Detling

I assume you have checked that there is gas there is no valves turned off for the winter?

Best done on a cool day and make sure you can get to a shower when the deed is done.

If you have a metal hexagonal key it has a flat bar as the handle which happens to fit the slot of the fillers.

still cheap by London prices

"Tesla cites 92 percent round-trip DC efficiency with voltage between 350 and 450 volts and a 5 amp nominal output that peaks at 8.5 amps." That's good conversion efficiency but 400v DC is highly lethal, I doubt if you will get a second chance to test it with your fingers, at least with AC mains it allows you to let go 100 times a second before you are fried.

also remember When your batteries are over 85% (smartguage) your big alternator is probably supplying less that 20 A. Mine is into 550 my Amphour bank

Check the measurements, older panels are a lot bigger than new panels. My friend has 3 x 100 watts that are physically bigger than my 2 x 240 watts so I get a lot more from the same roof area. may not be a problem if you have a widebeam.

The idea of charging CC license at a higher rate has some merit alternatively giving a discount if you can show a receipt for mooring/marina. But to allow for London mooring rates the difference would need to be in the region of £9000 for a 50 foot boat. Most people react better to the carrot than the stick, Until the risk and costs of being caught overstaying are more than behaving and moving as required or paying for a mooring then people will overstay, When I was working in central London you had to balance the huge car park charges (£15 per day) against the then £30 penalty charge. If you were only ticketed one day in three it was cheaper not to pay. One guy I knew never paid for parking and parked in obscure spots, got a ticket maybe one day in ten, but did get towed away once or twice, he still said it was cheaper that buying a parking ticket every day. So unless the penalty is great enough, and the certainty of being caught is high enough, this problem will continue.

Was nearly like that when I passed last year, we had booked a trip to the theatre and need to be in the centre of Manchester, fortunately someone allows us to breast up for the night as there are no other mooring places nearby. We did look over the otherside as well it was also full of semi permanent moorers and we got there at midday in order to find a slot. As mentioned earlier some boaters go somewhere to spend money in the local area and if they cannot moor then that area loses out. Eventually the local business/pubs will either kick up a stink and get something done or they will close down thus destroying why people want to moor there. No problem if everyone moves as expected after their permitted time as there would always be someone due to move today or tommorrow, thus vacating a space for the next transient visitor to come and spend some money. .

And when it rains it transforms into super glue mud.

A Decent Blacking job takes at least 4 days to complete so if you have it done on a survey booking you may find you only get one coat straight onto the old and not much drying time. The result it needs redoing in 6 months.

To repaint use thinned paint so it soaks in and apply sparingly, I use the little rollers for behind radiators and roll hard. Generally you should not need to resand except where the old is chipped, and that is done first, as above using a small brush to paint the base onto the chipped area before covering with sand. Use masking tape at the edge to get a straight line.

Castle marina's have 5 on the inland waterways Wigrams turn G.U. ,Ventnor Farm, G.U. Castle marina Nottingham Trent Kings Bromley T&M Buckden Marina Great Ouse East Anglia

Both really need an MPPT controller, especially if using more than 1 panel as even on the 120W panel you are potentially chucking 3 volts at 7 amps ie. 21 watts away.

This may help http://www.boatsafetyscheme.org/media/194782/2013ecp_private%20_boats_ed3_public_final.pdf edit as link is there

The reason London population has only just past 1939 levels is that everyone moved to the suburbs and commuted. Now there are more continuous cruisers and other people living in sheds etc. that has put up the population. More of London is now office blocks than ever, before meaning less residential property Remember London is actually very small but greater London is huge.

if it is like mine voltmeter is on the engine battery and not on the domestic

Yes totally agree, the Smartgauge was designed and developed for alternator/generator charging so it's 100% is probably nearer 95% current maximum capacity as it is not worth burning diesel for 4-5 hours to do that last little bit. Solar has come along since it was developed and is a different animal that changes the game. Use the engine/genny in the morning to do the majority of your daily recharge, and let the sun do the last bit for free.

Today I heard the sound of surf breaking on a beach inside my boat. eventually I found the source, it was the fridge which was running normally earlier. It was still working as a fridge i.e. cold inside but the compressor sounder like breaking waves. I thought 'oh well' it will stop when the fridge switches off, but it didn't. After about an hour I turned the fridge off and back on, the noise stopped and the fridge has returned back to normal, a slight purr for a few minutes twice an hour. The fridge is 240 volt under the counter type 'proline' i.e. comet sold it. Any idea what the cause is/was as I have not got a clue, but if it happens again and I don't notice, then it will flatten the batteries running continuously.

I think this could give problems with your BSS but I am sure others on here know the answer and will come along to tell you.

I also prefer the Shroppie to the T&M as the locks are easier and the scenery better. The T&M also has Stoke which has very few mooring opportunities with 3-4 hour days as you really need to get through it. You have the same of course in areas of Manchester, and I suspect any city. Also the Shroppie avoids the eastern part of the Staffs and Worcester en route to Stourport to get onto the Severn, If you like locks and cities you can go up the Wolverhampton 21 across Birmingham and down the Tardebigge flight to Worcester.

You will need a subfloor anyway under the wood floor, as this has to be able to move slightly with moisture content and can get small gaps when dry. So I also suspect clean and level what is there is easiest, although the new floor would hide the bottom of the lining when laid on the new subfloor.

I used Chris Smith -( he's based at crick 01733 576946) which I found on the forum, excellent work came to us and made to measure and fitted, Very reasonable price. The biggest problem is Crick has a rubbish phone signal but texts worked fine but calling him was a problem.

The costs are horrifying £5000 is really the base line, since once you own a boat you are always tinkering and 'improving' i.e adding solar panels, changing the mattress or fitting VHF radio etc. The nice bit is you get to have what you want. If you cannot spend several weeks a year on the boat it probably is cheaper to hire or own a share in a boat. Shared boats can be the usual 12 owners 4 weeks each, or as my friend just 2 owners and in theory 26 weeks, but his partner lives abroad and comes twice a year for 2-4 weeks at a time. Like life it is a compromise, we bought when we retired and hired before, remember hiring allows you to go somewhere different in the two weeks.

Thats what slippers are for. We have Oak (real not pretend) and have not had a problem, except once for the first 12 hours aboard in January when we came aboard the thermometer read -5.1 degrees! and everything was cold it took 2 days for the plates in the cupboard to feel above freezing.