Forgetful Ian? And once again problems of charging the batteries.

Naughty, naughty, smack our hands 'cos the engine was fired into life at 7 am. Not having another boat to join us on this mooring, why not we asked ourselves. I wanted to put a wash load on and the engine needed to be running for the machine to work. Since having the travel pack overhauled we were advised not to have the engine on too much load, especially if the revs were low. Heating the water for the washing machine seemed to put too much strain on the generator. This I could never understand and not being clever with electronics, always erred to the wise.  But how come for 12 years and before the problems with the travel pack, we always fired the washing machine into life whilst travelling, even having the revs below 900 rpm. So a while ago Ian contacted Ed Shiers the marine engineer to have a discussion about the problem. He agreed to see us at Barton Turns around lunchtime so pins were pulled then, around 9am

Looking back toward Common Lock, two men (C&RT?) were once more looking at the gate problem. With nothing on C&RT stoppage website I'm assuming the fix has been done satisfactorily.

Rain started just as we left so it was a soggy short trip to Bagnall lock.

Wow, the 14-day moorings below the lock at Alrewas were heaving, not a space to be had. This didn't bode well 'cos a trip to the butchers was on the cards for their sausages, pork pie and their home made beef stroganoff, yummy. We did find the 48 hour mooring free so the shop could go ahead. Well...we got to the butchers, purchased the said items, Ian's hand goes into his trouser pocket to pull out the wallet and....no wallet! Embarrassment all round, Ian legs it back to FS while I wait outside and eventually returns with the money. Talk about becoming forgetful. I wouldn't have minded except on the way out, and almost stepping off FS's stern, he mentioned that he must get his wallet from the bedside cabinet. A distraction from a text message on his phone and the wallet went clean out of his head!

Alrewas lock where we dropped down onto the River Trent. The board was on green so okay to descend.

Looking back along the 48 hour mooring. Sky looks a bit ominous!

Left for Barton Turns in drizzle. No sooner had we descended onto the River Trent when it became torrential. I was steering again and what a time to find my so-called all-purpose bought jacket leaked. Supposed to be breathable and waterproof, huh should have gone for a more expensive make! One thing that I do have that's waterproof is the small compact camera bought for Australia. No worry about that water getting to the workings, at least I can still take photos.

This was plain stupid, it really was no fun in a downpour so as soon as we found this river bank mooring, we stopped.

With the rain now turning to drizzle, and knowing we had to get to Barton Turns, we left for Wychnor lock and back down onto the canal system.

Even the river systems getting clogged with reed.

Wychnor lock

 

Arrived in Barton Turns to await the visit by Ed. The plan was to fit a smaller pully on the generator to make it run faster and stop the travel pack from being overloaded. I do hope this will sort out the washing machine problem!

Ed arrived around 1.30pm. Once the generator was removed, I was shown the small pully which would replace the larger one.

Apparently our original pully has been damaged. Ed reckons someone put it in a vice!

The smaller pully

Comparing the sizes

A problem occurred while Ed was changing the pully. The smaller one was a right B to go on, but he did manage somehow but when Ed tried to remove it, it got stuck on the shaft. So now a dilemma, how to get it off. The only option was for Ed to take the generator back to his place and return with it tomorrow. Ah, now the batteries won't charge by running the engine. But we do have our large generator with us so if needs be this can be used. It was decided that we would move on and moor by Tatenhill lock. Tomorrow we will set of for Shobnall to meet up with Jim and Jen who also need Eds services and kill two birds with one stone.