Sea Dog

I had an abortive attempt earlier in the year when I couldn't change my mooring from where we'd been the year before last and even when I left the mooring as it was it still failed. Left it a month til the licence was due within a day of two and it worked seamlessly first time. Not everything goes perfectly first time but, to CRT's credit, they put it right pdq.

Well that's your security taken care of.... MI5 will be providing 24 hour surveillance now!

It might be useful just to round up some of the good advice you've already been given, because you're on your way for an anti freeze tester which is good, but you may be considering leaving the old coolant in there which may not be. If, as you say, you have a blue tinge to your coolant it should be changed every 2 years in order to preserve it's anti corrosion properties. It seems safe to assume that you don't know that it's been changed this year or last, so you'd be wise to do so if that's the case. If you're changing coolant that may be long overdue, you'd be wise to flush the system. If you're gonna flush the system, you may as well change to 5 year (commonly red) coolant.... if your engine is compatible. You can buy coolant concentrated or pre diluted. Mix concentrated with water at 5 litres to 5 litres for 50%, 5 litres to 10 of water for 33%, or 15 of water for 25%. Some (like me) prefer deionised water because it doesn't have any corrosive impurities, others use tap water. If you're unsure about mixing with water, pre diluted will be at 50% with deionised water. Frankly, if you buy somewhere like eurocarparts, where it's 9 quid for 5 litres of pre-diluted red and about 17 quid for concentrate, there's not much to be saved by buying concentrate and mixing it with deionised water, which can be surprisingly expensive all of a sudden. The concentration depends on both minimum expected temperatures and your engine manufacturer's recommendations for anti corrosion requirements. Check your manual (there may be one online) or ask someone with the same engine. 25% to 50% is commonly recommended, I use 33%. To drain your system you'll need plenty of plastic bottles. I save old 5 litre screen wash ones for this. Once you've drained into these bottles, you'll know your system capacity. The skin tank is usually a variable large unknown, which is why no-one can tell you what your capacity is. My own system is about 35 litres. This needs to be disposed of safely at your local recycling centre as anti freeze is poisonous. To empty your skin tank you can either remove the bottom hose,drain into the bilge and clean it all out again, which I wouldn't recommend, or buy a cheap syphon pump and such out through the top hose connection after you've drained the engine. The trick with refilling is to remove trapped air. If you have an engine heated hot water tank (calorifier) this makes air locks more likely, but is usually where the highest point of the system is and where the air can be bled from. Now, that hasn't explained exactly how to do the job since systems vary, but you should now have all the key points. If you get someone to do it for you, you'll probably be able to watch and learn so you can do it next time. If you're gonna read your manual or a guide, you may be better equipped to know what they're on about! Most of that you already know from earlier posts and you'll find more ideas and info using the search function, but I hope that pulling it together for you helps. Good luck!

What Dor said, only the other way round! Well, sort of - the pumped bit might be easier to leave alone and the new skin fitting might be easier to add right under the sink. Same difference though. Because it's below the waterline, the shower tray needs a pump. Because it's well above the waterline, the basin can be free draining through a skin fitting. There's no need for a pump on the basin outlet and you've already found why it's not clever to connect the two together! Edited to make more sense!

Not once you'd experienced how quickly a launderette tumble dryer gobbles up your shillings you wouldn't!

Well my leaning towards draining my Surecal calorifier went out of the window when I realised that the previous owner didn't for 5 winters. Now I open all the h&c taps and drain the shower mixer and let the highly insulated calorifier fend for itself. I was going to say perhaps I've just been lucky, but she's been through some harsh winters with temperatures about as low as we get so luck hasn't played a part really. Too much risk? I'm not sure.

If you cruise and have a good alternator and inverter package, most sensible electrically powered items are possible. If you intend to stay in one place without mains electricity, the more kit you want, the more power generation becomes a challenge ..... as will CRT!

Ah, you know the area then: lovely but distant! Part of what keeps it such a nice place to be is that distance, but the mileage disadvantage can certainly be too much to work around. The 3 hours to my Narrowboat is far enough and that comes with the advantage if being accommodation in the right direction for lots of other things we want to do. 5.5 hours would break the deal for me too, but even more so with a marine mooring. I have a friend up north moving a Grand Banks across to North Wales for similar reasons. That said, my sailing buddy down here sailed up to Oban and based his yacht there for 2 years to give the Western Isles a seeing to. Now that was a long commute! Anyway, good luck with your search.

I live in Plymouth Alan, and sail here too. I know it's a long way from anywhere by road, including to my own Narrowboat, but it's a great sailing venue in itself and not a bad base for more adventurous forays. As well as easily accessible interesting places to sail to even within the breakwater which are perfect for inexperienced or nervous friends and family excursions, there are some great overnight venues East such as Salcombe or Dartmouth, West there's Fowey and Falmouth, or if you have a few days the Scillies are amazing. Well, I'm sure you can read a chart so you'll know what else there is, so I've waxed lyrical in support of the West Country and I'll leave you to consider what's not far beyond! I grew up on the North Yorkshire coast and, lovely as it is, it wouldn't be my choice of sailing ground, but then I've seen what's on offer down here and it's 5 degrees warmer! She's a lovely boat though, and I'm sure she and you will manage perfectly well wherever you choose to base her. Good luck and fair winds.

Hehe, that'll do nicely Sir!

No need to arrange it for me - I managed perfectly well on my own!

That's interesting Nick (do we both have Beta 43s?). I've never seen 175a, though I have sometimes noted low 100s or so closer to initial start up if I charge to top up when not moving for a few days. I confess I usually see 80a or thereabouts when I look out of interest once underway, but I'll look a little more closely earlier on now. Edited to add that my batteries are 7 years old, so 440Ah is an historic nominal value!

Pah! Cold? Real men fall in in February!

Hmm. There are better ways to decide than to buy two boats, the first of which you know you don't really want, I'd offer. After all, if you fancied an Aston Martin, would you buy an old van for a bit and either modify it or sell it to fund what you really should have bought in the first place? Hiring makes good sense if you don't already have that experience. Otherwise, research properly, shop wisely and buy the best you can. All first boats are potentially first boats rather than last boats, and buying a good boat and later on replacing it with your ideal boat after a few years of enjoyment beats the hell out of buying and enduring a poorer boat you're definitely going to have to replace with something better - assuming it doesn't put you off for life!

I have a 175a alternator and typically see around 80a going into a similarly sized battery bank early in the charging cycle. It's a lot less than the alternator is rated at, as you're experiencing, but my similar battery bank happily receives twice the current yours gets. Make of all that what you will. However, if you're charging from 80% (and how accurate are SOC measurements?) you may already be in the zone where charging current is reducing significantly. I'd try discharging to 60% and see what your initial charging current is then.

Coming along nicely! Don't forget the lift up section in the flooring for your bilge cooled wine cellar ;}

If you do get down onto the Severn in January, I believe you'll also find Tardebigge closed until March without the usual mid-point weekend opening in February. I'm currently hoping the Severn will be passable to meet that Kidderminster window or that's my winter cruise rogered too.

Some truth in this. If looking after a bike is a challenge, boating is gonna cost you a helluva lot more than it ought!

At your budget, you have a wide choice. First, decide what type of boat you want. Narrowboat or widebeam? Assuming you want a Narrowboat (from your 57' idea, i.e. to achieve maximum cruising area), you now need to decide whether you like Trad, Semi-Trad or cruiser stern. I'd guess a Trad would suit you best since you don't need room for the family to be in attendance whilst you're steering - Trad sterns will accommodate you, another and a dog, but that's about it really. Then you need to look at layouts that you prefer - remember all boats are a compromise, so don't fixate too much, but know your likes and dislikes. There's a few recurring themes and them variations on them. Then portholes, Windows or a mix? Finally, when you have a good idea of what you're looking for, comes specification - preferences regarding: engine/gearboxes, alternature/inverter/charging systems, fresh and hot water, fridge and/or freezer, gas (or not) appliances, etc. Now go back and review your electric supply and generation outfit so they will support your extravagance and/or trim your power aspirations! Make sure the domestic battery bank also matches. All the while reviewing boats on the Web to match your ideas to reality and the market (I like ABNB's site for that). Go round a few times as your ideas change. Hire a boat in the meantime to gain a bit of experience of layout and boat handling. Only when your sure you won't impulse buy something you don't know enough about should you look at boats for sale. Working out what you want and looking for it is one of the best bits - enjoy it!

And if you lived in Birmingham, or Leicester, or whatever, would you still be asking? Even on the inland waterways you'll pass somewhere civilised enough to have a bike shop now and then! Now, if you're narrowboating up the Amazon, you might be in trouble if you can't fix your own bike. Then again, a bike might not be welcome in the rainforest - but you're also mistaken if you think it'll be universally welcomed on the towpath!

Interesting post Cuthound and to perhaps assist your diagnosis, I have a vertical calorifier and my Beta 43 doesn't have a header tank at all. No airlocking or other ill effects from the lack of a header tank. I check and top up my coolant at the pressure cap on top of the engine, which is a bit old fashioned these days I suppose but it is an agricultural system and it works so why complicate it I guess.

If boater A (perhaps representative of the majority of us) winterises his (or her) boat, ventilates it appropriately and has a decent multi stage battery charger, they'll get through a pretty harsh UK winter without problems. Lots of us can attest to that; I certainly can but my boat is rarely unused for more than maybe 6 weeks in the depths of winter and usually not that long. Nevertheless, many leave their boats like that for the whole season with no ill effects, right? Boater B who wants regular instant availability throws in some heating instead of winterising, and so pays extra for that convenience. That wouldn't be without risk in case of a power failure, so maybe we wouldn't do that outside of an end of garden mooring or where neighbours are watching out, but there's a case for it. So, boater C (a significant proportion of us) winterises and adds, say, a kilowatt of thermostatically controlled heating on top. What does boater B get for the extra investment that boater A doesn't have within an hour so of lighting the stove, running the heating, switching on the electric blanket, or whatever? I.E. A toasty boat with services available and all ready to go. Is it purely a peace of mind thing or are there tangible benefits? I ask because I, like many other "boater As" I suspect, have umm'd and ahh'd about adding heating every winter but never done so and I'm now umming and ahhing about whether to even bother umming and ahhing!

If it was OK before you did remedial work to correct normal wear and tear, it hasn't gone wrong now because a plummer block isn't fitted. On the other hand, if that wear and tear has occurred prematurely, the original installation may have been poorly done. You need to resolve that first. If the original installation was good, you've either done something wrong (alignment perhaps?), you've disturbed something, or you have not done all the work needed (engine mounts shot?).

Johnnie, you need to see what's in there so you can add more of the same, because red (5 year) and blue (2 year) antifreeze shouldn't be mixed. Despite earlier advice, I'd use deionised water (rather than tap water), which is also what pre-diluted coolant will contain. If you're using concentrate, you need to dilute to between 25% and 50% iaw your manufacturers instructions and the minimum temperature protection you're seeking g the higher concentration of AF will protect to lower temperatures. A cheap Halford or similar anti freeze tester will confirm what concentration you currently have in there.

I agree with posts above and I'd always wire for max rated output too... on everything else. However, from what I've read here it appears these things kick out the square root of bu@@er all and rated output figures seem like fantasy. So, it might be worth looking at what it might max out at in reality, adding a safety margin, and then fusing such that it's safe. It could be the exception that proves the rule if it takes the hurricane it won't be left out in to get the output anywhere near max rating. Now, perhaps that won't work out as viable once the maths is done, but it's a site more practical a proposition and worth exploring than trying a 2-3 quid Chinese connector of eBay and seeing how it goes.