Captains Log - 2
TIME: Lockdown 2020 - LOCATION: Cornwall
PURPOSE: To buy & move aboard a boat.
TIME FOR A RANT
OK, so one of the hardest & most annoying things about my boat purchase has been the complete lack of reliable trades.
I had a chap booked in, who had come to the boat & measured up, paid him a deposit for the materials & when the day came to do the work silence.
An electrician came to look at my non working toilet & shower drain, stated he needed to get parts & would be back in a week or so. Silence.
A shipwright was booked to cut an access hatch to the engines, he booked me in for a month away & then closer to the time sent me a txt stating wouldn't be doing the job because he had to self isolate, what for ever?
I also had someone booked in to service my caravan, the day came to do the job & yes silence.
I phoned & txted all of the above but none of them ever took the call.
I really do not understand what is wrong with these trades...
Enough of the moaning...
Compass Rose came with 2 brand new life-jackets & 4 floatation jackets. Useful.
A massive drivers chair took up way to much space in the main galley. I was using the boat as a live-aboard so I quickly got rid of this.
As a liveaboard boat she has been lovely, the aft main cabin is lovely. I invested in some blackout curtains, which of course still bled lite into the room at the bottoms & sides. Magnets, that's the answer. Several magnets stuck to the window frame & then magnets around the curtains locking them down & getting rid of that darn light. I do like it pitch black when sleeping.
Another lovely feature of the main cabin is that the en-suite is literally 5 feet away, great for those midnight wee's. Or it would be if I could only find an electrician to come & repair the toilet...
In the meantime I have been using the forward toilet. This confused me to start with, what position does what.
So if your wondering, the top switch slid to the right will pump the toilet without bringing any water on where as slide the switch to the left & the toilet will flush bringing in sea water.
The pump handle itself indicates different positions but none of them have made any difference so not sure why it has the lock & unlock symbols on them.
The toilet works fine, I was concerned as to where the waste was going, into the sea? Which isn't really acceptable in a marina, or into a holding tank.
Turns out my waste is going directly into the sea, Mmm, however it seems this is pretty common around marinas for live-aboards, Falmouth Marina certainly has no waste pump facilities and enquiries led me to believe there are not many around.
One of the trades did confirm that he didn't think my waste tank was actually plumbed up to work, but of course he never came back so it wasn't a job I could get done & is on my to do list.
Cat On A Boat
So very pleased that my cat has settled on the boat pretty quickly. After picking him up from my old home town he was good as gold on the nearly 6 hr drive down.
Once on the boat he quickly found my bed & settled down & slept for ages.
The following day he was like a sniffer dog sniffing out everything in the boat he could. He didn't go outside yet but enjoyed sitting at the door & sniffing the various boat life smells.
As time has gone in he now wonders around outside the boat, I don't at the time of writing think he has ever jumped off the boat, what with the way she can sometimes sway back & forth on her moorings, hopefully this puts him off jumping off.
Jack's litter tray is currently in the front cabin, hopefully with warmer weather I will be able to use one of the outer storage lockers.
I currently have a problem with the hot water tripping whenever I put the kettle or microwave on. An electrician showed me how to reset it but didn't come back to me to repair it. It's not too much bother, I just need to remember to turn of the hot water when using kettle / microwave.