Back again

As usual, we've had a great weekend. The weather was a bit damp on Saturday, but never enough to be a problem. It was dry most of the time with occasional bursts of Scotch mist and an odd bit of drizzle.

After a slow start, we ended up with about the same number of visitors as previous years and one build slot was booked on the day. It seems likely that at least another couple of slots will be taken up in the next few weeks, so a good result from Peter's point of view.

The socialising went with a swing, too, and even the quiz was kindly tolerated by the long suffering members. Best of all, the charity auction raised over £1000 on the day, a figure which I know from experience will rise when I take into account the effect of folk rounding up their payments.

Yesterday was more relaxed; Des and I did a presentation on the work we've (well, mostly Des) have been doing towards a replacement for the highly unsatisfactory Yahoo group service, we discussed an Owners's Group flag/ensign/burgee and finally had a session of Boaters Question Time.

The afternoon was very relaxed and we finished the day with a Chinese meal for those still around.

Today, we've taken down the marquees whilst the final jobs were done on Sanity Again. The major item was replacing the cracked chimney collar. This involved some serious banging and drilling by Andy to get the old one out but it's done now with the exception of some reblacking.

Tonight we'll have a final meal in the Boar's Head and set off back tomorrow.

Merry chaos

It's been an interesting day... We got up in good time so as not to hold the workers back. Andy Grindrod was soon busy in the engine room replacing the board under the battery bank. Naturally, this involved removing the batteries, so no power in the boat.

It was a chilly, damp sort of day and I ended up lighting the Squirrel to get some heat into the saloon, the central heating not being available. The saloon was quickly warm, then hot, then too hot...

Having installed the new base and reassembled the batteries, Andy turned his attention to installing the new power supply to the inverter. Meantime, Peter gave us the good news that the batteries looked just fine. After an hour off load and off charge, they all measured 13.2 volts, implying that they are all in good condition after two and a half years.

Peter then set out to replace the stern gland packing. This is the arrangement which stops the canal from joining you in the boat via the hole the prop shaft goes through. Sanity Again has always had a wetter bilge than Sanity, but it's got just a bit worse recently. When Peter got the old packing out, it was a bit dry and hard; I may not have been turning the greaser down vigorously enough.

There was also a very slight ridge on the shaft where it ran into the front of the gland; Peter's going to get our engine alignment checked just to be on the safe side.

All this was still going on when the other Peter, Sheila's brother, turned up with Jan, her sister-in-law. We went to the Miner's Arms in Adlington for lunch. It was very busy and service was even slower than usual. In fact we ordered just after one and didn't see our food until after two.

When it came, the food was very good; I think there's been some change in management there, with a distinctly US East Coast feel to both the style and the menu. It was nearly three before our plates were cleared; we didn't bother with dessert.

Back at Poynton, we had coffees at the Trading Post, since the boat would still be chaotic inside, though the work was now all finished.

Peter and Jan having left, we had a quick chat with Peter Mason, then got back on board and got sorted out. Tomorrow, they need us to be out of the yard by ten, so it will be another prompt start.

Suddenly, we're in the yard

How did that happen? ;)

We went for our meal in the Boar's Head last night, excellent as ever, and who should come in but Barry and Annie off The Shouting End, the boat built just before Sanity Again. They were up in Ripon for quite a while but have now moved south again and moor at Lyme View.

We had a great catch up session, naturally.

This morning after a reasonably early start we decided to wait until half nine before going and finding Peter to see when he wanted to do the work we've asked for. I had started another fender and Sheila some crochet when at nine there was a knock on the roof and there was the man himself.

Half an hour later, we were tied in the yard.

Peter's sorted the burnt out relay which was the main job and had a look at the failing area of scumble on the stern doors. In addition to the other jobs, he's decided the base of the battery compartment needs strengthening to take the weight of the Trojans and that our stern gland would benefit from repacking.

Most of this will get done tomorrow, as well as installing a mini inverter dedicated to powering the cooker cooling fans. At the moment we need the big inverter on whenever we want to use the oven or grill; this way, it will be possible to turn on the mini inverter in the galley and not have to trek through the boat to fire up the Mastervolt.

We also fitted in a walk down into town for some stuff we don't get from Ocado.

Tomorrow, the Ocado delivery, lunch with Sheila's brother and sister in law and more work on the boat. It's expected that we'll be pulling out on Thursday when we plan to head for Marple and maybe Bugsworth.