Diary of a wharfinger: 21st - 22nd April 2026 | ANDY STANDARD ENGINEERING 💥😝

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:01]Good morning.

[00:00:03]Tuesday, the 21st of April.

[00:00:08]Oh, this is lovely.

[00:00:10]It's lovely. A bit bit chilly in the morning.

[00:00:13]Kills the bugs.

[00:00:15]It's really nice.

[00:00:17]>> [snorts] >> And Lazy days was good yesterday.

[00:00:24]We We've got a conference call with the motor suppliers.

[00:00:30]But I was pleased.

[00:00:33]I was pleased with the numbers.

[00:00:38]So, we ran her for ran her for 2 and 1/2 hours and still had 40% left.

[00:00:52]So, I'm thinking and then regen an hour brought up 7%.

[00:00:59]With my basic maths and allowing for discrepancies, I think if they set off and get through the tunnel, well, the part of the part of the joy of it is is going through the tunnel quiet.

[00:01:23]That's that's a really nice side of doing it.

[00:01:26]But I'd just like to make sure that that that they get through the tunnel, which I'm you know, I haven't had it I haven't had it stop on me yet.

[00:01:38]So, maybe as the tunnel comes into sight, so they set off on diesel because there is it is slightly easier to handle because of the the the the sharper response time.

[00:01:50]So, perhaps they get off and then when they see the tunnel in sight, switch it to electric, check they've got drive in electric, enjoy moting through the tunnel in the quiet, get to Harborough Harborough, get to Foxton and maybe as they go on to the the final bridge, as they go on to the final bridge, turn it to diesel, switch the electric motor off, then then cruise So, sorry, then then start it on diesel at Foxton for the return leg for the return journey. Start her on diesel, cruise for half an hour on the diesel, and then switch it to electric and try and come all the way back on electric.

[00:02:51]So, that sounds like a plan.

[00:02:58]The great thing is that people are so lovely who hire it. They're really understanding and that they feel like they're part of the project and they work with us and and and then there's always the the option of them just staying on diesel, which as friends who know me know that I'm I did years and my job was in experiential marketing and I just know that it's so much a better experience. I just really really want it to work and I think that seeing the wildlife and just it's it's just so much more peaceful and tranquil. So, we're definitely making roads in the right direction. Well, she's been charging up overnight.

[00:03:39]This is what she what she looks at.

[00:03:43]And now we're lovely. We're sitting at at 100%. I've I've ordered a new USB and a voltmeter thing, so I'm going to check.

[00:03:53]You see that according to this we've still got plenty of Well, we've just got enough 12 V. So, what I'm going to do is unplug her.

[00:04:20]And now I'm going to make sure she starts on the diesel.

[00:04:27]Just give a little bit glow plugs.

[00:04:29]Because the other day, if you remember the other morning, she didn't start on the diesel.

[00:04:33]So, we need to make sure that there wasn't there some sort of drain Absolutely perfect. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't some sort of drain on the system that's pulling the 12 V out. But now I'm pretty sure it's because because it had gone all down electric, but um I put the battery on tap for a while, so maybe it just needed tickling up.

[00:04:59]But definitely minor problems, so we're all good. Let's see how Tristan got on yesterday.

[00:05:05]Actually, [clears throat] what I was going to do this morning is take her on electric into the tunnel, get my boom box going, just play some of my favorite tunes at full volume.

[00:05:20]But I'm probably a bit old for that.

[00:05:22]I'll do it later.

[00:05:23]>> [laughter] >> So, Frankie's on here. I'll be quiet cuz he's sleeping.

[00:05:31]He's got a very very stiff helm the tiller and the rudder.

[00:05:41]So, we're going to chat with Andy about that later. We're not sure if the the stat plate is causing undue pressure on it and I just making the whole whole maneuvering very difficult, but we're going to have a look at that today.

[00:06:02]Good morning.

[00:06:12]You okay, guys?

[00:06:15]I think you're meant to get up when the sun gets up.

[00:06:20]Are you still a bit tired?

[00:06:32]And he said, "What what?"

[00:06:35]Right.

[00:07:14]So, she's had a good old set sanding down.

[00:07:20]Again, feels a little bit like one step forward, one step back, but it's essential for the adhesion of the paint.

[00:07:42]Um Yeah, so obviously make a real mess and then clear it up.

[00:08:01]I'm going to go had to move after I thought, "Oh, I'll wait a little bit." I can see that. Looks like rain coming in.

[00:08:09]So, I'm going to move her under cover ready for Andy to come and do his magic.

[00:08:39]It's a lovely boat.

[00:08:42]Right, but it's onto our horse goes right away across the cut. Right.

[00:08:47]That stay in there.

[00:08:55]Not driving on with and that depends at this time of the morning.

[00:09:01]Let's push this out.

[00:09:13]The bilge pump.

[00:09:15]That's something to look at.

[00:09:18]So, the temperature lights come on.

[00:09:22]It's still running high.

[00:09:43]So, we've got new visitors at our doggy granddaddy doggy daycare. Hey.

[00:09:51]This is Minnie and Winnie.

[00:09:54]We have got the pleasure of their company for today.

[00:10:04]Lovely.

[00:10:09]Do you like them off the leads?

[00:10:13]Would you take them off? Would you just unclip them?

[00:10:18]No, just unclip them because then they're easy to Hey.

[00:10:37]Hey, you can't get out. You're here for the day.

[00:10:39]>> [laughter] >> Lovely. So, what is this?

[00:10:55]Oh.

[00:10:58]It's an egg.

[00:11:00]It's cracked here.

[00:11:12]I said it's a mystery, but it's just come out.

[00:11:15]I don't think ducks Oh, the fish ate it.

[00:11:23]What are the ducks?

[00:11:26]It was just an egg.

[00:11:29]There's another one over there. Here we go.

[00:11:32]Stanley's doors getting glued.

[00:11:36]Hello, first one's over here.

[00:12:04]Should we just try and jack it then?

[00:12:10]Yeah, I can see what you're laying.

[00:12:14]Uh what Why don't we Why don't we knock the cavitation plates off as well? Are they stat plates?

[00:12:20]Well, they do want to reboard and stuff.

[00:12:22]Yeah, but you can't really use them because they're on something that moves.

[00:12:26]But why don't we take them off anyway?

[00:12:31]Because I do believe the fact that it's so much worse underway up with the prop going. So, not just underway, it's with the prop going.

[00:12:41]So, I think it is forcing that up there.

[00:12:43]The prop wash is forcing that up and make it stiff to turn.

[00:13:06]No, but I trust him.

[00:13:10]Are you questioning it?

[00:13:12]>> [laughter] >> I think it's going to be that, can't it?

[00:13:32]What's that?

[00:13:35]Yeah.

[00:13:36]Or we could round off the bottom.

[00:13:41]As the rudder stock.

[00:13:46]So, a bit of fine tuning for Andy.

[00:13:53]So, this skeg had actually been repaired because the boat was dropped by the manufacturer.

[00:14:02]So, they put a new skeg on.

[00:14:06]So, there's a bit of stiffness.

[00:14:10]Hey.

[00:14:29]It's what?

[00:15:09]Hey.

[00:15:32]I think the old braces that you used to do that as well.

[00:15:35]I do think we should free that up now.

[00:15:40]But the only thing is, is it a rule that you have to have them?

[00:15:50]All right, well then we should we have to weld a plate on then, or All right.

[00:16:03]Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:16:12]Or we could cut out like But no, because I don't If we can't really be dragging it out and then doing it.

[00:16:31]All right, well how about this?

[00:16:34]How about we chop it out first bit and then leave a step there?

[00:16:46]Huh?

[00:16:55]So, these look like some Stanley magic.

[00:17:10]That's fantastic.

[00:17:14]I thought there was one missing, but Oh, it's behind there.

[00:17:24]Oh.

[00:17:27]Stephen Dudsbury saying, "I'm glad we went for that."

[00:17:59]So, exciting, exciting times.

[00:18:03]Coach lines.

[00:18:08]If she's in her underwear, maybe these are braces.

[00:18:11]Tell me what you think, Duds.

[00:18:16]It's real precision.

[00:18:21]See now we do this for the drainage.

[00:18:38]All these are ready.

[00:18:40]The wood's through there to go on to them.

[00:18:46]I actually quite like the color. It looks like almost a duck egg blue and it's sanded back.

[00:18:58]Here we go. So, this is we're just going over two pack.

[00:19:04]So, we got to use Tristan just to get it similar to the gloss, just to make it just key it up so it takes the paint better.

[00:19:13]So, because we've chopped off the top of the boat.

[00:19:19]We thought that might be not helping the problem. So, because you know, Andy's welded on and the plate there was a body step.

[00:19:26]So, it looks tidy. It's like it grew there.

[00:19:29]Tidy.

[00:19:31]Good morning.

[00:19:33]Wednesday the 22nd of April.

[00:19:37]Beautiful morning.

[00:19:43]Just I think if you're if you're on a boat, you'd want to just try just to cut the logs on the fire and get that bacon sizzling. So, of our boats you maybe get a nice little coffee machine coffee little pod of coffee.

[00:20:00]Yeah, then a walk and just a walk on the towpath.

[00:20:04]Get some dew on your boots.

[00:20:09]Yeah.

[00:20:09]Yeah, so let's see what was been going on yesterday. So, we've got a little bit of bit of progress on Malam.

[00:20:21]I went and ordered the tiles.

[00:20:29]Still got a fair bit to do but it's these that soon catches up at this stage.

[00:20:36]As in things move quite quickly, so yeah, and then Andy had a busy day on the slipway.

[00:20:45]Great solution.

[00:20:48]So, the beautiful boat Frankie.

[00:20:51]Um they'd had trouble with the helm.

[00:20:53]Turned out it was bent.

[00:20:55]It was bent. It was not rounded off at the bottom of the tiller stock.

[00:21:00]And the bearing needed freeing and while we were there we blacked inside the tube.

[00:21:07]So, it's early days yet but I'm really really hoping it was the right solution and uh yeah, Andy standard.

[00:21:22]So, we've got Arthur here.

[00:21:26]Which has been ordering the bits we need and we're going to be getting on with doing this today which is infilling and putting a porthole here.

[00:21:38]They have been busy helping us by prepping behind where we are going to be where we're going to be welding. So, I think in future as well we're going to be doing something with these windows, so uh yeah.

[00:22:02]I can hear it's only a lot going on in the paint shop, so let's go and see.

[00:22:06]I won't do too much filming near Frankie because they're probably lying in bed.

[00:22:30]So, right up in that corner.

[00:22:33]I wonder I wonder if that's going to be the nest again for this year.

[00:22:40]Keeping everything crossed.

[00:22:43]So, I was just passing Welford Reservoir and I know somebody like to see what's going on here.

[00:23:08]This has been quite dry.

[00:23:17]Interesting.

[00:23:30]So, they're Oh, look they're pumping water out of it.

[00:23:37]So, we've not seen this working before on the channel.

[00:23:48]God, some pump, isn't it?

[00:23:53]So, they're running water through Well, that's what it That's what the Welford Reservoir's job is to keep it topped up.

[00:24:31]How do I see read on this one?

[00:24:34]0 1 2 3 4 9 It's down 9, so the the next one's nearly showing.

[00:24:45]Looks like this is the old the Victorian one.

[00:24:55]car So, that's the one probably that that they've installed the new new piping.

[00:25:06]I hope no one pulls the plug now with me here.

[00:25:11]Ah, Stanley's getting a a blue patty coat.

[00:25:29]So, obviously this isn't the final color for the roof.

[00:25:35]Just the first coat of gloss.

[00:25:47]The gorgeous George.

[00:25:50]Gorgeous Mickey.

[00:25:52]Good morning.

[00:25:56]Hi there. You okay? How are you doing?

[00:25:59]Busy already? Good Yes, yes. Feels good, isn't It's lovely is it when that sun warms us up. I know.

[00:26:06]Freezing in the morning but Are you going Are you back in now? Are you back in now, are you?

[00:26:12]Yeah, we have a fuel issue.

[00:26:15]Uh something.

[00:26:17]Boats.

[00:26:19]So, we're out in the sunshine.

[00:26:24]We're communicating.

[00:26:27]Well, we're not communicating. Not We haven't fallen out. Me and Andy haven't fallen out. We're just not communicating with the with the controller.

[00:26:34]>> CH341 that I got there?

[00:26:38]This what?

[00:26:39]>> Wasn't that CH340, wasn't it? Yeah. This is CH341 that I used for the Webasto. That's still an FTDI driver.

[00:26:59]It's a good job Arthur doesn't know what we're doing.

[00:27:03]I don't I've never used this much in my I don't know anything about how to get the device manager But hey ho.

[00:27:20]Could be sat in an office or delivering packages for Amazon.

[00:27:27]But I'd have a chair.

[00:27:55]Nice.

[00:27:59]Tidy.

[00:28:02]As my Welsh friends say.

[00:28:06]So, look that looks like a nice Look at how that swings now.

[00:28:10]Could barely move it before.

[00:28:15]So, it did seem like a bit of a mission.

[00:28:17]And what we've done is we've taken these what best be called cavitation plates that were there or a boarding step.

[00:28:24]Because we thought they were interfering with the propeller pushing this up and compounding the problem that was being made by the bent tiller stock there. And so, what we've done is we put a step there which now looks like it grew there.

[00:28:42]So, so they can board it because that's a safer place to board because around here your problem is slipping into the prop, so so that's so a boarding step there.

[00:28:56]Comment below but I think it's Andy standard.

[00:28:59]So, that is a very very satisfying repair.

[00:29:07]Because Dave and his lovely wife are going to know it every day.

[00:29:10]It's just improved their boating experience.

[00:29:16]And just a bit of outstanding skill from me. No, no, from Andy obviously.

[00:29:25]But yeah, this is great. Really proud Really proud of it. Simple job but I'm just very very proud of it.

[00:29:31]So, beautiful boat there.

[00:29:34]Andy didn't like this. He just took one look at that and said that is not Andy standard.

[00:29:42]So, I'm going to take >> One coat.

[00:29:53]Hey.

[00:30:02]I'd rather swing it about a bit too easy.

[00:30:11]You're all right.

[00:30:12]It's going nice though, isn't it?

[00:30:14]Hey. This is going nice, isn't it? It's a nice shot, isn't it? It's a little key tile, you don't really know what you're doing.

[00:30:19]>> Yeah, I saw that on the double on the cam, the double scroll. Not just that, it steps in and looks at the welder.

[00:30:25]Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:30:28]No, I think she's lovely.

[00:30:31]You know what I mean?

[00:30:32]She's you know what I mean? She's trying to wire up one.

[00:30:34]All I made is one.

[00:30:45]Hey.

[00:31:01]So, windows out.

[00:31:10]They did a cracking job getting it ready for us, which is makes it so much easier.

[00:31:20]Oh.

[00:31:22]YouTube gold.

[00:31:30]All good?

[00:31:41]Chisels.

[00:31:51]Nice slice.

[00:31:59]Oh, so it's good for the master get some work.

[00:32:13]So, we've got Luke lifting. Fantastic guys at WW.

[00:32:17]Cut the plate for me, but I've made him promise not to tell Amalie that we're using her car.

[00:32:26]So, steel safely safely back.

[00:32:30]Um just a quick shout out to Luke and the gang at WW. Just amazing. I rang him an hour ago because it we we needed um we had 4 mil, we needed 3 mil steel, so they just cut them for us size.

[00:32:41]Fantastic. I know Luke's away on his holiday to Orlando with the kids in a for a fortnight in a couple of weeks. So, Luke, have a fantastic time with the family. Cheers, buddy. Thanks for your help.

[00:33:13]So, what I was wondering, do you think metal putty will do it?

[00:33:23]>> [laughter] >> Oh, dear.

[00:33:27]I like a bit of metal putty, but me and Andy's not convinced.

[00:33:32]He might as well do it.

[00:33:38]He's been calling an hour ago. He's got to go all the way out on board solo and look at this and these are just some recommendations. So, everything's fine, I'm running well, but uh Go ahead, Matt. What was the recommendation? So, we need to get this positive off of here and get it onto this stud. You've got too many basically lugs on one thing. You're only allowed four on each terminal.

[00:34:01]>> Okay.

[00:34:01]>> need to come off.

[00:34:03]We put onto a positive bus bar here, all your negatives onto a negative bus bar here.

[00:34:08]>> Yeah. And then a red cable to there and a black cable to there. So, you should only have two cables going to your battery bank. Okay.

[00:34:16]That will get rid of all these batteries doing all sorts of things. They all need to be drawn down together and filled up together. Okay. Um Turn the inverter off as well when you've not used it or you're not using it because it's drawing power down all the time.

[00:34:31]Yeah. Um maybe think about putting a bigger solar install on.

[00:34:37]Get some heat shrink on here. This isn't good practice.

[00:34:41]Uh and that inverter switch is too small.

[00:34:47]That needs to be upgraded to a bigger bigger switch. Okay. Uh apart from that, I don't I think I think the switch is broken on that, that's perhaps why we leave it on. No, no, the switch that goes >> Yeah.

[00:35:00]I've turned it on and off on that. No, I don't want customers going in here.

[00:35:04]Um with that inverter running all the time, you're going to be using 40 odd amps every day you're just on standby.

[00:35:11]>> Okay.

[00:35:12]So, it's fine. If they're on the boat and using it, yeah, no problem. You know, your engine alternator's charging your batteries, but if it's just sat here for long periods of time, I think I think I'll do it when it comes back, okay?

[00:35:24]>> Switch it off when it comes back, switch it on before they leave.

[00:35:27]>> Yeah. Um make sure your alternator's are charging properly.

[00:35:32]Do a quick rewire on that to make sure it's all neat and it's all onto bars and then just bring two cables off the bar.

[00:35:39]>> Mhm.

[00:35:41]That is what you need to do. Okay doke.

[00:35:46]Look, big big 110.

[00:35:50]110.

[00:36:08]Yeah, 110.

[00:36:12]It did still was more.

[00:36:19]I don't know.

[00:36:57]Yeah, everything's saying that they're good. They're good?

[00:37:00]But that's not what your readings are giving me. No.

[00:37:10]We are two pack blacking.

[00:37:15]So, she's had a been keyed over all the old surface, jet washed.

[00:37:19]And then there's little patches that are treated the way to come back to bare metal.

[00:37:25]And then it looks it looks like it's dusty, but it's actually it's all been panel wiped. The whole surface is panel wiped.

[00:37:32]And then the A-team.

[00:37:36]So, you've got to you've got two coats on it.

[00:37:40]Two pack process means there's a hardener in it, so you don't want the hardener going off.

[00:38:08]So, two pack or bitumen? Well, it's the age-old question. I think you can if you had had two pack, you can put bitumen over the top, but if you've had bitumen, you can't you have to shot blast it or take all the bitumen off before you can apply two pack.

[00:38:25]Two pack lasts longer. It's a it's a different sort of process. The the the bitumen blacking is used similar they used tar back in the Elizabethan times. Um Uh personally, we we use bitumen on our boats because we can take them out. And I'm a bit of an advocate for bringing your boat out every couple of years anyway and checking uh this this boat didn't have anodes amidships, which we we which we put on there um as well as repairing that tiller.

[00:39:00]So, she anodes those there's plenty of meat on those anodes as well, so they should be good to go for a while.

[00:39:05]Uh yeah.

[00:39:07]Beautiful boat. We'll get a nice nicely two packed.

[00:39:21]Brace that on ready to create the frame.

[00:39:33]So, we're just making sure all the batteries are isolated.

[00:39:36]Obviously very important when you're welding on your boat or when is welding on your boat. Do you want me to come past the stuff over?

[00:39:44]I've got to go near the Do you want me to get in?

[00:39:56]Are you welding from there?

[00:40:23]>> [snorts] >> So, another good couple of days at the wharf.

[00:40:31]I'm getting a lot done.

[00:40:33]It's like a right hive of industry around here.

[00:40:36]Mikey's got a few gang on. We've got just had these great guys from Onboard Solar down. I've met Matt a few times over the years and he was just really helpful.

[00:40:47]There's a little gremlin away in precious gems for running some checks.

[00:40:52]Malum's progressing. Andy's putting windows to port holes.

[00:40:56]Jess and Trist are two-pack blacking two-packing blacking.

[00:41:02]Uh we need to We're halfway through reading some data off Lazy Days.

[00:41:07]So, yeah, it's all been really good, really productive. We're really making hay while the sun shines.

[00:41:15]So, just goes to me to say, thanks for all your support.

[00:41:19]Thanks for subscribing, liking, and sharing.

[00:41:24]And may the wharf be with you.