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No, they are still doing works on them. I had to take the wide ones too. Hard work, but not that much compared with some in the south Stratford But blimey, the top lock took forever to fill up. Without counting the locks to enter or exit the Severn: From the Severn level in Tewkesbury to Worcester was 4 hours. Worcester to Stourport was 3.5 hours. Nonetheless, the river was in green and quite still. I guess I could have done it in a day, but I just like Worcester too much and thought it would be a shame not to stop for the day. Having previously done the Severn from Tewkesbury to Worcester in the rain, which was very miserable, I found it most enjoyable this time around. And the upper bit is fantastic and very bucolic at places. Not to be missed. Loved the rivers. Bit of a shock to go back to the canals. Nevertheless the S&W is quite a pretty one. Staying at Kinver for the night. Cheers

Great advice, thank you. I have indeed just stopped for the day in Evesham Waterside Gardens. Lovely cruise down the river. Where is everybody? Only saw six boats going up. One of them commented they had only seen one boat going down in front of me... Tweaksbury tomorrow. Lock opens 9 till 5, and I will do as you suggest, try to moor after the lock (Im always up pretty early in the morning) Then Worcester on the third day (plenty of time to get there). And into the S&W on the fourth. I don't know about "powerful boat". I did 5mph down the river today in some stretches and the engine sounded confortable, cool and happy. Didn't have the need to go fast, but might try in the Severn, for a bit, to see how it behaves. I took this whole week off at work to enjoy the cruising. Now I shall catch up with all the good old posts and get a list of nice places and pubs in the S&W and the Stourbridge. Cheers

Yes, those are the moorings by the fisherman's car park. There's a nice walk by the river that takes you there. I have seen the place, I just didn't know they were public moorings. Not for this time, but shall try next time I'm in Stratford. I'm reading through old posts, but life got on the way and progress has been slow. I came across yours a couple of days ago. Lots of information! Will read again and start taking notes. Cheers

Thanks, yes, I was aware of the time restrictions and fees in the Stratford Avon. Called ANT and all is in order. Fantastic, I didn't know about those ones. I keep coming to Stratford every couple of years. I just love it here. I will try those next time I'm around. I'm very much looking forward to starting my trip down the river!

Thanks David, That was my original plan: Come to Stratford. Spend a couple of leisurely weeks moored in the river while working. And wander upstream for a bit, before making my way back to the marina the way I came (Stratford Canal). But once I got here, I got this urge to go down the river 🙂 I will save a link to your post for next time I visit Stratford.

Thanks Rob. Diglis Lock seems to close at 6pm. I will call and check. But judging by the comments here so far, it looks like I might be pushing it too much, and no giving myself much room for eventualities, etc. I will go for the more leisurable four days. Two days in the Avon and two days in the Severn. Maybe Evesham, Tewksbury, Worcester and into the S&W Canal on the 4th day. BTW, I already paid for a two weeks license, I'm in the river already. I'm not in a hurry, but I enjoy long cruising days in the boat 🙂

Thank you all for your replies. The Stourbridge it is! 🙂 That takes me into Netherton tunnel to join the Birmingham Main Line. And then down the Stratford to join the Grand Union at Kingswood Junction and make my way back to Braunston. So the route is there. Now I will have to do some research to get the timings right and find some nice places to stop for the week. Regarding timings... A few years back I did Stratford to Wyre lock in 10 hours, Wyre Lock to Tewksbury in 5 hours. And Tewksbury to Worcester in 5 hours. So was hoping I could make it in two days (10 hours eaach) to Worcester. I'm not used to rivers and find looking for moorings quite stressful. What would be the best stops from Stratford to Stourport? Thanks for the info about Worcester racecourse charge. The only reason I chose this mooring is because I remember there being plenty space there.

Hello all, I'm currently in Stratford and have to make my way back to Warwick in the next few weeks. So the plan is to go down the Avon and up the Severn... And that is the plan so far... Any help and suggestions for a fun/pleasant/textured/non-problematic route will be most welcome. I have taken a few days off from work and have got a bit of help for three or four days to do the river bits. After that, I will be on my own and working (from the boat) so priority for moorings will be a strong mobile signal. I might move a bit during the week, but most likely to cruise during the weekend or take days off. I am more than happy to do 10 hours or more per day, so can cover a good distance in two days. Mainly looking for an enjoyable and textured route to cruise, and an idea of some good safe locations to stop during the week. This is what I got so far: Day 1: Down the Avon as far as I can. Wyre Lock or a bit further. Day 2: Worcester. Race course moorings.? As far as I can remember, there were plenty moorings there and they were free? Other suggestions welcomed... Day 3: Passed Stourport and somewhere in the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. Canal plan suggests around Cookley. Is there anything I need to know about the Severn locks, or is it like Diglis Lock where you just call the lock keeper to let him know you are on your way? Now, the difficult bit, too many options.. 1- Should I follow all the way to Aldersley Junction to join the Main Line, or should I take the Stourbridge Canal instead. 2 - Birmingham Main Line or the Wolverhampton Level. 3 - North Stratford or Grand Union to reach Kingswood Junction. I'm pretty sure I read in the past that the North Stratford was most enjoyable? I know is all a little vague, but any route suggestions and advise will be most welcome. Thanks

I had a very similar (same) issue no long ago. New Surecal fitted this winter. After a few days out and plugin back into shore power, the RCD inside the boat and at the bollard would trip. I found the same amount of water as you did after removing the black plastic cover. Engineer came to the boat and fixed it by replacing the o-ring between the immersion heater and the tank body. Seal was split; he suggested it was most likely due to it being over tightened during manufacturing... So far so good.

I did that course in Braunston 3 years ago. I had just bought my boat and was my first day out. It was as advertised, very comprehensive. We went from Braunston to Wigrans turn, did a couple of locks and back. Very acknowledgeable and pleasant teacher.

Perfect, thank you. I was doing some reading this weekend, and as you say, one core multistranded seems the way to go. As for size, I couldn't make my mind. Voltage drop doesn't seem that important with 54V from the panel, but didn't know what size was acceptable heat wise. I will go for the 6sq mm as you suggested and put it into a corrugated pipe. I'm ordering some parts from bimblesolar and I saw they sell a double insulated, UV protected cable. I most likely will use this cable to connect the panel to the controller to avoid having to join different cables. Controller will be pretty close to the batteries and hopefully 10sq mm will be ok, but will check in the chandlers when I buy this one. Thanks again. Can't wait to have it all up and get out of the marina

Hi, Getting ready for the summer and looks like it's time to get a solar panel for the boat. After reading other threads (thanks for all the useful information) I have a pretty good idea of what I need, but I have no clue about cable size and type. The idea is to mount the panel flat at the front of the boat; this is the only available area. Panel will be about 12m away from the mppt controller and will need 24m of cable, which will run inside the boat between the insulation (polystyrene) and the ceiling wood panels. So.. What type and size of cable should I get? I guess the idea is that it should be safe, don't get too hot and minimise voltage drop. Should I use some kind of cable casing to keep the cable away from the insulation and wood panels? Panel specs are: Nominal Voltage, Vmp: 54.7 Nominal Current, Imp: 5.98 Thanks in advance.

I’m using these RF modules: http://shop.ciseco.co.uk/sensor/ Very, very easy to setup (note that you can only upload Ciseco closed-source firmware to them) I tried both, DS18B20 and thermistor. Thermistor firmware allows for interval readings and proved more power efficient; has been going for months with a 2032 coin cell. If you need more control, they have a RF module combined with an Arduino ATMega 328. http://shop.ciseco.co.uk/rf-328-arduino-atmega-328-compatible-radio-transceiver-rfu-328/ Unfortunately, their documentation is a mess, but most information should be there... somewhere.. This is the blog that got me started: http://www.seanlandsman.com/2013/02/the-raspberry-pi-and-wireless-rf-xrf.html

Hi, new to the forum, but have been following it for a couple of years now. Not a programmer and clueless about electrical stuff; but having a boat, power seems one of those areas difficult to avoid and have been trying to learn as must as I can (not that I understand any more than I did before) I find what Mat B has done fascinating. Unfortunately, this seems to be and old thread, hope Mat will add more details some day. I’m one of those with a raspberryPi in the boat. In my case, just gathering information from some wireless temperature sensors and displaying it in a web, haven’t got to the “actuation” stage yet. I must say that it took me a long time to get it working and more money than expected. Is it worth it? Well.. Yes. It is very rewarding to see it all operational now, and I can customise, upgrade and add functionality as I see fit. Above all, it’s great to know when the water in the calorifier is hot enough for a shower