Toilet Pipe (revisited times 3), more jobs, a Twanged gongoozler and final anniversary.

IT was 12 months ago yesterday we cremated mum.  As many people have intimated, once you get through the first 12 months of anniversaries relating to her, her life and her death, things become differently painful.  I can confirm, yesterday (which I spend most of on my own (again)) was a tough one - controlling my brain and stopping it wandering back to that day was almost impossible.  DISTRACTION was the best I could come up with.  In the morning that involved spending as long as I could - or rather, as long as my back would allow) on my hands and knees gardening at the bungalow.  The tenant really has let it go but like I said to her, she's a single mother doing a good job at that, so a few weeds doesn't matter... you only get one shot bringing up kids so speaking as one who was fortunate to have a brilliant childhood, with 2 parents who sacrificed an awful lot to make sure my brother and I were loved, educated and compassionate, I'd FAR rather she put the effort into her child than keeping the garden tidy.

That said, it really has become a jungle lol.

That's why I boated up in to town to be closer walking distance... previously when I've walked the 4.5 miles there  and spent a few hours in the garden, I've not had the back strength to walk back again.  Ergo, simple solution to bring the boat closer to home and do it from there.

It seems to be working - I'm on day 3 of operation "re-take nature"...  there are a lot of days more needed lol.

DURING my journey, I got to a lock (Fall Ing) that had been closed for a couple of days for a police incident.  Which turns out was to search the lock for a missing teenager.

Mateusz Lugowski- poor kid is only 16.

I realise there is little chance anyone reading this would have an info but you never know... I can't imagine what his parents must be going through.

ANYWAY - during my asscention of the lock (single handing) I got a bit carried away with my top gate paddle winding and the boat rushed forward (it's a double length double width lock btw with awful currents)... and of course the resulting "rush" was 'braked' by the centreline... ahem a centre line that WAS going through a fairlead on the roof... a fairlead which "twanged off " with the most horrendous noise and skimmed past a goongoozler on the lock side!!! - had it hit them, they'd be in a very bad way.

IT had snapped off both the screws holding it down and pulled a load of paint along with it.

I have no one to blame other than "me"... I should have brought the boat up slower...  

ANYWAY - I've ordered a pair of replacements - this time a bit bigger with 3 fixing holes so when they arrive, I'll no doubt have a bugger of job removing the OTHER one lol.

So, I've been here a few days now - and have taken the opportunity to buy "heavy things" that are a pain to carry...  mainly soft drink and canned goods etc - it's a log easier walking half a mile than the usual distance carrying them.

BACK to the gardening (I know - this is a boaty blog) - 

THAT has been a few days work...  

There are STILL quite a few days left to do 

I'm tackling it in little sections at a time...  it'll  get there.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

BACK on the boat, the time finally came to RE-DO the toilet pipes... for the 3rd and final time...  THIS time, I've bought the most expensive twin lined Butyl NO odour (as apposed to low odour) hose I could find...  ANNOYINGLY - "Gazza" on a boating forum told me 2 years ago I should have done... turned out he was right - however as I didn't have the money (have even LESS now) I bought what I could afford... turns out the old saying, "buy cheap buy twice" (in this occasion thrice) IS true....  grrrrr. hmmf.

IT's done now - and the faint odour in the wardrobe is nearly dissipated...  well, it has done but is now replaced by the smell of the hose - massively better though lol.

WHILST the cupboard was taken apart, I took the opportunity to wire in more robust Car Power socket power supply - taken from the toilet feed (which is 30amp).  The reason for this is that one of the customers coming this year requires a CPAC (maybe I'm calling that the wrong name there) BREATHING machine to force air into him whilst he sleeps - Sleep Apnea...

IT requires a 10 amp supply for the 12v apparatus.  GIVEN the cabin is at the front of the boat, the only way I could think to accomplish this AND take volt drop into account, was to use the macerator toilet feed! - ergo, I've tapped into that and all being well it will supply the power he's going to need.  Apparently , the 10amp is the MAX - and he can turn off the dehumidifier function to save power... time will tell how the batteries cope over night... if they are struggling, I'll turn off the fridge and maybe connect the starter battery in to help out... I've got the lithium jump starter pack which I keep charged up as a back up.

I know that last photo makes it look wonky but it's not... it was the way I was holding the camera and hadn't screwed the surround into place.... it's fine... honest.

Righty ho - time to run the engine for an hour (bulk charge) now I'm away from shoreline for a few days and then get back to the jungle!

Until next time...