Tag Archives: Makita

Throwing it all Away

Marina Life, Moving Aboard, ,

Tuesday 29 June 2020

Throwing it all Away

You know that most people, when deciding to move onto a narrowboat get rid of all their worldly possessions (mostly), right? They take the opportunity to ‘clear out’ stuff,: sell, give away to charity, throw away? In readiness for a smaller living space? Minimal if you will. Well, we didn’t. Well, we did but not enough.

Today is the day we had to hand the padlock to our lock-up back to the Marina Office and they would have expected the lock-up to be empty – I know, crazy isn’t it?

The lock-up is empty, the boat is full.

Hopefully it will all get assimilated in suitably Borg fashion but only time will tell (there’s no way we’re throwing it all away).

On another front, the Makita came today and it was the right one – hooray! It’s a beautiful piece of kit. I went to Toucan Tools (very good service – I recommend) and went for the 2x 5AH batteries. I love the Macpak 3 case. It’s a tool for life. Oh, I haven’t got any attachments for it yet so I can’t actually use it, or get that excited about it.

rp – peace and narrowboats

Marina Days

Marina Life, , ,

Friday 19 June thru Thursday 25 June 2020

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - Marina Days - Canal towpath green image

So, living in a Marina is very different to living out on the cut. The marina gives you the luxury of everything on tap whereas out on the cut, you’re lucky if anything comes out of your tap! We have a home, it’s long and thin and there are compromises that have to be made but by and large, it’s pretty much like being in a house. We will, at some point move onto the canal system and travel but for now, we are loving the freedom of not moving anywhere – Marina Days.

Friday

We travel because we have the luxury of a car and went back to the West Country for a day, to collect a package that got sent to the wrong address. Friday was my non-working day, a luxury.

Saturday

Saturday saw me performing socially distanced queuing to get into Waitrose (yes, they let me in). I also spoke with the Marina regarding a small bit of welding that needs to be done. The water tank breather pipe has a hole that needs fixing, so I don’t have to sit there watching the tank being filled. Currently, if I don’t, the forward well deck gets filled with water. Someone will come along and evaluate it at some point.

Pirates loom heavily at the moment, as I’m attempting to write a story – The Tales of Silverdale – A Pirate Ship In Dark Waters (you can check it out on Ko-fi), we watched Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Man’s Chest. It’s research.

Sunday

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - Marina Days - Lego Yellow Submarine - John image

Sunday saw me release Piece 3 of The Tales of Silverdale – A Pirate Ship In Dark Waters – you can read on our Ko-fi page. We then visited Wilton Marina Cafe for a Vegetarian Breakfast, sat out in the sun. Mu got the final quarter of the saloon masked and washed down in readiness for painting. We then walked to the local farm fruit & veg shop for provisions. I then managed to start my Lego Yellow Submarine. We finished the day watching Breaking Bad.

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - Marina Days - mu masking image

Monday

Monday I was back to work (remotely). I emptied the loo at the Elsan point. The hi-light of the day (no, emptying the loo wasn’t) was that the money for the Makita Multi-tool that wasn’t the Multi-tool had been refunded (see All the Gear, No Idea) – Hooray!

Tuesday

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - Marina Days - The Heart of the Shires sign image

Tuesday was fully back into working remotely. I bought milk from the marina chandlery to support local. We went for a walk along the canal, to The Heart of the Shires, a shopping village outlet in the heart of the Northamptonshire countryside. It was hot, very hot. There was a little shade with the trees but not a lot. We bought a knife for cutting tomatoes and cucumber – Victorinox (ignore the fact that it says cheese and sausage – it’s great for tomatoes and cucumber) at the Abraxas Cookshop. I was fed up with using the bread knife.

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - Marina Days - mo on the Canal towpath image

We also had an ice cream from the Darlington’s Tea Room there. It had opened for takeaway. It was very good and there was lots of it. A good antidote to the sun. We walked back (no cooler) and had a cup of tea sat out on Silverdale. It had ended up being an idyllic day.

Wednesday

Wednesday. It was very hot again. We’re not complaining. It was another of those Marina Days but I went shopping in Daventry which required the car. It was 31 degrees. I complained about that.

Thursday

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - Marina Days - marina ducks image

Thursday. It was very hot. I know, it’s getting a bit samey. There were ducks tho’. We had the windows open, the doors open, the parasol (which we found in the top box on the roof of the boat) up, water in the fridge and no hot meal. It worked. This was also the first week of work completed and it had gone well.

Marina Days – this is the way we roll in the Shire…

rp – peace and narrowboats

A Bit of An Update

Marina Life, , , , , , , ,

Thursday 11 – Sunday 14 June 2020

A Bit of An Update

Thursday 11

Thursday saw us go for a drive in the surrounding countryside to see a few villages. Both Crick and Yelvertoft have figured highly in the YouTube Channels we avidly watched each evening once we decided to buy a narrowboat again. Everyone has either lived there or driven past and vlogged it. Both were very nice places on the canal. We ‘oohed and aarhed ‘ and saw the canal and gave a hurrah for we were part of it now. Back in Daventry we picked up a takeaway coffee at Coffee Number 1, just before it closed – an unexpected pleasure in these times. It was all socially distanced as I was the only person in there. There were shields up at the counter and a one-way system in operation.

Friday 12

Friday was Tim: our son’s Birthday so we got video call. I also finally got to send the Makita back (you may recall it wasn’t the Multi-tool I was looking for).

Saturday 13

Saturday saw us start the day with a drive-by, sorry, drive thru coffee in Northampton courtesy of Costa (there’s no loyalty, we’ll drink coffee from anywhere). We got to sit with a view of very nicely landscaped gardens. In the distance was a tower. It reminded me decidedly of Orthanc! In the afternoon we walked to Buckby Top Lock, along the canal towpath. Half way, the little shop was closed but a narrowboat was selling crafts and we bought a Toilet Roll Holder made of brass piping. It was very hot.

Just beyond the Top Lock, you come to Norton Junction and just before there, there is a sign showing four and a quarter miles to Braunston. Add onto this, the distance we had already walked and it would be just a bit tooo far to walk to the Boathouse pub and back, once they open again – shame. there is still The New Inn at Buckby – much more doable.

Sunday 14

Sunday saw us set out with good intentions to visit Milton Keynes. We’ve been once before and wanted to spend a little time and understand it a little more (well, it was more me wanting to than mu). Round and round and up and down. Nothing was open, was it too early? Or was everything still in enforced closure. After what amounted to what seemed like four days, we cut our losses and set off back. The motorway services on the way back (there was a detour as a road was closed) proved to be no less entertaining with the Costa Drive-thru being closed, leaving a ‘make it yourself at a machine’ the only option.

Back at Whilton Locks, we had a Cheese & Onion pasty at the Whilton Marina Cafe to console ourselves – delicious as ever. It’s nice sat in the sub by the Buckby Flight Bottom Lock or Whilton Lock or Lock 13. I never know what to call it.

I published Piece 1 of The Tales of Silverdale – a Pirate Ship in Dark Waters on our Ko-fi page. Afterwards I downloaded Pirates of the Caribbean – The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) and watched it. We love that film.

rp – peace and narrowboats

All the Gear, No Idea

Marina Life, Moving Aboard,

Tuesday 9 June 2020

All the Gear, No Idea

Late up today, a bit of a lie in. The defining wake up moment was a buzz on the phone stating that ‘My delivery would be between 08:41 and 09:41. Very precise and potentially in 15 minutes time. Then, the remembrance that an Engineer was to visit. He was going to come and suck the residual water out of the bilges with a wet/dry vacuum, spurred us into motion.

Speaking of motion, there is very little on the boat. We are tied off well onto the pontoon and the marina acts like a harbour. There is the occasional sense of motion, when looking at other boats moored next to us, as they move back and forth slightly. It’s nice though.

The parcel arrived. It was a big box. It was heavy. I left opening it until later.

I opened the parcel. The excitement of a pro-level tool (I know, I’m easily pleased) was dashed as, upon opening the box, stroking the superfine Makita case, to my horror: the label said Drill! It was the wrong tool – completely. They had sent a drill and not a Multi-Tool – I have drills! It did look like a really good drill but it was not what I wanted and not what I had ordered. I now had all the issue of contacting the company who passed me off onto their Amazon Seller (a seemingly separate part of their company), contacting Amazon, waiting… It went on and still does. The upshot was, I had no Multi-tool – No Gear, No Idea.

It cast a cloud over the whole day

rp – peace and narrowboats

It’s a DIY Kind of Day

Uncategorized, ,

Saturday 6 June 2020

It’s a DIY Kind of Day

It was cold outside. The wind continued to blow throughout the night and into the morning. Sun played on the inside roof of the boat creating patterns that moved. The sun was out for a short while but the wind brought in another batch of grey clouds. Our boat and the ones alongside swayed, moved and juddered in rhythm with the wind. The two-section floating workshop parted and joined, as though in some unheard country dance. The antenna atop the workshop swayed ominously and probably wasn’t doing our WiFi signal any good. The trees stoically continued to put up with it all.

Make It a Makita

We started the day deciding upon a multi-tool. We needed one to address the rust: on the prow, in the lockers, in the engine bay and a whole host of other areas we haven’t yet found. After careful consideration, we decided upon a Makita cordless unit – DTM50RM1J1 18v L-ion Kit.

As you may or may not know, I am not known for my DIY skills. If I hammer in a nail – it bends. When I put up a shelf – it falls down. Should I look at a screw – the head looses its thread. So, Mu started the preparation for painting the saloon of Silverdale. It will be all white and our things will provide the colour. I supplied tea and freshly ground coffee.

A break from the DIY (I was exhausted) saw us head over to the Café where we had chips outside – the first for a very long time. The winds and rain and sun continued. A tea break out on the stern, under the canopy saw us open it up to let the sun in, then close it down as a massive grey blanket of cloud rolled over, bringing thunder. It’s really great we have this whole other room: conservatory/greenhouse/tent/deck.

Back to the grind.

Have You Finished Yet?

Painting came along slowly. I didn’t say “have you finished yet?). Covering a sage green colour with brilliant white emulsion will do that. It takes time and coats. I washed half the solar panels so we should be able to pull in just a little more energy – a couple of rays worth. I need the brush to reach the other side of the panels but I haven’t plucked up the courage to walk down the gunwales yet (the last time I did, I fell in – see Tales From the Bilge – Episode 17)

It was probably raining again but the sun did come out and stayed out into the evening. When playing tangram, sorry making the bed, we discovered a leak! A small one. Rain water had gained ingress via the port side bedroom window and had ran along to the corner of the bed. The mattress was a little wet (not me). We were aware that some of the window seals needed attention from the survey. This was one of them. I’m hoping Sikaflex will do the job. A purchase just as soon as the Chandlery gets some in stock. I suspect there will be more DIY kinds of days to come

.

Here ends our first week aboard Silverdale.

rp – peace and narrowboats