grendel

I think I have found the cause of the problem, on a hunch I rigged the rescue ladder and took a swim, water was lovely and warm, round the junction of prop and hull I found this, it took 3 trips under the hull to untangle this, but it was pulling tight and wedging between the prop and the shaft mount, this was probably the cause of the engine slowing and stopping, funny I can't remember running over a paddle boarder, but it's not helpful when they leave straps in the water.

I bought 20 litres up with me from my local Asda at £1.72 per litre, of course the sign states 10 litre metal cans or 2 5 litre plastic. I have just topped up water rail to full, so running down the waveney mostly against the tide, crossing breydon on the ebb, and then running up the bure against the tide to stracey, then up to potter against the tide next morning, then all the cruising for the meet, and up to coltishall, has used just 20 litres

All fine now, it turned out it wouldn't fire because I hadn't pushed the engine stop all the way down, the original issue seems to be fixed, and I have got under way again, chalk the no start to user error.

Water Rail strikes again, after several good days cruising leading up to the spring meet, I decided to take her up to coltishall locks, all went well, Andi got there nicely and smoothly, where I had a coffee, and made myself some lunch. After about an hour I decided to head back down river and see if belaugh church staithe was still free, only as I was coming downstream, I thought I had picked up some weed as the engine faltered, reversed the prop to clear it, and proceeded on my way.after passing the pub andother moorings it did it again, this time I suspected the weed filter, so checked that, - clear. Checked fuel level, still about 3 gallons left, shouldn't be an issue, added a gallon to be sure. Started up seemed fine, for a few minutes anyway, but as I was approaching belaugh staithe it cut out, it restarted, but cut out when put on tickover, just stopped again, next item on the checklist, fuel filter,that was removed, found to be clear and refitted, fuel was pumped up to fill the filter and then it was the turn of the injectors, I went to bleed these, and nothing, there was nothing coming out. At this point I had run out of tests to do and called Dave.

I think Griff has decided we need some shoreside facilities at the moorings here at salhouse

As a finale, as it got dark, I took the model BA out on the water with full illumination, unfortunately I was too busy piloting the model to get any pictures so would welcome pictures from anyone who did. She looked stunning out there all lit up, and I was pleased as punch with all, except the red navigation light which I felt was too dim, I will have to see what I can do to rectify this, still never mind it was a success. Griff did of course point out that the anchor light should not be displayed under way.

What a day it's been, at 8.45 we headed into horning aboard rambling rose to collect the marquee, we had to hang around waiting for it to be got out for us, so at 10.15 we left to return to Ranworth so I could lead the procession, we had a lovely cruise up river to salhouse, where as the lead boat I took my pick of the entire empty quayside and moored perfectly where I ended up. After that it's been a busy time, erecting the marquee, and sorting everything out. I have received some batteries for my solar shed, but since the fridge was struggling, I checked out the boats batteries, one was at 11v, so I swapped in one of those I had received, new batteries is another planned upgrade to be done, so I will reclaim my battery when that happens, meanwhile the fridge is now running nicely. The quiz was one by Selsi and Sam's team, and at present the air is thick with BBQ smoke.

You could probably use a travel kettle up to about 500w, the toaster, depends on the wattage, and a toaster would need to be under 600w, the microwave would be iffy as they need a higher wattage for startup, and it would need to be less than about 600w, for what you want you would need a 1000w version

The setup I got was £850, you can get slightly cheaper, but the 3kw ones are £4000+

As some may have gleaned, I bought one of these as a trial of an alternative way to power my tech while aboard. The model I bought was an energizer branded one, complete with 100w solar panel, and at the outset I should point out these things are not that cheap. They contain in essence a large lithium battery, a solar charge controller and an inverter in the case of mine it was rated overall at 650wh, which means that it can supply up to 600w for about an hour, if you pay more (and these things command boat style prices) you can get up to about 3 KW versions ( maybe even bigger, but the trade off here is portability). They can be charged from solar, from a 12v lighter socket, or from a mains adaptor. On the front there is a display showing the current state of the battery, mine has a single socket on the front, this looks like it could accept plugs from all around the world, a 12v lighter style socket, 2 additional 12v sockets, and a selection of usb ports, even a USB c which can also be used to charge the unit. I have only been testing this aboard for 2 days now, and so far I have not had to use the onboard power for anything, I have used it to charge a laptop, my tablet, my phone, and run a portable dvd player, in other words it runs all my tech flawlessly. I imagine one of these would be even more useful on a sailing boat, a few hours on the solar panel tops it back up nicely, I mean at just gone 7 am, it's already pulling about 30w from the panels to recharge the unit, at this early hour I do have them angled up toward the sun on the supports built in, the solar panels fold down for storage and transport. I did also purchase a 5m extension for the charging wires, which saves having to move the unit to the panels.

Kettle on, cheese and bacon wraps in the oven, top down and solar panel out and charging, I got the poet generator down to 86%last night, and that was while charging a laptop, tablet and other items, and running a dvd player.

Ah, I managed nearly a whole hours lie in this morning over my normal waking time, the joys of boat life.

Flagstaff crisis averted, ASI walked past I noticed the screws holding it down were pulling out of the deck, short screws replaced with longer thicker ones.

But it's gorgeous out there now, solar was charging at 40w, and it's only a 100w panel

After the obligatory tat purchases at Potter Heigham, I headed for Ranworth, just as the rain started. Came alongside side on and used my long ropes to fasten off to a centre cleat and turn the boat stern on, now trying to avoid walking the abundant surface decoration on the moorings through the boat, canopy sides on, watching the drips in the stern cabin as the roof takes up. Kettle on time for a cuppa.

A couple of hours on the solar panel has topped up the portable solar generator back to 100%

Just finished the cruise up from stracey arms to potter heigham, Griff has just dropped off the NBN flag, and now it's time for a wander to Latham's.

I have plugged my WiFi dongle into the portable solar generator, that's been running all night now, I have also charged my phone and tablet, so far it's sitting at 94%. The more I use this, the more I like it.

Well Dave has delivered my wallet to me, and I am up fresh and early, cheese and bacon wraps are cooling to the point where the cheese won't take the skin off the roof of my mouth, and all is well with the world.

So for me a staple early breakfast aboard consists of cheese and bacon wraps, a square of ready rolled puff pastry, a piece of bacon, and a slice of cheddar cheese, put the bacon on the pastry, diagonally, the cheese on the bacon, and fold two corners in, put on a baking tray ( the paper between the layers of pastry stop them sticking to a baking tray) then just cook for 25 minutes( or until the pastry has raised and browned) Enjoy.

I received a message lost in translation that you would follow me down, but I kept a weather eye out and could not see you when I left, as they say time and tide wait for no man, and my plan(ISH) was to see how far I would get, I left at 12, and plodded into the tide at a steady 5 mph, I had planned (when supposedly leaving from oulton, that a 4 hour cruise would see me across breydon, and then I would decide when I saw how the tides were doing, if it had been racing I would have moored up at the yacht station. As it was I arrived there at 4.30 pm, 3 hours before low water, found 9'6" under the bridges ( it had been 8 foot at somerleyton and st olaves.) And there was no more than 2 mph of flow which I easily stemmed and progressed even though I was only using revs for 5 1/2 mph, anyway arrived at stracy arms by 6.30 pm, and moored up for the night. And guess what I forgot, I had packed it, but managed to leave my wallet on the seat in the car, Dave is kindly delivering it to me when he has a few minutes. once I had arrived it was time to sort everything that had just been thrown into the boat in general, or the fridge in the case of cold stuff. Then it was time to cook some tea.( Fray bentos steak and kidney pie and instant mash.)

sorry 4 hours

i too on occasion find myself doing that, for no other reason than why not. I went to the circus for the first time in over 20 years, just because I felt like it a month ago.

car nearly packed, as its the first trip of the year, looking round to see what I have forgotten (guaranteed I will always forget something, if I get my skates on I may get through yarmouth today, it will be on a falling tide, but hopefully about 44 hours or so before low water, so fingers crossed the flow out of the bure will be less at that state of tide, worst case battle the flow until the yacht station and moor up there and catch the flood up river in the morning.

at last, the day arrives to load the car and travel up to Norfolk, I was looking at my routes to Beccles last night, and both the A12 and A140 had roadworks marked, fortunately on checking the duration both are supposed to be finished today. (well yesterday was their last day so fingers crossed)