VacuFlush 5000 (part 2)

At the risk of disclosing "too much information" I can let you all know that at some point in the last 3 days the loo has been properly tested and it performed perfectly.

VacuFlush 5000

Oh yes! The king of loos is now installed and what a wonder it is. Press the pedal and whoosh, all the poo vanishes. Amazing. Well at least that is the theory. Nobody has actually "tested" it yet. I'll let you know ;-)

More signwriting

The helpful people at FastSigns in Reading made us some graphics for the stern panels yesterday. This morning Zach helped me put them on. It looks fabulous. I'm really pleased. We'll do the other side this afternoon which will be a little more complex as there is a porthole in the way!

Now to save up for the rest of the stuff I have planned :-)

Running out of fuel!

Ok, I admit it. After a fabulous weekend in Oxford with much partying and silliness, Relativity and I are heading home but I've run out of diesel twice in the last few days. It is so embarrassing when I hear her engine cough and then die. I've then got to find a way of steering 23 tonnes of truculent boat to the side of the Thames and make it look like I was intending to moor at a jaunty angle on a blind bend ;-)

The running out of fuel isn't the problem. I have loads of fuel in the heating tank so it is just a case of syphoning off a few litres and moving them the length of the boat. The real problem is that once she's run out of fuel it takes half an hour with spanners in the engine hole getting covered in diesel and water and usually collecting more cuts and bruises to flush the air locks out of the fuel lines and get the engine running again.

Note to self: Don't run out of fuel again!

Home by mid afternoon.

Thanks to everyone that came at the weekend. We had a blast.

Speed queen

It turns out that Relativity is actually pretty fast when compared to other narrow boats! Today we've been chugging up the Thames with my mum and her boat Silver Lining. At the same engine speed Relativity is about 20% faster with much less froth and churn behind as well.

So she's very sweet in a straight line - shame she doesn't steer so well.

My trusty hat blew off this evening but I managed to navigate back to it and hook it out of the river before it sank too far. Relativity protested quite a lot when I slammed her into reverse to try and stop and go back for the hat. I don't think she was impressed.

Tomorrow Abingdon and then Oxford.

More messing about

Mark Laynesmith will claim that he paddled and got exercise today. This photo proves otherwise :-)

It was a fun day though. We nearly lost a 3 year old into the Thames on several occasions but he wasn't successful on any of them despite significant displays of determination on his part.

More chugging

Had several friends round today. Did some chugging up and down the Thames including a lovely one at sunset. The water looks so different in the different light. Fabulous.

Knackered now so off to bed.

Who's a clever girl then?

She did it! This morning Relativity passed her boat safety examination. We're very proud of her. She has a nice certificate to say that all her gas, diesel and electrical systems meet the very latest safety standards and that there are enough ventilation holes to make sure that Stuart is properly chilly all through the winter.

Once that was issued I whipped round to the nice people at the Environment Agency with the necessary paperwork and they issued Relativity's Thames license in under 3 hours. Not bad seeing as they say you should allow 10 days!

This really is a pretty big deal as, until the Boat Safety Scheme certificate is issued the insurance company have even more get-out clauses!

I also found that the table screwed to the wall kept coming off. I told David to stop putting his elbows on the table ;-) so I went out and found a nice free standing table that will do the job nicely and seat 6 so now I can have people round for dinner in relative comfort. Next I need to find a good home for the rather too large sofa bed in the saloon and replace it with a nicer, smaller one but that might have to wait until I have a new job!

So, with a bank holiday ahead I hope the weather is nice so that I can chug up and down the river with my friends. Have you booked your slot yet?