Tuesday 19th May 2020



Gaia passed over some magazines from the Kelvin Register, stories of Kelvin engines in general and restorations. They made for very interesting reading out on the bank, at the picnic tables, in the hot sunshine. It was a scorcher of a day.

Danny also had a copy of the BSS (Boat Safety Scheme) which also made for interesting reading. We had always been under the impression that there were numerous issues with Bridge Street that would fail a BSS Inspection. Failure of an inspection would result in any boat licence application being rejected which would affect the boat’s insurance. We had changed many things on the boat since new build and improved many other areas, all to comply, but were under the impression that our solid fuel stove installation would fail. While the regulations in the BSS can be quite ambiguous and open to interpretation, it would seem we may fail on 2 points:

We have 2 gas isolation valves, neither had any ID labels but we have since fitted these. However, if there is more than one isolation valve, each should be labelled along with the location of the other. We do not have this but it would be easily remedied.

The second point is more serious and not easily remedied. Our stove installation, as we were led to believe, does not comply. Again, the regulations are ambiguous, but they do state ‘any installation has to follow manufacturer’s recommendations’ and ours doesn’t. The stove is fitted too close to the rear bulkhead with inadequate fire protection. Initially, we worried greatly about this and were scared even to light the stove when we first moved onto the boat. However, older boats have their stoves fitted far closer to wooden bulkheads, without any tiling and with a single skin flue. When we first started using the stove we very regularly monitored the temperature of all adjacent surfaces before becoming comfortable with using the stove without any mishap. Should the boat fail the inspection, we will address the issue then.   

Brenda went into Nantwich with Jemima for shopping. Between Susan doing shopping for us, the chandlery itself and Beccles doing a sizeable shop for us, we have not had to venture into Nantwich since the end of April. However, it was a long carry from the marina car park laden with goods though.

More wood gathering took place with yet another stash of dead wood having been found although it is further away from the boats and involves a lot of dragging and carrying. Jacob is having a great time here. He and Harvey have become great friends, running around together and playing, although Harvey becomes more tired by the day.

We had a BBQ accompanied by mushrooms with spring onion and garlic, one of the mushrooms being a double, two stalks but only the one head. Curious. We then had a pineapple between us, BBQ’d in dark rum and Maple syrup with the liquid being drunk as a warm liqueur. Lovely.




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