Bartimaeus

Our spot outside the pub was very pleasant, but it turned out the shade didn't really reach us until late afternoon.  There was however a small bench in the shade until then.  The bench wasn't all that comfortable to sit on, but our deckchairs shade alongside it were.

However, the bench inspired me to continue with a job I started many months (years?) ago.  It worked very well as a stable saw-bench for cutting the plastic piping I have long intended to use to complete the organiser in the aft locker.  Having recently acquired a smaller bucket, there is now slightly more room to arrange things.

Our onboard computer and music server kept losing its wireless connection.  Rob had mentioned that various ethernet cables were curled up and labelled in the electric cupboard.  I made a more determined search and found the cables.  It didn't take long to run the relevant one up to the router.  Now that I've configured the router, we have a much more stable networking set up on board.

When a nearby boat moved on the following morning, I hurried to take their spot by reversing past two boats so that we would be in shade earlier in the day.  Usually Bartimaeus is very easy to control in reverse.  I think the canal here is very shallow though, and I found myself pushed against one of the boats.  I heard a curse from inside and shouted an apology.  I made a proper apology later when I saw our neighbour on the towpath - he had the best shade.

When that neighbour moved on this morning, I quickly moved us again to occupy his spot.  Now we have shade for much of the morning as well as after about 4pm.  There is still plenty of sun to keep the batteries fully charged.

I had been pondering changes to the storage around the heat pump.  Ortomarine had made a reasonable job, but I felt some space was wasted.  After staring at it and thinking about options I settled on a plan.  The increased shade meant I was even prepared to contemplate doing some manual work.  By removing a panel and lowering a shelf, I could make some additional space to accommodate panniers, and allow access to a space below which could hold the electric hook-up cables.

By the time I'd finished I was ready for lunch.  We headed for the cafe we had been too late for a few days ago, this time I had remembered that they served food until 2pm.  When we arrived however, they told us that they had (just) closed the kitchen early because it was too hot - there's a saying about that!

We found lunch around the corner in the pub we had been moored outside when we first arrived in Stourport.  The sun was even higher in the sky on our walk back.  We broke the journey by visiting the cool interior of a discount supermarket (other discount supermarkets are available).

While looking in the electric cupboard I'd noticed that there was no ventilation in the top section.  I'd left the cabin temperature monitor in there while we were out. As I'd suspected the temperature up there was at least 10°C warmer than in the cabin.  I decided it would do no harm to make some small ventilation slots in the top panel.

Later in the afternoon another boat came alongside and it was obvious they were fancying the spot we'd vacated earlier in the day.  We hadn't quite left enough room for them, but by changing our position by a metre or so forward we were able to let them get in.