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Arthur Brown

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Everything posted by Arthur Brown

  1. The problem is that CaRT is patchy at enforcement. There was a thread here about a forum member being warned for overstaying at Braunston despite having cruised the Pennine canal system between two sightings at Braunston. There are also places where boats move so little that they can walk to work and no enforcement happens for long periods. This means that public appreciation of the rules falls somewhere between the two extremes, and wherever suits each available boater at the time.
  2. As a stop gap measure, run the engine! An engine at 70C takes more than overnight to freeze. An hour of running from 7pm to 8pm should satisfy thermal needs and assist the batteries, -which always want more TLC in the winter.
  3. Good that you've found it, not so good that it's there to find. Keep pumping til it's gone, then pump again as needed til you can find the source. The issue with small leaks is that they are hard to find BUT as the leak develops other possible waterleaks (sink drains, etc and air vents ) go below the waterline then things go quickly from bad to sunk
  4. There is much to be said about heat recovery, it's good economic sense! BUT on a boat there is too little spare volume to fit a big enough heat exchanger system. It's common in building HVAC to recover heat from the out going air but it can take an ISO container sized lump on the roof, there isn't a spare cubic foot on most narrow boats, -if there was it would have three uses already!
  5. The trim change due to fuel, waste and fresh water tank level changes can be very noticeable. However the same trim changes can be due to accumulation of water in the cabin bilge. Wisdom is knowing what is causing the trim changes! Skill is knowing what and how to cure the problem. Emptying the waste tank cannot harm the situation.
  6. It's a simple process for a recovery company to use a 12v jump starter supply for a flat battery on an ordinary car so probably it's just as simple on a dual fuel car. -Won't start -apply 12v, get engine started. -lets hybrid car users be aided by an established recovery network (RAC, AA, and lots of others.)
  7. As a total wild card, why not buy a UK narrow boat then sell on 2 or 3 time shares, specifying times available. Still you need a boatyard to properly look after the boat -engine service, battery charge, clean, fill and empty tanks as needed etc.
  8. Sea going cruisers will possibly be too high to pass some of the UK canal system too. Second Tony's suggestion of boats in several separate places. Then take trains to cross continents quickly.
  9. Even with a cruiser, you would be safer to use a manager or boatyard for your out of Europe times, even if you are in Europe for six months each year,that's still half a year for your boat batteries to die, and bilges to fill, and drinking water tank to grow bio. Perhaps someone with direct experience can tell you what times it takes to cruise the French canals from the Channel to the Med. CaRT -Canal and River Trust, the body responsible for most of the navigable waters inland, to whom fees are payable and who regulate the basic safety of boats permitted to navigate "their" waters in the UK
  10. While you may buy a boat, it may be hard to manage it during the months you are out of the UK. UK narrow boats are a finely developed design specifically for the UK canal system. They are horribly expensive to move over land, or by truck/ferry, and not particularly suited to mainland European canals. UK canal boats are NOT seaworthy. If you want to BUY a boat, consider paying a manager to supervise it during your absence and prepare it for your immediate use on arrival, This could be a boatyard with dry dock or slip where for example the batteries could be charged monthly,diesel filled, water tank sanitised,frost prevented, etc and maybe even a food pack could be loaded for your arrival. Likely they would be contact with CaRT too. Otherwise consider a six month hire from a recognised hire company.
  11. There are a number of light aircraft that are powered by batteries and an electric motor, they get an hour of flight per charge. You could well get a similar system running from solar, but with a bigger battery could have several hours per day of no fuel boating. Running an engine to drive a generator to drive a motor to drive a propeller sounds like a lot of low efficiency conversions to waste a lot of fuel
  12. A Lithium battery will accept any input as "charge", the problem is that some devices use the full microprocessor to monitor charging, others use a simple charge monitor chip.
  13. Batteries and their projected life are features of the batteries themselves and the way they are treated, and everything has cost and convenience values to determine, which will then give you an indication of their projected life, but overall batteries are consumables.
  14. The pinned post "Power Generation" in the "Equipment" section starts with two threads giving different ways to the freely downloadable Victron book on the subject of electrical power which will lead you to answers for all of your questions. This goes up to bigger boats that may even have crew! The Smartgauge.co.uk website has enough technical info for all users of smaller boats, the author was -when he wrote it- a narrowboater as well as a specialist 12v systems designer. Many designs are shown for you to copy or develop.
  15. A house usually has a 60 to 100A mains supply, a boat on shore supply will only have a 16a connector and may well be limited to 6 to 16amps according to the fuse fitted. There is NO WAY you are going to have house size electricity supply on a boat -well unless you find and pay for a well fitted berth with 63/3phase, usually only found at the more expensive marinas for coastal cruisers (gin palaces!). Review your intention to live on a boat, or review your intended electrical consumption.
  16. All electrical things run on smoke, when the smoke escapes they stop working.
  17. There is a LOT to be said for having a diesel genset that runs off boat fuel, that is installed onto vibration damping mounts and electrically startable. Avoid petrol -it's hard to find on the cut and really needs it's own vented storage. Whatever you use there is NO certainty that your washing machine will start and run well from a generator. There are many threads on here about washers that will not run off generators and inverters.
  18. If they were losing water by gassing, then continued use will gas off the surplus water you have added. As ever ill treated batteries are closer to needing replacement.
  19. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  20. Any engine oil is better that none! Read the instructions for your engine for the maker's suggestions but running with no oil will kill the engine in seconds. Any oil is better, any oil for diesel engines is better again, OK the right amount of the right oil is best. Not every supplier will be open or have stock or supplies over the Christmas period. Clean the engine, then dust with talc! This shows up leaks quickly as the white talc turns golden/black oil colour quickly.
  21. The first thing to consider is what you want the boat for! A residential boat used as home is usually equipped differently from a leisure boat used for two weeks in the summer and some weekends. A hire boat may have 12 berths in the same length that a residential boat has three.
  22. LONG gone are the days when reverse gear was lower than first, With modern tractors, the tow hitch is behind the driver, so tow forwards. What is the surface of and above the ramp? Road tyres will stick to road surface but grass and soft surface will do better with wide soft knobbly tyres.
  23. I suspect that your club's "1 machine man and one crew" ruling is in deference to the skill actually needed to pull heavy loads up hill and place them accurately and safely on land. They will not want boats left on the trailer, so shifting the boat onto blocks is a skill also needed. Do you intend to leave the boat on your trailer? Sadly youtube is a tribute to several boat and pickup truck vs slipway failures
  24. SOE produced an electrical supply from chimney flue heat and supplied them during WWII. With USB there is an issue that some devices will not accept a small charge rate. A smartphone fed with less than half an amp will go flatter, because the battery monitor circuit uses that much. USUALLY powerbanks will take what ever you offer them and then charge smart phones quickly.
  25. If you have a boat that's not specifically designed for canals then air draft and water draft are important measurements.
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