Hello :)
It's been a chaotic and expensive week. Getting ready to set off and leaving the comfort of an easily-accessible parcel box, all the things you thought "yep, one day I'll fix that" come due: mooring lines, a new barge pole and gangplank and holders, another 5kWh battery, extra cabling, 2 hot water tanks ("calorifiers") and their accessories...
I also went to order the last 2 160W solar panels, but they're no longer produced and the closest alternative is a 150W panel, 30mm shorter in each dimension. And they were on offer, so I ordered 4... 1.5kW I'll have in total, and with some trickle heating the water tanks I'll have ~free hot water and underfloor heating for much of the year.
The first few of weeks en route will be messy, but hot water and flooring is tantalisingly close.
Although I might not even get very far... closures everywhere, including on the River Severn by Gloucester:
There's conflicting advice, and I'll try to get in touch with them next week to see what the sitch is. Going the other way isn't really an option either with other stoppages, and at this rate I might not even make London by Christmas...
Anyway this week, it's getting ready to leave and have ~10 people onboard next Wednesday. I forgot photos, but I finished all the bathroom sealant and added a rubber baffle to the shower to stop it flowing over the edge, then started on the rest of the stern flooring, and had a helping hand to start painting the new barge pole and gangplank...
And on Thursday, besides the cannon arriving, I had the boat valued by a surveyor. What I've sunk in 5 figures, I've gained in a delightful journey and the agency to tackle ~anything.
Until next Sunday!
- Nick