The following is a teaser snippet from chapter two 'Lorimar, getting to know you' of my new up coming novel 'An Extra Ordinary Journey'. The novel is based on true events that occurred during my time living off gtid on a narrow boat in the UK.
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The car pulled slowly into the car park at Hinkley Marina and stopped close to the chandlery where Jason and Jessica were to collect the keys of their new floating home from Steven, the site manager.
Silence befell them both as they sat staring across the car at each other. Knots began to tighten in their stomachs as a mixture of nerves and excitement engulfed them.
Living on a boat off grid and away from the pressures of everyday life was something they had both dreamed about for a very long time. Neither one really believing it would ever cone to fruition, until now, reality had hit home.
Jason was first to break the silence. “Come on,” he said. “let’s get the Keys.”
Nerves now gone, it was just excitement that flowed through their veins as they stood on the wooden platform mooring that ran Lorimar’s full fifty eight foot length.
Jason unzipped the weather protective front cratch cover to reveal Lorimar’s entrance door. He then stepped up and over the gunnels into the front well and unlocked the door. “Shall I carry you over the threshold?” he asked.
“No, not bloody likely, you’ll probably drop me in the water,” said Jessica Jokingly. “I think I’ll manage on my own, thank you.”
“OK then," said Jason. "Don’t say I didn’t offer though."
Neither Jason or Jessica had any real previous experience of boating. Just the odd day here and there between them so this was going to be a learning experience for them both.
The control panel consisted of a water pressure gauge, a panel consisting of about twenty or more light and pump switches, engine ignition sequence, heating controls, battery level indicators, electric circuit options and generator function switches. Quite a daunting array which made them both realise just how little they actually knew and grateful for Stevens offer of after sales assistance.
Jessica climbed the four steep wooden steps at the rear of the kitchen which led to Lorimar's back entrance consisting of two small metal doors and a heavy overhead sliding panel. She unlocked and opened the entrance to reveal a small cratch covered seating area.
The seating was in the form of two long narrow seat topped cupboards. One of which housed two large gas bottles both connected to the on board oven and the other served as extra storage space.
“Look at this,” Jessica called out to Jason. “The propulsion control is here along with another control panel.”
Jason joined Jessica on the steps. “Oh yeah, I bet the tiller is outside. What do they call the back end of a boat? is it the bow. or the stern?”
Jessica looked at Jason and laughed. “The stern silly, you really don’t know much about boats do you?”
“No,” admitted Jason. “I’m willing to learn though.”
“Good job you are” said Jessica laughing.
“Shall we start her up and see what happens?” asked Jason eagerly.
“Yes, go on then. Go for it,” said Jessica.
“OK, here goes, make sure the accelerator control is in the centre. That’s the neutral position,” said Jason. "We don't want to crash her the first time we start her up."
Jessica made a thumbs up. “Check.” she said.
Jason took a step down and placed the key into the ignition sequence keyhole on the control panel.
Now which way do I turn it?’ He thought to himself. ‘I know when Steven showed me he turned it one way and then the other.’ He cautiously turned the key anti clockwise and a loud beeping sound emanated from the control panel.
“What’s that alarm!” Jessica cried out. “What have you done?”
“Nothing,” replied Jason. “Relax, it’s meant to make that noise.”
“Really?” asked Jessica. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I remember it doing the same thing when Steven started her up. You have to wait a few moments then turn the key the other way,” After a few seconds he turned the key clockwise and the boat shook gently, as if it had woken from a long slumber, the engine purred into action and the beeping ended.
“She sounds good,” Jessica remarked. “Maybe you haven't broken it after all.”
Jason turned the key anti clockwise back to the central position and the engine stopped.
“Let’s check out the oil burner,” said Jessica. “It’s nice and warm in here at the moment but we’ll need to know how to work it when the weather takes a turn for the worse.”
The oil burner was situated at Lorimar's centre, in the lounge. Although Lorimar had four radiators, one in the bedroom, one in the shower room and two in the lounge, the radiators required that Lorimar's batteries were at a sufficient level to work. Or, that she was plugged into an external power supply. So it was good to have a second source of heating if required.
Jason looked puzzled. “So where does it get its diesel from?” he asked. “The tank at the bow or the tank at the stern? Notice I used the correct terminology this time? Didn’t call it the front or the back.”
“No you didn’t, well done your learning.” Jessica joked. “I don’t know. Look, there is a small brass pipe running into the bottom of it. Let’s trace it back see where it leads.”
The pipe disappeared through the wall into the shower room then ran behind the skirting boards before emerging in a bedroom cupboard next to the bow entrance doors.
“It’s heading towards the tank in the bow,” said Jason, with his head in the bedroom cupboard. “There's also another pipe in here attached to a pump.”
“Makes sense,” replied Jessica nonchalantly. “The pipe attached to the pump is a water pipe. There is a large water tank under the well at the bow. The pipe from the heater goes to a smaller tank also in the bow that holds one hundred and fifty litres of diesel. There’s also another large diesel tank at the stern. That one holds two hundred and fifty litres and it supplies the engine.”
“Woah! Hold on a minute. How do you know all that?” Jason asked, retrieving his head from out of the cupboard.
“Because I found a box full of instruction manuals along with the boat owners manual.” laughed Jessica. “
Well that’s just cheating,” said Jason. “Lets see if we can get the kettle going and take a look at them.”
Jessica held the kettle under the cold water tap and turned the tap on but nothing happened. “There’s no water,” she said.
“Well there should be." replied Jason." Steven said he’d filled the tank up for us yesterday,”
Jason walked over to the control panel. “The water pump’s not switched on, perhaps that’s why.” he said, flipping the switch marked water pump. “Try it now”.
Jessica turned the tap again.
There came a soft whirring noise from the bedroom as the water pump sprang into life. After a few seconds water spurted from the tap then settled into a steady flow.
Kettle filled it was now time to get the oven hob working to boil it on. The gas valve that fed the oven was situated in the cupboard that housed the two gas bottles, in the stern seating area. It took the two of them a few moments to locate and open the valve but the kettle was now on.
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I will be releasing further teaser snippets of each chapter as I complete them. The header photo for this article is Duke looking out of Lorimar’s bow in Hinkley Marina.
You can read teaser releases from other chapters using the links below.
..dupater
