2017-SINK SOME
The very best way to sink a narrowboat is to park it up in the wet season and let the weather fill the bilges. Every litre of water adds a kilo to the displacement and 1000litres is about how much water can get into the bilges in three days unless you have taken extreme (and not very reliable) steps to pump it out as soon as possible after it arrives. There are some very good bilge pumps out there for small money that can pump out five litres a second. The pumps are electric and use up battery power so you need some hefty batteries and they need to be charged up. The pumps also need a device called a float switch which senses rising water and switches power to the pump. However, these float-switches get forgotten for years or get jammed in the on position so they drain the battery or the battery is low anyway because you are relying on a solar panel, but your solar panel has been stolen or has blown off the roof and resides at the bottom of the canal alongside two of mine. Or maybe there has been a total lack of sunshine for the past ten days.
It does happen in wid-minter
Although I have not [yet] managed to sink my own boat I have come close
WIP to describe all the ways I have come close to sinking my boat
©MMXXIV
[email protected]
Off-grid at all costs
and at no cost at all
The very best way to sink a narrowboat is to park it up in the wet season and let the weather fill the bilges. Every litre of water adds a kilo to the displacement and 1000litres is about how much water can get into the bilges in three days unless you have taken extreme (and not very reliable) steps to pump it out as soon as possible after it arrives. There are some very good bilge pumps out there for small money that can pump out five litres a second. The pumps are electric and use up battery power so you need some hefty batteries and they need to be charged up. The pumps also need a device called a float switch which senses rising water and switches power to the pump. However, these float-switches get forgotten for years or get jammed in the on position so they drain the battery or the battery is low anyway because you are relying on a solar panel, but your solar panel has been stolen or has blown off the roof and resides at the bottom of the canal alongside two of mine. Or maybe there has been a total lack of sunshine for the past ten days.
It does happen in wid-minter
Although I have not [yet] managed to sink my own boat I have come close
WIP to describe all the ways I have come close to sinking my boat
©MMXXIV
[email protected]
Off-grid at all costs
and at no cost at all
