So as far as daily boating goes…
Yesterday, we had a chance to move Kingfisher for the first time. We moved from one mooring spot to another. Same Marina, but just a little bit further down. After a little rub and bounce off our neighbouring boat we reversed out, and nearly into another boat opposite. Let’s say, three-point turns do not work in boats. Nor can we expect to stop the boat exactly where we want it to.
Needless to say we made it. I cranked up my developing muscles and guided our boat into its final position. This was accomplished by a hefty heave ho, which never expected to be as drastic as a one-on-one tug of war challenge. It was a style of moving house we never thought we’d experience.
Our original plan was to move out from Swanley Bridge Marina “off grid” to the towpath at the end of May. We had spent a good month now getting to grips with living on the narrowboat, and completing some domestic jobs. But plans never work out, and we uncovered a problem.
The engine was started up a couple of weeks ago, and whilst it all sounded ticketyboo, we couldn’t turn it off. We were led to believe it was something to do with a solenoid (probably best to google that one). We relied on a local engineer to source a replacement and have it fitted. Near the end of the month, we had our anticipated visit, and was expertly advised it wasn’t the solenoid at all. It was the wiring which had got twisted, and eventually disconnected itself. This has now been fixed.
But, we have a bloated battery, and the other two are looking old (we don’t even know how old they are). This issue was never mentioned in our survey before we purchased NB Kingfisher. We think the previous owner might have swapped his working ones with his son’s, who also owns a boat. Though, it would be very unfair to speculate in such a way.
We now have until this Friday to have our trusted engineer back to replace those domestic batteries with fresh new ones. This means also, we have extended our stay at the marina for another month.