BSSC Examination

Today we were booked to have our four-yearly boat safety examination. We first used Tom Keeling back when we were buying nb Take Five and he did an in-water survey for us. He has also done some of the examinations need in the past although on at least one occasion we had to use someone located much further north!

We have never been present when an exam has been done so this time we took the time to be there. We drove up from home Sunday morning and arrived just after lunch. It was a straightforward journey with no delays but when we arrived the weather was bitterly cold.

We quickly filled up with some water, turned on the Webasto and lit the stove. Even given the outside temperature, the cabins soon warmed up to a comfortable level. We had one task to do today - to empty the gas locker of anything that ought not to be there!

Somehow, we managed to leave the Webasto set to come on as a frost protection. Even though we had reduced the setting to 7C it had operated sufficiently to nearly empty the diesel tank - that's almost a full tank's worth so not a cheap mistake to make . . . 

As we planned to set off back home as soon as the examination was complete we opted to fill up again today. At least we are beginning to discover a reasonably sensible way of exiting our basin into the next, from there out onto the canal and then back into the original basin to come onto the service point. As soon as we were filled up, we made the reverse trip. A feature of the marina is that there is a  swing pedestrian bridge over the channel between the two never basin which is normally kept closed to boats for the convenience of the moorers on the far side, nearest to the canal. Coming in to the basin there is a good waiting lace with guard fenders either side but not when going out. We are very close to the bridge and we have found it best to move in and out of our pontoon to head up the basin before turning and then having room to manoeuvre, both when going through the bridge hole and when coming onto the pontoon. At least on this occasion the wind was nothing like as feisty as last time!

An early (ish) start as Tom was due to arrive at 9 am and he was with us on the dot. It was very helpful to be able to meet and chat as he checked through his records from last time. He is quite meticulous both in examining and in recording the answers - helps when some things are not so easy to find. In the end he did not find even a recommendation for change - this would really only have been in cases where more stringent requirements have been brought in since the last test as we have not made any changes. The next day our certificate arrived and we copied it on to the marina (who are quite diligent in keeping on top of checking licence, insurance and BSS!)

With very little to have to load back into the car we were able to make a speedy getaway but the car needed some more electricity to get us home. Not sure why but the amount left in the battery (we have an electric car!) had dropped quite a bit from when we arrived. We had thought that this time we might just make it back without visiting a charger but - lesson learned - we left the boot open for rather a long time this morning and that must have taken more power than we would have guessed.

So, as soon as we left the marina we headed to the fast chargers in the retail park near to Tesco - this places as a good number of chargers - half Tesla. We pulled onto one of the Tesla points (which now use a compatible connector) but after plugging we discovered that we have to be set up with their special app as there is no card reader or control panel on the charge point itself - all done through the app!

So over to one of the general-purpose points and the card reader refused to connect to either of our cards! So, we moved to the next one and - lo! - it worked. Whilst the charging was taking place we picked up lunch to eat on the way, from a Boots next to the charging station. We only needed to take on enough to get home (with a safety margin) as home charging is a fraction of the cost.

The journey back was then uneventful. Hopefully, next time will be our usual 'shakedown' cruise - a shortish trip to make sure everything is OK and that we have not left anything crucial back at home! Still no date for a fix to Little Burton Lock so we may have no choice but to head northwards but that is not really our preferred plan.

Shopping in Banbury

We spent the morning shopping in Banbury. Our first stop was B&M as we had heard from another moorer that they were doing large sacks of good logs for a reasonable price. We discovered that they were only £16 each - we paid rather more than this for the sack we brought up from Devizes - we opted for two although stowing them may be a problem! It is highly likely that we will get through most of them before the end of the colder weather. In the summer we rely on the diesel heated radiators to take the edge off a chilly evening.

It is a substantial version of B&M with a much wider range of goods than we have spotted before. As a result we cane away with rather more than just the logs! However, they did not have any dried parsley or sweeteners. We also were on the lookout for milk and bread. More especially, Christine remembered from our last shopping foray here that she had found a good quality shoe shop on the main street. So we parked closer to the town centre and wandered around.

There are plenty of small shops but, alas, it seems that shoe shops, including the remembered one, have fallen alongside Debenhams and Wilko. We only saw a Clarks in the Castle Quay Shopping Centre and a cheap place on its Closing Down Sale! And Clarks do not stock slippers . . . 

In the afternoon, Mike took a short trip to the churchyard in Great Bourton to photograph some more gravestones, whilst Christine sorted out the boxes to go back home tomorrow.

Finding the Serial Number

Our gas hob has been playing up for a while and not staying alight after being lit. Advice seems to agree that it is likely to be the thermocouples that activate the latch that allows the gas to flow after the control knob is released. Sadly this model is no longer produced so tracking down a potential source of new parts took a while. Unfortunately the supplier we did find needed the serial,number in order to select the correct part. We attempted to take photos underneath the hob when we were on board a few weeks ago. This was not easy because a baffle board is fitted just below the hob - required by RCD apparently. It should protect the workings below the hob from damage when taking things in or out of the shelves below.

Sadly when we came to inspect the photos back at home we found that none showed the serial number. We have to remove the baffle sheet to see more of the underside and also to be able to hold the phone camera far enough away to focus properly. The sheet is held by six screws, three either side. Removing these and the sheet can't be that difficult, surely?

Well, nothing on a boat is ever easy, mainly because of the confined spaces. Moreover, it was quickly obvious that these screws had been put in with a power tool as they were reluctant to come out. The two at the front were possible to unscrew but getting enough leverage for the other entailed removing one of the cupboard doors! 

Eventually we had five of them out but the one furthest away n the right just would not come free, However, we did find that with the others out, the sheet could be dropped down far enough for this purpose.

Finally, we did locate the serial number! The arrow on the first photo above shows where it is located. Let's hope that this will suffice to sort out a repair. (The problem with fitting a whole new, but different, hob is that those currently available have square corners whilst the present one has rounded ones) 

Putting everything back was just a little easier - well, we did know what we ere doing by then. nevertheless, this took up almost all morning up to lunch time.

It had been wet overnight and the rain persisted until early afternoon.The sky was overcast and the temperature decidedly on the chilly side of unpleasant! Hence we remained tucked up with the stove stoked up to keep us very comfortable. Only braved the outside (other than retrieving things from the decks) just the once, to empty the elsan.