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Don't you talk about my boat's mother like that!

I'd say get your solar on ASAP. There's not much point burning fuel to charge batteries at peak solar season if you don't need to. Do you know how many amp hours you are using each day and therefore how many you need to replace? Are you sure your batteries are OK and you are not trying to charge knackered batteries? I know it doesn't help with the genny question, but every hour of this sunshine could be going into your batteries ...

We have had our boat shuffled around and remoored many times to make best use of available mooring space. Provided it is tied up so as the boat won't get damaged I don't see the problem and certainly don't believe it is a criminal act. You have a lot to learn about inland boating!!

If you buy a decent second hand honda gennie for the moment to get you by until you update solar etc you will get all or most of your money back on it when you sell it anyway.

Yes solar all the way first and gen as a back up for winter . For solar don’t get an “ installer “ they charge loads and you get poor system that suits their profit imo . After loads and loads of research into my new up coming system I have come to conclusion most don’t know what they are taking about or do but steer you towards the solution that suits them not you . Cheap china is not always the best . Look at Bimble they I am sure can sell you a complete kit for your needs at a very reasonable price then either fit yourself , semi fit your self ( what i am doing ) or get a decent boat engineer to do it or parts of it . Cheaper and you will end up with a much better system. Fun designing and fitting too . Regard geny I only have a Honda eu 2200 because the missus insists on ironing everything. If not a eu1000i is just as good but smaller and cheaper and will charge most batteries as a back up to solar no issue . Btw I work from the boat and a lot more during lockdown . If you are cc on the cut computers are power hogs to use all working day , suggest low power laptop dialled all the down to snail performance unless you are gonna run engines / gen a lot esp if you have fridge as well . 800 watts of solar will do for 8 months but I winter you will need to have back up and be a misser unless you are moving all the time

Agreed and only one a victron inverter charger won’t spit out . Expensive yes but they run forever and give a faultless next wave output. Reason on why it’s probably the most popular gen on the cut .

What, to get the missus to sort it out for you?

I have had my base plate done twice and it doesn't scrape off. This was brought home to me at Debdale while I was there they lifted a boat. The bottom was end to end with mussels, they weren't scraped off in the canal.

There are special docks about. They are called bottom docks. There is one at braunston, called bottom lock dock. You float the boat in, and drain the water. The dock is filled with special hot paint. This comes in by tanker which is parked outside, and pumps the stuff into the dock. This burns off the crap on the boat, and coats the whole thing. You leave the boat in whilst the paint cools overnight. ( smoking is not recommended) and you have to sleep in a special tent. when the paint is hard you cut round the skim of paint round the boat and fill the dock. Off you go. Once the boat is out the dock is emptied, and a solvent used to thin down the hardened paint, which is pumped back into the tanker. Very green.

Nah, thats for Australians called Bruce. ?

Yes, I suspect, though I have absolutely no concrete evidence, that a much greater proportion of boaters, (and I am talking about inland waterways, not lumpy waters) are able to talk at length about the merits of battery chargers, the finer points of engines and pump outs but not about such basic boating skills. I have always thought it strange that yachties in general are often keen to improve their boating skills whereas inland boaters tend to disregard such matters in favour of more mechanical subjects. Howard

Thank you. I don't think I have seen that one before, hope it is OK to add to my collection. River Great Ouse, last week.

It's a good job no one we actually know reads the forum any more so Dave won't know about me spilling the beans about his combo, specially as he's coming up for 60 and 20 years ago was, hmm, prolly a bit old for that ... Oh ... Gulp ... Bribes?

just a bit of light hearted nonsense, let's be honest the forum needs it, theres millions and millions of politics threads right now and only one talking Mornington Crescent

There may be a sudden upsurge in single sex relationships - a husband, his husband and their three brothers each, all hiring a boat together for a big family week out. Oddly, they all seem to belong to the same army unit....

1. No problem you buy it . Marine engineer will install it . Job done . 2. No such thing as German made panels anymore all made in china or offer Far East countries , marketing con . “ German solar cells or German designed panels ain’t made there and when you look closely they they have poor efficiency and cost many times more and I tests perform poorly . 3. You need to find some time to research if you can if you don’t want to pay over the top for poor solution and don’t want to be disappointed. 4 .if you need high power compact look at Perlight delta black pgm270 panels , I am getting these , good panels , Chinese yes but they have been i business 30 years not 2 mins like some . They kick out a lot of power in a compact package are a 1480 x 998 I am mounting 6 of these across the boat for 1620 watts . You can go slimmer say 668 but would prob mean smaller panels power wise say 175 watts which is fine but you will need more and ironically the smaller you go power wise the more they cost . But Lots of options

OP needs at least a 2000 VA genny unless he can reduce the charger power - some let you do this some don't, but a 1000i won't run a 70A charger into flat batteries. I know @Alan de Enfield spotted this because of the generators he suggested, but I don't know if @The Gravy Boater picked upon it.

The ideal generator would be the Honda EU2000i but costs something over £1000, you may pick one up 2nd hand but they hold the price very well and could be £700 2nd hand. A Kipor 2000 is very similar performance wise but a tad noisier. Cost ~£500 I have a Kipor and am very happy with it. https://www.sailandtrail.co.uk/kipor-ig2000-suitcase-inverter-generator.html

Top notch is full level, bottom notch is add oil level. Lower than that is "for gods sake put some oil in fast!"

Is that a description of you or the climate?

JANE is a B.C.N. day boat, and has nothing to do with Thomas Bantock - but a lot to do with G. and D. Crannage, Brierley Hill and later the South Western Division and Midlands Region of 'British Waterways' who subsequently shortened it from 70'8'' to its current length. There is nothing to suggest to me that JANE substantially pre-dates its only gauge of BCN23351 - 07 February 1921 - so the claimed build date of 1890 is highly unlikely. I have known this boat since the 1970's, and some on here might remember it being paired with the new build 50' unconverted motor DANIEL in the mid to late 1980's. JANE has been tied in Bristol for the past 30 years, and pretty much on the same mooring for all of that time

I'm an Alan too. ?

Having got fed up of painting thrm and the poles eventually rotting where water gets under the paint through microscopic cracks, I am doing the same. Last year I rubbed them down and stained them with a sprit based teak stain and began to oil them with tung oil. I am currently 6 months through @Alan de Enfield's advice to oil them once a day for a week, once a week for a month and once a month for a year. So far so good, but it still early days.

At least you know what day it is. I just had a phone conversation with the president of our local old folks social and cards club, telling me that the club will be beginning again ‘next wednesday’. So I said great, see you on June 3rd, and he said no, the day after tomorrow, 27th, Wednesday. I said tomorrow is Wednesday and he said oh, yes, it is Tuesday isn’t it. Lockdown/confinement really has gone on a long time here. (A week more than where you are).

Prolly time I had a nap now, just realized people are talking to me because it's Tuesday now ???

spent half an hour yesterday on google map... think this should be a regular(weekly) thing, boaters describe(or post a pic) a place near canal and everybody else are supposed to guess the location...

The EA guidance is unhelpfully silent regarding staying overnight on a boat. But at least they have stopped their silly suggestion that handwinding a lock lessens the risk of virus transfer.

I agree, no excuse for bad behaviour but a possible reason.