IanD

IIRC Smartguage is reasonably accurate when discharging but not when charging (or is it vice versa?), because it only uses battery voltage (and an internal battery model, probably optimised for LA not LFP) to estimate SoC, it has no way to use current either when charging (tail current) or discharging (Peukert effect). Balmar SG200 uses both voltage and current sensing as well as battery modelling and is more accurate for both charging and discharging for all chemistries. But very few narrowboaters use it because of the cost...

The Balmar SG200 is a bit like a Smartgauge on steroids, it uses current monitoring as well as voltage -- it's very good at accurately judging SoC during both charge and discharge, probably better than anything else on the market. https://marinehowto.com/balmar-sg200-self-learning-battery-monitor/

Owned, no. Spent a week or so on, yes. Great fun so long as somebody else (Pete Thompson) was doing all the hard work. Still have several apocryphal funny stories from it, including the one about the baked beans and the tin opener... 😉

Compared to a new hybrid narrowboat, Morris dancing *is* sensible. DAMHIK... 😉

This also depends whether the hire fleet wants a boat with whatever features the OPs has -- many fleets want a close-to-their-standard layout, and commonality of fittings (heating, propulsion, electrics...) with the rest of the fleet so they don't have to learn how to maintain a different "one-off" and possible keep spares for it. Apart from the fitout needing to be to hire standards, hire boats are also often designed to be easily maintainable (access hatches etc) in a way that some private boats aren't... 😉 It can be a very good scheme to reduce the costs for new boats -- see the Aqua Narrowboats fleet for example -- where they build the boat inhouse to the customer's requirements using their preferred methods and components, but more difficult to make work with an existing private boat -- and such fleets also tend to not want to take on older boats, only new or nearly-new ones.

No, it's better but more expensive which is why few canal boats use it but lots of yachties do... 😉

No, thirty years earlier... 😉

It's illegal anywhere except on private land, not just on the towpath -- and there are far more of them on roads and pavements than the towpath... It's both -- cyclists on proper bikes who can go at 15mph are usually fairly experienced, a lot of the e-scooter and e-bike riders are not, anyone can hop on one and go as fast or faster than a cyclist with little effort, so they do. But for sure a significant number of them are illegally derestricted and can go *way* faster than 15mph, which greatly increases the danger if they collide with a pedestrian... 😞

Escooters and ebikes are supposed to be speed-limited to 15mph, which any respectable cyclist (even me...) can get up to if they put their mind to it -- and many of the idiot non-e cyclists exceed regularly... The big problem is that the government has taken its eye off the ball and failed to do anything to control the sale or use of ones which (illegally) go faster than this -- and since e-scooters are illegal anyway (but not enforced) people have no incentive to stay within the law. And since anyone can then get up to these illegal speeds with no effort -- not just a few ultra-fit cyclists -- that's exactly what they do... 😞

And also on pavements, and pedestrian crossings, and anywhere else bikes and pedestrians mix -- this problem is by no means unique to towpaths... 😞 But as usual it's the selfish ar*ehole minority screwing things up for everyone else -- most cyclists (but not all, sadly...) I see on the towpaths ride sensibly, and for them -- just like walkers -- the towpath is a quiet safe and pollution-free place to get some exercise, which is generally held to be A Good Thing because it helps keep people healthy, and the UK population sure needs this given escalating ill health and obesity. Anything to done to discourage/block selfish cyclists would also discourage sensible ones. I'm sure some people on here will say "I don't care, I'm not a cyclist" -- but in the bigger picture, isn't that also being selfish? 😉

Worked pretty well for the beer last weekend when it was 30C, using a hose to keep the towels wet...

Agreed on all counts. Just pointing out that the biggest deterioration in the canals has been since 2010, and I'm sure I don't need to point out which particular bunch are to blame for that... 😉 If only we had another Barbara Castle as well as a strong and influential IWA... 😞

That may well be your entrenched opinion, but it doesn't seem to be that of most people working for CART that I've spoken to or read about... 😉 Though it might well be the view of the ignorant idiots in the current (last 13 years) government who hold the pursestrings... 😞

If the locks are busy (I don't know if they were or not...) then a boater insisting on single-handing through them slowly without assistance is holding other boats up, which some people might say is selfish -- a bit like dawdlers refusing to let other boats pass. Not saying this was the case for you -- you could be quite quick even on your own, or maybe there weren't any other boats -- but this is the kind of thing the volockies may be thinking. And in most cases it might well be justified -- and they can't see the invisible "Experienced solo boater, please leave me alone" badge you're wearing to know any different... 😉 Which is why they should ask first. But I expect many (most?) single-handers will be grateful for the help, especially in a flight of locks. So they should find out if you're one of these, or like @MtB 😉