Summary Weekly Newsletter, 19th October
Prioritising Comfort :-)
The full version of this newsletter is only available to our Early Bird Membership (£2 per month or £20 per year).
The Early Bird Membership includes a weekly(ish) newsletter and usually early access to our videos.
While our overall focus remains on the work to prepare for the electric motor installation, the practical impact has been that living on the boat is becoming more comfortable.
Wheelhouse
Loads of work that means Jane now has a waterproof timber structure that is the final shape that she has been able to make templates from for the next 5 fabric panels (2 roof sections and 3 panels that cover the whole of the back), once these are made it is "just" the zip in side doors to do.
Pics in the full newsletter.
Electrics
We tackled a problem that one of the four main house batteries appeared to be discharging fully without the other 3 connected batteries doing much at all. So we have swapped the order of the batteries and installed battery balancers. This was one of the most complicated wiring jobs.
See more in the full newsletter.
Also, we have been moving devices that were powered by "bricks" plugged into mains sockets so that they now run directly from the 12v supply (that saves us converting 48V DC to 240V AC and then to 12V DC). As part of that, we have much better lights in the galley and corridor. Also better switching for the saloon lights. Most of these are cheap lights sold for caravan awnings that come with either a cigarette lighter connection or a main power adaptor.
The latest step in that process is the power hungry fridge. ...
The next way to save power has made the biggest difference so:
Our Refleks Diesel Stove
We bought this secondhand from a couple with a YouTube channel (Sailing Rum Punch, see them removing it here, about 6mins in). It's approaching 50 years old.
Lots more in the full-newsletter.
Today I was able to use it to cook part of our evening meal, see this 24 second video:
Insulation
Jane has continued to add more insulation, unfortunately, to get the Refleks stove working we had to clear out the space behind it (will be our "airing cupboard" and wet waterproofs hanging space). So the stuff piled up from there is making access for more progress.
Another big improvement to comfort has been our Plumbing upgrade, see the blog post.
Walks
Only one this week. Our longest for a long time at just over 12km. Lovely bit of the coat and we saw lots of seals 😄
Blog Posts
I've covered quite a bit of them above:
- Plumbing upgrade: We have moved beyond a waste bucket
- Gently tackling loads of jobs: We thought we would have a gentle recovery day but ...
- Fire breathing Welsh dragon aboard! Today we got our Refleks Diesel stove working, just a bit too well
Other
My Bible Studies are on the Methodist Church website for this week (from Sunday 19th). See you in the comments 😄
Lots to come this week (some weather permitting).
- Our new electric motor batteries are fully charged and ready to come onto the boat
- I'm hoping to start installing the cooling system for the electric motor controller (it uses some cute parts such as a radiator from a small petrol scooter). See this short video for a preview of the plan.
- Jane is going to be making progress on curtains for the corridor and en-suite toilet, as well as the wheelhouse enclosure.
- I've some more wiring to work on (it never ends)
- I'd like to see if I can get the Refleks to run a bit cooler on minimum
That's all for this week.
Love Dave and Jane
