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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...

.Apologies Callum for suggesting that the attention was wanting. I should know better. As always the full story is very different from the assumption. Sorry. Dunc or should it be Dunk?

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.

Only a single experience here... our boat sold within 12 days of listing it on the duck at a price that was within our planned wriggle room. 2 brokers phoned within 12 hours of it being listed trying to get the boat listed through them rather than direct. 6 people expressed interest 1 pulled out before viewing as they put a deposit on another boat 3 never got around to arranging a viewing 1 viewed it yesterday, spent a couple of hours looking around it and nattering with us before putting down a deposit and signing on the dotted line. 1 person got a phone call and was very disappointed feels like a sellers market to me. On the plus side my bank balance is looking healthier on the negative side I don't have a boat any more

Thanks folks! Really appreciate all the input and food for thought, looking forward to seeing the boat and will give an update after!

as always, thanks for the helpful - and entertaining - answers. My conclusions are: - keep the SG - give away the ammeter - RTFM for both devices - despite being a volume purchaser, MtB probably does not get a Christmas card from the SG company

I think the Fischer Panda system qualifies as its a true electric drive, I would however want to see serious solar on the roof as well to allow the 25% discount, the idea is to be clean and as carbon free as possible. Its a lovely sunny day here and I have just looked at the Midnite controller it was showing 26 amps at 60 volts, I have just switched 1200 watts to domestic, and 2500 to immersion heater for hot water perfik

Such are the dangers of diagnosing stuff yourself. With hindsight would have been better to tell them the rudder has broken and won't steer, and feign ignorance at any attempt to tell you how to fix it yourself. Best now to call them back and tell them you've given it your best shot and can't do it, so its breakdown and they need to come and fix it if they wan't their boat back.

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.

Kingston..... lots of mooring in my view. Dont however rock up 5pm on Saturday good weather in the hols and expect plenty of choice.

You never actually paint a boat … you merely lend it some for a short time.

Slightly off-topic, but we have run several cars to a pretty good age, in fact we still are. One thing I have found is that the originally fitted batteries always seem to have a very good life, (10 years plus, even on a diesel), but try as I may, even if I pay more than a basic price, replacements never do anything like as well. I have just had to replace the second battery fitted to a diesel Volvo V70 probably after no more than half the lifetime that the first one survived. I may have been unlucky, but the batteries sold as replacements just don't seem as good. (This was an Exide).

Narrowboats on wider waters tend not to remove lumps from bridges or make life tricky for others navigating because they are blocking the channel.

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