Wednesday 12^th September 2018

When we were in the pub last night we were talking with some locals about flooding in the area. The last severe flooding they had was in March of this year. There is a set of floodgates about ½ mile up the Erewash canal, apparently to protect Long Eaton, and, outside this, there is a farmhouse with a dyke surrounding it. We had wondered why. Across the River Trent there is a massive dyke and Shardlow is also surrounded by a dyke and has its own floodgates. The footpath alongside the river outside the Trent Lock pub also forms part of another dyke protecting the pub although at first this is not apparent.

During the March floods the water level on the river outside the pub was less than an inch off flowing over the dyke. Today, standing on the footpath, the river level is probably 15 feet below and the river is wide, very wide. It is difficult to comprehend the sheer volume of water required to raise the level by a further 15 feet. It must be a frightening sight.

      

                        The River Trent at the confluence of the River Soar at Trent Lock, some 15 feet below the footpath

During heavy rainfall, if water is released from Ladybower Reservoir into the River Derwent, the level in the River Trent can raise by 18 inches in an hour, especially if the floodgates at Long Eaton and Nottingham are closed.

It was not a good day today. We woke to no power left in the batteries whatsoever. We were also virtually dry of water. We should have filled up last night but there is a shortage of mooring points at Trent Bridge so, rather than watering and then mooring, we elected to moor and water this morning rather than lose a mooring spot.

To have any electrics at all we had to start the engine. It seems to be either an inverter or a battery problem. We thought we had put all this behind us.

All the electrics had been isolated so, when we were filling with water, the water pump was switched on but the lever of the tap on the bathroom sink had inadvertently been opened. This duly filled and overflowed the sink, flooding the floor, before it was noticed.

We locked through Trent Lock and so left the Erewash behind us. It was not a good end. However, it was exciting to be out on the river again. The wind was blowing against us and there was a current running so the throttle was opened right up and we surged away with a bloody great bow wave. Great fun. We passed through Sawley Locks into the cut and moored up across from the marina.

Whenever we moor up, there is quite a bit of setting up to do. The pram hood has to be put up, tyre fenders put out whenever necessary, centre ropes coiled and flags and the tiller bar removed and put away. While we were doing all this a woman stopped and enquired about the boat, she is in the process of looking to buy herself. She came onto the boat for a look around and was suitably impressed. All said and done we have a lovely boat. Just as well she didn’t know about the electrics.

We thought the batteries would have been fully charged after the run up the river. The engine was left running while Brenda did some ironing but there was a horrendous noise coming from the inverter which then cut out altogether. Not good.

We walked across to Sawley Marina both to sort out parking for Aaron who is coming to stay tomorrow and also to source an electrician. The parking is not a problem.

There is an independent engineering business at the marina. We spoke to the two guys. Nice, genuine people they seem. They said that Beta alternators can become “lazy” and require jumping from the second alternator. There are two alternators fitted, one for the leisure batteries and one for the start battery. However, both alternators are producing in excess of 14V, the incoming supply voltage to the inverter is also the same. If a small load is put on there is no problem. The water pump drains the battery and, if the inverter is switched on and any load pulled through this, the inverter trips and the batteries drain straight away. So the problem most probably lies with the batteries, the cheapest and easiest solution anyway.

The engineers phoned and, thankfully, they can see us first thing tomorrow morning, hopefully before Aaron arrives.

So the engine is having to be run and, at the moment, with the engine off, the diary is being written by candlelight. But we can still boil a kettle for a cup of tea and we had pasta for dinner.

We had a lovely evening sitting in the front cratch watching a beautiful sunset and a coot right beside us teaching its chick to dive, bringing up and eating weed from the bottom.

Weather: a lovely day. Warm, then hot, and sunny.

Day Total: 2 locks; 1 mile; 0 Tunnels; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 3.6

Overall Total: 214 locks; 384 miles; 15 tunnels; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours 228.7