jmacg

We had to replace both the 'conventional' alternator belt and the v-belt driving the 230v alternator earlier this year after one shredded itself as we cruised along. "Europarts" (in Nottingham where our incident happened, but they have branches all over) were informative and helpful when we turned up with our mangled items. (We then bought 2 of each, so now we have spares - as we always should have done in the first place.) RCR who came out to the breakdown had almost literally hundreds of different lengths, shapes and profiles of belts on their van, so maybe it's now not altogether straightforward. The replacement 230v alternator V-belt for the Travelpack on our Beta engine is the same spec as a belt off some VW car engine or other. Europarts are good!

I bought my partner a new cheap(ish) folding bike for a significant birthday (and that £170 is way above our usual spend for presents!). Tasks such as doing the Wolverhampton 21, Audlem, etc were transformed. Lockwheeling in a long flight has become much less of a chore (we're now in our 60s...). But even when folded that bike takes up rather a lot of space under the cratch, and it's rather awkward (and heavy) to lug on and off the boat. So, as we now commission our next boat (which won't have a cratch) we will probably put my mountain bike and the steel folder on ebay or take them to a car-boot sale, and, now that we're converts to the possibilities of folding bikes we'll buy a couple of the more expensive, properly engineered specialised folders. So, why not look around for a second-hand 'basic' bike and see whether or not it suits your needs, before spending significant sums on the specialist models? But you'll probably find that you wonder how you managed without a bike.

What a circuitous route to look at a boat... Not knowing what Beacon Boats produced whern they were in business, and with no desire to read yet more boating blogs (sorry, but they're usually so boring - a bit like those unlamented Christmas card round robins - which I still send because I'm old-tech), I am nonetheless on the lookout for our next boat. So I did have a look. And yes, it does seem to be a very nice example of that sort of thing. (It's a bit like our present boat, so it's actually not what I'm after for my next boat.) It would have been so much easier just to say something like "immaculate-looking and well-specc-ed 58' semi-trad for sale" - and I wouldn't have need to look (because for boat number 6 I'm after a narrow-beam version of a 'Dutch' barge).

Sorry, Starcoaster, but I'm not certain about the makes of the stoves we have had in the boat. I know they've both been mainstream models (but not Squirrel or Epping). I think Excel needs a good draught to burn cleanly and properly; when in tick-over mode some of the products of combustion may not be as efficiently dispersed? TBH I'm not certain Excel is even intended for fully enclosed stoves such as those fitted to boats - though it's almost ubiquitous, so lots of folk must use it. When we're out on the cut in really cold weather we still use it, and keep Taybrite for the times when we're off the boat during the day.

Excel is great for the amount of heat it can throw out when the various fire vents are open, but if you are in the habit of leaving the stove 'ticking over' during the day (whilst out at work, say) there can eventually be a troublesome build-up of hard, tarry substances in the flue, which over the weeks reduce the air-flow and if not removed could be problematic. Taybrite seems to be full of (concrete?) dust and creates huge amounts of ash, but overall seems to be a more versatile alternative, though ultimate heat output is much less.

Names are a thorny issue. As a vicar I am frequently asked to baptise babies with the most extraordinary, invented names. In some Afro-Caribbean communities it is indeed expected that the child's name will be completely new (hence the occasional inclusion of apostrophes etc). When we bought our first 2nd hand boat we couldn't imagine what "S'mee II" was supposed to mean, so she became "Bishop Barbara" (in honour of the first black woman bishop in the Episcopal Church). I then spent a few years being asked "Are you Tegg?" when we bought "Tegg's Nose" (actually a hill near Macclesfield). "Indian Princess" had never actually been launched when we bought her, so she became "Symi" - the Greek island we could no longer afford to visit because we had bought another boat. "Electron" and "Paragon" have retained their original names - Electron because she had been on the Small Ships Register and it seemed a good, strong name for a boat; and Paragon only results in me being asked "...of virtue?" which in my case I doubt is true... I think boats deserve 'big' names, rather than personal, domestic monikers, especially if you reckon you might need to sell the vessel in the future.

We were (are?) intending to cruise to Manchester (from Anderton) for the Bank Holiday weekend (and don't have time to go the (very) long way round...). Pie Eater - I see you intend to go to Salford Quays; I assume mooring there would require the usual expensive preliminaries from Peel Holdings (ie certificate of seaworthiness, etc) plus some short-term mooring arrangement?

Several folk on our marina run their diesel heaters on paraffin and have far fewer problems than they did when using red diesel. Our solution has been to add a whole bottle of diesel "cetane booster" from Halfords every time we fill up the tank. It's probably an expensive habit, but the lowering of blood pressure when the thing actually fires uip each time is worth it!

Ah! Now I understand... I had thought the convoy was going the other way, to arrive directly in Manchester via Salford Quays... which certainly would have been an adventure, and almost worthy of faking the necessity to be in Manchester! But turning left out of Marsh Lock would still have been fun nonetheless. We did it years ago in both directions as a club cruise from NBCYC before the Anderton Lift had been restored. All the narrowboats had to be breasted up according to Peel Holdings rules, but we were in 23' of Wilderness Beaver powered by 10hp Honda outboard, so there was no-one to breast up with us. (We got our Certificate of Seaworthiness without any trouble!)

Well, this is all very interesting!. FYI I drive a (BMW) Mini Cooper S (replacing a Saab T16S), sold my BMW ST800 earlier this year (which replaced a GS1150, replacing a 'Blade, replacing a...). I'm getting the impression that Victron inverter/chargers are better than Sterlings, but not as good as Mastervolts, and that a new Studer would be nice but even more expensive. We're not going to go down the route of fitting separate charger/inverter units as we like using cupboards for storage rather than for functional equipment. (For the same reason an engine room with a Gardner might be my romantic choice, but an under-step Beta 1505 is the functional reality.) It's looking like a Victron... Thanks, everyone. More comments welcome for the next 24 hours or so, before we have to do something! (thankfully) Sandra is on the job and waiting for us to choose what to do.

Sorry to post a query which 'old hands' on here I suspect will have addressed frequently before, but... The inverter/charger on our boat has died suddenly, a fault apparently caused by a dry weld(?) failing on the circuit board, causing an internal fire and the rendering of the machine unusable. The device was a Studer, made in Switzerland, I think. It's very compact, and as far as we can tell worked well. The boat, which we bought 2nd hand 3 years ago, was made in 2002/03, so the Studer has lasted c10 years. We've also recently replaced the 3 'leisure batteries' (deep, 130aH versions) and the engine starter battery, which are linked with the inverter/charger. The boat is mainly used residentially on a marina mooring with 240v, which also links seamlessly into the electrical system. But we do also cruise extensively, and a Travelpack (also fully integrated into the system) is used both to power larger devices (vacuum cleaner etc) when we're cruising and to deep-charge the batteries. With what should we replace the Studer? New ones are available, though they're rather expensive and only available, I think, from one source. Some popular wisdom suggests Mastervolt are the best (though this from folk who've never heard of Studer), and that Sterling or Victron might be cheaper alternatives. I realise that no-one should lay themselves open to litigious comment, but what do folk on here recommend? (In about 5-6 years time we'll both be retired from work and will then spend less time moored up with 240v on tap, so the inverter/charger will become a more significant element in helping us organise our "electrical life"!)