Leaderboard

I was the engineer on call for this issue, call received at 6.30pm, talked the customer through the process of relocating the rudder into its cup so they could continue navigating sooner if able to solve easily, about 10 mins later they informed me that they were unable to relocate the rudder, I advised them to moor up for the evening and we could go out to them first thing, they preferred a call out straight away as they had forgot to fill up with water and earlier that day one of them had fallen overboard and needed a shower, I made my way to them, on the way I purchases 3 bottles of mineral water, box of cherry bakewells, 2 cheesecakes and a packet of custard creams so they could at least have a cup of tea while the issue was being resolved, it took 10 mins to relocate, and I navigated the autherley narrows for them as the experience had knocked their confidence, they seemed very happy with the outcome, I arrived home at 9.30pm

Thank you, Callum, for telling us your side of the story. This just goes to show how a post on here can lead us all up the garden path . I can appreciate that the boaters didn't want to lose any of their holiday time but they could have come back on here and told us that the engineer had come out and fixed the rudder and that they were on their way again. haggis

The BMV is useful to check voltages and monitor domestic battery charging current, the latter being the best way to know when the batteries are fully charged. The ammeter will not give any additional information if connected to the domestic batteries and has limited use if connected to the engine battery. I wouldn’t bother with it. The smartgauge is very good at knowing the actual state of charge of the domestic batteries during discharge, and hence knowing when to start recharging. Comparing the State of Charge indications during discharge from the Smartgauge, and from the BMV set to the nominal battery capacity, is a really good way of knowing the health and actual capacity of the batteries (ie how much capacity has been lost due to battery ageing). You should be aware that there was a batch of Smartgauges that left the factory badly calibrated and Mike the Boilerman had two. He refused to send them back to the manufacturer and instead runs a campaign to “rubbish” them on here. Which I feel is not helpful to people such as yourself. A correctly calibrated Smartgauge is very useful. I have one which I use a lot. An incorrectly calibrated Smartgauge is of course rubbish. Since the Smartgauge works only by measuring voltage, it is quite easy to check the calibration simply by comparing the displayed domestic battery voltage with a known accurate voltage measurement from say an accurate digital multimeter or the BMV. If they agree, there is no problem. We would all agree that it was bad that these Smartgauges were released by the factory badly calibrated, but that doesn’t change the fact that a correctly calibrated one is effective and useful.

I agree Mike, but I'm sure it's an issue on many an internet forum.

Forgive me not mentioning that Callum did indeed go above and beyond, I could not get internet at the mooring to say that all got resolved. Thank you Callum and I will be giving you a five star review and how you did indeed go above and beyond !!

As a very ex hire boat engineer hats off Callum. I would say his actions were over and beyond.

I am full of admiration for all those who took part in Operation Overlord and it is great to see those heroes still able to visit the beaches despite advancing years. May I also mention the huge support to the armed forces provided by the ships and men of the Merchant Navy of many countries - especially Great Britain - without whom it would have been difficult to mount such a complicated operation. Over the extended Overlord Operation many men from the MN paid with their lives and a large number of ships were lost. Ships involved in the operation ranged from large cargo and passengers ships to the more humble, but vital, tugs and support craft. It was a mammoth logistical operation, the likes of which we will never see again, thank goodness. Heroes all. Howard

I found it. It fell asleep...

Working 'Jaguar', we met 'Caldy' in a particularly shallow bit of the Oxford. Caldy's steerer indicated to me to cut the engine, and he did likewise. The boats then passed each other quite easily, just by walking them. Not by pulling water from under us both with the engines. Another lesson from an old boy.

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As the company's name is Castle Marinas wouldn't that be Castle Marinas' incomes expand? Or Castle Marinas's incomes expand? Nah, that sounds too cumbersome. I'm confused, where's Athy when you need him?

Thank you very much. That answers my question perfectly.

I reached the dizzy heights of 3rd Officer with Blue Star Line in 1984, and part of the training included being aware of squat. One would assume that those who had reached the position of captain, or pilot, would have even more experience and knowledge than I had. What do you mean by “relatively new”? I’d say “we” have been well aware of it for at least half a century, probably more.

What cup? Cheers Graham

Yes I apologise for that. It was a joke but I know lots of people are terribly sensitive about criticism of Smartgauges. It would actually make a terrible doorstop. Far too light.

It will probably be fine for you to buy this boat and live on it at Highline for many years. People have already been living there on boats for many years! You'll never find a rented mooring with true security of tenure (other that the "Agenda 21" moorings at Oxford) so it is all about 'not making waves', 'staying under the radar' and other clichés. I expect you get the picture. Even if you DO get chucked off, you can settle on a leisure mooring somewhere else provided you make it clear you don't 'live on your boat', you simply 'spend a lot of time on it'...

Yes. Manual wire brush just to get any loose stuff off. Vactan the whole area and wait for it all to go black. In my experience Vactan sticks well to sound paint, so no need for a separate primer and definitely no need to prime on top of Vactan.

I meant that jovially!! Assumed it came across in the tone of writing! but yes! Give away! Forgot there were profiles!

The canals are natural litter collectors. Any trash blown from roads/estates/playing fields close by the canals has a good chance of ending up in the cut. CaRT idea that in a year the problem would be solved is rather fanciful as litter is dropped every day of the year, the supply is never ending until there are more bins provided. Collecting trash, as I do, at every opportunity just means that there is a black bag on the roof of the boat until I get to somewhere to dispose of it correctly. It is not rocket science at all. Dog walkers are some of the offenders to tackle. At one time there was dog poo on the cut which degraded in a few days/weeks. Now they put it into plastic bags and hang it on trees, throw into the hedge row or launch it in the cut where the plastic bag preserves the contents for a lot longer time. The long journey starts with a small step of everyone doing their bit where and when they can.

Basically the piece by Wotever (another Tony) says is just what I told you. Use voltage (off load) to tell you when you should start recharging ASAP but try to recharge every day and use Amps going into the battery to tell you when they are "fully" charged. That way is the simplest. In a year or so when your head stop hurting and you have got a handle on a lot more by all means start to try to set the thing up so the lies it tells will be far smaller ones but for now only use volts and amps - they are accurate. Lets say you have 4 x 110 Amp hour batteries (a very common set-up) that gives a total of 440 Ah. 1% of 440 is 4.4 amps so recharge until the ammeter says between 4.4 and 8.8 amps (say 4 to 8 amps) with no significant loads running. This is the simplest and easiest to grasp way of using that meter. Edited to add: for now I would advise you to totally ignore the discussion of lithium batteries in this topic because it will be of almost no help to you at this time. Certainly do not think buying them will solve your charging problems at a stroke. To get the best life and long term use out of then requires more knowledge than the batteries you have now and probably more equipment.

It's only called bickering when people aren't agreeing with you; when people do agree with you it's called..... Brainstorming.

Every (new) marina I have seen has a "V" shaped entrance with stop planks at the narrows. I am suggesting those narrows should be 8ft, not the 12-14ft they seem to have. Plenty of room for a narrowboat to turn using the "V". George

I've had times when I'd have been glad of something like that. Park benches and bus shelters for a while make you more tolerant of those wbo get stuck, and it's a lot harder to get yourself back on track now than it was fifty years ago. I can't see that a few sheds here and there ruin it for the rest of us. The way things are, there will be a lot more of them soon.