Quo from the air

I do hope that Debdale Marine don't mind me blagging their gallery picture of the marina from the air, but it shows Quo in all her finery, just up left of centre, immediately below the scarlet boat.

Winterising

This afternoon I fitted a pair of curtains that Liz and I made, drained the hot and cold water systems, tested the central heating, put antifreeze down the shower trap and ran the engine to check the battery voltages on my newly-installed voltmeter. I'm open minded about said voltmeter, as some boaters seem to become obsessed by the readings.

All that remains to do is to fill the diesel tank, dry out the water tank (it was raining when I drained it) and we are ready for whatever winter brings.

The new curtains are much lighter and prettier that the old ones.

Readings from both battery banks with (left) and without (right) the engine running.

Summer boating

Whey Hey it's May!

We got a new (to us) digital SLR camera off eBay the other day, and James shot a few images of our short trip up the Harborough Arm.

An excellent afternoon / evening's cruise.

Foxton church

Liz's halo is slipping

H

Water Tank

Ever since we bought Quo Vadis, we have drained off the water systems for the winter, as we rarely use her, and there is then no possibility of damage from freezing. Just as soon as the weather permits, we clean the cold water tank, treat any rusty spots with Vactan, then repaint it with potable blacking.
 
As you can imagine, painting something as large as the water tank (it takes up the whole of the bow of the boat) with sticky black goo is not a simple operation, so before embarking on the paint-out this morning, we carefully masked off her new paintwork and stood ready with large quantities of old rags, white spirit and masking tape.

I took first stint inside, washing out the tank with detergent, and drying it off. Next, Liz went in for the real work, thoroughly painting the tank with potable blacking down to about a foot from the bottom. That done, she came out for some fresh air, and I taped the brush to a broom handle, allowing us to use the bottom of the tank as a paint tray to finish painting the lower part of the tank.

It is very pleasing to note that with this routine, the tank requires less work each year, with just a few spots of rust showing through.
Next week, we can wash and fill the tank ready for this years cruising :o)

First off, my mate Bob and I are hoping to go out for a week in "minstrel" mode, just a week of playing guitars and singing, mostly in pub gardens if they'll have us ... we're calling it "Blokes on the Water".

Looking good in the sunshine .... nice shiny vents eh!