Rebotco

And a new driver!

The aluminium frames look to me to be in basically good condition. Some fine grade wire wool and soapy water will probably bring them up a treat. The seals may not be as bad as you think. On mine, the nasty bits turned out to be largely surface growth of moss/lichen etc, and cleaned up pretty well.

More Notoriety than History, I'd say!

Well worth getting a hernia for!?

UPDATE As advised I put the battery on charge for a further 20 hrs. But it kept going into float within 2 mins. I switched it off and on at least 10 times, but it thought it knew better than us and quickly returned to float. Nevertheless, the differences in SG between the cells seems to have closed up a bit. After leaving for a further 12 hours the no load voltage is 12.56v and the SG readings vary from 1.225 to 1.250. So I think its got a bit of life left in it, but its not very healthy! Am I right?

Excellent - 2 birds with one stone!

Good tip - thanks!

Thanks for that. Yes all the cells were gently bubbling on completion of the charging session. I was using a halfords (semi - smart) 3 stage charger. I take your point about the possible benefit of a further charging sequence and will try that. I suspect the charger will go into float too soon though, and I don't think I can override that. I will let you know the outcome in a day or two.

Thanks. That was my gut feeling. Its good to have a numerical confirmation.

They were all above the plates, but I did top up 2 cells with about 2 tablespoons of distilled water before charging. They remain full now.

Yes, that does surprise me a little. But it does vary quite a lot normally according to the amount of fuel at the back end and water at the front. And the pumpout tank.

I'm assessing my 110Ahr open cell FLA starter battery condition. I have charged it at home for over 24 hrs and left it stand without load for 12 hrs. The temperature is 18 Centigrade and the hydrometer readings for the 6 cells vary from 1.250 to 1.201. Suspect its close to knackered, but what do the electrickery gurus think?

I have long advocated speed bumps at busy areas of the towpath ........... ...... preferably angled towards the canal!!! ?

After 10 years paying reasonable premiums for comprehensive boat insurance cover, I can at last genuinely recommend Craftinsure from personal experience. I have always responded to the regular questions here about "Who is a good insurer?" by saying Craftinsure seem good, but only a claim will confirm if that is the case. Well, I've now had my very first claim, and they have indeed paid out! With all the Covid lockdowns from Nov last year, I was unable to visit my boat for almost 6 months. When I finally could visit in April, I found my engine hole about 2 ft deep in water (Its a cruiser stern) despite having 2 auto bilge pumps and 2 x 110Ahr batteries and 100 W of solar. It would appear that with all the rain we had last winter the pumps had been running so long and frequently, they completely emptied my batteries and consequently stopped working. altogether. Further rain eventually drowned half the engine, submerged the starter motor, alternator, wiring, fuel pump, batteries etc etc. It was not obvious that anything was amiss from outside - until I lifted the deckboards and saw the damage directly, and so no one at my moorings had any reason to raise the alarm. Everything was as dead as a Dodo. Another couple of weeks and it could easily have sunk. The estimates for repair were well in excess of £6K and Craftinsure sent their surveyor to inspect and report back to them. They made a couple of minor deductions for "betterment" , my excess etc, but have paid out the vast bulk of my claim. I have to say they have been very fair throughout and all done online. So I am more than happy to confidently recommend Craftinsure as a good insurer that honours its obligations in my experience. I will not consider changing my insurer for the rest of my boating days as a consequence - even if my premium goes up a bit at renewal. That's assuming they'll have me, of course!!!

The problem I have found with those rubber pipe fenders is they squeak and groan a lot at night when moored against concrete or metal. Especially when moored with tight ropes. My next lot will be rope ones, which should be a lot quieter!

I have been relying on a flexible 100 watt solar/mppt for several years. It worked well for a couple of years, but seems to have deteriorated since. Presumably the batteries have started to sulphate during the winter, with no engine running and precious little sun either.

That rather depends. The reason I asked the original question was because it will cost me £1 per day to have shore power. I have no other use for it than keeping the batteries charged up. So £365 per yr is not exactly peanuts!

That is very helpful, thank you. The real world cost is exactly what I was looking for, rather than mathematical theorising!

Seems that covid masks are now completely abandoned!

The only oven chips we will eat are the Lidl ones cooked in beef fat. They might not be the healthiest, but they are delicious! Aldi has similar and just as good. They are better than home made, and better than most chip shops.

Might it be feasible to carry the dinghy on your roof instead?

Yes, that is what I have. 100W panel has worked well for over 3 years. But more recently it has been getting less effective. I suspect the aging batteries are becoming more sulphated now and require more oomph to keep charged up.

That will probably give the most useful "real-world" result. But I guess it will also depend on the size of the charger?

Bit of advice appreciated. Can I work out the cost of shore power to run a smart charger at say 14p/KWhr? That's for a "Genius" 7.2 amp charger connected to 2 x 110 Ahr batteries. Generally batteries are well charged after cruising for a few days, so I guess its probably only a maintenance charge to consider. However it would be on 24hr/day when boat is left unattended in marina, which is about 75% of the time! Thanks in advance.