cuthound

I wonder if he made narrowboats for the Vikings as well... 🤣

Yes he's definitely talking b@ll@x. My first experience of the canals was in 1973. We hired a camping boat from UCC at Braunston and took a canoe along. We had to buy a licence for the canoe, so licences have been in place for at least 49 years.

I had my leather furniture reupholstered and recovered for this very reason. Cost about the same as new furniture from one of the big furniture warehouses, but hopefully should outlast me.

Indeed, @RichM could undertake a trial at the bar of his local pub to see if he gets on with the standing position for several hours before making a commitment. 🤣🍻

That is why I qualified my post in my first sentence to make it clear I was referring to lead acid batteries.

Or just add a tin of Andrews Liver Salts (can you still get them?) everyone and then. 🤣

Debatable with charging losses to lead acid batteries and voltage conversions. LifePo batteries have a much higher charging efficiency. The main benefit is near silent cruising. The main dis-benefit is having to replace the batteries every few years (or more frequently if the owner doesn't look after them properly, which may well cost more than the fiel saved by not having a diesel propulsion engine.

Possibly, also around that time the average boat length began to increase from 35-45 foot to 50-60 foot which may also have played a part.

Yes, the numbers have increased year on year but none have overstayed. Occasionally I get asked to keep an eye on one for the owner, which I am happy to do unless I want to go boating myself.

My last last but one post on this old thread of mine shows what a correctly running Old Dutch should look like at various regulator settings. Note that because of the short chimneys used on narrowboats, you cannot get it to run with a predominately blue flame at the higher regulator settings, due to not enough draught to pull in enough air.

Surely with the vast increase in liveaboards it is 'all about staying there for 14 days" rather than "getting there"... 🤣

I first recall seeing one on a boat I hired in 1988. Before thatif the boat I was hiring had raised hand rails (not integral handrails), I used the boathook hooked around the raised handrail to hold the boat whilst waiting at locks etc.

For the OP's clarification muddy brown or a blackish electrolyte colour is indicative of plate shedding but chocolate brown positive plates are a sign of a charged battery. Also the 2% or less tail current is only a reliable indicator of fully charged at absorption, bulk or equalisation voltages (14.6 volts or higher for a 12 volt battery). His 1% tail current at float voltage is not a good indicator of a fully charged battery.

Get your builder to use epoxy blacking inside the tube and weedhatch. If the steel is prepared properly it should last many years (my BT tube epoxy blacking showed no signs of wear after 12 years) as it won't be subject to knocks, only wear from the BT propellor.