As 2022 ends the Boy and I have left Marple and moved in with R across the other side of South Manchester. As the Boy’s mum doesn’t live far from Marple I make sure I regularly visit the boat on swap days. Being a cruiser stern, water can get in the engine bay and it can build up a fair bit of water so regular checks are really critical and over the run up to Christmas the temperatures dropped and the canal froze so I upped the number of visits. On my Christmas Eve check, I pump the little water that was present out the bilge and made doubly sure the remote heating and dehumidifier was properly working and left her to enjoy Christmas safe in the knowledge everything was usual.
Note: At home I have Home Assistant, a smart home system that enables me to control the house lights, smart plugs and all sorts of things over the internet. Following an incident of frozen pipes in 2021 I added the boat into this via a Zerotier network node so that I can remotely monitor the boat’s temperature and humidity so that I can switch on an oil filled radiator and a dehumidifier via smart plugs on the boat as the situation dictates.
Note: At home I have Home Assistant, a smart home system that enables me to control the house lights, smart plugs and all sorts of things over the internet. Following an incident of frozen pipes in 2021 I added the boat into this via a Zerotier network node so that I can remotely monitor the boat’s temperature and humidity so that I can switch on an oil filled radiator and a dehumidifier via smart plugs on the boat as the situation dictates.
Christmas was as busy as usual and we start the new year with my parents visiting and so on the 2nd January (a bank holiday in the UK) about 2:30 we sit down to have our 3rd (or even perhaps 4th) “Christmas dinner” of the season. As usual was cooking and so I missed the multiple phone calls from an unknown mobile number. However as the meal was complete and the others tidy away the mains to get space for desert I check my phone and notice the multiple calls and a voicemail… Multiple calls from the same number on a bank holiday (or indeed any day are not usual) and as there was a voicemail I decide to listen to it and I hear the words that will remain with me for some time…
“Hi Simon, it’s Colin, your boat is on the bottom”.
I think that can’t be true so I quickly check Home Assistant and confirm the boat is not reporting home and hadn’t been since about 7am that morning… fortunately I hadn’t had more than a glass of wine at that point so Dad and I jump into my car and drive to the marina and indeed the boat is sat on the bottom of the marina. The light was going so nothing we could do that night but set an alarm and ring the insurance company the next morning and work out what to do next.
