Weaver trip day 4 - Day off but no time to laze about.

First can we say thank you to all those who posted "well done".  Its nice to know people enjoyed our account of the shipping canal trip and hope it will help and inspire others to give it a try.  If weather is favourable it is well worth the effort to give it a go, we certainly hope to do it again one day.  

We planned this trip to give us plenty of time on the River weaver with free days of non cruising to explore further.  Today was one of them.  

Yesterday I posted wondering why Devil's Garden is so called.  Last night we found out why.  The wild life at night gave out chilling wails, shrieks and groans all through the night.  One can imaging superstitious boaters in the early days thinking the Devil's banshees were out to play in the night.

As we were not planning to move today I got the opportunity to work on our roof box I mentioned in a previous post.  I had made the carcase up over the last few weeks but needed to at the lids.  All materials were of uPVC and were simply Fascia and soffit boards bolted together.

The box Carcass made from 4 pieces of fascia board and sides of soffit board.

 It measures 100 X 90 cm and is 22cm high at the sides to 30cm in the centre.  Its surprisingly roomy inside.

With legs added we tried it on the roof for size

 Today I built up the lids to secure the contents and then added two more lids to act as bases for the solar panels.  I have yet to fit the tilt mechanism but this needs a little thought first to produce.

Nearly complete, just edging on  the far lid to complete.  The panels will sit on top.

Solar panel lid tilted showing the box lid underneath.  The raise edge strips allow for a holding up system to be installed.

The top lids are wider than the lower to allow for the size of the panels.

 As the day wore on it got quite warm and with very little wind became a bit too sticky to work.  By mid afternoon I had to stop and call it a day.  Needless to say my tan got a good topping up.

Whilst I did this Chris gave AmyJo's port holes a thorough clean and then sat in the sun supervising watching my progress and helping out when needed

Tonight's sunset, just stunning!

Tomorrow we plan to move on and explore some more moving up Dutton's lock and into Acton Bridge.