Pain and rain

So, after a restful night on board we got on with the electrics - ok, we had a nice cooked breakfast first just to get in the mood.

We found several places where cables had not been connected properly and were in danger of burning through! How there hasn't been a fire on this boat I have no idea.

We've now moved all of the batteries out of the back bedroom (insane place for them to be) and put them into the engine hold where there is lots of space to lay them out safely. Most of the cabling is re-done, we just need to connect up the starter motor for the engine and the battery isolation switch (you really wanted to know all the detail didn't you?)

The best bit of today happened in the last half hour which was that we were finally brave enough to turn on the inverter - this is a huge piece of electronics that turns 12v DC from a car battery into 240v AC to run interesting things like computers and fridges. There were no alarming bangs and very little smoke so I think we're ok :-)

Most of my electronics is done with piddling little cables and a few milliamps. Today we've been joining cables as thick as my thumb carrying 200 amps. No fine tipped soldering iron here. This is electronics with a blow torch!

In the middle of the day I left dad to it and went to Ikea to buy a chest of drawers. After 2 months of living out of a suitcase I need somewhere to put my smalls. After that it was a quick trip up the M6 to pick up the new toilet. Soon we can poo in comfort :-)

So, to finish, a final couple of things: First, there are no pictures in this post because Orange won't let me upload pictures at the moment. I'll try again in the morning. The net seems to work better in the mornings so perhaps I'll update the blog in the morning from now on. The second thing is the plan for tomorrow... Well, we need to get the wiring finished. It has taken longer than we'd hoped but we're not too far behind schedule. Then we hope that Graham and the guys will help us weld the new flue onto the new stove so that we can have heat. Graham fashioned a wonderful hearth for it out of a big bit of scrap steel that he had propping up the side of his workshop. Such a kind chap.

Why "pain and rain"? Because Ian kept banging his head on a bit of metal in the engine bay until I pointed out that I could lift it out of the way - doh - and, it being April, we kept getting drenched with showers. Not a lot of fun when you're trying to do wiring!

Night all,

S.