Holiday

We did a number of things this half term, ranging from tax returns to visiting friends in the border counties and Bristol. For me it was great to finally get the last of the 10 tons of ballast into the boat. I'd got a combination of cut lengths of steel bar (easy to handle and stack, but more pricey) and cast iron railway chairs, the part that the railway line sits in on the sleeper (or tie for anyone from north America). These are cheaper but not so easy to stack. I had this lot left on the weekend....

which was a couple of piles of broken bits, I would guess from 1 to 1.5 tons worth. I lowered these into the living room via this precarious trestle thing....

...before finally placing them underneath the second bedroom floor. They are resting on some wood on top of the frames, so there is an air gap underneath.

Its a bit like tetris trying to fit these shapes in, just more tiring, but I'm glad its done. Guess I can start going to gym again now this 'free' exercise has stopped.

Datchet

There hasn't been too much to write about recently, I've spent most of the time I had on boat work in the last few weeks shifting ballast. We got another 10 tons of scrap steel bar and old railway chairs to help get Misterton a bit lower in the water (helps with the handling), but its just hard work, so not much to see.

We did go for our longest trip ever (just me and Mary, plus baby as 'passenger') to Datchet in order to empty the waste tank. This trip involved going through a couple of locks each way so we got some practice in. Here we are, moored opposite the back gardens of Windsor Castle, didn't see the queen or any corgis though.

It was a lovely day for a trip, hopefully we can get a few more in before the river gets too fast over the winter. Here is Mary steering, the baby was quite quiet while we were travelling, probably the noise of the engine making it sleep. Will be using that trick when it arrives I think.

 Next time - the last of the ballast and then maybe some other developments.

Just for Tobias

Who was asking about the interior, here is Mary at six months pregnant and in the kitchen. I just need to work on the barefoot part, and I'll get my chauvinist badge. The photo was taken by my mother on her new iPad.

The kitchen is not quite finsihed, but its functioning (indeed I'm cooking in it now), I've just got some electrical items to hook up and finish the wall by the stove.

Speaking of which, you'll notice the little blue stove is now offset to make room for the kitchen 'walls'. I wasn't sure of the best way to do this, but found Simpson Race Exhausts who were able to make a very neat offset pipe out of bits of the original one and some 3 inch stainless steel bends.

So we're warm and fed. Maslow would be proud.

Part 29

From Mary here.

Metal

We've spent the last few days moored underneath Staines railway bridge, while Thameside engineering make a few repairs/additions to Misterton.

They've replaced the missing pins on some of the bollards...

Reinforced the bracket for the steering ram....

....and created a new hatch over the rear cabin.

They've made a good job of all of it and its good to know that we have such skills close by. It'll be nice to move back to our mooring later today though, the trains are a bit noisy, although I can now tell the difference between freight and passenger trains by sound. Mary seems less interested in this than me. :)