Happy Bachelor

I hired a car from Hertz in the summer no problem with a dog. I asked if I had to clean it before returning it and they said no. £14 per day for a small car.

Same happened to my stove a piece of stick Jammed between the front bars and the glass. Yep tempered glass cracks.

Well folks looks like I will be heading north sorry ? it looks fantastic and even better if it's quite! Starting from Stone and going up the tidal Trent. I may even detour to Lincoln and York before heading across the L&L and eventually back to Stone for the winter. Thank you all for you advise and encouraging comments.

Thanks Folks sounds like some common sense and hard work will get me through.

Just been told by a guy moored next to me that I won't be able to do the L&L single handed as there are to many difficult swing bridges. I would be grateful for advice from anyone who has done the L&L single handed and how difficult it is, or not as the case maybe?

Thank you will do

Not in Tamworth

Any fuel boats on the Coventry passing through Tamworth in the next few days?

Agree all above. I have 470 watts of solar 3x110 amp batteries and this time of year run the Lump for at least an hour a day and generator for two hours to charge the batts. My daily energy consumption with the fridge is about 80 amps. Don't forget depending on how old your batteries are they do lose their capacity. last month the solar produced about 10kw this month I doubt I will get 2kw out of them as there has been very little sun.

I had one of these fitted in my vw type 25 camper I can't say it ever produced much heat tbh. And that was in a very small space compared to a NB.

Thanks Tony that sounds very logical and makes complete sense.

Well whatever it was changing the type of fuse worked so I am happy

For anyone who experiences similar problems I finally tracked the problem down to the inline fuse that was causing a short between controller and batteries. Since changing it the solar is working perfectly. So far today half a kilowatt. Well happy.

All of the above and in winter lots of lovely stews casseroles etc cooked on top of the fire. I also bake bread every other day by hand not a bread maker! No need for a floating bar always got many pints of home brew and wine! Good luck with your research.

Thanks guys great answers, the controller is being swaped under warranty as it is faulty. Just to be on the safe side I have put a label next to the fuse to remind me to disconnect the panels before powering the controller. That is how I set the system up just don't want to forget in the future.

I did disconnect the batteries and then pulled out the minus side of the solar to the controller then re powered the controller and re connected the minus solar but it still spiked and shut down. Do I need to disconnect the plus side of the solar also? Thank you Matty

Tracer ban series Sorry should say bn series

Sorry yes I should explain better the output is around 60 volts from the panels to the controller and normally 14.2 at the battery. The spike is the battery side as read both at the controller and using a volt meter. The batteries steady state is 12.6 volts. Connection is two panels in series + to - then + to + at controller - to - at controller. There is an in line 40amp fuse that tripped but the controller had already set to a 12 volt system. Also it works fine in low sun but with clearly lower amps.

I have two 235 watt solar panels connected in series going to a 40amp controller. Today the sun was great but the controller kept spiking at 29 volts and closing it's self down the re booting. This continued throughout the sunniest part of the day. Can I assume there is a fault with the controller!

Oh the first night fantasia, the warm feeling of home. I remember my first night sleeping amongst the far to many boxes I bought with me wondering where will I put it all. Most of it has now been re distributed. This morning like every morning is a joy to wake up to a light mist over the canal the sound of dew dripping from the trees, a crackle from the stove bird song in every direction. Bacon butty and a pot of tea dog snoring on my lap. Life is good happy days enjoy the experience and embrace your new home welcome to the slightly crazy community of boaters.

Brilliant thank you, I did have to have a little chuckle at the lady who only had power for an hour a day. Only because that would have been me lol.

Hi my new solar set up has just arrived yeah! The bit that is confusing me is the load wiring I understand the solar panel and battery input wires but not the load? I assumed the load was as is now from the 12 volt batteries. Do I now need to connect the mppt controller to the + and - side of the circuit breaker input panel? Sorry not good at explaining hope that makes some sense. G

Thanks guys yes it's just general checking I had new fitted last year and they are generally tight. Engine alignment is good as had a new stern tube fitted at the same time just being cautious. I have a centraflex after the gear box and the vibration from the engine is very low. Gary

When tightening the studs on the engine mountings for general maintenance should the top nuts be tightened down or the bottom nuts tightened up? The top nuts are nylock :-)

I found height temperature silicon to work very well first pack the collar with fire rope then seal with silicon leave to set for at least 48 hours then a gentle first fire. Had no problems with it for the last two years. I had previously used for cement that cracked and didn't give a gas tight seal. Of course that is only my experience.