MyLady

Funny what a change in location makes - to us the Macclesfield and Peak Forest seem part of 'the South' (ie south of the Pennines). Roger

Just what I'd have said, if I knew enough! The point is that if current is flowing (or has done so recently), the voltage shown on your controller has more to do with that current than with the SOC of the batteries - and it doesn't matter whether the current is in or out, that's still true. If current is flowing out of the batteries, the voltage measured is lower than the SOC would give and if the current is flowing in, the voltage will be more than the SOC would give. And even when the current is nil, the batteries need time to recover from any 'surface effects' to read accurately. The trouble is that time with no solar input and no load is inconvenient - wasting sunshine or being without the fridge etc. In time you'll get the experience to guess, reasonably reliably, what's going on even when you don't cover the panels, or switch EVERYTHING off. If that guess isn't accurate enough for you, then a SmartGuage will give you a much better estimate ... but it costs (but then new batteries cost even more if you knacker them). Our demands are very low (12V Lec fridge, water pumps when we turn taps, or the shower, on (or want to flush the loo), phone and laptop charging, plus a few LED lights and, through tunnels, our headlight - minimal mains devices, just a walkie-talkie charger). At this time of year, a simple guess is that our 330W - soon to be 495W - of solar will cope and last winter we did cope (but used the fore-deck instead of the fridge), cruising for a few hours most days, so a decent guess about what's happening 'today' is, we think, good enough for us. If you have a TV, washing machine, any power tools, etc. you'll be more vulnerable, so a SmartGuage would probably be worth its price; I'm thinking a DC clamp meter is probably worth buying so that I can measure, rather than making an informed guess, at demands - all meters cost something, even the cheapo ones off eBay, so if you don't yet have any, a SG (instead of another voltmeter and ammeter) looks cheaper than the raw cost. Of course, if you want to identify some problem, you may need them all. You pays your money and takes your choice... Ignorance is bliss until you really need to know! The people on here are great at telling you about things in theory, or in principle, but sometimes you actually have to measure things for yourself (or pay someone 20 quid an hour to measure them for you (and to travel to where your boat is) - if/when you can find someone - then 60-80 quid for meters, 160 quid for a SG, or even both, can sound cheap - especially if they tell you that you need to spend ~400 quid on new batteries if you got it wrong!) Roger

We were held up by closures for a long time last winter, it was supposed to be 2 periods closed with a week's window between them, but the first closure over-ran so we were held up for the whole lot. Didn't CaRT bottom the problems? We got down easily enough when the flight finally did re-open. Roger

Pots and kettles Matt - I've been waiting for a reply from you since the 25th of July... Roger

Just received our 3rd 165W Isofoton panel - ordered last Sunday night, delivered yesterday (Thursday): a four working day turn round. We had a small problem with the first order because I made a typo in entering my details - and the controller was delivered by a different courier to the panels, so it came at a different time, but otherwise my experiences have involved none of the problems that others have cited. My problems have been with getting the stuff fitted... Roger PS I happily paid by bank transfer. R

Do remember that if there is any input current the voltage shown is the charging voltage, NOT the voltage the batteries can produce. If you wait till there's no input current for a significant time - 10 to 30 minutes - that will show the true battery voltage (and ideally, the batteries should be under some load.) While the sun shines, our MPPT controller (Tracer 30A) shows anything from 13V to 14V, if the engine - and so, the alternator - is running, but after dark we only hope for 12.7V - and sometimes get as little as 12.3V. In the latter case, we know not to draw much current until the sun shines again, or we're cruising again, preferably both! Hope that helps. We don't have a SOC meter, but I think we're learning how to interpret volt-meter readings. Time, or truly expert opinion, will prove us right or wrong... Roger

He hasn't yet, but I wait in confidence for next Wednesday Roger

Update... We drove over to Swinton today and looked at a Boatman and talked to Eddie. It turns out that he does still do installations if he's not too busy - and this seems to have been a good time to ask, so he's coming to see Milady next Wednesday to give us a recommendation. Watch this space...

We suddenly found we had no drive to the prop - RCR sent out a chap who diagnosed this as a lack of oil in the gearbox. The guy was a subcontractor and fixed this with oil. No charge! At the time, we didn't even know how/where to check the gearbox oil, but now we do. We got cover via our insurance. If you're as ignorant as we were, RCR cover is invaluable: without it we'd still be stuck with no drive. The more you know the less valuable it will be. The same goes for AA or RAC cover for a car. We've benefited from that too, but no longer subscribe... How many problems can you fix yourself? The answer will tell you whether RCR cover is worthwhile! Roger

Sorry, I then read on and someone else had written much the same... Or 5 to ten times that if you include labour to fit it! Roger Edited to add the apology.

Great. John Rushton started with 3 hours of diagnostic tests the announced: "It's all working, but your surveyor was right that the wiring is messy. The main reason that the alternator is doing next to nothing is that there's next to nothing for it to do, the solar panels are kee[ping the batteries fully charged. The internal regulator is perhaps set too low, but I can remove it and take it to a mate of mine who is an alternator specialist; he has a full test bed and can give a definitive answer." I asked him to do that... Just over an hour later, he arrived back and reported: "we put it on the test bed and in 3 successive tests under load it gave 3 different voltages" (he told me what they were, but I've forgotten), "It seems to have an intermittent fault, probably temperature related, so I've got you a refurbished unit." By the end of the fifth hour, the new unit was refitted and gave a measured performance that made sense: at just above tick-over, it charged a bit; at 1000 rpm it charged more and at 1100 and up, it was charging lots! So, an entirely satisfactory outcome: we don't need a fancy external controller for the alternator, new batteries, a different drive pulley, or anything else other than the refurbished unit - and we can look forward to next winter with confidence! We're going to add an extra 165W panel to help with the short, Winter days, (Bimble's supply of these is limited so we thought we'd get a 3rd while stocks last) but that's just to add stronger belt-and-braces. I can certainly recommend him. Lancashire Marine Electrical Services John Rushton 18 Landless St Brierfield Lancashire BB9 5LA Phone 07767 375450 Email john@lancsmarine.co.uk Web http://www.lancsmarine.co.uk/contact-form Roger Edited to rationalise layout resulting from copy-n-paste

Here here! One particular knot worth learning is the Lighterman's (or Tugboat) Hitch AKA "back handed mooring hitch", see here, the advantages are that you don't need to use the end of the rope, so you don't have to thread that through anything when tying up, or unthread it when casting off, and you can cast off in stages, so you don't suddenly get carried away by current or tide. Depending on the diameter of your dolly, you need about a yard of line to tie the hitch. I learned this hitch via these forums only a couple of months ago, but now wouldn't, if at all possible, use anything else. Another couple of points: not only tie off the line on board, but use the dolly away from the bank, then any wazzock who wants to cast you adrift has to come aboard to do so (you may notice the boat rolling); and it also helps to use a mooring chain for the landward attachment - that means the wazzocks (who may often be drunk) have to lean over the water if they want to cut the rope, and with any luck, even if they have a stanley knife, or similar, in their pocket so they can, they may well fall into the water. Poetic justice! Another tip, fit a pram hood that covers your dollies, yes, that is also vulnerable to the wazzocks, if they carry a knife, but if they're drunk, deciding how to go about their vandalism may well be a challenge too far, if they can't see your knots! The advantages of chains ashore remain. That advice is based on hard experience. We've only been cast adrift once, but I was still up: when the wazzock came to the front, he saw the lights on, said, "Oh shit!" and vanished into the distance before I could put on enough clothes to be decent and emerge to rectify the position. I had to use the centre rope to pull Milady back into the bank, but he'd just untied the aft line, not cut it, so it was just work to re-moor her again... Roger

We must have been lucky (on the receiving end). Some kids obviously didn't know how to be polite, but a few minutes chat soon made it clear they were well intentioned. Some adults with little kids obviously knew nothing ("look at the pretty barge"), but were almost as thrilled as their kids when we invited them on board, either just for a look-see, or to ride through a lock according to where we were at the time - almost everyone said "thank you" when they left, or even better, pulled on a rope, pushed a balance arm or gave appropriate practical help. The ones that left a less welcome impression were those that just peered from a distance, but seemed to think it beneath them actually to speak or help. Roger

I'd endorse that: it's annoying when you empty one lock - and the water goes down the next bywash - then filling the next lock drains the pound so you're aground... Another tip is to take in your fenders; some of the lock chambers (and other lock exits) are narrower than boat + fenders - say 7 foot nothing - and when you're jammed, it can be very, very hard to get the boat free. We had too much on working the canal - and trying, unsuccessfully to save our paint - to appreciate the scenery. Roger

Sure, but pictures aren't 3-D. You must have noticed how misleading they are? Roger

Mooring chains - they not only allow mooring to armco/piling but also are worth 4 times their length in rope when mooring to rings/bollards that are just too far away to allow my usual fourfold mooring practice (boat to bank to boat to bank to boat) - and allow me to hammer in mooring pins for almost their full length (and make it much easier to pull said pins out when we cast off). Also mooring pins with a loop, so that if they pull loose they hang on the end of the line instead of just disappearing into Davy Jones' locker. Roger

Mind you, shore side parties can be even worse: at Saltaire someone was obviously having a party in the park, with the band in the open air! Luckily, they stopped playing before midnight - and I quite liked the reggae they were playing... Roger

Tight moorings definitely help (but not enough if there's a shallow ledge by the bank). And I'm a boater who's nosy - though I prefer 'curious' as a description - I want to know how others solve the problems of living on the boat. I wouldn't want to look through your bathroom porthole while you're using it, but I would like to see how you avoid our bathroom issues: a loo seat so high that it encourages constipation and a shower stall so small that I can't bend down to wash my legs & feet, or to rise my hair, without dripping on the floor outside the stall. Your cooking, heating and entertainment arrangements are also interesting - I may be able to improve Milady, or see what to l look for in my next boat (if that happens). I don't want to intrude - just interested in your solutions to problems we have in common. I agree with other posts about both kids and adults - they may be so ignorant as to call Milady a "barge", but they're interested and if we can stimulate that interest and increase their goodwill to boaters and canals, that tickles my fancy... Sometimes it's a nuisance, but it's far less annoying than gongoozlers who just stand and watch when another hand on a heavy lock gate, or swing bridge would be very useful (though we've had offers of help almost as often as not, so we take the rough with the smooth). Boating is fun, and we've learned to take our pleasure where we find it; there's much more good than bad! Roger

And ten million quid sounds a lot, but divide by 3000 miles of canal and by wind damage in spring autumn and winter - as well as summer growth - and that doesn't give much per yard of towpath per week. I entirely agree that present conditions are a pain, but it seems unfair to blame CaRT for not being able to cope with all the growth that has happened in a few weeks - I might just as well complain about the noise of mowers and strimmers. Life is a mixed experience of good things and bad and lots of both are not the fault of CaRT. Roger

Can anyone give a definitive answer to this? The answers I've got from various chandleries, etc. have ranged from "most people just use engine oil" to, "15-40", but the oil the latter sold me, was actually 15W-40 engine oil for petrol engines, according to the label. Back in the day when I did my own car maintenance, gearboxes used special 'Hypoid' oil, IIRC, but those gearboxes didn't fail to give drive if they didn't have enough oil (which my boat gearbox did, then regained drive when oil was added), they eventually seized up, if you didn't give them oil to drink! A term which came to mind was 'fluid flywheel', but that was in the context of a launch tow winch for gliders - again, IIRC - so may not be relevant. Can someone lighten my darkness and explain what I need and why? TIA, Roger PS The oil is invisible on the steel dip-stick; all I can, reliably, see is a drop on the end, rapidly fading to nothing as it approaches the level grooves. Adding more oil doesn't change that, no matter how rigorously I wipe the dip-stck. Is there a knack to reading the level? R Ed to correct what I typed to what I meant to type...

Funny that - I still have the pot I won rallying a Fiesta 1300GT... Edited to add: It's engraved "First class C"...

John (Lancs Marine) 'did' our boat today. After 3 hours diagnostic work, he told me that: a: the alternator was working, but b: it was doing nothing because there was nothing to do (batteries fully charged), but he could remove the alternator and take it to his mate (an alternator specialist) for a thorough bench test. I asked him to do that. The results of that were three tests, all showing charge current, but all showing different voltages. The ultimate diagnosis was a TED (Temporary Electrical Defect) probably temperature related, so he got a remanufactured alternator - and fitted that. The result was an alternator that made sense - and reliably charged from just above tick over instead of being 'trumped' by the solar panels. I'm now confident that running the engine - cruising - will give more charge than leaving the boat moored with 'just' the solar panels; that the battery bank is good; and that a few hours cruising per day (in winter, with little input from the solar panels) will still keep us with a full charge. Of course, that's still to be tested in practice next November through till March, but I feel happy that our current setup is likely to cope without new batteries, or any extra panels, or a higher power alternator. Mind you, we don't have any significant 230V load (no TV, washing machine, etc,) since we're not genuine live-aboards, going 'home' to stone-and-mortar almost half the time. I paid John slightly more than the cost of the replacement alternator (70 quid) plus his time (5 hours in total) @ 17.50 per hour, since I'm a firm believer in the Chinese definition of a good deal - one where both parties are happy with it. We parted on the best of terms: I'm happy and so is he. I unreservedly recommend Lancashire Marine Electric Services, subject only to experience of next Winter, john@lancsmarine.co.uk www.lancsmarine.co.uk 07767 375450 I think he did a good job, and didn'y try to sell me anything I didn't actually need. Roger

That's a filming schedule! A minute's usable footage from an hour's (in)activity is, for them, an effective use of time! Setting up camera(s), sound and, maybe lights - even with no special effects - can take vastly longer than the action. (My son is a cameraman and tells me many a tale...) Roger

Another is that it's on the end of a long pole, so fairly far from other combustible stuff. After all, the main application for small wind turbines is on rag and stick yachts, granted they usually have lots of water about, but if they were a significant fire risk, the insurance companies would effectively (by unaffordable premiums) outlaw them. On Sumitra, a Trident 24 sailing boat, the wind genny was the only way I could keep the nav lights alight all night. I think, typically, it was never switched off - and it never caught fire. Roger

Slaithwaite pronounced by the locals to rhyme with 'plough it': Slowit (NOT to rhyme with blow it!) - just as plough doesn' rhyme with rough, or through... And some people say Welsh or Gaelic is hard to pronounce! Roger