Gone again

I went to the boat this morning to get it into town to handover to a couple of freinds who are borrowing her for the weekend to find that the petrol portable generator has been stolen again! Chained to the boat with two padlocks the chain was just smashed apart.

I have no idea what to do. The police will have no chance of catching the thieves who are probably many miles away and have disposed of the item by now.

If any one is offered a Suburu Robin 1700i petrol generator with broken clips on the front facia please let me know.

Tidying Up

At the end of the cruising season there are always little jobs that need doing. I have been plagued by diesel leaks over the last couple of years and I thought that the engine overhaul would sort it all out. How wrong I was.

In spite of the engine overhaul being carried out by the acknowledged experts on marinised BMC engines for use on the canal, I have had a leak from a joint on the injector. Small but inconvenient as it covers the side of the engine with diesel, making it sticky an attractive to any muck that is around, soaks the absorbent matting in the oily bilge and puts the 'clean' bilge at risk (and hence the canal) should any splash over the side. I do not like leaving rainbows every time the bilge pump operates!

So I have had the faulty injector changed and sent away for repair. Here is a picture of the item and the invoice.

It is hard to believe that £10.00 worth of work could cause anxiety, worry, risk to the environment and heartache!

Tooley's Botyard have been very good, accepting their responsibility in curing the problem even though the acknowledged experts on marinised BMC engines for use on the canal only give a six month warranty which was, effectively, over before the cruising season started.

So my engine bay is clean and tidy once again.

Winter Moorings

British Waterways winter moorings go on sale from today. I followed the link and did a search for 'Banbury' returning one result for Banbury Tramway at a price of £8.66 per metre per month.

I recently won a BW moorings auction for £1070 per annum for an 18 metre berth. That is £4.95 per metre a month. Didn't I do well being the only bidder!

Come on British Waterways: that surely is the market value you should be offering the moorings at.

Little Disagreements

A visitor to the town had a difference of opinion with a canalside business today. Sadly, it ended up costly to him in time and money as the business refused to serve him. I know that the matter will not end there as the towpath telegraph and electoronic communication is a very effective conveyor of the experiences of the disgruntled.

I am a firm believer that the local businesses along the canal need our patronage. Without them we would be left to carry cans of deisel from a petrol station, bottles of blue from the caravan centre, coal from the stockist etc etc. We already have to choose our moorings to be close to the appropriate DIY facility when making repairs or re-furbishments. Getting to a place where you expect a service to find it closed is not pleasant as we experienced during our Summer Cruise but we have usually found a handy next place down the cut! If we do not use them however, the 'next place' could be a very long way away.

So upsetting them does not seem a good idea to me.

"A gentle word tuns away wrath" is a proverb to remember.

More of the same

Here is a picture of the decorous front end of SONFLOWER in bright sunshine.
and here is the back end. She is dressed up for Banbury Canal Day, our annual home waterways festival.

During the Boaters Bash on the Saturday evening, when we enjoyed a beer, food and folk music by Nick Nack Paddy Wack, fresh from their national success at Beale Park, the rain started and it didn't stop until about 3 in the afternoon of the Sunday!

The rigging fell down in the night wind and we lost a bungy in the canal. My sea-searcher was put into employment but passing boats had moved it to a spot unknown or picked it up on the prop! Sorry if it was you who found it through your weed hatch!

We pitched the Boaters Christian Fellowship stall under the Tom Rolt Bridge and kept dry but windblown for most of the day. Appropriately the theme of the day was the Centenary of TCR's birth. The canalside service was held there too.
We had a steady stream of passers by, some of whom stopped to talk or listen to the songs from 1910 which we performed unplugged while children painted roses on paper plates, a skill we had picked up at Little Venice IWA Cavalcade.

Those who braved the weather had a good time. The town council tried hard to put on a good show and we were visited by several notables throughout the day including the Town Mayor, Chair of Cherwell District Council, journalists from national and local press, friends and visitors for all over the country.

Quite a few bloggers made themselves known too. It is good to meet people face to face as well as over the internet.