Narrowboat Just Heaven

We arrived yesterday lunchtime for a quick visit. I wanted to finish off wiring the solar panel in properly, and replace the inline water filter which had split due to the frost.
We were pleased to see that the solar panel had been working OK, the battery was not fully charged, but much better that usual.
The owners of NB Mandarin were onboard, we hadn’t met our neighbours previously. They were replacing the broken window from the break in.
Woke up this morning to a fairly thick (20mm) layer of ice on the canal. We had thought of making a short cruise up to Stourton Jcn, down to Whittington Horse Br and back. Partly to give the engine a run and partly so we could top up the water tank, but with the canal iced up we just went for a walk instead.

The Eberspascher has used about 20 litres of fuel since Christmas so hopefully it’s keeping the frost out.

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This morning we were talking to the people on “Dancing Lady”. They told us about the break in to “Mandarin”. Mandarin is the boat moored next to us, we had noticed one of the windows boarded up and covered in polythene. It seems that someone smashed the glass to get in. They only took food and bedding so it was probably someone sleeping rough in the nearby woods. We’re fairly confident that all the ‘normal’ ways in to Just Heaven are secure, but there’s not much you can do to stop someone smashing a window.
Narrowboats are very prone to break ins of this sort at this time of the year. Rough living vagrants find a comfy bed and free food very tempting in the cold weather.

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We arrived yesterday evening just after 6:00pm. Only unloaded the basic stuff as it was too dark to see. At least it wasn’t  freezing and there’s no snow & ice to slip on. The battery was flat again, so had to run the engine for a couple of hours. Had a meal, a glass of wine, watched a DVD and went to bed.

A bit grey and drizzly today, which is a pity as I have to work outside to make the mounting frame for the new solar panel that we have bought. The central heating on the frost stat drains the battery in abut a week during the cold weather and, as we have no mains here, a battery charger isn’t possible. So we decided to go for a solar panel. We have a 60W panel from SunStore (www.sunstore.co.uk). I bought some aluminium angle to to make a support frame. The frame has to a) hold the panel at the right angle. b) stop it blowing away, c) stop theives pinching it and d) be easy to demount when we go cruising.

This is the result:

We refilled the water system and checked for leaks, at first there didnt seem to be any, but then I discovered that an inline filter in the line to the toilet was seeping. It’s brass where most of the plumbing is plastic, so I guess in cracked when it froze. I’ll have to replace it next trip.

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