Brinks Royale - Day Three

This day may as well be known as 'the rainy one' for it began rather warmly and humid, but there was little in the way of sunshine.  The rain had come and gone, but it was never very heavy when it fell, the odd spot here and there.

I had not woken as early as I might usually because the previous evening my sleep had been disturbed by this constant beeping noise.  Anything that beeps on a boat is not a good sign but initially I could not discover where it was coming from - you see it would only last about a minute and then go silent for about 10 minutes before it would come back.  The reason I could not tell initially its source was perhaps because it was so close to where the bed was - the LCD Battery Monitors were on the bulkhead to the left of the berth, and sure enough the 24v bank was showing just over 21v - every time the fridge's compressor tried to start so the voltage would sink, the inverter cut out and the low battery warning beeping begin.

I could not find a way to shut the damn thing up though, turning the fridge off at the switch marked 'fridge' did not actually do anything, but turning the 'ring main' off at the fuse panel did turn the fridge off and thus this circle of trying to run, low battery and beeping to come to an end.  I could not of course start the engine at gone midnight and was not on the side of the yacht station in Beccles where there was electric posts to hook up to - so I hoped the fridge contents would be ok overnight in the mild temperatures we had been having.

Come morning I started the engine and got things back charging I then waited to what I thought a good compromise time to call Barnes Brinkcraft not too early and not too late - Ben answered the phone yes, that same engineer who had got covered in muck from the shower pump fiasco yesterday.  But he was bright and perky for a Sunday morning and went through a through diagnostics over the phone - how was it that after over 8hrs running yesterday, not using much power the previous night would the voltage drop so low?  It was agreed there had to be a problem wither in the charging circuit or the batteries themselves and why not call him later and he would come to my destination I was heading for that evening to sort matters out.  I said I would be heading for Loddon - and so shortly after ending the call I was underway.

It was actually a very pleasant morning as I left Beccles between the fine rain showers and I kept things on tick over wanting to take it easy and conserve fuel.  Indeed it was not until I was past Cove Staithe did I increase the revs to past 1,000 RPM.  You could hear the birdsong and even other boats I had past were not doing the allowed 6 MPH along the river but preferring to take things nice and slow and soak up the beautiful sights along the Waveney.   Sadly though the rain became more constant and by the time I was approaching the Waveney River Centre it was getting heavier too.

I felt so closed in with all the canopy up at the back and the warmth of the engine and me and the cooler temperature outside was making the windows mist up, so I took the canopy side off and used them to cover the seating in the cockpit, which although water proof would mean less drying up later.   I popped into The Waveney River Centre  (WRC) to finish this procedure off having started it temporarily moored to a bit of qauy heading but having left this mooring I noticed I needed to do a bit of a better job so the WRC - much to the surprise of those there to see me come in, moor stow the canopy and then depart right away.  No sooner had I done this, and turned left on to the ain river again did the heavens open - they decided to stay open right until the end of the day and when I turned on to the river Chet later.

Sadly, this rain meant there was very little I could film - I could not just slide a roof back or open a window and reach out with a camera - even if it had a waterproof casing, because then I would get soaked in the process, and so I am sorry that this entire day's video is so - well boring with just me talking for 40 minutes effectively.

My plans changed several times as I went along the river - at one stage thinking I would go to Reedham, moor up and call the engineer then in the afternoon depart and head to Surlingham Ferry - then that changed to going to Reedham and then back to Loddon as the destination.  Unfortunately  because of the weather many people on holiday had decided to stay put, which meant by the time I had reached Reedham - after a very wet and grey trudge the quay was full - though there was a brief bit of interest as two aft cockpit cruisers which were not hired, seemed to want to occupy the same area of water at the same time - from my vantage point it looked like they were playing Dodgems.

Without being able to stop at Reedham, it was time for plan B - Loddon.  Though not a great deal of distance between the two destinations, when your wet and the weather is poor it feels much further and I was pleased to see a break in the clouds and the rain stop by the time I reached the mouth of the river Chet.

Having visited the Norfolk Broads so often, I had not cruised on this small river - and yet now I was seeming to re-visit it time and again, it feels so much wider and more open now the Environment Agency have completed their bank works - alas would I get in at the staithe, well just as I was approaching it the phone went - it was Ben asking did I want him to go to the staithe, not yet I replied I have no idea if I can fit in - and as I came around the small bend my fears were confirmed - it was full.  I did a 350 degree turn and came back the way I had come, then as if the a beacon standing out I spied Pacific Cruisers - jut one boat and a day boat were moored and being a member of the Hire Boat Federation, I could moor here.  I called the engineer back, he had no idea though where Pacific was based exactly and it appears now he was on foot having left the van somewhere near the high street.

He found it, and got on the boat started the engine and the alternator belt screeched once again - he then went through one of the most comprehensive inspections I have seen of an engineer - not just a multi meter, but also a load tester for the batteries and inspected each cell  after using the onboard hair dryer to put a large load on the system it was found one of the batteries had gone belly up and sucking down the other good ones.  He walked back, got his van and arrived with the new batteries (Rolls branded - not cheap by any means).

Once they were fitted it was time to change the alternator belt not happy it was slipping after tightening well after one was changed the second proved much harder and a large crow bar was needed - it was a lot of work for the chap, but what impressed me was his knowledge of the boat and all the systems, from electrical to mechanical - he was probably only in his early twenties and thought how much might change in his career as new designs and systems come on boats in the future and what he may have to end up fixing.

With everything sorted he was off, and then Michael came and had a nosey as to what was going on - suffice to say he got told off by Fiona for chatting to me too much and his tea was waiting, but it was a pleasure to meet him and talk about different boatyards, boats, his fleet plans you name it and I got a sense of pride in his character of putting the customer first and doing the best he could with the budget he had.  He may not have bling and new, but he has kept the older designs ship shape and then added things like bow thrusters, newer engines and refreshed interiors to the fleet - well worth a look if you want to hire, I would hope to myself but getting to Loddon via public transport might not be as easy as I find things on the northern rivers.  www.pacificruisers.co.uk is their website.

So plugged in to their shore power the batteries were all coming up to full charge and I settled in for a nice evening onboard and as it happened an earlier night - tomorrow was going to be sunny and I wanted to make the most of it.