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I was tempted by a label maker that can print on shrink-wrap insulator sleave but then I converted the price into bottles of wine and thought overkill. It is surprising how many adhoc minor wires a boat acquires per decade. I am going to decommission the 12v domestic engine alternator and charge the lithiums via a 24v/12v DC/DC box attached to the starer motor 24v battery. Alternator wiring looms are black magic to me though I hope to eliminate a rats net of wiring once the domestic 12v alternator is removed. Just hope my first trip down the cut won't be spoiled by an alarm warning me the non existent domestic alternator belt has snapped.

Not having seen it, could you not spur off the back of the first mains socket, like they do in houses.

The existing installation does have a mains switch to turn the immersion on and that switch has an indicator light. And better news, after having a second look it also has a fuse. So now the challenge is to just splice the dangling unconnected old AC2 wire into the AC1 cable just before that cable reaches the first mains socket. Time to invest in a swanky insulator stripper tool me thinks in view of the other pending wiring jobs.

A Sharpie felt tip pen, ir even a black ball-point pen, is good for writing on the cable insulating sheath to say where it goes.

Screenshot from maps.nls.uk showing the Butt's Branch bridge over the slip.

Remarkable commentary with the S. Stratford closure.... Due to low water levels we are having to close the South Stratford Canal until further notice. Our operations team are working to refill each pound but unfortunately every pound has been emptied either by accident or a malicious act of vandalism. Further information and an update will provide on Monday 07/07/25.

My (only) visit to the Erewash Canal a few years ago echos John's description. Yes it poses a few difficulties but it's well worth doing.

A fair bit of heavy rain in the South Midlands this morning, including right now, but probably not much help as the BBC forecast is currently predicting it will be pretty much wall to wall sunshine over the next 2 weeks.

Whilst you have in bits label every cable and make yourself a wiring diagram; it’ll save you having to re-work it out in 3 years time when you want to change something and can’t remember it.

Hmm - glad you said hopefully - seen plenty of thing done by “a pro fitter” that I’d not consider acceptable myself. Think theres good and bad in both the prop and owner fitout catagories.

I need to investigate the AC side the electrics some more, there should be enough spare cable on the dangling disconnected AC2 coil to reach a new second RCBO. The AC cables radiate out from a separate sealed panel that has the RCBOs and other AC feed isolator switches, time to remove the AC safety panel and look at the internals. So far I have not worked out the cable routing to the 240v sockets on the other side of the boat.

The Rochdale is having a very bad year. I am a bit surprised that the Rochdale 9 has closed, I had thought that with the Macc now open there would be loads of boats using the Ashton so bringing down enough water to compensate for the lack of water down the Rochdale. Reading between the lines of the Rochdale Manchester stoppage I suspect CRT are limited on how much water they can take from Hollingworth as its a popular recreation lake as well as a critical canal feed. Its very bad timing (for me anyway) that CRT have chosen this time to mess about with lock 19 in Tod, as there is still loads of water in that section.

I’ve never understood this superior and nasty attitude from some private owners. Goes to show there are always stupid pratts in all walks of life.

Made me think or Arthur Daley!

I don't know if there are any rules requiring a fused, rather than unfused, spur, but why wouldn't you fit a fuse anyway? It's cheap enough to do. I would also fit a double pole isolator as you won't want the immersion on all the time the Multiplus is running. https://www.toolstation.com/axiom-13a-fused-spur/p28571

Arthur Wheeler, The Motorcycle Dealer. Has a certain ring to it.

It will work but its not very nice, personally I would prefer a consumer unit with RCBO's and the immersion heater, washing machine (if you have one) and any other big loads having a dedicated cable direct to a dedicated RCBO.

Not quite - I’m pretty sure Victron (for example) don’t say charging has to be attended, and that is one insurance company, not all of them - neither of mine mention lithium (or any other type of battery) anywhere in them. They do both have a “must be maintained in a seaworthy condition” get-out though. Taking motor vehicles as the example rather than houses, which seems a closer fit, insurers cannot wriggle out of their third party obligations, whatever the policy holder does. The insurer can refuse obligations to first party claim eg in the event of negligence, DUI, drug-driving etc, and do so. They could even look to sue the policy holder to recover the third party claim costs, but they can’t just wriggle out of them because of the actions of their policyholder.

Very interesting having lived in Worcester for years I was under the belief that there was a line that ran down to the racecourse, and dropped passengers off there. Didn’t appreciate it was for more than that It’s a long time since I’ve been there but I have a thought that the arches on the other side to Francis picture has a visible old drop in arch height to accommodate that. Fishing around this site describes the situation where it seems the line at one time was intended to go right up to Diglis , and was built up to the cathedral. . http://www.miac.org.uk/butts.html So presumably the bridge across the quay in the image Heartlands posted was part of the original intension as it doesn’t make great sense otherwise, there’s not much land to the left beyond the bridge that can’t be accessed in a different way with no need for a bridge. The line could (I think) have curved inland rather than cross a bridge. Thanks for the old image of the chimney bridge too- you can clearly see the Saltires described in the listing blurb. Pity they weren’t replicated.

So insurers and BSS are saying Lithium batteries must not be left on charge while the boat is unattended. So every time you leave the boat - be that for several weeks or months between trips or just nipping out to the pub or the shops during a cruise - you must turn off the charging. So that means boaters have to get into the habit of switching off B2Bs and solar controllers if leaving the boat, even for a short time. And if any post-fire investigation finds you forgot to do so, the insurance doesn't pay out?

Given the way things are going I suspect it will not be long before it is easier (and shorter) to publish a list of what canals are currently OPEN.

Exactly. My employer at the time, Arthur Wheeler, in Waterloo Road Epsom, was a motorcycle dealer. He sold many Reliants to ex motorcyclists who wanted heat and shelter from the rain, often when children arrived. A motorcycle licence worked fine, no car test needed. Horses for courses.

I think I know the answer however I am talking 240V AC wiring here and so a second or 10th opinion is welcome. A new Multiplus Victron Invertor/Charger was fitted to my boat a few years ago, it is an original model and not the newer Multiplus II that has a second AC outlet (AC2). The Multiplus replaced a Mastervolt and I suspect it was a Mastervolt model with a second AC outlet that was only active when on shore power. The net result is the feed to the 1kW immersion heater in the calorifier was left unconnected and coiled in the bedroom wardrobe behind the Multiplus on the opposite side of a bulkhead. Given the upgrades happening to my boat, (16kW lithium bank @12v and 1.3 kW of solar), I feel there will be enough electrical ooomph onboard to drive the immersion heater via the 3000 kva invertor direct from the batteries & solar when offgrid. Would I be correct in thinking the supply to immersion can be spurred off AC1 that feeds the mains sockets using the following junction box? https://www.toolstation.com/axiom-junction-box/p28404 This morning I read up on fused spurs and concluded a fuse on a spur can be omitted when the cables are the same rating and only one appliance hangs off the spur. The topology of my boat's wiring will simplify the immersion reconnection because the first 240v socket downwire from the invertor, the immersion manual switch and the unconnected old AC2 immersion wire coil are all within 18" of each other.

I can only speak from personal experience, having crossed both The Wash and navigated the tidal Severn from Sharpness to Portishead and then up to Bristol in my NB. On neither trip did I take a pilot or follow another boat and neither trip was particularly demanding in terms of navigation. Of the two, I found the Severn to be the most straightforward because the navigation marks are superb, with leading marks that are unmistakable. It's important that in both cases you do all the 'homework' and it's essential that the weather is calm and forecast to stay that way all day in the case of The Wash, and for a few hours in the case of the Severn. The boat must be prepared for lumpy conditions, vents taped up, fuel tank checked for sludge, a new fuel filter and several spares etc. I used and would highly recommend the use of the Navionics App, download to a phone and tablet so you have a backup. It shows you exactly where you are and where the shallow bits are and makes either voyage easily doable without a pilot. I have done some coastal sailing, so I wasn't put off by those who talk of sea monsters and other terrors, and we were rewarded with trips that were both memorable and great fun. In fact, we may do the Severn again next year.