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In 1977 we hired our first narrowboat from Anglo Welsh at Market Harborough.From that moment our destiny was set. In 2006 we finally purchased our own brand new 57' narrowboat which we named 'Free Spirit'. Our aim is to travel the length and breadth of all the navigable rivers and canals of the UK. This will be our story as it unfolds.

Saturday 4 July 2020

The exodus had begun.

 We knew it...It's been like rush hour on the M1 today, boats moving in both directions. A Braunston day boat came past, a tad to fast for our liking and many a hire boat too and not just from Braunston. It has been mainly private boaters through, setting off from several marinas in this area.



 So glad we're not moving today, can you imagine what the Braunston flight would be like? The plan was never to leave until Monday anyway. The man from Daventry Refrigeration was due and hopefully find nothing untoward other than a gas problem. In anticipation of his arrival, Ian pulled the fridge out from under the counter to make it more accessible.

 Midday and the Boathouse opened its doors. Where was the rush though? So very quiet all afternoon not at all what we expected. Maybe this evening will be different. 


A knock on the boat and the chap from Daventry Refrigeration was outside. Complete with gloves and mask I asked if we needed to leave the boat. No, all we had to do was to keep our distance and let him get on with his diagnostics.  Kevin was his name and such a nice man. Liked him even more when he agreed with Ian that the fridge was low on gas.  A line tap had to be tapped into the pipe so the liquid gas could be pumped in under pressure.


The line tap
  And Yipee....its all good and he only charged us £40. We could leave now if we wanted and we had considered it seeing as the mad exodus of boats had died down a bit. Nah... let's wait until Monday as planned, there may well be a second wave tomorrow.

  

5 comments:

Alf said...

The land of the "Flat liners" ie they come out at weekends, get out into the countryside, tie up & return to their "Marinas" by Sunday evening never to reappear until next w/e & NEVER to go through a lock !!! ;-)

Ian and Irene Jameison said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ian and Irene Jameison said...

There were more boats heading for the Braunston flight than going toward the junction so I expect they were doing more than just a weekend away. I like the expression Flat Liners never having heard that before. We call them the weekend brass polishers or shiny boat brigade.

Dave Ward said...

I'm curious - does the "Line Tap" get left in place? I assume it must pierce the copper tubing to allow extra gas to be pumped in, whereas the "factory" method appears to be crimp the pipe, then solder the end closed. As there doesn't seem to be enough pipe left to repeat this process, I can't see how the tap could be removed afterwards.

Ian and Irene Jameison said...

Hi Dave, yes the line tap stays now forevermore. Thankfully we had enough space at the back of the fridge for it not to be a problem. If we hadnt then the fridge would have stuck out slightly from under the counter.

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