DandV

I am with carlt on this. On a narrowboat the anchor is an emergency device available to be deployed in an emergency ie a time limited fraught situation. When heading downstream in a constrained channel anchoring from the stern prevents the substantial extra hazard accomplishing the hundred and eighty degree turn. Bridge piers anyone. Going upstream obviously the anchor should be fastened from the bow. If the anchor is provided with two or three metres of chain as well, then when deployed from aft, it should rapidly head to the bottom clear of the boat above. In the lumpy stuff, it is actually a fairly standard procedure to use boat momentum to dig an anchor in to prevent dragging. Cheers Don

I think ethyl alcohol is an effective antifreeze. Anybody trying Gin Vodka or Whisky as an additive, comparative tests anyone? I think though it is even more effective when it bypasses the drinking water tank altogether! Cheers Don

"Probably searching for a wad of cash or jewelry, That sort of stuff I keep in the safe, which is welded to the rear bulkhead and behind a closed door." Makes change from narrowboaters claiming poverty Cheers Don

You mean there is actually another way of getting money out from the bank? Cheers Don

I have heard that a standard shower on yachts making extended voyages is a one lire plastic milk bottle with the lid drilled centrally with a 5/32" hole. Place a cup of boiling water in the bottle before topping off with cold. A small squirt immediately in front of the soap, and the remainder for a full? rinse. Evidently a successful compromise between retaining water for actually drinking and maintaining some degree of personal hygiene. I suspect however, it would suffer some limitation as a towpath shower especially when the adjacent canal is frozen. Happy washing Don

Aw forget these modern electrical things, just a shoulder harness with two lines to pull the boat between bridges/locks. A little more more right shoulder equals a little more right rudder, or have i got my control lines crossed? Don the reluctant donkey

We have no difficulty in deciding what extras we want against a pre-agreed/published variation schedule. What we would be nervous about is committing to a contract that was so under priced that a competent supplier could not cover their costs. We are acutely aware that in recessionary times there will be failures not only adversely/catastrophically affecting boat builders but also their suppliers and customers such as our fellow antipodeans, with Waiouru The best suppliers are those that when they perform diligently and competently make a fair return for their efforts such that they can continue to supply. edit to correct south pacific island spelling Don

As mentioned on this forum before, we are planning on purchasing a narrowboat to spend our first years of retirement spending each northern summer canal boating in England and each southern summer back here in NZ. We want a reliable go anywhere boat so 6ft 10 x 50-58ft and had budgeted 40 -50kwhich we expect to get a good second hand boat. We want permanent double plus guest make up double and strongly prefer cruiser stern. We had considered new to be unaffordable except we are intrigued by the following offer from Viking. http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/advert.phtml?id=209479 which looks like a good spec. On this spec we would probably add a side hatch and L shaped convertible divan dining table either as negotiated extra on the build or engage a jobbing boat fitter. A cratch cover would nice also. Thoughts please, and ideas on what additional items and costs would be required to turn this into a functional cruiser and any forseen pitfalls. Cheers Don

My wife’s experience on UK waterways is a mere week (I can treble that!) but in that time we were robbed. Coincidentally it was in Bath. We were moored just below the weir next to the rugby ground when a hopeless alcoholic just released from prison kicked the stern door of our hire boat in and helped himself to beers from the fridge, some cds, cell phone and knives from the pantry, leaving his half bottle of vodka and half eaten chicken dinner on the roof. He was however observed by the other couple hiring the boat with us, who confronted him as he left to only to be threatened using knives taken from the boat. A group of fishermen tackled the robber, the Bath police attended promptly and then professionally secured evidence and statements. Three days later as we were transiting Bath on our return from Bristol the local radio station was reporting the news of fishermen rescuing boaters, second only to Michael Jackson’s demise. The aftermath; The Bath police with filed complaints and good witness support secured a four and a half year imprisonment term for the offender. My wife liked narrowboating so much are now intent on purchasing a boat early 2013 to travel each year from New Zealand to spend six months aboard to ditchcrawl around England. The purpose of this post, our experience was that the UK police did a great job but crucially they needed and received great community assistance. Cheers Don

By the way what are the derogatory friendly terms for wooden ........ boats? Alan Classics! Don

We are still establishing equipment choices. The must have, nice to have, undesirable, avoid, etc for when we establish a shortlist of boats to view. I notice some narrowboats have PRM 120 gearboxes. The manufacturers rate these only as suitable for pleasure boats running less the 500 years a year. Presumably if we ran a boat our intended 1000 hours a year the the life between replacement/overhaul would be simply halved. I am conscious that narrow boat use is almost all at lower power settings but rather more gear changes then say as a yacht auxiliary, which would affect service life. We would be looking to purchase a 48-60ft clonecraft say 32-40hp for 1000hrs a year cruising for 3-5 years before reselling. Any ideas of the life in hours since new of such a gearbox before expiry, in such an application? Are they acceptable, with provisos, or simply to be avoided. Cheers Don

Another problem I foresee is in that narrowboats would be extremely prone to lifting both their propeller and rudder, at least partially out of the water, when in either a head or following sea with a wave lengths near hull length. Rudder lift would result in loss of directional control, and prop lift alternative loading and unloading the engine, with both loss of effective power and steering as well as possible engine damage. Wave facing boats generally have deeper rudders and props, which are also generally located further from the stern. Cheers from a current salt water sailor now intending to spend a lot of money on a boat that I certainly would not consider sea worthy. Don

Thanks for the replies especially the information from Justme. Now have a definite path to progress. What a wonderful forum. The property concerned is about as far from the UK canal system as it is possible to get located in the Marlborough Sounds at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand! but like many parts of the canal network no mains power or road access. Still intending though to purchase a narrowboat to start cruising the canals for six months a year starting Easter 2013. Thanks Don

We do have a laptop available. what is required to establish the pc link, (hardware leads etc) and then what is required to modify the settings to increase its tolerance? (Software source and transfer instructions) it would be great if we could get it functional using the existing genny then any generator upgrade would require even less tolerance. Thanks Don R

The problem appears to be that the Victron multiplus is fairly fussy in the quality of the incoming 230v feed ( frequency stability, wave form, voltage stability, noise) that our current generator does not meet, therefore it does not switch across to charge/ inverter bypass mode. If any one can supply details of a generator that does achieve this, including any, if required, setting changes to the Victron, then this, at this stage would be my preferred option rather then installing a dedicated battery charger. Cheers Don

We have an off grid property running 230v lights and fridge off 6 200AH 12v sealed batteries wired in pairs for 24v through a Victron C24/1600/40 multiplus inverter charger. The batteries are charged from 4 x 160W/24v solar panels. This system works great except my niece ran out of power when she added a continuously running a laptop during a period of overcast days. We had purchased a cheap Chinese made 2kva generator with the intention of using this for emergency charging the batteries but while it has been great for running power tools it will not provoke the Victron into charging mode. (Culture clash between Eastern and Western hemispheres?) I acquired a 2.4kva isolating transformer in an attempt to smooth the output but to no avail. What is our best move, purchase a better petrol generator that will be compatible with the multiplus, suggestions please, or a separate 24v 30a minimum charger that will run from the present generator. Another thing I did learn was that such generators are typically 2phase 120v earthed between phases, therefore must never be connected directly to any single phase earth neutral bonded installation. Cheers D&V

Also a consideration is the inrush current on starting some appliances. Electric motors, fluorescent light fittings and microwave ovens all draw substantially more current starting, then once running. For direct started electric motors start current is approximately seven times run current! which is why the inverter should be selected with a margin over running load. Older microwaves (non inverter type) provide the reduced power levels by altering the time on time off ratios. This means that the fuse may not get time to cool enough between repeated starts. Cheers Don