arrived.

They now hold a record. The experienced removal company had used a maximum of 12 of the "wardrobe cartons" that let you hang clothes inside them. That was before toddlerville. They had to build some brand new ones and needed 16 to move two people, not a family of four or five. Actually we say "to move two people". If we broke the 16 down into male toddler storage and female toddler storage you would spot a small imbalance. Most guys can work out the likely split.

Around unpacking boxes and fixing things our various tenants had broken in the house (no comment), we picked up Dyl the dog to look after him for a few days:

You've met him before - he belongs to Andrew and Linda's daughter and we enjoyed his company on our March canal trip. Dylan (to use his proper name) is a cute Welsh terrier and very placid, adaptable, cuddly and gentle. Until he wants to play the foot nibbling game that is.....

He took over the boat and house as his territory pretty quickly:

Not impressed with the lifejacket but happy when he can see out.

We had an impromptu visit from one of the Norn Iron contingent too. Keith was helping deliver a yacht from Holland back to Bangor and needed to head home. So, owing to the captain's irritating ability to pick up a sickness bug (no more details should be added) Keith stayed with the toddlers en route to Southampton Airport. This picture was taken before any alcohol that day we hasten to add:

although the expression might suggest otherwise.

Finally we managed a couple of the building backlog of jobs on the boat.

One was our beloved softstart device that sits in front of our shorepower isolation transformer and lets it "softstart" to avoid tripping the shorepower on the pontoon. It had started misbehaving, not latching in properly when the shorepower lead was plugged in. It would work after a few attempts but was clearly in trouble. Hard to tell from the outside of course:

We managed to find a whole new unit on eBay for about a third the price of one via a dealer. The simplest swap was to remove the working innards of the new one and transplant them into the old case and wiring that was in situ. The old:

and the new:

just sideways.

Transplant done, it all worked OK and we also put some better insulation around the bottom cable entry - you can see how the shielding  doesn't properly protect the cables as they pass through the housing. Professionally installed indeed...

All worked well, good news as when we leave the boat somewhere it is vital to know that any temporary interruption in the shore supply will not be a problem. Defrosted freezers are not nice.

Even better, Keith is a serious electrical engineering type and he sourced a replacement 4 pole contactor for us (the white middle bit) so we can rebuild the failing device into a good spare. It might operate with a Norn Iron accent now though and like the odd glass of Black Bush.