Alarmed!

I remain inconvenienced by the floods and I know the Environment Agency is, quite naturally, concerned. Some boaters may be really worried - but this sign on the EA building at Hermitage lock, Earith, indicates the building itself is alarmed.

Is this like a security setting - red warning, black alert? Or maybe lock buildings have feelings too ....

It reminds me of the story about Noah Webster, author of the great US dictionary :
Going unexpectedly into the parlour of their house one day, Mrs. Webster discovered her husband embracing their maid.
"Noah, I am surprised!" she exclaimed.
Webster released the maid and re-assumed his professional dignity.
"No, my dear," he corrected his wife, "it is I who am surprised; you are merely astonished."

Awash!

So that was the wettest April since records began!
I think that's put paid to our plan to pootle along the Ouse to Bedford this week. I took a circuitous route to Godmanchester today, going via Stretham to check on Patience (lying quietly at her moorings, dry as a bone inside, though the gas lockers and the engine room have a bit of water swilling around) then on to Earith (locks closed until at least the weekend, water meadows awash and the channel invisible) and St Ives (channel awash).

Water Meadows at Earith, by Hermitage Lock 1st May 2012

Here at Godmanchester the water level has subsided by a good 6 inches, though it's still flowing fast and Port Holme remains virtually impassable on foot. The forecast is some improvement for a couple of days but more rain at the weekend.

Time to chuck another log on the wood burner and get stuck in to that long novel you've brought with you.

The Ouse in Spate

End of April and we're planning a trip at the end of the week. But what about the weather? Yesterday was the rainest day I can remember in Cambridge. One of those days where you look out of the window and fall back into bed because it's too grim to contemplate...
But wife and friends were running a 10k run along the Cam in the morning so I valiantly set forth to support them, which involved standing in the rain for an hour and a bit, protecting my camera from the downpour and snapping away when they hove into view. They all did really well (though the organisers seem to have lost Jenny's time through some electronic chip failure) and as we stomped off into the warmth of a Chesterton living room the brave rowers continue to stroke back and forth up the Cam, wet through, but oblivious.
But while yesterday was a day for hunkering down and avoiding the outdoors, today dawns warm and dry, so I was in optimistic spirits when I set off for Godmanchester - only to find the river in full spate, the lock and sluices full to the brim of raging water, the recreation ground and much of Port Holme flooded.
I'm glad to say there were no boats out except those in secure moorings, as the speed of water would be easily enough to cause serious problems. It was surely going faster than Patience could go at top speed, and assuming it's the same at Earith, cruisers could probably not fit under the bridge nor even see the channel below the flooded fields.

Here's a pic I took a couple of years ago, last time the Ouse burst its banks at Godmanchester. Not quite so bad today, but not a day for taking Patience out. This scene is normally a lush green lawn looking out onto a gentle river with a grassy recreation ground beyond!
However amongst the rushing through the sluices and the occasional tree trunk charging past I did see a ten minute battle between a gannet and an eel. The gannet had the eel firmly in its beak but couldn't easily get it down its throat. The eel put up a fierce fight, even after it had eventually disappeared down the bird's gullet, and for some time afterwards the gannet was twisted into spasms while the eel continue to try to escape from the stomach. A rare sight in warm sunshine, made possible by the great downpour of the last week.
When will the river slow down to let Patience out? The friendly chaps from the EA couldn't tell me, but they were wearing conspicuous life jackets .... This has officially been the rainiest April since records began over 100 years ago.

Holidays Pic

I dreamed of a holiday on Patience, far away from the rain of the English spring ...

 

It's a fine mooring but even though it's raining heavily here in the Fens, the waterfall surprised me ....

AC/DC

While preparing Patience for the summer boating season, we noticed that the red warning light on the control panel was 'on' when the ignition switch was off, and vice versa. One of the potential causes of this is a failed diode in the alternator, allowing battery voltage from the battery terminal to feed back through the diode to the field coil terminal and hence to earth via the warning light and the ignition switch. Some investigation with a multimeter confirmed that this was almost certainly the problem, rather than the alternative possibility of a faulty ignition switch. A replacement alternator was bought from Unipart at a cost of £57.23 (£24 of which is refundable when the old one is returned). The first photo shows the old one on the left and the new one on the right.

The only challenge then was to transfer the pulley and fan assembly from the old alternator, as these weren't supplied with the new one. The only way of undoing the 7/8 in AF shaft nut was to use a pneumatic impact wrench, which fortunately a friend just happened to have in his very well equipped garage. With the fan and pulley transferred to the new alternator, it only remained to instal it on Patience, adjust the belt tension and check its operation. With some relief, we discovered that this had cured the problem and the new alternator seems to be working fine and charging the battery bank. The second photo shows the new alternator in place on Patience (top right).

It's just as well that we spotted the problem when we did, as the failed diode would have discharged the batteries when mooored up overnight with the main power switch on. It shows the importance of keeping an eye on the instruments and investigating anything unusual as soon as you spot it.

With the sun shining and some spare time, we took the opportunity of cleaning the domestic water system and refilling the freshly painted bow tank with about 650 litres of clean water, ready for the first cruise of the season.

Paint Job

Patience is a reasonably dark green throughout. We find this suitably subdued and unfussy, as becomes dear Patience. Its official term is either dark green, Donegal Green or Racing Green - each slightly different from the other and easily confused. I don't mind which we use, but it must be consistent. The results of mixing instead of matching become apparent (though not obvious) in places where we have patched small areas instead of a whole panel.
While putting off the big effort of repainting we have looked at other boats of course and so, on a short visit to Bristol docks, I was interested to see these two.

Painted as a rural landscape with pale sky

The opposite of camouflage

Let invention and creativity thrive - but on balance Patience will remain dark green!

Painting in Preparation

Sunniest and warmest day of the year so far, so John and I were drawn to attend to Patience and to paint her less accessible regions.
The water tank was painted with bitumen paint last year and drained over the winter but there are still small rust spots so John donned his submariners' painting gear and leapt in.

 

Memo: try to do this with another boater in attendance; make sure you're fit enough to clamber in and out of a tight space; beware fumes; wear painting clothes

Meanwhile at the other end I was tending to the gas lockers.  The tight fitting lids seem not tight enough to prevent water seeping in and as the deck is flat not cambered water tends to stay inside the gas lockers - despite drain holes. So it was out with the gas and in with the wire brush. From one locker alone I extracted a pound weight of damp rust: not pleasant and not good for the boat.

However by scrubbing, scratching and mopping - and an important beer break while the lockers dried out - we were able to give the bottoms of the lockers a good coat of Hammerite. Should be all hardened by tomorrow so we can put the gas back in. John also fitted some draught excluder to the underside of the lid to see if that will help exclude the water.

Tools of the trade: battery powered drill and wire brush attachment, hand held wire brush, draught excluder, newspaper and elbow grease.

Memo: check the lockers next winter and apply more Hammerite if necessary!