FidoDido

judging by the pics of Rose of York on the duck, there is no low-level ventilation. Perhaps this is the issue? Suggest putting some vents in the front and back doors to allow airflow when all locked up. In fact surprised BSS was issued without any low level ventilation (might be one low level vent by front door - tough to tell on the pics)

I presumed that there would be the usual amount of ventilation from roof vents and low level vents in front and back doors etc... The extra ventilation from opening windows is probably unnecessary after a the stove has been on a day or two, as moisture built up when left for a prolonged period without heat will have gone. Of course, if you cook with the hob (boiling veg etc), put a kettle on the stove all day long, dry your washing, have a shower, etc, then opening the windows for a while will very much improve the rate of drying out. Methinks we are both saying the same thing, just I wasn't explicit enough... Not many people go to bed with the stove rammed and the windows open, as like the PO found out, you'll be cold in the morning when the stove is low, and all your heat has buggered off out the windows.. Athy has a good point ! All advice to be taken with a pinch of salt.. in the end, you'll figure it out yourself.

Pennie.. Close the windows.. After a few days of heat, the boat will have dried out. If your air thingy won't control the burn, check the rope seal on the door. Might be leaking. Smokeless needs to be glowing before you can turn down the air. Ecoal50 burns much slower even in lots of air, so try that.. Available at b+q cheapest. You probably aren't banking it up enough.. Post pics .. Within a few days you'll have figured it out I'm sure.. Just use good quality smokeless coal.. Crap stuff goes out.

ta Leeco - would certainly do that - prob only spend 6-8 weeks at a time away from home mooring, and probably more time at home mooring than away over the whole year.

Useful link to CRT FAQs - ta for posting. Is Birmingham a "place" ? If so, you might get "nicked" despite travelling 70 miles round the BCN! I imagine they still mean "parish or neighbourhood" - guess they are trying to say, don't just go from the 48hr visitor mooring, 50 yards up the cut to a 14 day, and shuffle between the two.. We go from the definition of "location" to "place"... You get what they are meaning, though.. Though whether they can actually enforce anything is starting to come into considerable doubt!!

Been several moorings at Shireoaks lately. Indeed one up currently. Not all residential tho. That said, if you are only there 3 nights a week, you might not be classed as residential anyway.

BSP. Check your battery voltage with your multimeter. Should be same as output at controller. How many amps does the controller say it's putting out, or doesn't it have a meter? My 170w panel put out twice what you got today, try angling the panel in the shade up to the same angle as the others, and you'll soon figure if that's the issue. If so, you could use the tracer for one panel, and the other controller for the other panel, and it would help..

Surely the boat roof will get so hot in summer it will seriously limit the output of the panels? Just a thought.. I've got a standard panel bought second hand from Bimble 2 yrs ago. Mounted a few inches off the roof for cooling. They are a good company in my experience.

My boat took me a long time to find.. And I had sold a flat, so had to get something within a deadline. However, I found a great boat, tongue n groove n all, at the right price (up for 35, sold for 30). Must have looked at well over 50 boats, and all others were crap.. It was Christmas time, so anything good had sold by end of summer. Except the one I bought, found at an tiny broker who didn't advertise it anywhere except his own website, So, they are out there.. Do consider some older boats though.. My 1990 boat was in far better condition than many 2005 boats I'd looked at. Had lost only 0.3mm at survey. As its a top end builder it'll hold its value. Search on Les Allen, Norton Canes, RogerFuller etc on the duck and you'll notice their value is always high despite the wide range of ages. Keep looking, don't limit your search to the duck. Google names of good hull builders, and you'll find ones for sale that aren't on the duck. I got mine surveyed and paid for it in 5 days... This was because it was a week before Christmas. Could take much longer to get a survey this time of year. Good luck!

There has been a boat at CW since sept. No one on it. Indeed, it's for sale on the duck. Orion boat

As soon as the engine runs, the solar controller will cut off its charging. I'm getting about 20-30 Ah out of my single 170w panel the last couple of weeks.. As I only use about that, it's always back to 100% by the time I get back from work. I'd try not running the engine BSP.. You might be surprised. It will take the solar a while to get up to 14+ v when charging, but the amps will be going in just the same, and that's the important thing, rather than worrying about final voltage etc. with 400w of solar I'd be surprised if it didn't completely replenish your batts in a sunny day if you are not using fridge etc. angling the solar makes a big difference this time of year. Mine last week went from 2A when flat to 7A when tilted about 20 degrees. Bit windy to tilt it more than that, as i leave the boat all day, and it's only held on with magnets.

Have done the search, read the posts.. But wouldn't have known had this thread not pointed me in the direction.. Had missed that TD was also in the Nottingham area when reading the various things last year. So, highly relevant.. I would be slightly different, as I'd only be doing it for a few months a year, and would probably mix in some other spots up the Erewash and Soar as I like both navigations. Really, I was trying to figure out if there are any rules, and how they are applied.. I'm none the wiser! Current CRT rules still state you should be on a navigation when away from home mooring, but no mention of distance, or repeat visits to locations. I think they need some clear guidelines. It appears if I hop between 2 or 3 spots, and return to home mooring every now and again for some extended periods, I'm not breaking any rules. If they had sensible rules like "mooring 14 days, no return within a month" you would know where you stood. They do have that on bits like foxton, etc Then there are the random locations, like castle marina towpath, where you pay the marina and can stay as long as you want without any sort of contract, or guarantee of mooring if you leave to get water, etc.. Then there are places like clock warehouse where the non-towpath side doesn't get policed by CRT, and you can apparently stay there as long as the pub doesn't ask you to move on. Then, there is CRT, who have left a workboat on the lock landing at shardlow since December. All completely contradictory. Guess the proof will be in trying it and seeing if I get a notice on the boat! Looking forward to a bit of bridge hopping over the summer

I've got a MICC. Find it very good.. Can remotely control the inverter, gives very good accurate info on SOC, voltage to 2 decimal places, can control the point where the inverter "adds" to the landline (useful if you run a 1kw genny, and the inverter tops it up). It came with tho boat, and yes, an expensive bit of kit. I like it a lot though. Always know exactly what is going on, how many Ah I've used, etc. my solar also goes through the shunt, and so I get how much A its putting in, voltage etc.. Also tells me the voltage of the starter battery. My inverter uses about 0.4A at idle. Yours probably will too.

the combination of the A453 widening and tramworks though Beeston/Chillwell have made the commute from anywhere on the west of Nottingham horrendous!! I'd rather not bridge hop - Ive been asking CRT about a mooring at Beeston for years - guess one day one will come up. I hadn't really thought of moving the boat in before, but a friend of mine has a boat at Castle Marina on the towpath, and has said he'd watch the boat when I'm not on it (I am only on it 4 days a week), and I've had it at Beeston a few times before with no issues (I've tended to move it back to Shardlow, rather than move a shorter distance though). In winter, this is more tricky as the Trent can often be up for weeks at a time, and its really the winter when having the boat closer would make more of a difference (setting a fire in so I don't come back to a stone cold boat at 9 at night for example). I'll look out for the CRT advice for boaters with a home mooring - hadn't seen they had any before. The local EO appears to be out so much they don't reply to emails, so will also have a chat to them before I do anything.. Will probably "try" the moving about a bit over the summer anyway - I don't have to hop between two locations, as could easily enough use Cranfleet, Sandiacre, Zouch, Sawley as well, though those locations I'd have to drive to work (though Thane Rd would be OK). I've read the recent CRT vs case when someone was blocked in by floods on the Nott/Beeston canal, so am aware the local EO might be a certain sort... And I also know Nottingham has a bit of an issue with CMers. I just thought I'd ask, as it appeared I may not be in breach of any regs. Of course by October time, the A453 will be duelled and the Tramworks may even be finished, in which case the commute might become tolerable again!

good to hear.. shame it was left to sink, and the chap not helped earlier.

the rules are ambiguous.. wondered what people's interpretation of them are? Last time I asked the CRT enforcement officer, I didn't get a response. So - what are peoples thoughts?

generally calcium carbonate I think (may be calcium chloride). Silica is 1. more expensive, and 2. potentially toxic (actually I think its the colourant used, rather than the silica itself - the stuff that starts blue when dry, and goes orange when damp) Not sure if you can buy it in bulk. Lime, which farmers put on fields to adjust pH is essentially calcium carbonate - you can probably buy that by the tonne!!

I have a home mooring, but at certain times of year, the commute to work can be up to an hour for a 10 mile journey. One thing I could do is shuttle between Beeston and the visitor moorings in the middle of Nottingham, and walk / cycle to work. If I were to do this - spend 14 days at each place, and shuttle back and forth, am I likely to get "done" by CRT? Or does the fact I have a home mooring mean I can go wherever I want, stay within the relevant time limits, and be OK? Would probably only shuttle for Oct-Dec and Feb-Apr, as the rest of the year the traffic isn't as bad as the University students aren't about. Of course, it would be better if my home mooring was closer to work, but I've waited nearly 3 years for 70ft mooring to come up at Beeston, and it hasn't yet! Previously I'd thought I'd be restrained by the same rules as CC'ers, but reading a few threads recently about this, it seems those with a home mooring might not have the same requirement to be "on a journey" and be allowed to bridge-hop?

Trent Lock on a sunny afternoon. Have had 50+ people watching me single hand up that.. With kids climbing all over the gates. Scary!

I wasn't saying the battery monitor was wired wrong.. I was asking if the Solar panel input was across the Shunt (only required by your battery monitor if it reads amps), or just on the batteries themselves. Might be a difference between the two.

my Tracer MMPT shows 0.2V less than my Mastervolt MICC control panel.. I trust the £500 control panel more than the £20 MPPT thing!! Also the SOC % on the Tracer is a complete work of fiction.. Perhaps try measuring the real voltage at the batteries with a decent multimeter, and check the reading. Might be you are getting a decent voltage? For comparison, my Tracer charges at up to 14.8V (equalisation charge), then drops back to 13.6V. It only really gets above 14V when the batts are pretty near 100% full. have you connected the feed from the panel before the shunt for your battery monitor? If not, this might explain the difference?

maybe its set to Gel Batteries setting rather than bog standard Flooded? Gels don't like anything above 14.2 IIRC.

blimey - thats pretty much the spitting image of my boat's saloon... (bar radiator) - inc TV, clock, sofa, stove (mine a Morso though). Good choice Hope it flies through the survey with no probs and you are oot and about soon. We must have looked at 50+ boats before buying ours - as soon as I walked through the doors, I knew it was the one.. And she's done me well for the past 3 and a bit years Have fun on your travels... The learning curve is steep

It will be dripping from the screw and thing it screws into due to condensation, from the bottom, you can wrap them in insulating tape. id guess once your boat has been nice and toasty for a few days, it'll dry out, and you'll get much less condensation, and it will stop. Mine only does it in freezing fog now. I also have a very annoyingly placed mushroom vent right above my head on the bed... One day I'll go and do the above and cover the metal bits..!! Till then, I put up with the occasional drip. Always little things to do, and I forget until it drips!

You are doing the right thing.. Sodium bicarbonate to neutralise the acid. Put this everywhere. You can just chuck it in the bin after.. It makes sodium sulfate and carbon dioxide. Sodium sulfate is benign, and indeed is a constituent of Epsom salts people put in their bath.. Treat All metal, including copper. Then wash down with water, and dry off. IF it's easy (I,e accessible) I'd be tempted to remove all the paint you can, treat with owatroll or similar (on e steel, not copper), and repaint with appropriate paint. Some paints are acid resistant, others not. Best be safe. Bad luck.. Must be a nightmare to clean up.