Narrowboat Alacrity

Well I have just got back after a week working on Alacrity’s refit. I took everything I needed with me or so I thought but forgot my laptop so be prepared for an avalanche of posts.

I have to thank Lesley and Joe from NB Caxton and John And Kathy from NB Marmaduke for the information and recommendations they have made for comfortable easy chairs and their suppliers.

So it looks like we will be going for the chairs from IKEA.

I looked around B&Q today for solid wood flooring and liked the look of the 150mm wide natural oak planks.

From a laying point of view there would be less planks to glue and fit but I think that the wide planks look better in a narrow situation, I do stand to be corrected and probably will be.

So my next task is to find out the best way to fit the flooring, find a local supplier and buy it.

I paid a visit to Enfield Timber today and managed to source some Southern Yellow Pine for Alacrity’s window linings.

The staff at Enfield Timber there are so helpful, nothing is too much trouble. They machined up the exact sizes I needed and gave me advice on the best way of preparing the timber for varnishing.

I was supprised that I would need seventy feet of timber to complete the linings but thats nine windows worth.

I  noticed this morning when doing my usual scan of incoming links (people who have linked their posts to my blog) that the Blog Meister Andrew Denny of Granny Buttons had mentioned in his post “How to start your own website or Blog” that I had learned the self taught hard way.

Remember that Matthew Stibbe is an expert. If you want advice from someone at the self-taught-the hard-way end of things, you might ask John of NB Alacrity. He seems to have taken this same route to getting his blog going including buying the book, so would be a useful second opinion. 

Yes I bought the book, its a good guide but if you use “Wordpress” as your blogging platform their support on the web is second to none, if you are more of a try it and see person who learns hands on like me give it a go.

I found that if you are contemplating your own blog or website the first thing to do is find a domain name.

What you have to remember that it will be the first thing people will see and what seems a good idea at the time may not seem so good in 5 years so “choose wisely” (as the knight said to Indiana Jones).

For us Boaters try looking up nbyourboatname replacing the yourboatname with the name of your boat with no spaces as in nbalacrity you will probably find it available for use.

As Matthew Stibbe suggests use 123 reg to check that your intended name is not in use. Don’t do what I did and register the name and buy a hosting package then find the package doesn’t cover what you want. I tried using the free blog registration from Wordpress.org but found it to limiting in the themes you could use, so I went independent.

I chose  VARiHOST to host my blog on the basic package  they are so helpful and will sort you out in no time, just read what other people say about them. VARiHOST will register and manage your domain name and provide space for your blog and give you your own email addresses for £3.99 a month (no I don’t get anything for this plug I just believe that they offer best value for money).

If you go the independent route you can customise your blog how you want and have total control of what you see on your blog, yes it’s hard work getting it how you want it and yes you may want to throw your PC into the cut but blogging is addictive, fun and all yours, gripe if you want, your blog is your voice on the web……………………………………………………….

If you want any help or advice on starting your own boating blog use the contact page, I will try and help if I can..

Having had Alacrity for 19 years now Jo and I have decided to refit the saloon.

The saloon has a fixed “L” shape dinette which converts to a double bed since there are just the two of us and the dinette isn’t that comfortable. We were thinking of stripping it out in favour of free standing furniture. I was also thinking along the lines of a real wood floor with rugs.

We have been looking at The Ikea “Poang” armchairs with footstools,  we first saw them in a cottage we rented in York, and after a day doing touristy things they were great to relax in. Ikea give them a 25 Year Guarantee and they are a flat pack item so no worries about getting them in (embarrassing moment with the new fridge and door saga necessitating removal of door frame and some skin).

We would also need a table possibly a folding one or one that hinges out from the side. anyone got any ideas?

As to the floor I’m torn between a fully real wood floor or one with an engineered core and a 5mm real wood veneer given the changes in humidity and temperature I’m not sure which, more research needed.

After a leisurely breakfast (very leisurely) we pulled the pins and moved on to a favorite mooring of ours just above Calcutt top lock.

We had to wait for a lull in the boat traffic to wind Alacrity this accomplished we moored on the offside with a great view of the reservoirs with all the assorted bird life including Grebes and Herons.

It was interesting to see that Calcutt Boats had quite a few hire boats still moored up.

The vastness of Calcutt Marina.

It was going to be an early start but having to settle the cats and set up their feeders took a bit of time………Yes can we go now, I get the thumbs up from SWMBO ………. Easy journey up the M1 not too much traffic so arrived at Braunston with sanity intact.

Braunston Marina

mmmmmm  The feeling being here is like a comfort blanket I know is sounds corny but you can feel the calm descend…………. The autumn tints are in the hedgerows and trees and there is a definite chill in the wind…….yes rambling on again!!

Onboard at last at least there is no damp smell, open the curtains yuck lots of spiders descend they seem a bit miffed about being evicted from their winter homes, yes I know that they keep the flies down but I still don’t want them abseiling down into my tea or my ear when I’m asleep.

Water on, Electric on, Gas on I bring Alacrity to life, with some kindling and logs I light the stove and feel the heat almost immediately…………Kettle on!!…

Well there is no damage from leaving her so long apart from a large tin of Bitumen hull paint which seems to have rusted through in the front locker leaking a trail of thick sticky black gunge under the matting on the welldeck…..2 hours later a large quantity of white spirit and lots of rag we managed to remove it all!!!!………. nice smell though…………

Under orders from SWMBO I set up the TV aerial so she can watch ” Celebrity Come Dancing “…….and start to cook the evening meal to be fair she has borne the brunt of my griping about the tin of bitumen leaking. Well she did marry a “Grumpy old man”