L'eau de Canál

Finally a couple of large milestones have been reached!! The first on my itinerary of things to fix was the ELECTRIC. With 6 verbal RSVPs for my party I would like some illumination. I've been faffing with lights for a few weeks now, as it seems my usual supplier's current batch of 2D lights are buggered - all blowing within 2 hours. So with no actual lights connected I set about changing the old fuse box for this sparkly new switch fuse box (pictured). My engine room became a wiring jungle with over 20 black and red snakes attempting to slither and cling to my hair. The new box is very smart though, and all the cables neatly ducting away down through the boat. Merrily ticked ELECTRIC off my list.


This last weekend was WATER. Which, after turning the pump on and testing it, we found we had plenty of, leaking from almost every tap, joint or connector. Plumbing, I'm told, comes hand-in-hand with swearing which we also found we had plenty of. So we set about sealing, gunking and tightening. With all the leaks fixed we tried the hot tap, but the water heater wouldn't work with the burner refusing to start.

In my post 'story so far' I mentioned my varying shower temperatures, from scolding to freezing every 2 minutes. I had thought the thermostatic shower or a better pump would fix this but with the heater also playing up I didn't know what to do. So we did what all good bodgers do and cut a gaping hole in the kitchen wall to inspect the pipework (nearly cutting through a brass pipe in the process). We eventually worked out the cold water was being directed the wrong way through the water heater, so after more swearing and new fittings we connected it all up properly. Nervously I turned on the hot tap and instantly the burner lit with the gorgeous 'wumf' sound, sending hot water gushing out the tap. I tried the shower, playing with the heater controls and the shower controls until the varying temperatures became so tiny you could barely tell. And that was it, suddenly my boat had turned into a habitable craft. All Amenities Included. Very smugly ticked WATER off my list.

Now all I have to do is cover up the gaping hole in the kitchen we made.