Testing Times
Shensi, in all her glory in her first winter at Harleyford
This is all so new to us, so for several reasons, it seemed like the sensible idea to spend the first year on the Thames checking things out. We needed to get our heads around how to manage such a large leisure vessel and I think we are fairly comfortable with that now. I would not say that we are competent although I now have a certificate that says I am. Only time will tell but it is another tick box for the move to Europe next month.
It also seems like the easiest way to get all the snagging sorted out, being in a comfortable environment where we could have good communications with and access to both Bluewater and the suppliers. We have had lots of small and some larger issues, so I’m pleased that we are still in the UK and able to address them, well as much as we could anyway.
Some silly ones, like the A/C unit that does not start without a 32 amp supply, fixed with the addition of a soft start option, but then a faulty connection caused the fan to run in reverse. That one tested the patience of the Dometic engineer who replaced almost all of the components before he found the cause.
Water in the bilge, due to a leaky seal on the tank sensor. That worried me for a long time because I imagined that the cold water tank was split.
Steering is very heavy and so the wheel has been replaced and a larger pump assembly has been put in, but the problem persists. This may necessitate an expensive upgrade to power steering at a later date but at the moment I can live with it.
The windows have been the biggest failure though – expensive “thermal break” versions to avoid condensation inside. In fact the frames are so cold that they are constantly saturated and we even get ice forming on them. Both the builder and the supplier have investigated the issue but neither seems to have a solution. The potential cost to fix this would be huge so sadly we might just have to ‘put up’ with it.
The Vetus engineer attended a few times to address some points – replacement of the instrument cluster because the warning decals were upside down and to fix an issue with the hydraulics, which to be fair, turned out not to be a Vetus issue.
Getting used to how to moor Shensi at the marina has proved a bit of a challenge and the ropes seem to make so much noise, stretching and squeaking as the barge moves around. I put some rubber shock absorbers on the ropes to try and improve this but whilst they do take the shock out of the stretching rope, they continue to squeak. The worst night was just recently where the whole of the UK was assaulted by Arctic winds, the so-called “Beast from the East”, and the ropes squeaked and creaked incessantly throughout the night. There was very little scope for adjusting them either as any rope not being stretched was frozen solid and even if it wasn’t, as this was not life threatening, I was not going to get frozen to death trying to set them up again. Each time I sort out the lines I hope that I get better at it. but no sign of that end goal yet 🙁
There are still some jobs waiting to be done though. We are having a Bimini added to the stern deck; we tried a parasol but that was hopeless, but the Bimini should work a treat.
Getting to grips with the electrics and mindful of the need for independence in Europe, we extended the battery capacity and are also ready to add in some more solar panels once the outside temperatures improve.
Bearing in mind the extremely cold weather at the moment, we are not cold in the boat; well, maybe a bit in the stern. The Kabola heating is brilliant and it seems to be taking forever to get through our fuel supply (not that we’re complaining). Whilst we only have 1000 litres for the engine, it seems like this should be enough for 200+ hours of cruising; the domestic tank is also 1000 litres and also looks like that should easily last us for a year.
We have 2000 litres of water; that sounds like a lot but I really don’t know how long that will last. At the moment we are quite cavalier with it as we are marina based and can top up whenever we need to (although at the moment, the marina supply has been shut off due to the freezing conditions). So far the supply seems to last 2-3 weeks with heavy usage, so plenty of scope for improvement we hope.
The black water tank is about 1600 litres. The pump out service in the marina is shut off for the winter; that was the end of November and in theory it should have been back on in March. But with the recent cold spell, the beginning of March has come and gone and it is not looking likely to to be switched back on any time soon. The marina is also creating new pontoons in the area around the pump-out station which will also prevent access to the pump out station for a time. We are only now getting close to full capacity, which does mean that we know we have at least three months of capacity in that tank, enough for a winter in a marina. We will be going out soon so we can call in at another marina to clear the tank before we leave the UK.
One of my targets is to try and get the propulsion tanks filled with white diesel next week. This again is in preparation for a move to Belgium where apparently you get penalised for using red diesel. To achieve this, we will need to find a location where a tanker can deliver to us so that is our next challenge over the next week or so.
In the meantime, here is another photo of the beautiful scenery in this very cold weather …..
So here we are snagging and fixing things in preparation for our move to Europe. Next month, April, we hope to be heading over to Belgium and to this end we have engaged a professional pilot to take us over the Channel – it’s now just a matter of waiting for suitably calm conditions, and we’ll be off!