30/1/2023 0 Comments Engine Mounts, againThe knee is less painful and just about flexible enough to kneel so I'm back on Seren. trying to fit the rear, port side engine mount. They are screwed down to the engine bearers but the bearers themselves appear to be steel beams glassed into the hull. Rather than thread the thin metal there are loose cylindrical inserts rather like the system flat-pack furniture makers use to make joints. The snag is you have to have the cylinder inserted just far enough and rotated correctly to insert the screw. There's very little room to get a hand to it, and no chance of seeing what you're doing. After two attempts, last week and today, I gave up on a particularly hard to fit screw and brought it and the cylinder home. I've countersunk the hole and chamfered the end of the screw, cleaned up the threads and oiled them so (hopefully) it'll go back together more easily at the third attempt. I'll post a photo when I get around to it.
As a change from kneeling and cursing I've fitted the leisure batteries properly with secure mounts and new cables. And in today's bright sun the solar panel control was reading 12.3 volts with all the batteries connected. So that's a win.
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17/1/2023 0 Comments New Year, New PlanThe dodgy knee isn't co-operating and it's cold out so no progress on the engine mounts. Have done some tinkering in the shed which will eventually result in a central heating system in Seren but meanwhile I've been looking at maps and charts (and hospital appointments and holiday plans and the Eisteddfod dates) and tried to plan this year's big boat trip. So, following an early holiday to France in May (TBC) I'll set off early June. As always here the first 10-12 days will be, Great Ouse, Middle Level, Nene, Northampton Arm. Then north at Gayton Junction on the GU Canal to Norton Junction where I'll go north on the Leics Arm of the GU. Past Leicester to the junction with the Trent near Nottingham. Down stream on the Trent past Notts to Cromwell Lock where it becomes tidal, then on to Keadby Junction with the South Yorkshire Navigations. Via SYN to Leeds Dock to join the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Then west over the Pennines. Skipton on the L&L will be roughly my halfway point and most northerly stop en route. Then on to Blackburn. We lived there 1977-82 and both our girls were born there, but I haven't been back for ages so I'll probably stop a couple of nights and have a good look round. I built a DIY boat in Blackburn then moved it in a hurry when in '84 when I got a job in Huntingdon. Took 3 fit young men plus my dad 12 days. I'll follow the same route but being solo (and older than my dad was in 1984) I reckon it'll take a month. The Llangollen Eisteddfod is July 3-9 2023 so I'm hoping to at least be well into north west England by then so Linda can collect me and take me back a week later. I'll need to find a safe mooring for a week.
The route back will be; L&L to Wigan then the Leigh arm to join the Bridgewater Leigh Branch. On the Bridgewater to Preston Brook, but pausing in Dunham Massey (my birthplace) to have a good look around. Maybe also Altrincham where I went to school and Sale where I was in the StJAB. From Preston Brook Junction, down the Trent and Mersey past the Anderton Lift. When we passed in 1984 it was closed but it's been restored (twice?) since then and should be open so I might take a detour on the Weaver. When I was a kid we often had to wait at a swingbridge over the Weaver for a 'ship' (actually a 500 ton 'Brunner') to pass. Brunners are long gone but it's be interesting to see the river close up. The T&M meets the Coventry Canal at Fradley so I'll take that, but turn off to the East on northern branch of the Oxford canal at Hawkesbury Junction. the Oxford joins the GU at Braunston so I'll take that back to Gayton Junction and the Northampton Arm. Total distance without any detours is about 788 miles with 405 locks. Longer than my trip to Llangollen and back in 2019 but with fewer locks. Mileage is mostly sitting down but locks are work so it shouldn't be too strenuous. 5/1/2023 0 Comments Engine Mounts 32/1/2023 0 Comments Engine Mounts 2I fitted the front engine mounts shown in an earlier blog but didn't take a photo. But now I have so here you go:
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AuthorPhil, owner, captain, chief engineer, electrician, carpenter, cook and comms manager of Seren Archives
April 2024
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