Don't press the button..

Don't press the 'publish' button until you have proof read what you have written! In the last post I have managed to make a complete arse of myself by failing to spot the typo's. So sorry about the mangling of 'penchant' and the failure to SPILL conscious correctly; sadly I don't suppose it will be the last cock-up though..

Safety Consious

Joe has just managed to buy four of these automatically inflating life jackets for the princely sum of £100 - well done that man! We used Crewsaver lifejackets when we did our RYA Helmsmans course and thought that they were easy to use and comfortable to wear.
Naturally we don't intend falling off of Caxton but then again Joe has quite a reputation in the family for his ponchant for falling in the drink. A bashed head falling off of a boat is not going to enhance your swimming abilities and we have a number of friends that do not swim very well anyway so; lifejackets.

Round-Tuits

Yesterday and today have been spent in preparation for the estate agents visit. The change in the weather yesterday provided a opportunity to get all the lawns cut and tidied and sort yet more 'treasures' for the tip! Joe has been focusing on finishing those round-tuit jobs; jobs that would have benefited ourselves living here but never seemed to get done - ah well.



We have bought some of those vacuum bags that you can store clothes and bedding in and they are very good. They were bought for Caxton; we thought that the 'summer wardrobe' could be stored under the bed safely in the winter and vice a versa. I have shoved some spare duvets and sleeping bags in them for now and has freed up a lot more room in the linen cupboard - the door closes now!



The under stair cupboard got emptied yesterday and deep in the bowels were spare curtains, shot gun cartridges and gun cleaning stuff, dogs toy box, spare dining chairs, assortment of winter coats, wellies, vacuum cleaner bags (various), Christmas lights and unused wrapping paper - Yes, it was one of those cupboards.. Anyway, now it is clean, painted and organised and there is more treasure for the tip.
So Bye for now, we are off yet again to the municipal dumping ground..

Our Eyes Were Drawn

Our eyes were always drawn to the 'portholed' boats we saw. Portholes were aesthetically pleasing to us so when it came to commission our own boat it was a bit of a no-brainer: Caxton is portholed.

A reverse layout liveaboard, Caxton has the galley at the back followed by a dinnette and then the saloon in the middle of the boat. All this pretty open plan. In this section of Caxton there are also two houdini hatches and two side hatches, so no lack of light or air but quite a bit more security and privacy.

Greygal from Narrowboat Dogs on Tour states in her post In defence of Portholes that

It’s also arguably safer as the only thing that can climb through them is an octopus and how many cases of octo-tentacled breaking and entering have you heard about?

We have also specified solid steel doors for the front. This is our bedroom so both privacy and security clearly played a role in our thinking. As a liveaboard boat there will also be a cratch cover .

Do you need help with the crossword Dad?

Floyd decided that Joe required assistance with the crossword...

Our steel baby is safely delivered!

Caxton was delivered to Stuart Harper of Barnowl Narrowboats this morning! Wearing a lovely shade of green (I think Graham Reeves must have a mate in the MOD..- I jest, I jest..)

Caxton is craned off of A B Tuckey's lorry and safely delivered to his new nursery for the next four months. I guess every single person who has ever commissioned a boat eagerly anticipates this stage; it all seems so real now, so bloody exciting!

Stuart and his team will now set to work to transform this great green monster.

Gentle does it, mind that door..

Experiments in the dark!

I mentioned a couple of days ago that we have opted for LED lighting aboard Caxton and that himself had been experimenting with different types of LED bulbs- here is the evidence..

Here is Joe's Heath Robinson (who was Heath Robinson?) set up for testing the soft/warm LED Bulb in the left-hand holder and, the sharp/white LED bulb in the right-hand holder.

"Quick, quick, what do you think?"

"Lovely dear."

"Which bulbs shall we have, the soft or hard light?"

????? Doh

Now there's a question.