Booze Cruise #12 - Code crawl to the Ingres Users Association 2010

11/06/2010 by admin.

Monday 7th June 2010

On Tuesday 8th June, the UK Ingres Users Association conference 2010 was taking place at the Holiday Inn, Coram Street, London.  With a number of friends and colleagues (some of whom had attended the code sprint in Slough over the weekend) needing to travel to their respective hotels in London, we decided what better a way to travel than along the Grand Union Canal.

After exchanging a number of emails, we had enough interest to start to plan the cruise.  With Matt Rendell not coming up to the grade of Queen he had been demoted from Lord High Admiral to Purser.  Mark Whalley took the rank of Admiral of the Fleet, Paul Lawes as Admiral and Peter Gale as Vice Admiral.  This then left Matt with the task of identifying other crew member; John Mahony, Pete Lydon, Michael Flower (Ingres), Kim Ginnerup and Roy Simon (Bording Data) and Steve Sheil and Hans Scholten (HVR).  With plenty of ranks to hand out; Captain, Commander, Lieutenant Commander, Lieutenant, Sub Lieutenant, Acting Lieutenant, Midshipman, Cadet, Chief Petty Officer, Petty Officer, Leading Seaman and Able Seaman he had plenty of choice.

The plan was for Mark to leave the office early, cycling back to Packet Boat Marina then move the boat the 4 miles (~1 hour) to Hayes.  Leaving a bit later, the rest of the crew would take the train from Slough to meet Mark at Hayes from where we would continue on the Grand Union, via Bull’s Bridge to Little Venice.  As with a previous cruise, we had intended to pick up take-away from the Mirch Masala from Southall.

Having already stocked the fridge with Holy Water (St. Ella), wine and water with lemon (for the Purser), on Monday lunchtime a number of us set off for the local Asda supermarket to pick up some bits and pieces.  As we were walking out of the Ingres car park, we met with a very good friend and ex-colleague Jean-Luc Hampton who had just arrived from Paris in his immaculate 28-year old BMW 323.  Having previously experienced the culinary excellence of JL, when he again offered to cook for us, the thought of stopping off at the Mirch Masala was very quickly dismissed.

With our French chef now taking the crew numbers up to 12, Jean-Luc set off for Tesco to stock up with ingredients to prepare for what ended up being yet another masterpiece.

So, with plans finalised, time to set sail…

First priority, adjust the ballast..

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Must phone home for directions.

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At well over 6′, there are not many places John could stand in comfort.

“I’m still in the office dear - honest!”.

Conjestion on the Grand Union.

Now this is how you do it - aim the stick thing this way to make the pointy end to go that way.

Pete, there’s no need to squat over the side, there is a toilet on board!

Is that a tree coming our way.?

A said “DUCK”!

It could have been worse, we might have lost our glasses.

The master chef (Jean-Luc) at work.

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What a masterpiece - Lamb Curry.

… with a prawn and scallop starter.

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Please note, this is Matt without his water, ice and lemon!

Pete and John contemplating something.

The Director of Education (Mr Flower) partaking of some Holy Water.

Sommelier Lydon.

Top Beer.

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Tuck in.

Cheers.

Champagne in one hand, Holy Water in the other.

Returning to Packet Boat the following evening.

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Some of the bird I saw en-route.

Dusk.

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… and back “home”.

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Is that all that was left

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Day 10 - The Thames Barrier Cruise (and that small boat HMS Illustrious)

09/05/2009 by Mark.Whalley.

Saturday 9th May 2009

With the very generous hospitality of the Cruising Association at Limehouse, we duly assembled on Friday evening at 19:00 prompt for the safety brief lead by Andrew Phasey (Vice Commodore of Saint Pancras Cruising Club).  As promised, the saftey brief was kept as short as possible so that we could partake of some Reverend James and an excellent bar meal.

Although a number of those present intended moving on to The Grapes, Bev and I decided to retire for the evening (as Bev was quite clearly a little apprehensive about the trip out on to the Thames having seen the boats on the river-side of the lock being thrown from side to side by the current, waves and backwash at the marina entrance.

Armed with the latest “hot off the press” edition of the London Tideway Handbook - Estuary Edition.  I discovered that the publication provides such useful information as Sound Signals (e.g. 5 short blasts = “You are not taking sufficient action to avoid me; or I do not understand your intentions are actions”) and Passing Through the Tames Barrier (call London Vessel Traffic Service on VHF Channel 14 asking for permission to pass through the barrier).

Just after 10:00, we set off from Limehouse Basin towards Bow Lock where we had to wait for the incoming tide to cover the washing machine before we would be let out on to the River Lea (aka Bow Creek).

Eric Naylor and Cherie just below Three Mills waiting to enter Bow Lock.

Sharing Bow Lock with Robert and Nicky on nb Tugby.

Mike Askin with Victoria rounding one of the last bends on Bow Creek before joining the Thames.

Passing Trinity House lightship moored at the entrance to the Thames.

Crossing the Thames with the O2 Arena (nee Millenium Dome) on the South Bank.

One of several helicopters from HMS Illustrious during their display along the Thames.

Now aim the pointy end between those two piers…

Cane you spare a cup of sugar Messrs Tate & Lyle?

Closely followed by Victoria

Returning upstream through the Barrage

The convoy returning to the O2 Arena with helicoptors providing the welcoming committee!

Old and new; Victoria and Canary Wharf

Pulled over by the River Police to help them with their enquiries!

I’ll race you to Tower Bridge

Royal Naval College at Greenwich

As the river starts to get rather choppy (worse to come!)

Bev at the helm sporting her new life jacket - the colour suits you

HMS Illustrious…

… which from this angle is smaller than Victoria!

Hey Bev, can we have a helicopter landing pad on our roof?

The start of even choppier waters…

Hold on tight…

Locking throughLimehouse with Cherie…

Squeeze in, there’s room for one more…

Leaving Limehouse Lock

Returning on the Grand Union with Canary Wharf in the distance.

Wanting to get home early tomorrow, we push on to Little Venice.  As we approached Camden Locks we had hoped that as it was after 19:00, the shops would be closed and the area quiet.  Quite the opposite as there were hundreds, possibly thousands of people relaxing, eating, drinking etc around the locks!

Fortunately, three locks done in text book format - not a single foot wrong, nothing falling in the water and not a single bump (phew!).

Once clear of Hampstead Road Locks, a quick photo of the hoards of people on he canal side.

Journey time: 10:00 - 20:30

Limehouse Basin, Bow Locks, River Thames, Thames Barrage, Limehouse Basin, Grand Union to Little Venice.

Posted in Cruise - May 2009, Holidays, Voyages | 1 Comment »

Day 8 - Waltham Abbey to Limehouse

07/05/2009 by Mark.Whalley.

Thursday 7th May 2009

On Friday evening, we need to be moored at Limehouse Basin for a safety brief at the Cruising Association before heading out on to the Thames on Saturday.

Our options were to stay another day at Waltham Abbey, do the run to Limehouse in two sections (possibly mooring overnight at Victoria Park) or head straight to Limehouse.

Having not previously been to Limehouse, I decided to telephone the Harbour Master.  He confirmed that although there are only visitor overnight moorings at Limehouse, he would be quite happy for us to stay longer.  With this news, we set off at just after 10:30, stopping en-route for lunch at Stonebridge Lock (Tottenham), where we refilled the fresh water tank, disposed of rubbish and emptied the chemical toilet.

Shortly after setting off (with a very cloudy sky but no rain - yet), we saw a fleet of 12 helicopters flying overhead.  Not sure if it was welcoming committee, we kept a low profile and hid the anti-aircraft guns.

We found out later that the helicopters are part of the HMS Illustrious Fleet which is currently moored at Greenwich (on the River Thames) - more about HMS Illustrious later.

Returning down the Lee Navigation, I took no further photos until we reach the junction with the Hertford Union Canal.

The northbound photos can be seen on a previous posting.

On Tuesday we had joined the Lee Navigation from the Hertford Union Canal (to the right) to head north (to Waltham Abbey).

Construction at the London Olympic site

As we entered Old Ford lock, we were joined by five policemen in two inflatable launches.  We struck up a conversation which prove to be very interesting.  They are responsible for patrolling all the waterways within the M25 boundary.  Having heard that HMS Illustrious is currently moored at Greenwich to celebrate the 100 anniversary of naval air flight, it transpired that they escorted the aircraft carrier up the Thames just the other day.  As we will be cruising out of Limehouse to the Thames Barrage on Saturday, all being well it will coincide with the planned 14:00 fly pass.

In terms of her ‘vital statistics’, Illustrious is an impressive 209m long, with a beam of 36m and a displacement of 22,000 tonnes.  She has 1400 compartments and 15 lifts, and she is powered by 4 Gas Turbine Olympus engines (a marinised version of Concorde’s), giving her a top speed in excess of 30 knots.  With a Tailored Air Group embarked she has a full complement of over 1000 people, and can operate with a range of both rotary and fixed wing aircraft from the Harrier GR9 to troop-carrying Chinooks.  Her roles can vary widely, and include everything from Maritime Strike to Evacuation Operations; all of which she has ably demonstrated herself to be very much capable of fulfilling.

Of course compared to nb Tastoma she fails in one distinct area - she cannot fit into a canal lock
Continuing down the Lee…

Past the blocked entrance to Bow Back (leading into the London Olympic site)

Three Mills

How quaint…

Spratt’s Patent Limited

Entering Limehouse Basin

Limehouse lock onto the Thames - it’s an open and shut case!

And lots of pictures from around the Basin and the Thames (where we will be heading on Saturday) …

That’s nb Tastoma in the middle…

Posted in Cruise - May 2009, Holidays, Voyages | No Comments »

Day 7 - Waltham Abbey

06/05/2009 by Mark.Whalley.

Wednesday 6th May 2009

Having had a long day cruising yesterday, overnight we decided that rather than attempt to get to Hertford, we would stay at Waltham Abbey.

Much to Bev’s relief, she could catch up on her sleep (staying in bed until after 10:00).  With me up at just after 05:00, I had plenty of time to catch up on personal emails, sort out the couple of hundred photos that I had already taken and try and find out what there was to see around us.

Yesterday evening I had already taken a short walk to stock up on provisions so knew roughly where we were and that the town centre was only a few minutes walk.

Of course, having stocking up with plenty of bread, the first job of the day was to feed our neighbours.

Later in the day we walked to the town and visited Waltham Abbey Church (the reputed burial place of King Harold, killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066).

Having seen all we wanted to, we picked up a couple of steaks from a local butcher and some bird feed (as they must be fed up with just having bread).

We were tempted to pop into the Welsh Harp, but decided there must have been something wrong with their spirit level when they built it, so just returned to the boat.

Posted in Cruise - May 2009, Holidays, Voyages | No Comments »

It all hinges on some welding

30/04/2009 by Mark.Whalley.

Thursday 30th April 2009

Having travelled to our offices in Slough on Wednesday morning for a couple of meetings, I returned to the boat at Packet Boat Marina in the evening.  On Thursday, the boat was booked in for some welding work at Highline Yachting to repair the hinge on the side hatch door that had sheered off last week.

At around 10:30, I set off from the marina for HLY where I moored on the pontoons between the boat yard and the Waterside pub/restaurant.  I met up with Mark and Paul who telephoned Steve (the welder) who arrived about 10 minutes later.

Although I had brought along some new hinges, with the boat’s insulation being sheet polystyrene, Steve said it would be difficult to weld without removing some of the internal panelling and the insulation.  As the lower part of the hinge was still firmly attached to the boat and only the upper part broken, we agreed that the best course of action was to try and repair the hinge rather than replace it.  This would then only require welding to be done on the door (which does not have insulation).  Steve set about drilling out the hinge rod from both the lower and upper hinge, welded the upper section back on to the door and inserted a new rod to make the hinge as good as new.  Once the door was realigned (with the aid of a universal persuader), the job was complete.

Whilst at HLY, I bought some more coal and propane and returned to the marina.

With a full tank of diesel (160ltr), 3 full bottles of propane (39KG), 20ltr unleaded petrol (for the generator), 950ltr of fresh water and a full wine rack, all I need now is for Bev to arrive and we would be ready to start our journey.

Posted in Cruise - May 2009, Holidays, Voyages | No Comments »

Paloma 0 - Rinnai 1

10/01/2009 by Mark.Whalley.

Saturday 10th January 2009

Up and about at 06:00, Max fed and watered and walked around the lake.  Back on the boat I have a couple of cups of tea from water heated on the Morsø and watch the early morning TV news, read through all new emails and start to catch up on writing the blog.

By 10:00 I’ve waited long enough for Bev to surface so make her a cup of tea so that I can start work on the water heater.

Last night the temperature dropped to -6C and from early morning a light dusting of snow now sat on the frozen canal and marina.  I’m sure glad that the work I have to do today is all indoors.

With the water already switched off, I turned the gas off and within just a few minutes the Paloma was off the wall.  

Following the printed instructions for the draft diverter, I attached the unit to the top of the heater.  Then, on reading the instructions for the heater I discover that the flange on the front on the diverter should be pointing to the back of the heater.  So undoing the two self tapping screws I removed the diverter, turned it round and re-applied the screws.

Attaching the unit to the wall was a doddle.  Offering the heater up to the existing chimney I marked the location of the upper bracket.  Using the largest of the three supplied screws, I then hung the heater on the wall.  Then, making sure the heater was sitting straight; I secured the unit to the wall with the remaining two screws through the lower bracket.

That was the easy bit.  As expected, with the heater being slightly shorter than Paloma, I now had to extend the 3/8” gas pipe, 15mm cold water feed and 15mm hot water supply.  I had to make a return trip to Uxbridge Boat Centre to pick up a couple of tap connectors and a gas leak detector spray.  Of course, when I returned to the boat I quickly realised that I had picked up the wrong connectors, as these were cone fitting and I needed the flat 1/2″ BSP type.  So it was back to UBC where I swapped them for the correct ones.  I also picked a 15mm isolation valve.  This would allow the heater to be isolated from the cold water supply in the event of future problems.

Cutting new sections of 15mm Hepworth pipe and fitting them with reinforcing inner tubes, I was quickly able to complete the cold water feed and hot water supply.  Switching on the water pump, I was then able to test for water leaks.  Perfect first time (that makes a change!).

I then started on the gas supply.  Again, cutting a short length of 3/8” copper pipe to fit between the existing gas test point and the new 3/8” adaptor now connected to the heater.  Using the gas leak detector fluid, I spayed each of the new and existing localised compression joints and turned on the gas.  A couple of minutes later, and without a single ‘bubble’ showing, I was happy that the gas supply was sound and I could now move on to testing the heater.

After inserting the ignition battery, and following the instructions, I pressed the ignition button.  Within just a couple of seconds, the pilot light lit and on turning on the galley hot water tap, the heater fired up and quickly provided steaming hot water.

Initial impression is that the heater is definitely more powerful than the Paloma.  Bearing in mind the water in tank is sitting in a canal which is currently frozen, the hot water pumping out of the heater was too hot to touch when the heater was turned up full (point 6).  The only way to get a comfortable water temperature was to reduce the temperature to point 4.  This also provided a greater pressure of warm water.

The final test was conducted by Bev – she had a shower!

Posted in Rinnai, Maintenance | 1 Comment »

Sealant with a loving kiss

09/01/2009 by Mark.Whalley.

Friday 9th January 2009

With Bev looking after Nia in the morning (whilst Natalie was working), we couldn’t set off until after 12:00.  This wasn’t a problem, as I was able to do some of the chores around the house; sorting out the re-cycling bags, taking down the icicle lights from around the house (not a nice job on an aluminium ladder in temperatures just above freezing) and downloading the Rinnai installation manual from the internet so that I could have a read beforehand.  This prove to be useful, as I discovered that the heater has a 10mm gas pipe connector, whilst my existing copper pipe is 3/8” – a reducer would also need to be picked up from UBC.

I was also pleased to see that the gas inlet, hot water outlet (15mm) and cold water inlet (15mm) were in the same order left-to-right as the existing Paloma.  At least I wouldn’t have to re-route all the pipes.

With car packed, Bev and I (with Max the Labrador in the boot) set off at around 12:30, arriving at the Marina at around 15:30.  Coincidentally, as we were passing the exit for Heathrow (just a couple of miles from the Slough office), Wouter (Director of Premium Services - Ingres) telephoned from Slough to ask about some of the work we did in 2008 for a report he was preparing!

Whilst Bev took Max for a brief walk, I unloaded the car and lit the Morsø – it was again quite cold (just above freezing) and with the prospect of temperatures dropping to -8C, keeping the boat warm was clearly going to be a priority.

As I looked across the Marina, there were clearly a number of other boaters who were also preparing for another cold night as the plumes of smoke rose from their boats’ chimneys into the cold, still air.

With Bev and Max on board, I headed out to Uxbridge Boat Centre to collect the heater.  Whilst there, I also picked up some 3/8” copper pipe, some spare olives (as I would probably need to refit the existing gas test point below the heater) and the 3/8” connector for the heater (to replace the 10mm connector with integral gas test point).

Before leaving UBC, I mentioned that I had passed their details on to the Canal List mail group.  To which the two ladies behind the counter suddenly realised why they had received two telephone calls asking about high temperature sealant today!

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René Rinnai

08/01/2009 by Mark.Whalley.

Thursday 8th January 2009

With several days of annual leave being carried over from last year, and a number of TOIL days accumulated from my recent trips to Venice, I decided that I would take Friday off with the intention of heading back to the boat to fit a new water heater.

A phone call to Uxbridge Boat Centre confirmed that they also stocked the draft diverter (a separate unit which fits on top of the heater to prevent the pilot light from being extinguished by drafts!) and that both heater and diverter would be put to one side for me.

In the evening, whilst reading through some canal emails on Yahoo’s canal-list, I spotted one asking about high temperature silicon sealant to which someone else had responded that they thought UBC stocked it.  Having bought a tube of the sealant for the chimney of the Morsø last year from UBC, I responded that to the best of my knowledge they did stock it, and whilst I had their details on screen, I cut ‘n paste the telephone, fax and opening hours into my reply.

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400 mile round trip – because we can!

07/01/2009 by Mark.Whalley.

Wednesday 7th January 2009

At 06:30 I left the boat and set off to pick my colleague Peter Gale up from his hotel near Slough station.  We had planned to spend a couple of hours in the office at Slough before catching a train to London for the meeting.  No sooner had I picked Peter up (at 07:00), his phone rang.  The call was from two of the other attendees for the meeting who were calling to cancel the meeting as the overhead power lines had prevented their trains from travelling from the North of England to London.

Ah well, might just as well drive home.

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Una Paloma Blanca – Roughly translated from Welsh, My Paloma’s Broke

06/01/2009 by Mark.Whalley.

Tuesday 6th January 2009

With a meeting planned in the City on Wednesday and wanting to check out the boat having not seen it during the prolonged cold snap, I decided to drive from Swansea to the boat on Tuesday afternoon so that I could stay on-board overnight.

This of course would also allow me to put my new BW licence disks (which came into effect on 1st January) on prominent display.

The M4 was extremely quiet.  Whether this was due to the sub-zero temperatures, people taking longer breaks over Xmas and New Year or just that I had planned my journey outside rush hour, I am not too sure.  Anyway, just over three hours and I was parked up at Packet Boat Marina.  As I was only staying on board for one night, unpacking the car was a relatively quick process.

With a few more hours left in the working day, my first priority was to unpack the laptop and get it started.  Whilst Windows was going through its laborious start up, I set about preparing the Morsø.  With the stove lit I checked the temperature on the Max-Min thermometer (in the bathroom).  Not surprisingly, the inside temperature matched that of the outside – a rather chilly -2C with frozen sheets of ice surrounding the boat.

Sitting at the table with my coat and Peter Storm hat on, breathing clouds of condensation I kept warm by replying to emails that had been sent whilst I had been driving from Swansea.  As usual, the Morsø delivered the goods, raising the temperature from -2C to 26C in no time at all, requiring me to open the front door to bring the temperature to a more comfortable level!  Shortly afterwards I decided it was time for a cup of tea.  Remembering that I had not yet switched the electrics on, I flicked the rockers for “water pump” and “shower pump” (which also feeds the smaller toilet water pump).  I didn’t bother with the “fridge” as I wouldn’t be on-board long enough, and I could always leave the milk and other perishable food in a bag in the engine room which was still quite cold.  Hearing the water pump kicking in and re-pressurising the system, I worked my way back to the galley from the engine room.  It was then that I noticed that the water pump had not stopped running (not a good sign).  Checking the bathroom and galley sink taps, I then spotted the spout of water squirting from the side of the Paloma water heater.  Quickly back to the engine room where I switched off the electrics and then back to the galley to mop up the water from the work surfaces and floor.

The cover of the Paloma is easily removed by unscrewing two grub screws and sliding off the two control knobs from the front of the unit.  Briefly turning the water pump back on, I was able to spot from where the water was now leaking – the inlet diaphragm.

With a picture in my mind of the part I needed, and believing Uxbridge Boat Centre was open until 18:00, I set off in the hope that they might stock parts (or at least point me in the direction of someone who did).  My hopes were quickly dashed when I was informed that they stopped making the Paloma 9 years ago, and UBC stopped stocking parts for it about 6 years ago!

Although I wasn’t going to do anything about it just yet, I enquired as to what units I could replace it with.  I was then shown a number of heaters of varying sizes (and prices), one of which had a balanced flue, the remainder, like the Paloma with a “normal” flue.  Asking which was the most popular, I was told that for those replacing the Paloma, the Rinnai 58E is the one typically chosen.  It is physically slightly smaller, delivers a higher heat output and the price (~£200) comparable with the other models.

I thanked UBC for their advice and assured them that I would return, probably when the whether was a bit warmer and I had more time to devote to fixing the problem.

Returning to the boat, I spent the evening without running water but was able to use bottled water to make that cup of tea and the communal shower facility in the morning to get ready for the meeting in London.

During the evening, I did a bit more research.  The tried and tested search on Google confirmed that Paloma is no more.  There were a few second hand ones on sale on E-bay and a company in America who seemed to be able to provide parts.  However, I believe I had already made my mind up.  The Paloma was approaching 20 years old.  Although I had identified the main leak, there were no guarantees that there were not other yet-unidentified leaks.  A replacement unit would have to be installed.

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