Lanzarote

Off to Lanzarote again for a little winter sunshine.  Costa Teguise this time which made a change.  We had a car for the whole ten days and although we didn't use it every day, we did manage to get out and see most of the island.

Piglet's paint

Managed to get a couple of coats on the little pig.

 

I have been trying to find out what my solar panel is doing but with all this sunny weather, its a bit difficult.  I use the inverter in the evening, drawing from the batteries, but by the time I get up in the morning, the regulator is flashing, indicating that it has charged them back up and has gone into 'float' mode. 

 

So it is providing ample power at the moment.  It will be interesting to see what it does as the days get shorter.

Evening paddle

Had a lovely evening paddle through 'the backs' from the Granta Mill pond down to Jesus lock. 

Produce

First of the sugar-snap peas.  Very tasty.

Piglet update

I've been busy starting the mammoth task of sorting out the engine room on the boat and have neglected the tender/dinghy build.  At this rate it wont be finished until long after the good weather has passed.

So I am making a push to get on with it.  The construction is mostly done now.  Next will be the dreadful task of sanding and sanding and...

Fuerteventura

A fantastic ten days in Fueteventura.  One of my favorite destinations.

 
And finally got to have my birthday meal which was cancelled tast time because we were both so ill.

Bank Holiday Cruise

May bank Holiday was predictably chilly and windy but it did at least stay dry.  Only a short trip up to the GOBA moorings at Aldreth, but very pleasant all the same.  Highlights were the BBQ on Saturday, Murphy getting confused and jumping the wrong way off the boat at 11.30pm (wet dog) and my epic fail when trying to get back on my mooring in the gale on Monday.

  

Free power (Ithink)

I constructed a simple frame for the solar panel out of an old bed frame and a few other bits and pieces.  My mooring is south facing which makes for an easy installation.  The panel can be set at two different angles and can be folded flat too.

The cable enters the engine room via a bottle top filled with CT1.

So its all wired in but is it working?  I would guess so, but I am not really sure.  I bought a little ammeter but I must have wired it up wrong because when I plugged it in, the fuze blew. When I get home from work, the sun is low so there is nothing for my clamp meter to measure.  And if the batteries are nearly charged, they will not be accepting any great amperage anyway.  I will try and take a voltage reading at night with all the lights off but that is a bit hit and miss since the batteries should be rested without charge or discharge for at least an hour before testing.   I think the thing to do will be to test voltage and amperage at every opportunity over the next few weeks and try and build a picture from that.  

Sunshine

Now that we are being treated to that rare commodity, sunshine, I decided to invest in a bit of solar.  Its been on my shopping list for a while but without a clear idea of what I need, It remained on the to-do list.  I know I don't use a lot of power, but having done a proper power audit, I was surprised to discover just how little I use.

I tried to be generous and over estimated where possible but I still came up with a figure of around 12ah in a 24 hour period.  This is for all my 12 volt systems lights, pumps etc.

This put a new perspective on my solar purchase as it looks like 80 to 100 watts would be enough and although a mppt controller would make more efficient use of the power generated, a cheap pwm unit would suffice.

So I bought an ebay kit solar kit  for a very reasonable £112.  My mooring is south facing which means it should be reasonably easy to make a frame to elevate the panel to 50 or 60 degrees to get the best from it.

Essex

A sneaky weekend at Steeple Bay in Essex.  I am always surprised how rural this part of the country is.  remote salt marshes and farmland just a stones throw from London.

Had to get my boat fix while in Maldon.

And a walk along Southend pier; the longest pleasure pier in the world at 1.3 miles.

Small boating

Last summer our contractors at work had some scrap pieces of 3.6mm ply that needed to go to a good home.  I was willing to offer one and they have been sitting in my lock up since then.  With the weather improving, I decided to see what I could make out of them.  Well, a boat obviously.

I gaffa taped the two longest pieces together and pushed and pulled them, then trimmed them until I got a shape I liked.

Added a temporary frame in the center.

Then covered the bottom with the other two large pieces of ply that I had.

Once trimmed, I glassed the bottom with 162 gsm cloth and epoxy.

Tied up

After two years of making do with some horrible lengths of knotted, frayed string on the boat, I have now treated myself to 25m of 14mm soft black mooring rope.

Currently watching Youtube videos on how to do splices.

Out from hibernation

With the lengthening of the days, I have crawled out from my cave with the beginnings of something akin to enthusiasm for doing stuff.  I have written a list - that's a start at least.  Hopefully we wont have too many more chilly days on the river now.