Getting closer to Germany

Here in Nieuw Amsterdam they have been doing a lot of work redeveloping the canal frontage.  This part (in both photos) is almost finished but there is also a much larger stretch further in the distance in the first photo that is still being worked on.  I'll bet the shop keepers will be glad when it's done and I expect that it will be ready for the summer holidays.

The unlimited internet is working well except for trying to stream the State of Origin rugby from Australia earlier today.  Spectacular fail. :(

Bridges and Internet

We did try and move yesterday however we fell foul of the Sunday and not peak season thing. After 1 June it will be peak season and the bridges will open on Sundays, not just yet however.  Anyway, we spent another day in the same spot.

Today we did move and we also went back in to town to explore the mobile internet thing.  While I have a wonderful Wi-Fi antenna that boosts the signal from distant (hopefully free) hotspots, if there are none to be found then we fall back to using a sim and mobile internet.  We've been working a fair bit over the last fortnight and we have gone through 2 GB of data.  There may have been the odd Facebook video in there as well but nobody is counting that.

Anyway, today we have solved the issue with a Dutch bank account and a Dutch address we now have a month to month plan with Tele2 that means we get unlimited (actually limited to 5GB per day) data plan.  By using Belindas phone as a hotspot we can now work to our hearts content ????

When we are ready to go back to Australia we'll let them know a month before we go and then the contract will die off.  Next year we'll start a new contract.

We didn't move far, just up the road to Noordscheschut which is really still part of Hoogeveen. A 4km (one way) bike ride back to Hoogeveen to sort out the phone turned into 16km all up as we had forgotten to take our passports.  So much exercise we decided we needed an ice cream mid way and when we eventually got back about 6pm we had a beer before dinner.

Fixed leaking hoses

I originally planned on just double clamping the hose but then when I got to the hardware store I found all the right fittings.  The inline connector and the 125mm piece of hose have a brass (?) sleeve that gets crushed when you tighten up the fitting and does an excellent job of sealing against the copper pipe.  I think we're done with this leak forever.

Leaking hoses

So a few days ago just after having a shower I noticed that the water pump seem to be taking longer than normal to rebuild the pressure in the tank.  When I lifted up one of the floor panels I heard water and so we then rushed around trying to find out where the leak was coming from.

Turning off the water pump allowed it to reduce and eventually we found the culprit. 10mm copper pipe and they have joined the two pieces with a short length of hose.

Unfortunately they did a less than stellar job of connecting it.  Anyway, cutting a long story short we fixed the side that was leaking only to have the other side start leaking the next day.  The fresh water that leaked ended up in the bilge and mixed with the oil that leaks over time leaving a mess that needs to be pumped out.

 

Today we found a bilge pump out station here in Hoogeveen and it only took us half an hour or so and it was all done.  Tomorrow I'm off to a hardware store to get more hose clamps and a longer piece of hose.



The slow pace of life.

So this is what the end of the day is like, taken at 7.20pm.

The locks and bridges in this region are only open between 0900 and 1200 and then again between 1300 and 1700. (Sounds kind of like France)

Anyway, it forces everyone to slow down and enjoy life.  It also means that by 5.30pm the water is pretty much like glass.

Lunch time, we arrived just on 1200 and you can see that the traffic lights are showing two red lights.  That means the lock or bridge is closed. We tied up and had lunch while we waited until 1 o'clock and then went through.

Where we are when we do the blog post

Belinda has just shown me how to configure the location in Blogger so now I have gone back over the last few posts and updated the location. Now at the bottom of each post you should see something like this

If you click on the location it will take you to the map and the bottom of the marker is exactly where we parked the boat for the night. The numbers in front of some of the locations is the postcode.

Last night and tonights parking spot

This is a quaint little village, we arrived yesterday just after 4pm. This morning after breakfast we went for a walk around Rogat to see the village. It's more of an industrial village with a freeway close by and a truck stop. 30 minutes later we had walked the whole village and were back at the boat.



This shot is from the Starboard side looking towards the Bow

This shot is from the Port side 

Next stop - Germany

Well sort of. From here we're heading east until we get to Erica, then north east to a junction in the canals just south of Ter Apel and then we'll head south east on the Haren-Rutenbrock Kanal until we hit Haren in Germany. Assuming we're allowed in, we'rethen going to follow the Ems river north until we get to Dollard Bay and then we'll head back in to northern Holland. Then we'll head to Groningen and then follow the Noord Willemskanaal back down to Meppel and we'll have completed the loop. All up, this could probably take us a month.

Flags

A week or so ago I posted this photo on Facebook and Roger asked what the flags meant. I now can't find where he asked the question so I figured I'd tell everyone here. 

Bottom left on the mast is a pennant from the Marrekrite recreation authority in Friesland. They have hundreds if not thousands of free moorings in Friesland where you pull up along the side of the canal and stay for up to 3 days.  The grass is mowed and they have garbage bins there, normally in a pretty accessible spot with a bike track nearby.  It cost us 15 euro for the pennant for the 2017 year.

The one above it on the left is from Women Who Sail Australia which Belinda joined when we were on EverRest.

On the right of the mast is the Shaggers pennant from the Shag Islet Cruising Yacht Club which we also joined when we on EverRest.

At the front of the boat is a Dutch courtesy flag because we are in Netherlands.  And at the rear of the boat in front you can also see a Dutch flag which they are showing at the stern because their skipper is Dutch.  We fly the Australian flag at the stern.

Where are we now page?

The where are we now page is manually updated and I haven't yet worked out how to have it display us in the map.  Suffice to say when I embed the map we are at the centre.  If you zoom out you should stay centered and that will allow you to see where we are.  If you need to, just refresh the page.
If you want to know exactly where we are (or more precisely where my tablet is) let me know and I can add you to the list of people that I share my exact location with.

Electrical System

On Friday while at Oppenhuizen I tried the 24 volt battery charger (which charges the engine batteries) and it went up to 32 volts.  Not a good thing as this will destroy the batteries pretty quickly.
A bit of searching and I found AquaSolar just a 600m walk away. I was able to organise for someone to come out to the boat in the afternoon and run some tests on the electrical system.

End result of all that is that yes the charger was stuffed.  Dutch / English doesn't really matter, stuffed is stuffed. Also, both the 24 volt alternator and the 12 volt alternator are working ok but the wire from the 24 volt alternator to the starter was way too small and the 12 volt alternator wire to the batteries was also way too small.

For the technically minded the formula goes something like this (Amps x cable length) / (voltage drop as a % x volts) = diameter of the wire.

Anyway, I had noticed previously that we were really only getting about 20 amps out of the 12 volt alternator when we're running the motor.  63 Euro later for some cables which I fitted myself and we are now able to charge at 50 amps.  It means that in 24 hours when we consume about 100Ah, instead of it taking 5 hours of running the engine to charge again we will be able to do that in 2 hours.  Reality is we never sit there with the engine running just to charge the batteries but when we plug in at the next marina we won't be charging batteries.

 The blue wire shows the thickness of the old wire.

And the red wire is the size of the new wire.

Oh yeah, we paid 119 Euro for a new 24 volt charger that we will leave in the box until we need it.  I've tested it but in theory we should never need it.

Oppenhuizen

We're still in Sneek (kind of) and have been for a few days. I realise now that I need to be a little more specific about where we are staying so that we can go back over time and work out which marinas we have been in so that if we want to come back we know where to go.

I think its probably going to be a good thing if I include links to their website if at all possible.  Anyway, we've been staying here since last Thursday.  Main criteria was 'did it have a laundry' and the answer to that was yes.  Preferred criteria was 'electricity included and decent internet' and they scored on both counts.  At this time of year electricity included is good as the main heating we have is a little electric fan heater and we needed to get stuck in to doing some work on the internet.
Thursday turned out to be beautiful weather and the first load of washing was already dry by the time third was coming out of the machine.

A big old dutch farmhouse that has the office and home at the front and 6 apartments as well as toilets and showers for the marina and a café / bar.

We've been parked on the 'terrace' for 5 days and loved it.  Water and electricity included in the 14 Euros per night (inc tourist tax)

Sneek

Moved up to here so that we were closer to the shops.  Really no good reason to come up here but hey why not.  Same 'marina' as the other place in Sneek so same cost (Euro 17.50 per night) includes electricity and tourist tax for two.

Sneek

We spent a Monday and Tuesday nights here in Sneek

Not a bad spot right in town.

Transmission problems

Last year we did about 70 engine hours in total and we discovered that we had a leak in the transmission.  We went through about 5 litres of oil in 50 hours of engine running time.  We had some problems with it selecting gear when cold but mainly the issue was excessive oil leaking (ending up in the bilge) and a little bit of a milky white residue at the top of the dipstick.

The milky white bit is moisture mixing with the oil and I think that we still have a problem with the oil cooler letting a bit of coolant in to the transmission however it is a very small amount.  Something that we will monitor.

Main issue was the leak and Jacques suggested this place in Ijlst.  He also rang them for us on the Saturday and booked us in for the Monday morning.

The white powdery looking stuff is just because it's really cold after spraying with some degreaser.   Just to the right of the linkage is where the oil was pooling after leaking from the o-ring.
Apparently if these Borg Warner transmissions are leaking its really only one of three places.  The front seal ($$$), the rear seal (also $$$) or the o-ring which is very easy.

End result is one o-ring, one gasket, one new split pin and 2 litres of oil and an hour and a half later I part with 130 euros.  Very happy with this result!

Back to St Nik

We came here to St Nyk last year while waiting for the guys to finish their holidays so they could fix the exhaust and met some wonderful people. Came back again this year to catch up with Jacques and Ilona who lived in Canberra at one time. This shot is the official naming of the dock 'Steiger Hetloo' (rough translation is 'party dock') on the Friday.

Followed up on Saturday night with the official opening of the season and the choir singing late in to the night

And we're on the boat again

We got to Lemmer by about 0930 this morning and started to sort things out. Met up with Arjan and Joop to discuss things that they'd done over the winter and then we drove up to Workum with them to look at their new facilities. Very nice. Back to Lemmer in the afternoon and unloaded the car, then went shopping. Belinda now has a NL sim and phone number. Finished unpacking and stowed all of the shopping. My Wi-Fi antennae works like a bought one. Inside the boat just using my laptop and I get to see 6 Wi-Fi hotspots. Connected to the outdoor antenna and I can see 61 hotspots! I call that a success. Anyway, tomorrow we're off to Ikea for a few things and then we'll return the hire car and catch a bus back. We're looking at spending a couple of nights here in Lemmer then going up to St Nik to hang out for a week or so. One of the bonuses with that place is that we pay a flat rate of 2 euro per night for electricity. Means we can leave the heater on 24/7 if we need to. We're planning on doing a bit of work while we're there so we can catch up while the weather is still a bit variable.