This morning I woke at 0700hr, so it looks like things are getting back to normal. I finished off Sycamore Row, then finally forced myself out of bed around 0900hr, in preparation for a lazy day. I had forgotten to get the Karcher pressure spray back from Nico before they went away for the weekend, so I can’t start washing down the deck in preparation for painting. Instead I spent some time repairing this website, after I found that many photos had gone missing after the last update and publishing. While it was a bit tedious finding and re-inserting all the photos, it was fun to read back over some of the entries and remember the past few years of this barging adventure (note: I am doing this all again in 2019, as I rewrtie the website using the EverWeb software).

I also took the time to install some solar LED lights that I had brought from Australia (Bunnings) for the rear deck and the wheelhouse. The small solar panel goes on the wheelhouse roof (under the line of the bimini), and can be rotated (manually) to follow the sun (depending which way the barge is facing) and the LED shines down on the rear deck. It doesn’t produce a particularly bright light, but it is amply sufficient for evening dining and socialising. I also installed a similar one for the wheelhouse dining area. Testing on the following evening showed that a day’s charging was enough to keep the light working from dusk till dawn - exactly what I was looking for.

This reminds me that over winter we replaced all the internal halogen downlights with LED lights. We had to do this because the original halogen lights were all reaching the end of their natural life (after 9 years since 2006) and were dying one by one. When it got down to just one light left in the salon/galley area, Nico called in an electrician who had worked on the house to replace the lot. It took some time to find 24V LEDs of the right design (the barge lighting is all 24V and we didn’t want to have to replace all the wiring) but eventually the job was done. The new LEDs look almost exactly the same as the old halogen downlights, but they should last much longer (around 20 years) and consume much less power. This lower power consumption will be especially important when we are out cruising and relying on battery power. The barge now has a much brighter feel to it, especially in the bathroom which now looks brilliantly white.

As I was installing the LED lights in the wheelhouse, I noticed a couple standing outside looking at the barge. I went out to say hello and found that they were an Aussie couple from Broome. They had been renting hire-boats for a couple of years and were now looking to buy a barge for their retirement. We talked for a while about barges and barging, and they went away with a smile on their faces.