Lyra's Travels

Saturday 20th April 2013
Another fine day lost. With the forecast set fair we decided to slip the mooring and head for Castleford again. Mike and Sally on Bendigo said that they'd like to join us as they want a good long run at high power to try and clear their engine smoke problem.
This morning dawned fine and bright so the two boats prepared for the off. Disconnect the power, stow a few things away, start the engine. Cath grabbed a radio and headed off for Leeds Lock to prepare it for us.
A few minutes later came the word "forget it, the lock's out of action". Ah well, it's an ill wind etc., at least the weather was fit for painting.
Now, Painting is my least favourite task of all time. I hate painting with a passion, only gardening comes close to it. All that preparation, the careful rubbing down followed by primer and colour. I never seem to get the finish as good as I'd like, and then of course you have to use your boat, and it all gets scratched again. Ah well, at least an effort has been made. I've got one side gunnel rubbed down and primed, tomorrow I'll put on the colour.
Another problem has reared its head as well. I regularly check on our water pump just to make sure it isn't leaking. However, on this occasion it was. Isolate pump, remove, and check connections. Nothing seems obviously damaged so I cleaned up the inlet connection, where the leak was showing, tightened it down and tested. Slight improvement, but still a slight drip. More investigation, more tightening and the drip is now down to just about 1/4 of a cup a day. We have been discussing upgrading the pump anyway because we would like a higher flow rate for better showering, so a call to our local boat yard and they can supply us with a Flojet pump with VSD and constant pressure sensor so that the pump doesn't cycle like the normal ones do, but it maintains a constant pressure within its design envelope by speeding up or slowing down, not just on/off like standard ones do.