Today I had a landmark success and I am very happy! I thought I’d share it with you!
On a boat, you don’t have mains water. It wouldn’t work, the pipe wouldn’t follow you when the boat moves! And I don’t think that drinking river water would do us much good.
The boat has a large water tank and is filled up using a hose which is connected to a tap. We have a tap at our marina mooring which is shared by a few boats and when travelling there are taps at a lot of the riverside moorings.
Filling up the water is a basic part of living on a boat. It isn’t difficult; you join one end of the hose to the tap, put the other end in the water filling point on the bow of the boat and turn the tap on. You keep an eye on the water gauge so you are aware of when it is getting full, then turn the tap off, pop the filling cap back and tidy up the hose. Not really a difficult job.
Unless the person filling the water is me!
I spend the first twenty minutes or so watching the gauge diligently. I might make a cuppa, then check the gauge, fold washing, check the gauge. Then about halfway through filling the tank I get involved in something. Then I forget that I am filling the water tank. Until I hear someone shout ‘Rachel, there’s a flood!’. Then I dash down to the bow, wade through the overflowing water, remove the hose while it throws water everywhere (a bit like a cold indoor fountain) and dangle the hose over the river while I squelch back to the tap to turn it off. Then I sweep the water down the drainage holes on the bow and dry out everything that I made wet, while wishing I didn’t get distracted!
The more astute amongst you might have worked out that I am doing it all wrong. I should turn off the tap first, then remove the hose and clean everything up, then I would stay slightly drier and waste less water. But I don’t think about it logically! I think ‘Arrgghhh, there’s water everywhere- stop it going into the boat!’.
It is good practice to keep the end of the hose out of the river. It is our drinking water, and the river isn’t always that clean. But when I remove the hose from the tank and go to turn the tap off, the hose sometimes flies around, rather like a big snake being electrocuted! It spins around, spraying water everywhere, then as the pressure in the hose lessens it sinks. Straight into the river. Or into a muddy puddle! At least the drinking tap has a filter…
Well, today we were completely out of water. At the bottom of the red section on the gauge. So I filled it up. I connected the end to the tap, put the other in the tank filling point and I didn’t get distracted! For the first time in 2 months, I didn’t cause a flood or drop the hose anywhere unsanitary.
That deserves a cup of tea to celebrate, I reckon! Biscuit, anyone?!
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