February 21st, 2025 Posted in Creativity, Home, Mental Health, Narrowboat
Narrowboat log: Feb 25
It’s been bastard cold this month but have still got a few things done on the narrowboat, and had my first Boat Safety Test.
ECOal experiments
ECOal is partly made of crushed olive pits, and seemed like a more sustainable way to heat the boat. Unfortunately it doesn’t burn as well and creates way more ash than the ‘Red’ the local coal guy brings round, so I’ve gone back to that. Still burning the Oak tree we chopped up a few months ago as that’s dried out nicely!
Boat Safety Sceme (BSS) signage
See this post – modern narrowboat BSS signage
My first BSS test
Went great, with a thumbs up for my rewiring of the engine bay and battery banks. Just a few small items failed – I need to secure some gas pipes under the hot water boiler and out front near the gas locker. I was expecting my my hot water heater to be condemned, as it didn’t really get the water hot and made worrying explosive noises when it fired up. Ron fixed that while we chatted however, and it works fine now. It was full of spider nests *vomit*
Air quality & air purifiers
After seeing how bad the air quality gets when the stove or air frier are on, I’ve been looking at ways to improve the air quality on my narrowboat. It’s not only the pollution inside but being parked next to lots of other boats burning wood and coal.
I got a cheap, nice looking IKEA one that is OK but weak, and a Russell Hobbs combined air purifier and dehumidifier which does pretty much nothing. I like the look of the Nukit Tempest Euro but it ends up being expensive with the shipping from China. Inspired by seeing plans for DIY purifiers on Nukit, Housefresh and LetsAir I ordered parts this week to build a wooden, 12v powered one.
I like the idea of using readily available parts like IKEA filters and PC fans instead of having a giant white plastic box with proprietary filters, which goes in landfill when it fails. A DIY one can be easily repaired or recycled into other things. They can be quieter than commercial air purifiers too, which is good as I work from the boat.
I’d love to have some kind of Raspberry Pi air quality sensor set up that turns the unit on automatically, but that can come later.
Secondary glazing
A neighbour tried to glaze his Broads cruiser but lost his temper with it, so sold me all the Perspex for £25! I bought another Clipglaze kit and have done two lounge windows. Scoring and snapping isn’t the neatest way of cutting it down, but the edges are mostly hidden behind my curtains even during the day. It’s too cold to work outside so just got them installed as it’s bloody nippy overnight right now.
Man Club
Not strictly boat related, but at the marina; A neighbour has persuaded the marina to box off part of the chandlery to make a room for community use in the evenings. He floated the idea of starting a ‘man club’ here as there are lots of sad single dudes that could benefit from chatting to other guys. Much like Andy’s Man Club. After talking to AMC about starting a branch in Nottingham but failing to find a good venue, this is a welcome addition to the marina that I’ll be supporting.