Picnic No2

  25/05/2026. Weather forecast predicting Wind 11mph. Precipitation 0% and Temperature reaching 33 degrees. That's the hottest recorded temperature in a day of May in UK ever !!!! We're gonna be heading a little way up the Wharfe Valley to the spa town of Ilkley. On the motorsickle of course.. I'd seen on the Facebook Ilkley Knit and Natter that volunteers had been spring cleaning the towns Boating and Paddling Pool. Indeed interesting to me because once Cat's Paws the model yacht built from bits n bobs is complete this watery venue will possibly be just the ticket to set the yard arm into the wind and stretch the jib.

If you want to have your own 'sail fest' and find this pond -  Here's the link. 

Twas an early start so lets call it a 'Picnic Breakfast'. Sat poolside 9.00a.m. Mrs C well impressed with the healthiness of the menu. Today I'm serving - Muesli with a fresh strawberry topping and lashings of fully skimmed milk. 

So, the pool checked out as perfect for model boat sailing and water depth will facilitate any rescue simply by shoe and sock removal before entering to ankle deep..

Your Uncle Alb has not only been surprised at the find of this Victorian pool having lived in the Shireshireshire forever and a day, but more surprised that the name of this small patch of water is called 'Hainsworth Pond.' Note on the info plague gives the date...eeekkk 1927, also gives warning of cold winds...(not today though) Hey that was nearly 100 years ago. Trees have grown a bit since then...

So, there ya go....Not only picnic'd but educated too....What a jolly spiffing morning!!!

Getting picnic ready Part 3

  Greetings. Here's part 3 of the project to make my Military Boiling Vessel picnic ready for some action. You will remember that I had sourced one of china's finest 12v immersion heaters along with the appropriate sized Taps and Dies to make an adapter to fit it where once there was a tea tap. Why shouldn't the china heater be up to it? No reason...that's where all the worlds needs come from now. Before starting to make heater fit boiler I was thinking it would be wise to at least put 12v into it and see what happens.

My intention is not to risk connecting large current draws to my motor vehikle, I'll be hoping a battery may hold enough amps to supply hot snacks on a picnic mission. A 10amp hour motor sickle battery was put on trickle charge overnight.. Exciting stuff! Let's do the maths....First convert Watts to Amps. Immersion heater 12v 125w. Amps equals Watts/Volts. Then lets expect 1 hour of juice available from this 10 Amp electrity storage cell...at best!!!!!!

Wires connected...let the test begin. I have in the test jug 500mls of cold water.. Oh, there's heat transferring from heater to water.......must be it's throwing off bubbles...Beer thermometer doing a very steady count up of Celsius.....At the 40 minute mark the bubbling was slowing....Could mean 2 things. No juice left in the battery or the heater has max'd out...Temperature at end of first test 73.7 degree. Hot enough for food apparently. H&S in the catering world suggest serving at 63 degree..

Let's get that battery back on charge overnight and start where we left off. Set the water temperature to 73.0 degree and see if this little immersion heater has any more go in it. 

So, that's exactly what happened. Temperature rose in the second test to 91 degree. Wow! That once again took all the available juice in the battery.

 

Bigger battery needed then, and also some sort of thermostatic controller set maybe at say 68 degree.?..

Next job keep a look out for a free car battery....and secondly source a temperature controller.

Keep looking in for updates on The Military Boiling Vessel. Stay safe...Alb over and out.

 

Picnic No1

 Weather forecast predicting Wind 11mph. Precipitation 30% and Temperature 14 degrees. A picnic had been planned so a picnic it shall have to be. We're gonna be heading for bandit country....overt'  border in the County of Lancaster. For it's told on them there hills above the village of Wycoller is 'The Atom' one of a series of four Panopticons. (Modern sculptures at view points across the county.) This one built in 2006. Apparently it once had huge polished steel ball in the centre which is no longer present due to vandalism. Hey ho...sign of the times we now live in. 

O.S. Map reference SD9363239290 (all numeric format 393633 439290

Click here Wiki MiniAtlas

The Wycoller area was known to have had settlements as far back as 1000BC.  Neat!

Picnic fare consisted of - Tongue in white rolls with lashings of Belgium mustard, Hard boiled eggs, mini Coronation chicken pies, celery sticks, crisps and a salad assortment. Brew today - Loose leaf tea - Twinings Breakfast Blend. 

The wind had certainly picked up by the time we arrived in the car park. Coats on and zipped up a look through the different windows of The Atom was a necessity. A 30 second walk that's all it was to be inside The Atom. Didn't take long before Mrs C was heading back to the car.......blown to bit's and ready for that cuppa hot Twinings, get that kettle on our Albert. The open rear hatch and boot area now having been reversed under a large tree was a good shelter from the wind for the spyder stove and it took no time to get a boil up, add 2 spoons of loose leaf and then an extra for the kettle (pot) 

By the time the brew was infused and Mrs C had butter'd rolls and plated up the rain was approaching. Hahahah today no worries, there we sat eating our picnic and enjoying the weather looking out into a drizzly Lancashire from the comfort of a warm motor car.

On't way home calling at Woodbank Garden Centre. Harden Road. Harden. we met Elvis. Seemed happy enough flying amongst all the old lawnmowers fixing in the ceiling and pinching feed from a bin. Even said 'Hello'. 

Mission accomplished. 'Let's picnic like it's 1969' is now reality. Look forward to hearing about your picnic trips.

Till next time safe adventures. Alb

 

Getting picnic ready Part 2

 Greetings. Here's part 2 of the project to make my Military Boiling Vessel picnic ready for some action. As discussed on the previous blog page the 24vDC power requirement coupled with a potential power draw of 50 amps would certainly be making conventional auto wiring rather warm at the very least. I did discuss searching for a 12vDC solution. Read on to discover what's been arriving at the workshop from overseas during the last few weeks.

First through the letterbox a 12v DC immersion heater. This hopefully will fit into the hole that the tea tap has occupied for the last 40 years. I wasn't expecting the chinese immersion heater to have the same fixing threads as the british made boiling vessel tap but actually eyeballing the 2 x parts would give a better indication of the plan of action. The immersion heater has a M16x1.5mm thread pitch. The boiling vessel has a slightly larger 3/4"x16 UNF thread. Luckily the immersion heater is smaller and can be inserted into the vacated tap hole. Normally an adapter would be made that had threads internal and external to match the pair.

Hum.....the threads are not a million miles from each other and any adapter would have very thin walls. I'm thinking that cutting the second thread would be impossible due to the wall thickness left after created the first. Now what Albert?

After some thought I have a plan. I did say I'd set out on this mission with no guarantee of success. Don't want to be tripping at the first hurdle though do we.

What I'll do is turn an external piece and an internal piece separately that once accurately sized hopefully slip one inside another. I can maybe then solder the 2 x together.?? Sounds gentle enough to me.......

With this in mind I've purchased the relevant taps and dies for cutting the threads and a bag of brass nuts that are already threaded M16x1.5mm which will save me half a job and also provide half the brass I need too. 

That's it for now peeps. Thanks for tuning in...

Getting picnic ready Part 1

 Hopefully most of the forthcoming picnic outings in 2026 will be on a motorsickle.  Travelling light with little equipment. (Bread, butter and potted meat) Proper outback/wilderness stuff. But...I will begrudgingly make the effort to use 4 wheels now and again. This will be a necessity when moving heavy weight picnic hardware. (Sorry - all on the top secret list at the moment)

However - Let me take this opportunity whilst the weather is not picnic friendly to share with you my last years chrimbo present from Santa. How does he know what I really neeeeeed.??? It needs getting picnic ready......

An M.B.V. This fascinating grey box is a Military Boiling Vessel. Rare as hens teeth. These were fitted in British tanks and armoured vehicles after WW2 and still are right up to present day. A clever idea that sprung from an unfortunate incident in Normandy during WW2 The blighty tank crews had vacated their vehicles to brew a cuppa and have a bacon sandwich. Little did they know that a German Tiger had seen their lack of attention and preparation. Sitting ducks they were. Huge losses occurred. I've pasted a link to a detailed account at the end of this page, hopefully you'll get that far.

So, I've got the legendary boiling vessel complete with tap for filling a tea mug. Did take the opportunity to purchase from a different seller the electrical lead complete with military amphenol plugs to enable connection to any passing Chieftain I may encounter. Ok, so you spotted it needs 24v DC and can draw 50amps. when in the armoured vehicle.  Holy-moly!!!! Not likely to be plugging this war ready kit into the Nissan then!!!!

As always I'm writing before having succeeded to get it even warm, but where's the excitment if you know the end chapter? I've 3 x options as far as I can tell....Plug it to a 12v DC slave battery and see if it will warm up, although current draw on 12v will be huge. Second option, find a 24v DC slave battery. Third option is somehow convert to a 12v DC heating element and still run from a slave battery.  Whilst I'm studying options (obviously for little expenditure) I'll get the inside a bit more up to a food cooking standard, and look out for any batteries I can use.

Link below to the Battle of Villiers Bocage and it's role in the invention of the Military Boiling Vessel

Perfecting the art of brewing tea

Press enter or click to view image in full The Centurion design drew from the British Army’s experiences in North Africa. It went on to become one of the most ubiquitous main battle tanks, serving almost everywhere the British had any influence: Iraq, India and South Africa, to name a few countriesThe tank came fitted with a boiler vessel, or bivvie—a cuboid kettle powered by the tank’s electrics. The unit became an essential subsystem for all British Army armor. Today the Electrothermal-made “Cooking/Boiling Vessel FV706656" is fitted to all the Army’s main fighting vehiclesThe basic concept of the boiling vessel has not changed since the 1950s. The large container quickly boils and maintains the heat of a gallon of water for drinking, washing and heating tinned and retort rations.

Keep checking in for picnic news and progress report on the Military Boiling Vessel.

 Welcome to 'Let's picnic like it's 1969' 

The '60s, a period in time when the fastest car on the road was the Morris Minor. Outings to the seaside were a biggest adventure ever and stopping 'en route' at the side of the road for a tomato sandwich made with buttered thick white sliced was customary. 

I'm here to encourage not only remembering that golden age but give practical advise on making this possible again. Join me social historian and vintafake engineer Albert Crackleport through the jottings of this blog and be part of  the birth of a new movement that will shake the very core of todays social lifestyle. Of course I'll be expecting you to participate too......(warning - once experienced though there will be no going back!!!!)

As your scribe I will endeavour to find scenic roadside locations worthy of any travel guide. I'll then record and let you know the O.S. map reference to pass on to fellow picnicers. 

Watch out for update......