Pottering and a life changing decision.

Hi all

Not this much going on at the moment hence the once a week posts.  We have been pottering about doing the odd jobs on AmyJo this weekend.

Yesterday we went out to buy two sockets to make up a new shorter mains cable.  We found them in our local Go Outdoors store in Saltney.  This is on the outskirts of Chester and is a huge store selling anything one might want for camping, caravanning, climbing, walking as so on.  Well worth the taxi fare for a visit.

We did spot, and bought, this little gem for £20.  Its a folding trolley but what took my eye to it was its compact size.  Stores away nicely in the cupboard but strong enough for the cassette or gas bottle.  Whether the small wheels will work on a dirt tow path remains to be seen.

The two litre coke bottle gives an idea how small the trolley is folded down

and when fully opened out

 Another job I've been meaning to get round to is a battery charger for our starter battery.  As AmyJo is a 24V boat the starter battery, being 12V, is not connected in any way to the electrical system so relies on an engine alternator to keep it charged.  During these winter months we are not running the engine every day in the marina so I needed a way to keep the battery topped up.  I found this charger in Halfords.  Its a smart charger giving a better charge cycle it has the 3 Bulk, Absorption and Float charge cycles.  In addition, a winter option to trickle charge at 0.8amps to keep the battery in prime order.  It also has a recondition option to assist when the battery is almost discharged.

I mounted the charger on a support post in the engine bay with zip ties and plugged it into a socket near the steps in the back cabin.

In Maintenance mode for Bulk Absorption and Float cycle charging.

One other piece of news is the life changing decision. 

As of 30th June I will be joining those in the largest leisure group of all by retiring.  We (Chris and I) have been thinking about this for some time but I now feel the time is right, I've had it with work these days as its just not the same any more and no longer enjoyable.  With this in mind Chris and I have starting to look at our cruising options this year.  With only Chris working we can extend our cruises considerably.  During the summer holidays we plan to cruise for the whole period of 7 weeks with other shorter trips during her other school breaks, hell we may even stay out of the marina all summer with Chris commuting to work whilst I move the boat when necessary.  This brings us one more step closer to our dream of continuous cruising.