Quacktivity update :- Our Mallard has flown her nest.

A few ducklings had hatched and she was sitting on them

She's all puffed up, protecting her babies.

 Some of her ducklings have jumped out of the trug and onto the gunwales.

 One of her ducklings is now in the water and already being threatened by a coot.

Sabb engine update

Paul and Tony Redshaw have started preparing our Sabb. A nice new brass air-filter housing has replaced the naff black plastic tub that was fitted. They have also replaced some of the flexi-piping with solid copper.

We've now got a new, larger diameter double pulley on the flywheel and a new 105 amp alternator. The plastic breather pipes will also be replaced by copper piping.

Greenhouse is blooming lovely.

Glenda loves growing edibles and things are coming on nicely.

A good crop

Glenda moved some plants onto our pontoon and into boxes on the handrails.

More yummy strawberries

My Rock & Roll sleeper bus at our marina.

A different view than I'm used to from my driver's seat.

I brought my tourbus straight from the We Are Festival in Essex to our marina so that I could get it ready for Download Festival in Donington Park.

The downstairs lounge

Widescreen TV, kitchen, fridges and loo.

The upstairs lounge.

Second widescreen TV, fridge, tour manager's desk from the lounge.

14 bunks in the sleeping area, my bunk is behind the driver's seat.

A little trip downstream

The geese nursery were not impressed by our approach, not much traffic on the river.

Moored near Oundle Wharf and visiting The Nene Valley Brewing's Tap and Kitchen.

These are unofficial moorings, we intended to stay overnight, but we had been warned that work was finishing on Ashton wier and that the level would be rising about fourteen inches. Glenda didn't fancy getting up in the night to slacken the ropes, and anyway, the A605 Peterborough road crosses one of the two nearby bridges and is busy with trucks all night, so a tad noisy. We went for a beer or two and returned to find that the level had DROPPED about twelve inches and we were aground and listing! We managed to get her off and returned above Ashton lock and moored at Oundle Cruising Club, where we passed a pleasant evening of beer and banter.

For a while now this lake (just upstream from Barnwell) has been the scene of much activity, but no-one seemed to know what it was going to be, now, what looks like pontoon anchors have been installed along the one bank.

And they have cut through to make an entrance, presently blocked with a boom. New marina, hirebase, sports lake? Answers on a postcard.....

Now there's something you won't see every day, Glenda on steering duty! Next thing you know, she'll be getting her purse out at the pub!

Trying to compost myself?

No, I'm not on my way to a fancy dress as a Homepride Flour -Grader. I decided to cover myself in sawdust in a futile attempt to compost myself! Glenda reckons I smell half rotten sometimes! Cheeky minx!

A new (old) engine for nb Freyja

 While out on our trip to the Middle Levels, we met Paul, who I'd spoken to on the Canalworld forum. He said that he had bought an ex-lifeboat Sabb 2JHR 30hp 2 cylinder and said that it would make an ideal replacement for our BMC 1.8. I got in touch with Sean at Marine Enterprises in Dorset, they advertise them at £1395. He said there was a six week wait, then he said it would cost more (£1800-£2000) after six weeks he said it would be five weeks, after five weeks it would be four weeks etc. etc. then Paul kindly sent me a link for a Sabb 2JGR on ebay, priced at £800 to start, I sniped it at £1075.75, and it stayed on £800 until, with 24 hours to go it jumped steadily to £975, that was too close for comfort so I sniped it at £1775.75 (the maximum that I felt willing to pay for an engine that was unseen and untried). I was back in welsh Wales for a funeral and then seeing my family, as the minutes ticked away Jac, my youngest son, said leave your phone alone Dad! Then my mate started phoning to remind me. I switched it back on and counted down the seconds, it finished at £1220, but I received no notification that I'd won! Oh no, should I have tcked that small box? Just then I got an e-mail to say I'd won it. YeeHah!

Our newly acquired Sabb 2JGR, a nice bit of grunt! It has some nice features, like the ability to hand start it, decompressors on both cylinders, oil cups on each cylinder that allow the addition of a small amount of oil to aid cold starting. The flywheel is heavy because it's deep but not too large in diameter meaning that it will fit between the engine bearers. The torque that this engine puts out should make it a lot more capable of pulling two boats upstream against a strong wind.

We had to drive down to Margate to pick it up, the seller had grave doubts about putting it in the back of our Renault Espace. He had bought two of these engines, one 22hp and this 30hp, he took the heavy duty Sabb gearbox off the 22hp and used the shaft out of the 30hp's Hurst reversing box as it is compatible with a PRM gearbox, he'll put the Sabb 2G/PRM in his new narrowboat tug that he's fitting out.

It was too tall to leave on it's pallet, so we wedged it in with wood and strapped it down, the Renault almost stood up! A larger pulley will be needed to spin the new alternator. This is a proper marine engine, designed for use in Norwegian fishing boats and made to be repairable at sea. Sabb means 'tough' or 'robust' in Norwegian.

We got stuck on the M1 because of people rubber necking an accident on the other side, Grrrr! But made it to Tony Redshaw's Vintage Diesels before they left for the day, they are now fettling it, fitting a bigger alternator pulley, making a new air filter housing, replace the flexi and reinforced pipes with solid copper and sorting out a mechanical gearchange, modifying the speedwheel set-up etc. Watch this space...