Browsing round the boat

The other day I thought I would capture some of the spaces in our home as it is all gradually coming together.

Here is my studio...


I am planning on making a drop leaf table top, secured to the shelving so that I can pull out my electronic bits and bobs and get making and creating with ease again. One thing, do you think they've invented a solar powered soldering iron yet?

Leigh's extra special books all made it aboard and fit brilliantly on this shelving sideboard that we picked up from Ikea in their ex-display section at a bargin price.


I saved some of the house plants from the flat, mainly cacti and the lovely peace lilly which has taken very well to the environment, I think all these windows have come in useful!


The heart of the boat requires constant maintenance, even as I write this blog Leigh is brushing away the ash from inside the burner making it ready for this evening's burn. Here is the set up of tools, coal, wood, firelighters, paper...


The utility room has become a bomb site again, I had sorted it out a few weeks ago but still need to remove the old sink and put up the rest of the shelving to really get things in their places. Organise, organise, organise...



The kitchen is holding up very well to cooking beautiful meals and storing foods. This particular night Leigh was cooking one of his fantastic curries (his secret to filling the boat full of morrish smells?? Answer: gently dry toast the spices first!) We have decided not to use the undercounter fridge at the moment as we are managing fine without and it saves on electricity too.


Our lounge area needs a little more shelving in place and as I've newly painted the walls it is ready when we are for this.


My raleigh swift fits perfectly on the stern. Leigh has purchased a tarpaulin sheet which I've now started to cover my bike with as it was starting to rust in areas already and has developed a strange squeeking from one side of the pedals.


And finally, Leigh's gorgeous ornaments and crafts from around the world are being brought out from the wooden box and displayed around the boat...

Washing day

Since leaving the flat we have lost the ease of quick and easy washing machines. We are still yet to fill up the water tank with water for fear of flooding the boat if what our surveryor and boat builder told us was right, the tank or pipwork may have a leak. We plan to fill-er-up when I have a day off from work, the weather is nice and Leigh is fit and well and we want to face the possibility of pumping out water.

So anyway, we haven't used our wonderwash system as I just know that it'll take up too much precious water that we keed for drinking, cooking and washing up. So I planned the day to go to the local laundrette. Fortunately Leigh's bandmate, Ferny was over and willing to lend a hand, after 1 month of clothes piling up there was quite alot. So off we trundled 2 miles to the nearest laundrette, but with great company the jaunt was fine.

£15 later and after a hour of watching pants spin round and round the clothes were sort of dry and we had run out of change. So I folded up the clothes and we walked back to the boat. On the way we discovered some stray items that hadn't quite made it all the way to the laundrette, they must have fallen from the trolley I was wheeling. So these were scooped up and will wait until next time.

When we got back to the boat, Ferny had picked up a bottle of wine, so as the hanging up of clothes took place around the boat, the wine went down extremely well!

Here is a flavour of the washing day...

Delia the adventurer

Leigh and I have made the decision that when we move the boat, we keep Delia inside so that she doesn't accidently go overboard. She is always very intrigued when she gets put inside and the engine whurs and we start bobbing around the canal. She sits atop the highest shelving unit to look from the window and when we finally open the doors into the galley, her bright button face is always there looking out.

When we arrived at Bridge 11, Delia was very excited. We let her out and she explored the local terrain. She has been wonderful at going off and coming back to the boat, finding us without too much bother. However this is her second little antic where she got into a pickle, the first being when she took herself over a bridge and then got intimidated by the local cats and got stuck.

She had been gone for quite some time, a few hours or so. Normally she pops in to tell us what she has been up to in kity cat talk, nibbles at some crunchies, has some 40winks on our bed and cries to go out again, repeat above stages. However it was her first exploration of the area and there was no sign, not even the trusted whistling and rattle of her crunchies gave a rustle of Delia fur in the bushes. So Leigh went in search. I was wondering what was going on after half an hour of him out of sight. He came back in a drama, stern faced telling me of Delia behind two sets of security fences, the little f***er!

Fortunately Leigh has kept a ladder from the flat that we have had to keep on the roof. I wondered why we should keep such a high ladder when really nothing on the boat is over arm's reach. This is why....

Leigh and I took the ladder, a basket and some long rope left over from our mooring ropes along to where scared looking Delia sat behind bars. Leigh had made the plan. We propped the ladder against the high security fence and Leigh went up taking the basket with rope attached. He hoisted it over the fence and lowered the basket to the ground. With some encouragement Delia came close to the basket. Leigh said to Delia "now get in" and at that command Delia stepped into the basket ready to be rescued.

I couldn't stop laughing as Leigh was telling me to stop pulling the rope so quickly. She appeared to fully understand the rescue mission at hand. Brilliant! Leigh was not best pleased with Delia, but with some TLC for the two of them they were both feeling brighter after a few hours.

Bridge 11

Leigh has spoken to Yorkshire-man Brian, who advertises his capentry skills from the side of his narrowboat, about a new hatch. With a great quote for the work we decided to go for it. With this new hatch we hope to improve the security of the boat and make the stern area look alot more aesthetically pleasing.


After sourcing the beech ply from a timber merchants off Lenton Lane, I managed to coerce them into carrying the 8ft board down to the canal and putting on the boat. God knows how Leigh and I would have done this. We had to move next to Brian, so we upped sticks (or ropes in our case) and pootled down the Nottingham canal towards town. Our moring area was busy with folk going to and fro Sainsburys but there is the weir to the side of the towpath which adds to the natural environment of overhanging trees and small shrubs. We were facing the wooden bridge number 11. When cycling along the towpath under the bridge I decided to stop temporarily to aviod the rain, at this moment I listened to stilletoe heels charging their way across the surface of the bridge sounding like thundering drums pounding from above.

Here is the hatch as it currently stands...


It is rather weathered as you can see...



And here is what Brian produced over two days inbetween the rainy spells.


Leigh is in the process of staining and varnishing with Yacht varnish, ready to fix inplace. In the fine weather today Leigh got two coast of stain on, so keep looking back to see the finished article on The Kite Experiment.

Blissing Sunday

I'd decided to play the guitar today, refresh myself with some old freinds and it's surprising what happens when you don't play for a while. With siezing fingers I tried to find the spaces they should be and can't recall many tunes. Playing to Delia made Leigh smile anyhow.

One month later...

I can't quite believe it. It has been one month since my last blog entry and we have finally sucessfully boarded our home afloat!

The move was a real pain in the backside and involved lots and lots of hard graft, trips to the tip, cleaning, selling excess items, charity shop runs, car hires, car borrows... And then we finally did it on the 23rd April, on came the last bits to make our home. We were moored just by Lenton Bridge on the Nottingham canal for the duration of the move and have since cruised the canal to castle marina Nottingham.


We got Delia Derbyshire aboard early on so that she could settle to the smells of the boat and be less disturbed by the rapidly emptying flat. She has been amazing and has really taken to the lifestlye. With the weather change into Spring she has been out more than in and has always managed to find her way home to her floating bed!


Here is Delia checking out the neighbourhood swan's. Her shivering body the first time she saw one from the boat windows has ceased to be a problem and she is managing to find her way in the big outdoors. Oh and yes she has gone in, twice in fact. Not sure if it was a choice thing... she has just come in all spikey and licked herself clean by the burner.

Delia seems to be getting on well, princess and the pea?!


Here is our 24Volt electricity...


and here is our washing machine...




I have been planting up some basic food stuff on the roof in top boxes so that we will have fresh greens throughout the summer


and managed to bring aboard a pot of strawberries salvaged from the flat's garden.


I've been doing lots of DIY aboard, painted up around the walls with mold resistant paint. It now looks lovely and fresh! The bathroom has really been coming together, as I painted and put up shelves and hooks for all our bits and bobs.


This evening I have been completing the sealant around the shower, removing the old stuff (not a job I would like to do again) using white spirit, a scouring pad and the methalated spirits (high as a kite you may think!).


Still it is looking lovely with the strips filling in the small gap from the joint in the wall. I just need to get my hands on one of those guns for the sealant tube to finish off the bottom edging.

Leigh has been a sweetheart and brought home flowers to scent the boat...


Unfortunately our battery power is limited so although I would like to go on blogging all evening and update about all the recent events, I'll have to call it a night before this laptop gives in on me. Oh! the days of on the grid electrics! The burner is going and it's time to sit gazing at the flickers and flashes of amber. Until next time, from the gyptians.