Benchmark and Boating

A perfect combination…..

Mr Physics and I are sitting on the boat the day the exam results came out. It is a weird experience and also pouring with rain. Although the results were as “predicted” it is purely based on historical data, so who are we to say on the day who would have done well and who would have done a little worse than predicted. All I can hope is that the students, particularly those who sat National 5’s this year, get to sit their exams next year. At least I am sure they will take end of section tests a lot more seriously this session!

Now that is strange- I wasn’t going to post about that. I was going to write about how Mr Physics and I have combined boating and benchmarking. The boat has been visited just once this year – so sad- she looked initially in a fairly decent state for a year’s neglect, but on further inspection we discovered last Wednesday that the 16A cable had worn through again and tripped the RCD and the main trip switch at wherever Scottish Canals keep their main switch box. This could have been terminal for the batteries -1 bow thruster, 2 leisure and 1 main, which don’t come cheap! Luckily Mr Physics found the 16A spare cable and managed to make up a new one. Scottish Canals responded quickly to my pleas to come and get us power. The problem is that the pontoon has a small gap, the cable can fall partly down the gap and then rubs against a large bolt, wearing away the cable and exposing the wire.

We then noticed that the bathroom remained damp and the wet patch at the bedhead had expanded. This was caused by worn window frame sealant around the bathroom window and kitchen window. Water had got into the bathroom and kitchen. So back yesterday to do some repairs.

Mr Physics replaced the sealant and got some paint on the window. It ought to have been left for longer before the paint went on but the forecast for today was abysmal.

I was allowed to play with the new toy, the pressure washer. Despite a leak caused by a missing O ring, this is the best thing ever for removing the annual build up of algae. What excitement seeing it blasted off with very little effort. Last year it had taken an hour of scrubbing, cleaning, rubbing, buffing and drying. I did have to clear the channels around the deck boards where moss had built up and blocked the channels and collected a few stones. But I took these off and gave them a blast and used a spoon, finger and some floor wipes to clean the channel.

aft deck algae
What 8 months of neglect looks like
8 months of algal growth

Before (above and right) After (below and bottom right)

Look what the pressure washer can do
aft deck after pressure

I will certainly use this technique this year and part of our wintering regime must include sealing the windows.

So what do you do between sealing the windows and waiting for it to set and adding the paint- go benchmarking

Mr Physics had lined up a barrowload of benchmarks but we started with a disappointment.

The wall was at least there, but we couldn’t see any mark
more success by the towpath though, although ivy was trying to cover it.
We struggled with this one but finally noticed the rivet. No cut mark there though
A clear one at Number 63
Just marked as a hall!
and finally Nona’s Kitchen
…and finally Mr Physics didn’t have the patience to wait as I dug through the undergrowth so this one, may or maynot be there! Poor thing

No luck with the benchmark on the belfry which we both thought was a dead cert!

PS The weather today really was terrible, even a trip to the loo felt like Captain Oate’s trip out of the tent in the antarctic!

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