Last time I went to visit Starcross I found flat batteries, a broken stove door glass (with a door that needed modifying before a replacement could be fitted) and a partially-collapsed ceiling in the engine room! It was not a good start to the year.
Dave at Uplands Basin had ordered me some new batteries and after seeking advice on Canal World Forum I'd bought a complete spare door for the stove, so that I could fit that and bring the old one home for the major modification needed to make it serviceable again. Dave had offered to fit the batteries before I arrived and I'd allowed myself to be convinced by someone on the Forum that the door could be replaced "in seconds". So, I assumed when I arrived at Uplands today that the electrics would be sorted out but also anticipated that the door job might not be as easy as promised.
How wrong could I have been. The old door was off the stove, the new one fitted and the fire lit before the kettle had finished boiling for morning coffee, but the electrics failed again after about ten minutes!
Eventually Dave diagnosed a faulty battery isolator switch and once this was fitted Starcross once again had light and power - plus of course heat. Dave offered to re-fit my old batteries but I opted to keep the new ones as the others were over four years old and beginning to show their age.
That just leaves the hole in the ceiling!
No comments:
Post a Comment