Dave_P

I have something similar except mine only pulls out to 4'6" (a proper double bed). I have a reverse layout so don't need to walk past the bed all the time, so I leave it at 4'6" all the time. That way I have a nice big bed and a big choice of mattresses. Works for me. I wouldn't want a 4ft so-called double. Dave, 6'2" 18 stone

The problem is in the whole concept of residential moorings and leisure moorings! The planning system in this country has never taken into account the specific issues of residential boats. The same planning rules are applied universally. Clearly this is a nonsense. Requesting planning permission for a new house to be built is clearly entirely different to asking for an existing mooring with a boat already on it to have a change of status. The possible issues might be, increased car parking nearby, increased noise, increased smoke emmissions. However, leisure boaters can and do stay on their boats for 3 or 4 nights a week currently (within CaRT guidance) so what real difference would their be in practice? I would propose doing away with the 2 designations, initially with just CaRT moorings as a trial. Then it would be up to the boater to arrange residential status for their mooring. This would only work if planning departments had been instructed by govenment to decide in favour of such applications unless there was strong reasons not to. Fortunately our planning systems have been drastically relaxed in recent months, so theres never been a better time. Of course currently there's at least as many boater's living on leisure moorings as do on residential moorings. So it's all a farce anyway, with moorers and marina / boatyard owners pretending not to know... Luckily at my moorings, the owners are new to the ways of the canals so it hasn't even occurred to them that this problem exists. People live aboard or don't as they choose! Oops, should I have mentioned that? Go to the local authority. tell them you're homeless. stay in hotel overnight. The reason people don't do it isn't because its hard it's because they'll put you wherever they have a space, which is likely to be sh*thole.

In practise this would be a very minor issue. Very few boaters would intentionally let their boat sink in order to receive the sort of emergency housing they would be offered. If you want to be housed by a local authority, there's far easier ways to go about it.

Simple solution: Everyone pays their mooring fees into a pot. Those that do work claim back an agreed amount from that pot for the work they do. That way people either pay more and work less or work more and pay less. And everyone is happy. If there is a shortfall in labour, contractors could be employed from the fund to cover this.

Maybe I'm a bit soft but I can't help feel sorry for mr mound/ pike/ peak. After all he didn't intend this to happen. It's all a bit of a mess but slating mr sandcastle doesn't seem quite right to me.

Quite. Still their fault in my opinion though. In the course of my work, I deal with complaints. If I simply upheld every complaint no matter how spurious, I'd be sacked before the end of the week.

I feel like some people are missing the obvious in all this. Tim Mountain asked for his details to be taken down. I don't understand his reasons and personally I can't see any problems with having my boat details on there. But hey-ho, to each their own. Jim Shead refused to take the details down because he felt the complaint was spurious. This all sounds fair enough to me. Then THE HOSTING COMPANY TOOK DOWN THE SITE!! Not Tim or Jim. It was THE HOSTING COMPANY. So surely if we're cross with anyone, it should be them. 2 possibilities exist: Either it is a data protection / copyright issue in which case the list shouldn't be online, or, it is isn't and the list should stay up. It seems to me that a webhosting company should be well versed in the law regarding this to make the correct decision. I suspect they haven't so if we are going to be angry with anyone, it should be the company that took down the site.

Do you have a fridge? That's the main power user.

I just looked up PWM on wikipedia it made my head hurt so I turned it off. I prostrate myself before the superior electrical intellects who have replied! I have learnt that I should get a solar panel for when I leave my luxurious shore-line powered mooring in a month or so.

Thanks but you've lost me completely. What do PWM and MPPT mean? and what do you mean by "they allow the panel to produce max power at the best voltage". i.e. what do you mean by "best voltage" and "max power"? Thanks for all this. My fridge is a shoreline and it looks like an older version of the RK130 which is stated at 1.59 amps. My figure of 1.5 is rough but it was the principle I was confused over.

Thanks again.

Stupid question alert! Does that mean it will put 6A per hour into my batteries at it's peak? I want to assume it does but i'm aware of the dangers of assuming.

an ammeter. ok. i'll get one, thanks. and thanks for the w = a x v. I knew I should have paid attention in physics more.

I've never properly understood electrics. I have 3 x 100 amp hour leisure batteries. When I need to work out my consumption, surely I need to know how much power is coming out of them, in amps per hour, from using elctrical stuff and how much power I'm putting in via my battery charger or alternator. Certain things like my fridge are easy since the manufacturer states that it uses 1.5 amps per hour. But what about other things? How do I work out how many amps per hour my t.v. uses? Or my inverter? Or my lights? Everything is given in watts. I have to confess (and I suspect I'm not alone in this) I don't really understand what volts, watts and amps actually are??? I assume that a 70 amp alternator will put 70 amps per hour into my batteries, but I suspect it's more complicated that that with diminishing returns as my batteries approach full charge. I have no idea how many amps my battery charger puts in. In practice, through experience and looking at my voltmeter (I do not have, and I can't afford a fancy smart meter) I can judge how much engine or genny running I need to do according to how much I've been using electrical devices, so i suppose it doesn't matter. Except for this:- I'm thinking of buying a solar panel (something like this My link which is listed as 80 watts and 4.55 amps. The trouble is, that's meaningless to me. I have a general suspicion that it won't be enough to run my fridge, except maybe on a very sunny day! Does 80 watts equal 4.55 amps? Is there an equation I can use to convert watts to amps so I could figure out how many amps a 20 watt bulb uses? Obviously the panel won't be producing 80 watts for most of the time, so how could I work out how many watts (or amps) it will produce on the spring equinox (12 hours of daylight) assuming I'm moored in an open space, have the panel angled towards the sun and the weather for the day was 50% sun, 50% light cloud? I realise that it's impossible to give an exact figure but surely I can get a ball-park figure? Ultimately what I want to figure out is how long will the panel take to pay for itself when compared to charging with my engine or genny which incur fuel costs. Sorry if my ramblings make no sense to you or if I've made some elementary error.

Ryan, I'm only just down the road from you. I'd be happy to pop over and give you a hand figuring out the various systems on your boat. I remember well when I was starting out and did a lot of relying on others to advise me. Let me know. Dave.

I tend to agree with the 'keep it simple' approach. When I first moved onto my boat, it was in the full understanding that it wasn't a house and I would be doing things differently. I have 12v lights, 12v fridge and 12v laptop and phone chargers all running direct from 330ah of battery, which is obviously a lot less than some posters but more than adequate. Surely the key thing about available battery power if in how much you keep them charged, not how many batteries you have? Yes, having 1000ah of batteries would mean charging less often, but the charges would take much more time, so what have you actually gained? I have a bargain basement 2000w MSW inverter bought for just over £100 on Amazon which has worked faultlessly and supplies all my 240v needs. These are - TV, twin tub washing machine, iron and amplifier. The only thing which it struggles to power is the microwave (which probably needs PSW). I also have a 1000w bargain basement genny (£60 second-hand) which will also power all my 240v needs (including the microwave) whilst charging my batteries, and has also performed flawlessly. I'm really not sure what the point would be for me to be shelling out 100s or 1000s of pounds to improve my set-up. What would I be getting that I don't already have? Apart from avoiding the annoyance of only being able to use the microwave whilst running the genny. I've never used microwaves much anyway! When I first had my boat it had a fancy expensive pure sine wave inverter and it broke. The cost to repair it was more than I paid for my brand new replacement. The OP is right that money doesn't grow on trees and if I were him I would be looking to try to save some with my choices so I could keep some back as a contingency for the myriad other unforeseen costs which go with boat ownership.

Parrots on boats? Easier than goldfish I reckon.

There is of course, another alternative. Fill with water as quick as you are able and move on. It's really not difficult, although my issue isn't really with what you've described. I'm talking about people who are not filling and have no intention of moving on if another boat arrives. I realise that sometimes breasting up or getting you bow as close to the facilites point as possible can work, but sometimes the layout of the canal simply doesn't allow for this. I remember one occassion not so long ago where the family who were sat eating their lunch on a water-point whilst not filling and they just sat munching and staring at me (single-handing) while i tried to maneuver my boat until I could awkwardly moor up in such as way that I could get me bow to the edge without causing an obstruction to other boats. Not one of them moved a muscle. It was a tricky spot with shallow reedy banks on one side of the service mooring and a lock landing on the other. After a slow fill taking about an hour, with them watching me struggling with an awkwardly moored boat which was only firmly tied at the bow, one of them came outside so I asked why they were moored there since if was for water filling only. His reply? "We were filling with water". Well not for at least an hour. Why didn't I ask them to move when I arrived? Well, by the time I'd moored up it would have been even more hassle and delay for us both to move by then. Fortunately this is the exception, not the rule.

Thanks. I may be a touch out of date then. When I was chatting to Fred in the shop down the cut a couple of weeks back, he told me that the "brewery" had taken up an offer from an outside investor and had agreed to sell the pub to them. This meant that the current owners had their contract terminated. So it looks like the current tennants have raised the cash necessary to buy it themselves. Good news as they had clearly invested a certain amount of money there and it just seemed immoral that they could be kicked out.

Genuine question - why would you pay for a mooring with a caraboat? I'd assumed that owners would just pull the boat out and keep it parked somewhere?

Well said Karen! I've been castigated by Chris in the past for suggesting that people shouldn't be sitting at water points when they're not filling with water. Perhaps Chris is one of that people I've seen sitting eating his lunch, and I've asked to move. Just because you can't see a boat coming when to decide to have lunch doesn't mean one isn't just round the corner.

The four in Braunston? 1 is possibly shut? Not sure what the latest on the Nelson is. 1 is usually full of unpleasant noisy people (IMHO) 1 is mostly empty due to disinterested staff and poor food and drink. 1 is a cheap (and fairly nasty) chain-barn. I'd sooner there was one really good pub, whether it be the posh gastro experience like the Great Western at Aynho or the old fashioned lively boozer like the Mucky Duck at Fradley. Hopefully the Nelson at Braunston will be that pub. The previous owners were doing an ok job, sad that they have been forced out by the brewery. Not convinced by the recent changes to the decor / furnishings though.

Where is the boatyard with the weekend only crane? Have you tried Shire Cruisers in Sowerby Bridge. Only a day from Mirfield.

This may sound like an obvious question but why are you moving it by road at all? It's not a caravan! Fortunately for you there's an alternative using the fabulous inland waterways network. It would be a lot cheaper to move by water and, even better, you'll have a fantastic adventure! If I had the time myself, I'd move it down there for you personally for half the price of your best quote! Or is it a widebeam? In which case you'll have to get it out, but only for a small section of the route.

I love my much maligned Alde! It works well, heats up quick, makes virtually no noise at all, is clean and since servicing has become very efficient too! Why someone would pay 2 or 3 times the price for a noisy diesel thingy is beyond me.