blackrose

Fish & chips? That would be the Portuguese. Sorry, it's much less British than most Brits realise.

It does matter what sort of load it pulls over what sort of timeframe as that defines the total energy use. That was my point. 3 kWh seems like a lot to me. I don't think my solar panels have ever generated that much in a day, meaning it's more likely I'd need to run the cycle with the engine or generator running. You said "who cares on a boat". I'm just saying I care about energy usage, as do most sensible boaters.

I think I might care. 3 - 6 hours pulling what sort of load? I ran my washing machine today on the strength of the batteries and solar panels which were producing 30A in the sunshine this afternoon. I gave the system a helping hand by pouring a kettle full of hot water into the detergent drawer on startup. The peak power draw of 1.6kW only lasts for a short part of the full 40 min wash cycle. I'd never run my small 1.1kW dryer in the middle of winter even on a sunny day without running the engine or generator because that power demand is continuous until the clothes are dry.

Agreed. Plus a first time boat owner never gets it right first time. After a year or two you'll wish you'd had it built differently. Do yourself a favour and buy a decent used boat. I've never owned one but I intuitively wondered whether a combined washer/dryer is actually any good at either job. I have a small 3kg load Zanussi washer (1.6kW) and a small White Knight tumble dryer (1.1 kW) but I don't use the dryer very much, only for bed sheets and duvet covers. Everything else gets hung up to dry in my widebeam, but I appreciate most narrowboats may not have the space to do this.

You will be walking around locks, there's no alternative to that I'm afraid - but you shouldn't be dashing except in an emergency. Running around leads to trips & slips and also at our age sometimes pulled muscles! That happened to me a few years ago when I stupidly started running around a lock to close a gate on the opposite side because some anglers were fishing on the lock landing and I didn't want to disrupt them any longer than necessary. Then I was hobbling in pain and suddenly the boat became a liability. In retrospect I should have taken my time and disrupted them for as long as I needed to. I'm 63 and I work my widebeam through locks single-handed, but unlike a narrowboat going through broad locks I have to open and close all 4 gates. Remote control definitely isn't "a must".

I think big old AGM batteries would be perfect as ballast. My understanding is that they're fairly leak-proof. When I switched to lithium I took out 3 x 39kg lead/acid batteries and installed 2 x 26kg lithium, so the difference was minimal and I'm on a widebeam anyway so I didn't have to do anything. Your AGMs are 63kg each? Wow, what Ah capacity are they? I hope access is good and you get some help if you have to remove any of them. Also it sounds to me like you might need some more ballast at the bow to get a bit more control in the wind. Why not try putting one or two of those AGMs at the bow? Just make sure the terminals are well covered.

The other thing I don't like is all that rigid copper pipework and joints. With all the vibration in the area I'd rather have flexible car heater hose. It's less susceptable to cracking and failing.

Conversely, I can't make sense of the lining and can't think what is purpose would be? Presumably the skin tank is in the engine space below the waterline. Why would anyone line that area in wood? How are you supposed to bleed the skin tank for example if it's all hidden behind plywood?

I think it's a good idea to run Webastos for an hour a couple of times over summer. If you leave them too long without starting it can't help. I start my petrol generator and outboard occasionally for the same reason just to keep them maintained.

That's fine, if that's your thing. It's not mine. I'd rather be in the present and look forward than wallow in the past. That's how it feels to me.

The bit of kit most people put between the alternator lead/acid buffer battery and lithium batteries is the Victron Orion XS 50a 12/12v DC -DC charger. It's not that difficult to fit. If I can do it anyone can. I have an independent LA buffer battery for reasons I won't go into, but as Tony said many people just use their start battery. I think the Orion is limited to 50a output so I don't think you'll get the full performance from your 125a alternator but others will be better able to advise about that. There's a guy at my mooring who hasn't bothered with any of this and just connected his alternator direct to his lithium batteries without any ill effects. He's done it on 2 different boats. The first had an old low rpm engine and a 90a alternator I think. I assume it was the low rpm which prevented damage to his alternator. He sold that boat and moved onto a widebeam and moved his batteries onto the new boat. Now he's got a massive 260a alternator and he said it's fine. Who knows?

Where's the dampness or condensation accumulating exactly? I can't see from your picture. As others have said, ventilation is important. Apart from lack of ventilation one other factor which hasn't been mentioned is that when you first return to a cold boat and light the stove or switch on a diesel heater, because the air inside the boat heats up much faster than the dense, solid objects in the boat, the moisture in the warm air is drawn to the cold objects and condenses on them. If you come and go every week or so and the boat goes through several cycles of heating and cooling the moisture can accumulate. I've noticed this especially in low level cupboards which had a load of tools inside. There was so much water in them I thought I had a leak! Once I emptied the bottom of those cupboards and put some small vents in the doors the problem went away.

I hope you're able to make an insurance claim for new batteries. I can't remember what the excess is on my policy, I think it's £400 in which case I'd probably still make a claim. Just depends on your policy. Could it be an opportunity to switch to LFP?

Yes that was my assumption. I had credited the OP with enough intelligence not to go to the extent of removing all their windows, having the window frames resurfaced and replacing all the window seals just because of a bit of condensation. If I was wrong in that assumption then it would be the first time I'd ever heard of someone misdiagnosing that issue and going to such extremes.