Nick Hudis

Thank you everyone, advice much appreciated. Date of departure not yet certain, but whenever we do get away, watching out for another boat on the same mission sounds a good plan.

'Out the Blue', 50' narrowbeam, is intending to go down the Caen Hill flight at Devizes Saturday morning 19 October. We're newish to canal boating, but we've been told that this project will be much easier with two boats together, possibly warped together. Is anyone out there also intending to travel that way that morning? We will have a crew of 3 and perhaps a shore-based friend as well to work the locks. Thanks, Kate & Nick

Well the boat is at Pillings Lock Marina and I'm in Newcastle taking ownership 21 September so I don't have the opportunity to do a power audit yet, but I've got a chap recommended by the marina to take a look and give an opinion and I'll report back. Thanks for all the replies. We are going to stick with the 240v fridge as she'll be spending much of her time on a shore line, but I want to make sure we are properly set up for the long trip to Saltford and for future cruising.

I wonder whether someone would be able to help me assess whether I need more batteries. My recently acquired boat, Out The Blue has a fairly standard 12v/240v set up with two domestic batteries, charger, shoreline and inverter. The main use of the 240v will be a small fridge freezer and charging phones. She will be spending much of her time as a live aboard at a marina with a hook up, but we will be cruising from Loughborough to Bath during October and relying on battery power while moored during evenings. My question is this: With the 12v supplying the usual domestic services of light and water/central heating pumps and supplying 240v to the fridge through the inverter, are two batteries going to have enough juice for a long October night, or would I be advised to get extra batteries installed? I notice that some boats seem to have ranks or three, four or even five batteries. Thanks Nick

Hello everyone, this is my first post. We are new to the inland waterways having gained most of our experience afloat under sail in coastal waters and the Broads. In mid October we will be taking our new canal boat from Newbury to her home at Saltford Marina. This of course will involve Caen Hill flight which is a lot more locks than we have yet navigated. I am looking forward to this with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. I am wondering if anyone has any advice about how to do Caen Hill. Questions forming in my mind are: How much time to estimate ? Do you have to book a passage in advance? Can several boats use the flight at the same time or do you queue and take it in turns up and down like at shorter lock flights and single locks? Can two boats pass along the flight in opposite directions? Any particular cautions or hints? Sorry if these are nonsensical questions. If you don't ask you don't learn. Nick