Coach lines

 Managed to get the coach lines painted, I used Craftmaster Alpha Red instead of the Manchester Red they were originally painted 

The old red.

Power tilt

 Since leaving the wet dock we have spent a few days at Tixall Wide.

 I tilted the solar panels for the first time since they were fitted eight years ago. From March to October, the sun gets high early enough that the panels always get the leisure batteries up to 100% charge each day without inclining them, the hook up in the marina combined with a Mastervolt charger looks after the batteries during winter. 

Tilting them towards the low sun today increased the input from 5amp  to 12amp  - quite a difference. 

The panels are 125W each which is quite small watts compared to new panels of the same dimensions that are on the market today, the five 135amp leisure batteries are six years old, cheap Albion wet sealed units that appear to be as good today as the day they were fitted.  They are around the 12.8-volt mark (give or take 0.1 of a volt) first thing in the morning. 

 I don't use an expensive MPPT controller but a PWM which is supposedly 30% less efficient but more reliable (old tech) and maybe kinder to the batteries.  

When there was a break in the downpours we have been experiencing lately I had a circular walk from the Wide down past Tixall Lock and Robbie's mum's gaff to Tixall Bridge, then took Holdiford road over the railway line to an entrance to Shugborough estate, through the grounds, passing the Hall, crossing Essex bridge and on to the Trent & Mersey towpath, left at Haywood bridge and back home. Approx 4 miles.

In Shugborough Estate

 

Wet Dock

We booked a week in the wet dock, primarily to redo the dark blue panels on FL's flanks, but we changed tack as getting the windows out/in plus the number of coats req'd for the job in a week would be a rushed affair and we couldn't extend our stay.

So the new plan was to repaint the roof and the light grey on the sides, Craftmaster has stopped manufacturing this light grey colour as it fades pale blue within a year making it difficult to do touch up repairs, so we repainted it in a Graphite grey a colour with a bit of depth to it. The roof was painted ubiquitous raddle red.

We were lucky to get into the dock a day early, most of this day was taken up removing mushroom vents chimney collar rear doors and sliding hatch.

It was a lot of hard work to prep for painting even with the hire of an industrial sander and extractor. It was a tad disheartening getting a gloss coat on then flattening it off the next day. 

Sue was an expert at getting the undercoat and gloss coats on FL's sides rubbed down to a flat finish by hand. Working together I rolled the paint on while Sue layed it off, this worked well - we could get the roof done in ninety minutes.

Overall we are pleased with the finish we have been able to attain. A few runs but hey my name is Andy but not Russel.

Undercoats

The blue on the rear doors was done too.

We will book the wet dock for two weeks next year to remove the windows and paint the dark blue panels, the coach lines I can redo anytime.