larryjc

Just a quicky - we have a porta potti on our new boat and used if for a couple of days - it worked fine and I was pleasantly surprised when I emptied that it didn't pong. It had the blue stuff in the flush tank. However when I went on line to see about some more of the stuff I found that Thetford want to sell me some green stuff for the flush tank and blue for the bottom bit. I'm sort of confused as the stuff in the top ends up in the bottom! What do peeps use? It seems to me that the blue stuff the chandlers sell is all I really need.

I must agree and have yet to try it - in fact I hope never to do so!

I'm guessing but expect other would know but I would think about ten metres in the bigger rivers. As to chain to anchor weight that's not really the issue. Most anchors are rated against size of vessel, but generally that's for yachts. So an 18kg Delta is good for boats up to 55 feet for example. You would have to ask the manufacturers what variance might be applicable to narrow boats. As for chain - heavier chain is safer both because of its weight and its going to be stronger. I don't think there is much guidance about how much chain you use depending on the weight of it. Most people use 8 or 10mm. Personally on my boat I am going to use rope. As this thread has already discussed its sensible to have the anchor at the upstream end of the boat and lugging large quantities of chain from one end of the boat to the other doesn't seem a good idea.

Never anchored a canal boat but done it over 300 times in a yacht and never dragged. Scope is generally a minimum of 3 times the depth if using chain and 5 times if using rope. That might be enough to stop you in an emergency but it is a minimum and if you have more - use it. What you are trying to do is keep the anchor lying flat or with shank pulled up at an angle of less that 15 degrees as beyond that it will pull out. So the more and heavier line you have out the more the line will tend to pull along the riverbed rather than upwards to the boat. Anchor chain is doing nothing if still on the boat. As for lowering it by hand and waiting of it to bite - seems a recipe for being pulled over the side or getting your fingers or feet trapped! Assuming its an emergency I would chuck all I had over the side having made damn sure it was tied on securely first. If you have some nylon that will stretch a bit and act as a shock absorber if the bite is a sharp one. When you recover it, motor towards the anchor and pull in the slack by hand. Lugging twenty tons of steel forward against a current is not going to be easy. When it is starting to become vertical it may well pull out (15 degrees). If not then tie it off an tug it free with the motor.

Er yes but what if the wind is blowing it off or there is some current effecting it on a river?

Funny I always use a midships line for this in a yacht. It acts as a forespring and then with the helm as you describe the prop thrust pushed the stern in and keeps the boat temporarily secure. However, as I am new to world of the canals I have been wondering as well. Using the middle line when there is a bollard or suchlike handy sounds pretty similar to what I do on the salty stuff but what if its just a bit of soggy bank that you want to moor up to for the night? Jumping off the boat with the string in your hand and no where to tie it to seems a potential recipe for seeing the boat drift off/getting pulled into the water trying to stop it. Is there a technique for banging in a bank stick one handed? Or do you aim for somewhere with a tree?

Well as an ex yottie who had always decried bow thrusters as a waste of time and only used by incompetent show offs, I am now going to have a large helping of the pie wot is humble. Went to the new boat last week and had to do an epic forty five minute trip from Venetian to Aqueduct marinas. It was windy. The boat comes with a hydraulic BT. It got me out of the marina without hitting anything and when the wind blew me onto the end of a finger as I came into Aqueduct it allowed me to pivot the bow and come quickly alongside. I am now a convert.

Ta - I'll give them a bell tomorrow.

Sorry about a tad of thread drift but the boat I have just bought has a Power Master Systems 1500w charger/inverter/solar controller. Its six years old and seems to work very well. However I can't find anything about them on the web. The UK distributor has their domain name for sale and apparently they come from the Far East somewhere. I did find one new replacement on e-bay in the US as old stock. Anyone have experience of these? My suspicion is that with a lot of use over 6 years I shouldn't be too surprised if it goes pop sometime.

Ho hum - thought someone would say that. No magic fix then just lots of elbow grease!!

Hi, My boat has a very nice wood lining inside - a light wood with what looks like a satin varnish. Unfortunately some time in the past some water has leaked in a couple of places and left white streaks. Anyone know of a way of removing it without having to strip back the whole area - someone mentioned a wood bleach but I've never come across that before.

Ice for the Rum and Coke!!!

Sort of learning that - years of lving on boats and having to cope with reality have made me drift away from the classroom. However I manged to keep my TV and fridge working somehow!!

Alright - I give up. I accept that I am using the termsI was using are incorrect - guess I was trying to relate what really happened to me on my last boat. My fridge took more out of the batteries than the solar panels put back in in any given day. the net effect was that without some other form of charging the batteries would slowly go flat. Thats all.

Er - could you read my reply again - I stated those current totals against a twenty four hour time period to give an understanding of the net effect of the fridge and panels over a day. AH is a consumption rate in any given hour. You can add that up for any given time period to see how many Amps have been consumed and at a constant voltage this equates to the power consumed and hence how many amps need to go back into the battery. My fridge took on average 2.5 Amps per Hour or used a total of 60 amps in one day and the panels put about 50 amps back in the same time period. Yes it was hot and a fridge in the UK probably won't use that much but there again the OP only as 100w of panels and won't get anything like that out of them in a british climate.

Not a question that has a black and white answer. Firstly if you have 5 110Ah batteries - you don't have 550 Ah of capacity! The older they get the more capacity they lose, it is alos dependent on temperature. Also you really don't want to run them much below 60% regularly, even 75% if you can, which means you really only have about 25% of your capacity to play with. Your fridge will probably take about 60 amps out of them in a day and the tele and lights another chunk, the solar panels will put little back. In the Caribean sunshine my 160w of panels might give me 9 amps for a few hours around noon. I used to reckon on no more than 40-50 amps in any one 24 hour period. Inverters are fairly innefficient and your tele should use less power if fed directly but I'm not an expert - the best way to tell would be to try both and use an ammeter/battery monitor to see what the current draw is for each option I have just bought a boat too and that has 5 batteries and Iintend to keep them. Between 400-600 AH of capacity is pretty good for long term useage. I used to live on a yacht and the state of the batteries becomes very important. You don't say if you are going to live aboard for any length of time but my recommendation would be to keep them all - why not - at worst they will need is topping up if they are open lead acid types.

Got it - thanks.

Thanks - Just out of interest - why is that? There can't be that much difference between a car body and narrow boat hull. Er and if the hull is not earthed - why worry about 'sparking spanners' if you undo the positive first???

Right time for an even bigger thicko question. For many years I tinkered with cars as a hobby and even completely rewired one after writing it off racing it. I then went and lived on a plastic yacht and soon realised that Fibre Glass does not conduct and so everything had to have an earth wire run back to a central earth bank. Er what about canal boats - do they use the hull as a common earth or do I need to run additional earths especially to remote devices?

Ooh - does that mean we are going to actually have a Summer this year????

Thanks for the useful advice but don't tell SWMBO that there's no fashion etiquette on the canals. I've half convinced her that she needs to wear Laura Ashley print dresses and wellies at all times.

Paid for our new boat yesterday. The survey was really good - just a little minor work. We will be going up to her next week to start settling in. This forum has been incredibly useful in many ways and even though SWMBO and I have lived afloat before I've learnt a gret deal, so many thanks. BUT now for the big question. When I go sailing I invariably wear a basedball cap - specifically designed to blow over the side of course but I like them. However, it seems to me that that sort of headgear is not quite the right style for the more genteel waterways of England. I'm sort of hankering after an 'Indiana Jones' style but will that be in keeping? What do others wear? I would hate to make a social gaff before even doing my first lock!

Dunno - just want to go on the wild side, be a rebel, ride the winds (depending on how many sprouts of course) - or too goddam lazy!

I had one for my last boat - but that had SSB and fixed VHF. I might just accidentally forget to do it for a hand held.

Thanks guys - they do seem excellent value and I like a challenge!