OldPeculier

Brilliant. Thats sorted then. I'll get a small neg bus bar and put all the 'odds' thru that and into the shunt. I was just a little concerned as I've never seen things connected mid bank. All my boats have been very basic up 'till now.

Ok, thats interesting. So fitting a state of charge meter where all negatives need to pass thru the shunt will be difficult. Should I just run the main cables thru and accept a small level of inaccuracy? As far as I can make out its all small stuff like water tank guage, bilge pump etc.

Well its been many years since I have posted on here. I documented my re-fit of Old Spot in the build blog section and have been happily living on and cruising her ever since. However since I've aquired both a spouse and a dog, I've now moved over to the dark side and purchased an 11 year old 12x55 Viking fat boat. Its in pretty good nick but as always there are jobs to be done and improvements to be made. One thing is to fit a battery state of charge meter. All prety straight forward as I fitted one to Old Spot. The thing is, when I took a close look at the battery bank (4x 110ah +starter) I noticed that there are several conections both pos and neg made mid way along the bank. Now I am sure that ALL pos should be at one end of the bank and ALL neg at the opposite corner. Just checking, is there any circumstance when this is not the case? Many thanks.

You could try Little Ouse Moorings on Brandon Creek - they have a few with electrics. Or the moorings on the other side. Lots of residential boats there, most run generators.

The Tideway was built in 1975 by Walkers although there is some confusion over the sail number. The Tideway Owners Association are trying to find some history for me. There is no room for a dagger board in the little boat and I didn't want to mess around with leeboards so I've fitted two fins on the bottom; together with the hard chine, they should provide enough sideways resistance. However, in reality, this is never going to be a performance boat and all I really want to do is to be able to have a mess around in the lagoon, where my mooring is, on a summer's evening.

I've just realized I never posted a picture of the finished little boat so here it is. It came in at 15kg which should mean I can get it on and off the roof with ease. I've not sailed it yet but it paddles ok and seems relatively stable. I'll wait until the weather warms up a bit before give it another go. Meanwhile my time is being taken up by this. A Tideway 12 I saw it on ebay and couldn't resist.

That might be a bit more difficult - I had assumed you were just on an extended cruise. Rivers and roads don't often converge out here in the Fens. Also remember that while there are some footpaths, there is no towpath. Its still possible tho' I should think.

Come on over, its a great network of rivers to explore. Its perfectly possible to CC. Join GOBA and use their moorings along with the EA ones although don't expect to be anywhere near civilization. Wild mooring is always an option with a bit of common sense and respect for land owners - it can also be a bit shallow in places. I've been boating on the Ouse for the last twenty years and have never had a problem finding somewhere to moor.

My Alde takes about 50 minutes to heat my 22 litre tank up to shower temperature which gives me enough hot water for a shower and wash up. In the winter the back boiler warms the water in the tank and it only takes 15 minutes to get it shower hot.

3 x 13 kg bottles a year. Most of that is in the summer. In the winter the Boatman is used for cooking and water heating.

I used this company. Very helpful. Personally I would buy a cheaper foam mattress and change it every couple of years rather than invest in a more expensive sprung mattress.

Made the mast step and started prepping the inside for painting.

I find that buying chilled milk keeps it cool. The odd bit of frozen food brings the temperature down too. I used to freeze milk at work and bring it back to the boat but it used to take so long to defrost, I don't bother now. Its never 'fridge cold' in there but cool enough to keep the milk fresh, the butter solid and the cheese from getting stinky.

It depends very much on your lifestyle. I am at work every day so picking up fresh food on the way home is not a problem. I have a cool box and putting cold milk in there keeps it fresh for 2 or 3 days. I always keep a carton of UHT for emergencies. If I am going off for a few days, I get my gf to freeze a couple of pints of milk at her house and bring them over. That keeps the cool box cold for much longer. And some folk like the peace and quiet without engines/generators running for hours every day! As you say, each to their own!

Just a suggestion, try living without a fridge for a while and see how you get on. I used to turn mine off in the winter but realized I could, in fact, live perfectly well without it all year. Add a little solar into the equation and you wont have to run your engine at all.

I used Tractol, also from Smith and Allen.

With all the good weather, I've been out on the water rather than working on the boat, but I have managed to make a start on tidying up the wiring in the engine room. Make a new lid for the battery box. And start the little boat painting.

One thing to add; rather than varnishing the wood trim on the inside, rub it down and use wax. makes them a whole lot more waterproof, doesn't flake off and its a five minute job to wipe a bit more on as and when you want. Liberon Wax

I had problems running a 12v/240v tv off the boat electrics. It didnt like any dips in voltage if the batteries were in anything but full charge. The shower pump in particular would send it into stand-by. I now run it in 240v mode through a cheap 300w inverter and have no problems.

Well there seems to be some debate. Perhaps the above might be the best option.

I bought one of these to put in between my solar controller and batteries but somehow I managed to get confused and wired it up wrong so it went bang. I've now got another one and don't want to repeat my mistake. Could any kind soul sketch me a diagram I could follow? The wiring instructions are;

My eldest boy and his wife have just bought their first house. 36 year mortgage!

Got the solar panel up and running last night. My mooring is south facing which apart from being rather pleasant, makes mounting a panel quite straight forward. The frame is mostly salvaged from an old bed frame. It has several degrees of elevation and folds flat. The wiring inside is only temporary since I will be tidying up all the electrics in the engine room over the next month or two. A bottle top filled with CT1 makes a good waterproof gland for the cable entry.

Shame they didn't feature more on the couple living on the little Springer. They seemed to be pretty well sorted and a much better example of real live-aboard boaters. I would guess this was filmed last year - I hope that poor girl on the dutch barge survived the winter. Those Westlander barges with their huge windows are not the warmest of things at the best of times. Anyway, good luck to any one who rejects the idea of enslaving themselves to a mortgage for most of their (short and very precious) life, just because it is what we are expected to do. Give it a go and if it all goes wrong then at least you can say you tried. Sarah Beeny, mmmmmm.