cressendo al fine...

What a hectic, tiring but rewarding couple of days this has been - the Chair-o-planes is finally completed and ready for delivery.

Yesterday was the operational testing day for the adips certification... i.e., proof that it's safe.   Sorry the photos are a bit blury in parts but the ride had to be running.  Without the cert, the ride cannot be installed and used.  Luckily, all was fine... well when I say all, I'm ignoring a little glitch with the computer that runs the slow down process - it turned out not to be up to the job in hand so I had to head over to Boston to collect a couple of resistors to wire in to the main control unit - on full load (48 x 75 kg people) it now slows down properly... only a 5 hour journey after a long day!

The chap in the photo is the man who legally signs it off as safe.  As you can see, we'd loaded it up with 3x25kg bags of gravel per seat (which is shortly to become part of our drive and garden paths) and spun it on full speed.

No word of a lie, my heart was in my mouth...  3.6 tonnes of gravel swinging round at 12rpm may not sound much, but trust me - the wind noise it created was quite impressive.

Prior to the load test, we did a lighting test... and I'm pleased to say that out of the 384 lights I wired in, only 1 was a duffer... and I rectified that today when we took it down.

That's the sad part about things being so close to the wire - when a ride is finished, we never get the tinkering time we'd like to "play" with the thing.  

We got some volunteers together *read  forced the workers to have a go* and it seemed to go down quite well - I'd been on the 1st run as "crash test dummy" before we loaded it up - it creaked a bit but bedded down ok and I survived... in hindsight, perhaps a load of gravel first might have been a better idea.

After I took this video, I got into the cherry picker and took a birds eye view of it here:

We're currently dismantling it and piling it onto pallets ready to take down to Dreamland in Margate on Monday.  I'm taking a van with all the art work carefully wrapped in blankets separately.  

All in all, we've done a good job and despite the hostile Estonian (he's buggering off back home in a couple of weeks thank goodness and I'm going to make sure, we NEVER have him back again) we're all pleased to see it completed and looking so good.   Dreamland will be very pleased with it I'm sure.

Sorry I've ignored "the boat" lately - there just hasn't been any time or waking hours to think/do anything about it...thanks for bearing with me though - I'm trying to arrange a visit to the builder for Saturday the 21st so will hopefully be able to report back positively then.

With luck, I'll also be able to take a few days back the week after next  to rest, before we get stuck in to the next ride that we are supposed to have ready in July...  oh well - it'll soon be Autumn.

Until next time....

Ride Test Day...

Just dashing off to work  but if I make it through the day, I'll update you on the BIG DAY ahead - safety test day for the ride .... sorry still no boating update but there should  only be 1 week more of this ride totally taking over my life and I can get back to more important things.

photos to follow :-)

Photos as promised...

Good Morning,

As you might have guessed, I didn't get in until late last night...  I've been up since 4 this morning stressing whether or not I removed the crocodile clips from the truck battery I've been using to test my lighting strips - on Wednesday, my prototype went up in smoke when someone dragged a bit or metal accross the floor shorting it out...  now although no one should be there, we do have a mouse in residence and if she's scurried past... well, this morning we could be turning up to a bigger pile of smoking timber!!!

I was going to go in and check, but (given the yard was broken into the other night, by truck driving, bad-uns, wielding "gas cutting gear") I've decided to take a chance... the mouse may be having a lay in anyway.

SO - As we've not had time or energy to plan anything boaty, this week, here is a photo stream of the nearly finsihed chair-o-planes that have taken over my life for the last 3 months...

At the moment, it's looking like this:

Centre pole of the ride being craned into position - prior to this, we were trying to balance a few pallets on a fork truck, along side a scaffold tower... the grim reaper left a message so I stopped things and ordered the "right tool"

Centre pole finally erected and the build up around it could now begin.

1 set of steps down... 19 to go.

24 NEW swifts ... in 6 coats of paint.

Roger wandering around looking worn out - oh, the green thing is a grating (platform to walk on) -  20 of them ... each slightly different to make the walkway under the chairs.

Speaking (well writing) of chairs, the 1st batch of 24 in Royal Maroon after being repaired.

Trial run of swift, bars and chair - Roger doing the honours again.

4, 6 way light distribution boxes that end up at the top of the pole  through breakers. - fiddly as heck to do and my finger ends are still sore.

Lighting strip number 1 - 

Original light holders that "clamp on" to the wire - as you can see, made in 1965... we have 1000's in new boxes for the vintage rides... the modern stuff is all  leds.

Build up of top frame

I'm bored with these by now...and still had 20 to go.

Top frame completed. Now for some pretty stuff.

Rounding boards going on - 24 boards, with retaining panels between them.  All newly decorated.

Half way there...

Close up of Rounding boards 

The other 24 chairs - British racing green (ish) colour number 226.

Trying out some ceiling panels and trying to work out the best way of fixing them down without damaging them.

These are the newly made hangers the chairs attached to.  The originals were too far gone to be safe so we cut 48 new ones from 10mm plate  - they weigh a ton.  All new shackles and if you look closely in the bottom right hand corner, you can see a little black safety chain - this is in case the big one ever failed...it's certified to 2 ton and costs a fortune.

Another coat of green 

Fitting the centre droppers - these are heavy and the cherry picker is more hindrance than help really...

And that is where we left it last night...

Today, we somehow need to give all 80 steps another coat of gloss, do the edges of the platforms,  finish the lighting strips, fit strengthening bars to the steps, rig up the lap chains and leg belts to stop folk falling out, do the remaining  47 safety chains, cuprinol the undersides of the steps and gratings, fit the rest of the droppers, attach the chains, attached the chairs, drill holes in each swift to accommodate the light strips, make a few brackets for the light strips... - oh you get the picture I'm sure....

5.15 now so it's time to sing *Hey ho.., Hey ho... it's off to work I go...*

until next time...

Awol...

So sorry dear friend...  we've not disappeared off the face of the earth - I'm stuck trying to get the ride finished for today's operational testing... which is not going to happen.

If I'm home before stupid o'clock tonight, I'll upload some photos of it - now it's nearly up, it DOES look impressive.

Porthole Bug covers...courtesy of www.bugsout.co.uk

After (well during) a very hard week, I decided it was time to re-visit the shopping list for the boat.

I'm still feeling down in the dumps about this ruddy fairground ride 

I can't recall whether I've shown you it or not - it's a 1930s chair-o-plane... or in layman's terms, swing chairs.  Anyway - it has to be finished, tested and dismantled by this time next week... and it's not even put together or painted yet. I can only do so much :-(

ANYWAYs - BUG SCREENS.

I've no idea how or when I found these, but I stored a link to them ages ago and decided they'd be useful when we got the boat.  They're one of those things you look at and (being Yorkshire) think: HOW MUCH?... then decide they'd be a luxury....  well after this week, luxury is just what we need.

Andy and I had a chat about it and discussed whether we should be frittering money (which is tight as a result of all the 'extras' we keep adding to the basic boat) but agreed if we didn't get them now, they might get over-ruled altogether so I ordered a full set for "Ellis".

On Thursday, Eric next door (86) struggled round with this lovely big box:

I'd just come in from work but couldn't resist opening it..

WELL wrapped is an understatement!!! - with no word of a lie, it took me longer than it took Andy to cook tea to get in to it.  

and at the end of all the unwrapping:  Tah Dah:

well not just the 1, but 10 porthole covers and 4 mushroom vent covers (although I've not actually checked the vent covers are in the pile.... I'm sure they will be) - total cost: £264.95 including carriage.

We're very pleased with them.  There was also a lovely note with them and some fridge magnets.

I'm a sucker for a personal touch.   Unfortunately, as we won't have the boat for months, they'll have to stay in storage but I did slap one on a radiator to see how strong the magnets are... and can confirm they are plenty strong enough!

There's a video on their website http://www.bugsout.co.uk  demonstrating them.

You can also buy replacement nets - which we'll probably do but it will have to wait until  after payday...

Today, if I had the energy, I'd be going in to work to get a head-start on tomorrow... alas, after a 72 hour week (32 of which were unpaid btw) I'm not... instead, I'm going to cook a leg of lamb as Andy's sister and kids are coming over to visit - they plan a trip to Ikea in the morning (on bank holiday Monday???) whilst I'll be heading off to work - as normal.  Hey ho...

Until next time...

The Wall...

Good Evening -(7.25pm)  please note the time... I'm home from work in reasonable time today...

AND I've had a bath too ;-)

So - "The Wall" - it's nothing exciting... just a wall in the guest room that we're sticking,pinning or wedging 'stuff that might be useful on'

There's something quite nostalgic about sticking stuff on a wall with blue-tac.  It takes me back to my youth with my  Kim Wilde and Stephen Tin Tin Duffy ( I mean, what kind of a name is that?) posters... 

Ignoring 80's pop icons  for a moment, it's a great place to shove stuff that you don't want to have to go digging for in the future - I do feel quite rebellious too as I've even used some sellotape to hold the boat plan to the wall.  If you look closely enough you can see my first attempt at the heating circuit.  I have since began drawing a proper on on my laptop... which I'll share when I eventually have a boat to begin fitting it to!

If you've been reading this for a while, you may remember I mentioned my "12 v bible" - well, one of the most useful things related to that was a snippet from either "Canal" magazine or "Waterways World" :

It's a readers question but the useful part is the formula for calculating voltage drop - to determine the correct size of cable for a given appliance  

Another thing that might be of interest is a residential (as in on the boat) Helmsman's Course with Bear boating... effectively a weekend away for 2 people, doing the helmsman's at the same time.  

They're quite local to us and we saw the boat out and about last year on the Leeds & Liverpool... it looks quite swish... it's expensive but WILL come in useful.  More about that in the future.

Quite by chance, we've also pulled out the Waterways profile for the Aire & Calder Navigation (where our mooring is located)

  - I used to collect these  and stick them in a folder for future reference... however it was decided a while back, it was just more "clutter" we didn't need and ditched them...  it does seem sensible to keep this one though - ready  for our first explorations!

Until next time...

The Stanley Ferry...

Pub that is..

Well it's closed until the 18th May for Refurbishment...

How do I know this? - well, I've just finished a 14 hour day working on that ruddy ride and rather than faff about in the kitchen, I decreed "we're off out of tea" as I walked in the door...

Hmmf.

'nough said!


Detour via Sainsbury's (other supermarkets are available) and we've a rack of ribs, selection of chicken strippers and jacket spuds in the oven - just enough time for a quick bath or proper blog posting ...  hmmm...  decisions made - I've chosen the bath and a glass of wine :-)

Until next time...

Quick update from the builder... and crane hire costs.

Sorry about the other day folks - I must learn to handle lazy cretins colleagues, with more grace and understanding...  it's not them it's me ... ... ... I think not!

Anyway, ignoring all that (in-spite of it taking up 16 hours of the 17 I'm awake each day) for a moment, I had an update today from the boat builder.

At Easter, I'd sent an email asking a few things - namely when did he want us to meet up and pay some more money over.  I used my email as an opportunity to also enquire whether the boat might be ready in October - this because having now spoken with the boat yard at Stanley Ferry (where the mooring is), it turns out they schedule their main "Crane Out" of the grp's in October... and if we can tie lifting "Ellis" off the truck and into the water then, it would save money.  Quite a lot of money - it's circa £1500 for a solo crane hire or £350 for a share...that's 1150 quid back in our pocket... well when I say our pocket, what I mean is 1150 quid to spend on more useful stuff.

It transpires we've had  wires crossed somewhere along the line and the earliest expected completion date, is the period between the end of November and the End of January 2017 :-(

As you can imagine this is a bit of a bummer.  On the plus side, he did half suggest they might be able to bring things forward but decisions would need confirming ASAP in regards porthole positions.  I thought we'd already agreed on that.  I got back to him straight away and we now need to try and get a trip over there arranged asap - which isnt easy given the state of things at work AND the fact he's tied up for the next 2 weekends anyway.

During a few more email exchanges, I also thought it a wise option to remind him about a bigger water tank.  Initially we'd agreed to have the standard one  (stainless steel 300 litres) but having visualised this (by looking at the hot tub half full) have agreed to increase it to a 500 litre stainless steel one - at an uplift of £250 (ish)... it's very hard to tie him down to prices.  THAT said, he has agreed to glaze the side doors/hatches at a reduced price of £500 each instead of the quoted £600 - which I suppose almost offsets the cost of the bigger water tank.

Meanwhile, I'm waiting to hear back from him again to firm up which Saturday afternoon he can accommodate us and as you know, I'm the most patient, laid back chap in the world ...So that's good!

Until next time...

I want my life back...

OK - I know this isn't really the place to post this and it's got buggar all to do with the pre-build or boating... it's just that I've had enough today... enough of "people" standing around watching others working and causing a nuisance...enough of that ruddy Estonian trying to provoke me into arguments - over any subject... enough of  people standing behind me, watching whatever I'm doing and telling me I'm doing it wrong .... THE next person to do that is going to get whatever tool I'm using (whether it's a planer, circular saw, reamer, drill or just a plane old paint brush) shoved firmly where the sun don't shine!

The thing I'm most cross about is that whilst every principle in my body is telling me it's not my problem and I should walk away.... Financially I can't...  we need to save another 20k or so to ensure we can complete the boat properly... and even after that, we'll need to save some more to get something in reserve to pay the mortgage if the hotel boat thing in year 2 doesn't work out as well as expected.  So I'm stuck working 70-80 hour weeks and only getting paid for 40, to make sure it all gets done.   Despite the marital disharmony it's causing - I SO wish I didn't actually care about it...  didn't worry at 3am about all the things outstanding ... but I do so there we are. hmmf!

I hate money.

Now I know we're not the only people in this position - the world is full of them.  IF you are lucky enough to be in a "proper" job.. with "proper holidays" a "proper pension scheme" a "proper sick pay scheme" AND you get bank holidays - whatever you do, hang on to it with every breath in your body... Unlike I did, 'thinking' the grass was greener... it wasn't...  or rather it was, but it it still grows in shite  muck!

On a slightly more positive note, the solar panels on the house did quite well today - in fact, I think they topped their highest record yet , generating 20.59kwhs.

If you find this kind of thing interesting, you can take a look at the website which monitors the Omnik inverters all over the world.  Take a look herehttp://www.omnikportal.com/Terminal/TerminalDefault.aspx?come=Public

I'm going to bed shortly - the alarm is set (as usual) for 5.30 now - although the birds are doing their bit to get me up about 5 these days...

:-(

Until next time...

Life Laundry...

Sorry I've been quiet this week – you may recall, I work in  vintage fairground restorations these days and we’re racing towards our first of two ridiculous delivery deadlines…i.e., we have to complete, test and install a massive 48 seater chair-o-plane – by 11^th May.

This has meant both a loss of weekends and longer, physically (and mentally) exhausting days since I ranted about it a couple of months ago.

My ranting of course has done nothing to help – nor has a stroppy Estonian joiner… who I have to say is the most difficult person I've ever had to deal with in my 43 years so far.  I’d go as far as to say, that if HE is “typical” of the nation – they can stay where they are …  … …. I'm sure it’s just HIM that’s a bad egg.  Anyway, I've given up on social interaction with him now – sticking to “Sven please can you do this and please can you do that” type of days… they drag and the atmosphere is awful but everyone else feels the same way and the bloke has effectively sent HIMSELF to Coventry.

No matter – the job will get done and THEN we have to fire back to the Brooklands track which is currently lurking on our shelving.   On a more positive note, here are a few photos I took so you can work out the scale.

We initially tried to erect the centre pole using our forklift and a scaffold tower – luckily my self preservation head kicked in and I stopped proceedings, in favour of a hi-ab from a local firm we use. 

http://www.aphollingworth.co.uk Incidentally, if EVER a company employed the RIGHT people … it’s these guys.  They are total stars… NOTHING phases them and they muck in.  They have a few drivers but the main ones we've dealt with are Kevin (in the photos above ) and Dave.  Dave calls everyone “flower” and is the nicest, most friendly bloke you could ever meet.  I've a lot of respect and appreciation for them all.

See – I've done it again.... I might as well change my middle name to Tangent!

LIFE LAUNDRY was my  planned topic....

Yesterday  afternoon (Saturday 17^th April ) after I finished work, I rushed into town to bank a cheque I’d had sent by ‘Experian’ in response to a form I filled in on the Money Saving Expert website (thank you Martin Lewis)…now I don’t normally join in with these sort of things, but I read an article about them bundling in an insurance policy with their premium… without telling folk.  In 2013-2014, I’d been paying their monthly fee for access to my full credit file, so I could clean it up after  the mess I’d made in the preceding years – without being too candid here,  I’d been in a bit of a pickle debt wise which took the best part of 7 years pay back and sort out.   I learned the hard way and as such, I'm now very sensible with money (well apart from this whole boat thing) …    ANYWAY … I got this nice refund along with a bit of interest.

Feeling flush (see how little it takes these days?) I decided to buy some new socks – Socks are good… Socks are something that no matter how fat your arse,belly,legs, and love handles are getting, they’ll always fit.

So I bought myself 15 pairs of socks – costing 25 quid (bargain or what?) and agreed with myself, to pay the remaining bonus cash off the mortgage… I’m doing  a lot of that actually… anything NOT already destined for the boat fund (such as monthly interest on the savings and the money from the solar panels feed in tariff) is paid straight off the mortgage.

As I walked back home, if began to think about the future – more specially, when we are living on the boat full-time,  I’ll never really be able to justify buying so many “extra socks”… in fact, I’d think 15 pairs of socks will be the TOTAL number I’ll have.   The storage space on “ELLIS” is modest at best… perhaps the equivalent of 1 double wardrobe between us on the whole boat and even then, the bottom of it will be partially obstructed with things like the piping for the loo or bedding storage etc. 

When I got home, I opened the wardrobes and took a long look – if you ignore the “clutter”… you can see we have WAY too much stuff.  It’ll have to go.  

By now my brain was in overdrive - panicking a bit more when I took my work gear out of the washer and headed to the tumble drier in the garage

We are going to have to begin getting rid of stuff... the trouble is, I'm one of life's hoarders... my brain is wired to think "I'll save that bit of whatever - it might come in useful" - they call it 're-purposing' these days....  

In the past,  I have been known to climb into skips for  a good rummage  - AND come out with some pretty useful stuff.  Perhaps it's time to do that in reverse!

Until next time...