Chewbacka

We are based in Gloucester and for a weekend I would go to Sharpness and back. The Tudor arms as already said is good, and there are other pubs if you don't mind a short walk. Sharpness it self is nice, but there is not much there, so take some food and drink etc. Purton is good for a walk past the old hulks. If you go North out of Gloucester it is a river and moorings tend to be at pubs - good - but if it is a busy time may be difficult. Depending on the flow of the river and the tides, it takes about 9 hours for Gloucester to Worcester. If you do go up river, have someone at the front of the boat when you go into the locks to pass the rope through the lock walls cables.

If you want to go all the way along the droitwich canal there is a very low headroom tunnel, we can get through ok but we met a boat that had turned as he says he was too high, worth checking with the hire company on the airdraft

I usually phone before hand as the levels and tides may have a big impact. I know the levels are low at the moment.

I have 2 off 200w panels in series so rated about 70v open circuit and 8 amps short circuit. I shorted them through my meter when I bought then to test they worked as they were not new, and under bright sunlight into a load (in my case a short) it would strike and sustain an arc. Burnt my multimeter probes very quickly. I suggest you don't do this with the connectors as you will quickly destroy the connector pins and possibly zap yourself with 70v or more as well.

I did not notice anyone advising a thermostatic mixer on the calorifier (hot tank) outlet. If you engine runs hot you could end up with very very hot water coming from your hot taps. My mixer is set to about 60c.

Has the system ever given more amps? If not is the panel output voltage high enough to 'force' the full current into the batteries?

I have no idea if this is similar to the op case, but consider this - Suppose I have access (illegal) to an account. I can transfer money but it will be traceable, so I transfer it to you - say £50k. You then give me your boat (but actually you have no idea who I am) which I change the appearance of and quickly sell for say £30k. So I have converted £50k of 'dirty' money into £30k of legit money that can not be traced to me. You however get a visit from police wanting to know why you have received £50k of stolen money, which you will have to pay back. You have no contact details for me apart from perhaps a hotmail account and a pay as you go mobile. So even taking the money and shutting your account will still get you a visit from the police for receiving stolen money, money laundering etc. and may even get you a visit from people you really do not want to meet.

Could it be that the fan is 'stalled' and not free to spin so pulling too much power?