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Showing posts with label burner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label burner. Show all posts

Thursday, 9 February 2012

So you thought it was cold!

The Golden Cloud - 09/02/12


I thought it was cold the other week, how wrong I was!


As per usual many things have changed since the last blog.


A minor alteration of 2 bus routes has meant my future at Ynyslas is in severe jeopardy. Something that for them wasn't a big change and for anyone else probably didn't make much difference has meant a total change of life plan.


A week ago the last bus to Ynyslas was 10.30pm leaving Aber. This meant I had ample time if I wanted it in the evening to go out for a drink with mates, go to seminars at uni, work abit late, have dinner at a friends, have a social life. This week the last bus is 5.40pm. Now if I want to work late, or have a social life, I have option a) sleep on the street, b) beg friends to stay over, or c) leave the bike at Borth station and cycle the final 3 miles in the dark and perhaps pissed. I really can't be planning a life around any of those options.


A further thing that it reduces massively is my opportunities to start a relationship with anyone, as you can't go on a date and be done by half 5! It also means that friends can't come over to see the boat and have dinner, or give me a hand doing it up!


Car
Harbour
So the conclusion was drawn that I had to either 1) get a car, 2) move to aber marina, or 3) move to aber harbour.


Marina






















Now each has its positives. A car I can use to transport bulky items and gives me freedom. The marina I can walk onto the boat from nearby pub. The harbour is cheap and close to everything I need.


However, each also has negatives. A car even being relatively conservative would cost £3000 a year, and burns fossil fuels. The marina costs £2500. For the harbour I'd either have to walk across mud, or row to the boat!


Obviously the harbour is the best option, but it's got a major issue, the harbour master is never there! 


Anyway I came to the conclusion that ideally the harbour or marina are the best options. On discussing with my employers I found there is a possibility of sharing a mooring in the marina, while I have a large amount of work in the pipeline. As such, moving to the marina seems to be the way its going.


So to move to the marina I need to complete the following jobs.... 1) Paint the Hull of the Ship, 2) Get the Engine Running, 3) Get a Windturbine Rigged up, 4) Get the Mast up, 5) Get in the Water, 6) Sail to Aber.


The first job (and the only job I can complete myself) is the painting. So this morning after getting back to the boat last night, I set about this task.... Unfortunately once again this didn't go to plan.


First job, scrub down the hull... issue 1 hull covered in frost, issue 2 washing up liquid frozen, issue 3 sponge frozen, issue 4 when i've defrosted all the above with water that took an hour to boil on the stove, and start washing, the foam from the sponge freezes, then sponge refreezes.... Something tells me that preparing the boat for sea is going to take longer than I'd hoped!


Will update soon!

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

A Whole New Chimney

The Golden Cloud 25/1/12

Today was a great moment as I got a Whole New Chimney!

I've been having a lot of trouble with this fire, tar flowing out the chimney, back smoking, not drawing, giving me headaches both in anger and in asphyxiation!

So I chatted to the boatyard owner to see if he had any ideas. (After scouring the internet, I'd got some of my own ideas too!)

I thought what the issue was based around the diameter of the pipe and height of the pipe being tooo small resulting in not enough draw, and the single skin of the pipe getting too cold causing the smoke to cool too quickly resulting in tar build up.

The boatyard owner thought the majority of the issue was with me burning wet wood.

So today he said, get the stove out and he'd put you on a bigger pipe....

So I got the stove out! and loooky here...
The Chimney was soo chock a block with tar it was too tight to fit my finger through!


I blamed the cold pipe, and the boatyard blamed what i burnt! 


The issue for me is, thats the build up from 10 days fire!
I cannot afford posh wood from good sources dried in a barn for 38 years! I can afford free wood off the beach, the woods, and the hedge, the end.


So the opinion was taken to enlarge my pipe that way i'd at least have more time between having to clean the pipe, (once a week takes the Michael!)


So out came the plasma gun and the welder and bingo the new chimney was on!


Does it look a bit ott?


New Chimney

Old Chimney!

New one looks a lot more industrial and a little less homely but it most defiantly does the job... exemplified by the logs up the side catching fire just!

Right best be off! Got to get ready for a boat party on someone else's boat

Nos Da!