Yet another Plan B

It seems a bit extravagant, but it is cold.  It is getting lighter in the early evenings, and I am still experimenting with "photo's in the dark"

      The crane in the boatyard, if you can't make it out!

I still haven't got the Eberspacher fixed, Eberspacher don't care about customers, that is why they sell things through agents.   So I picked up a Propex heater.  If for any reason I can't use the diesel heater, then I can use the LPG one, and vica-versa. 

A stainless inlet/exhaust plate goes on the outside...

   ..and two stainless snakes come into the boat.

The heater fits into the bottom of a cupboard quite neatly.  now at least I have heating.

The heater took less time to fit than I thought, so I made a start on the saloon seating.  This will eventually have a slide-out section so it will turn into a bed.

Winter chills

Well, I've received the Eberspacher back from pf jones, "tested on the bench and fully working".

Now I have isolators, and a neater pipe layout, it is much easier to fit back in place.

Plug in the controls and GO!   The pump starts pumping water for thirty seconds, then....nothing.  The system shuts down.

Diesel is coming out of the diesel pipe, the water pipes are full of water, water is coming out of the bleed screw, 13.9V present at the boiler.

Plug in the controls and GO!   The pump starts pumping water for thirty seconds, then....nothing.  The system shuts down.

The controller reads error code 14, which is over temperature, but the boiler hasn't even lit yet.

Back to the distributor on Monday....

Bugged by diesel

Now it is nice and frosty in the morning, the eberspacher decided to pack in.  I tried clearing the error codes, but it would not light.  I had to remove it in order to return it for fixing.  This is where I wish I had fit isolator valves to it.









Once I had turned off all of the radiators, I managed to get most of the water from the header tank collected in a bottle for re-use.  I removed the boiler and, while it was off, decided to tidy up the pipework running to the boiler, to reduce any chance of airlocks.  I spent about an hour cutting pipes, and fitting them behind the engine, dangling almost upside down, and banking my head on the mains cupboard repeatedly.

When I tried the pipe with some water, almost every joint was leaking!.  I removed all of the pipes, dangling almost upside down, and banking my head on the mains cupboard repeatedly.

It was then I discovered that, instead of 22mm pipe, I was using 20mm conduit!

Never start a plumbing job on a Sunday!  Sod it, I decided to go to the pub.  Just to be different, I decided to go to the butcher, 14 miles or so along the canal. 

It was a beautiful sunny day, if a little cold, as I walked towards the remains of the old Blackburn Royal Infirmary,

..through Mill Hill...

..and up to Infirmary locks.

Just beyond Whitebirk, the canal was frozen, leaving the ducks confused.











When I returned to the boat, there was a new arrival.

Needs a bit of TLC.

Cats, Cream and Ice.

 I dropped some beer off at the Old, which was closed for the week up to Christmas.  For no reason at all, I decided to call in at Wainrights for a pint before I headed home, and fount Cam, Jilly and Leo getting into the Christmas spirit.

Christmas was spent at Sophies,

   where Luke was playing the new Uncle very well.

Eaten too much.



Rusty got some cream at Christmas, but struggled to get the last bit off his nose.

Boxing day was the first real cold of this year yet. Loads of ice on the boat, and I am quite glad I got the spray foam insulation.








Just In case I fit an extra towel rail in the kitchen, always handy for drying towels!

In the lull after Christmas, I decided I would get the flooring sorted out.  I carpeted the whole of the bedroom, 5 carpet tiles in all.  This was more difficult than it looks, as I had to trim all the (square) tiles to fit the not square room!  While I was on the floor, I carried on down the corridor fitting laminate...


  ..and into the kitchen, having got some more laminate in the B&Q boxing day sale.

The following day it was great to get out of bed, and stand on carpet, instead of the plywood that my feet were getting rapidly tired of.



New Year was up at the Old, and a great night.





The new tent was working well, but I had left my boots too close to the side in the front "porch", so with the wind blowing from the side all night, I woke up to two boots brim full of rainwater.  At least I know my boots dont leak!

New years day was a real storm, (other than squelching everywhere in wet boots) and a great chill out day spent in the old, eating soup with fresh made bread, drinking coffee, eating Chilli with cheese, drinking several beers and generally talking bollocks all day.

The Old seems to have acquired a cat.

 The Langdale express was on form on New Years day, and the campsite was very quiet, most tents having blown down the previous day.

Back to the boat (dry boots and dry socks  - Awesome!), and I finished off the corridor by fitting the skirting to cover the radiator pipes.  This looked like a simple job, but took a whole day with all the cutting around the pipes.

Christmas at Prestwich

It's not that warm selling beer and mead at Prestwich Christmas market
I have finally got mobile blogging working though

Technophobia

I have finally taken the plunge, brought myself out of the dark ages, etc.

I have retired my ageing "push-button" mobile phone after only about seven years use, and got one of these touch-screen thinngys.

I have spent two days taking photo's of the inside of my hand, while trying to talk to someone...
I have spent two entire lifetimes copying all my contacts to the new phone...
So this was supposed to be my first post using my phone....

  ..but the blogspot APP doesn't work !!!

Back to the PC then.

I acquired some nice rubber matting for the front and rear decks from ebay, and a quick trim with the Stanley knife...

 It is quite bouncy and puts a bit of a spring in your step ...

On the way to work on Sunday night I had a couple of pints in the City Arms, a great little pub hidden away off St Peters Square.

It is good to see that some of these old pubs with tons of character are still surviving in Manchester.

Stripes and the blue beer

Ian has now finished the main painting on the boat, and has moved on to the coach lining. It comes as a shock to realize how many rolls of masking tape are needed.

 This is what happens when you fall off the ladder while painting stripes!

Once the tape is removed, the boat is looking great.

 

We ran the bar at Bury beer festival again, and all the beers ran out.  Great news as after working the bar for 2 12 hour shifts, it is far easier to carry empty casks out of the place on the Sunday.  The Costa Del Salford and the Decadence were, of course, the first to run out but the Stouts and the Mild also sold very quickly.  People do drink dark beers!

I found some blue children's swimming goggles on ebay for 99p, and we set about confusing some of the customers.  We set up at the end of the bar, and first we tried fitting the goggles to a half glass, then a pint glass, and finally we found the best fit was a commemorative glass we had at the back of the bar.
Next I went over to the supermarket and got a nice piece of Blacksticks blue cheese, and we had a pint of beer, wearing goggles, looking at a piece of cheese. Several pictures later, and we have confused everyone at the bar.

Saturday we set about brewing the next new beer.  The run-off from the mash tun was a sort of golden orange, which we didn't want, however once the wort had been boiled, the special malts we had included turned the beer to a superb red colour

 Lashings of Amarillo hops, half an hour laying out the new clip, and we are away.

 

I can't wait until next week to taste it!