06-27-2020, 02:29 PM
What - no one has posted in this forum? I am shocked! I suppose this comes as more of a surprise because the only other discussion forum to which I subscribe is full of people who live and travel in their vehicles. Living on a narrowboat I'm in a minority there too, but there is a lot of discussion to be had.
I've been living in my boat for eight and a half years and for most of that time it has been disabled with engine problems. Gradually the problems have become fewer and have crept into the realms of things I'm prepared to have a go at fixing myself. Fortunately, I have found a great place in the middle of not very much and a farmer lets me rent a bit of his river bank. It's a great place to be based but, being so isolated, I need to have at least a few days clear if I want to go anywhere that looks very different and, of course, the engine needs to be working. My work is normally sporadic, each job requires several days of rehearsal and preparation. I could not afford to break down somewhere if I have a deadline to meet. It's not as though I can just go home and wait for the repairs to be done. I am at home!
A couple of weeks ago I had a go at replacing some components in the fuel and cooling systems that came up as advisories during my last engine service. I've put it off since December, because I am not a natural (and certainly not a trained) mechanic and any job I think to try and tackle usually unravels more problems. Unavailability of spare parts for my thirty year-old engine has been another result of the pandemic, as has - of course - having no work and in theory at least, plenty of time to travel. I amazed myself that I achieved in only two days what a marine engineer could have managed in an hour. I have taken the boat out on a couple of test runs and have seen no evidence of the leaks that were obvious before.
It seemed time for a proper test. I've used the lockdown to get my books and paperwork ready uncharacteristically early for the accountant to check and sign off. He also sorts out my tax returns. The town where his office is situated can also be accessed from the river I'm on, so I like to arrange to take the books in by boat when I have those few days. Sometimes the trip is more fraught than I'd like. One year I had to abandon the journey because my engine overheated and died while I was in the middle of the river, about twenty feet from either bank. Fun times.
Just to place life in my world in perspective, his office is a twenty-five minute journey away in my van. However, the trip takes about six hours in the boat. Some of the route was obstructed with weed on the surface of the river from bank to bank. That slowed me down as the weed kept obstructing the propellor, so the six-hour journey became seven. When PA is with me, he stays inside and takes lots of photographs or prepares wonderful food so I can keep going. Most of the time I'm on my own though so that requires a little more forward planning.
I am delighted that my repairs held fast and the engine seemed to work as never before. I managed to choose the hottest days of the year to go and I am nursing sunburn in places I didn't know I had places. For the past couple of nights I have huddled in bed with ice packs. Today we are back to good old-fashioned English rain and wind.
I couldn't decide in which forum I should post this, so Travel - Europe - UK seemed most appropriate. To make it slightly more relevant I live mostly in The Fens. No need to visit; there's nothing to see ... although you may know some of the towns and there are things to see in Cambridge
I've been living in my boat for eight and a half years and for most of that time it has been disabled with engine problems. Gradually the problems have become fewer and have crept into the realms of things I'm prepared to have a go at fixing myself. Fortunately, I have found a great place in the middle of not very much and a farmer lets me rent a bit of his river bank. It's a great place to be based but, being so isolated, I need to have at least a few days clear if I want to go anywhere that looks very different and, of course, the engine needs to be working. My work is normally sporadic, each job requires several days of rehearsal and preparation. I could not afford to break down somewhere if I have a deadline to meet. It's not as though I can just go home and wait for the repairs to be done. I am at home!
A couple of weeks ago I had a go at replacing some components in the fuel and cooling systems that came up as advisories during my last engine service. I've put it off since December, because I am not a natural (and certainly not a trained) mechanic and any job I think to try and tackle usually unravels more problems. Unavailability of spare parts for my thirty year-old engine has been another result of the pandemic, as has - of course - having no work and in theory at least, plenty of time to travel. I amazed myself that I achieved in only two days what a marine engineer could have managed in an hour. I have taken the boat out on a couple of test runs and have seen no evidence of the leaks that were obvious before.
It seemed time for a proper test. I've used the lockdown to get my books and paperwork ready uncharacteristically early for the accountant to check and sign off. He also sorts out my tax returns. The town where his office is situated can also be accessed from the river I'm on, so I like to arrange to take the books in by boat when I have those few days. Sometimes the trip is more fraught than I'd like. One year I had to abandon the journey because my engine overheated and died while I was in the middle of the river, about twenty feet from either bank. Fun times.
Just to place life in my world in perspective, his office is a twenty-five minute journey away in my van. However, the trip takes about six hours in the boat. Some of the route was obstructed with weed on the surface of the river from bank to bank. That slowed me down as the weed kept obstructing the propellor, so the six-hour journey became seven. When PA is with me, he stays inside and takes lots of photographs or prepares wonderful food so I can keep going. Most of the time I'm on my own though so that requires a little more forward planning.
I am delighted that my repairs held fast and the engine seemed to work as never before. I managed to choose the hottest days of the year to go and I am nursing sunburn in places I didn't know I had places. For the past couple of nights I have huddled in bed with ice packs. Today we are back to good old-fashioned English rain and wind.
I couldn't decide in which forum I should post this, so Travel - Europe - UK seemed most appropriate. To make it slightly more relevant I live mostly in The Fens. No need to visit; there's nothing to see ... although you may know some of the towns and there are things to see in Cambridge
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