PeterCr

Thanks all and especially Mike, sorted. Cheers

Hi Roland, lovely area, enjoy. Holiday or do you live there now?

Hi all, if there's anyone who might be at Debdale Marina in the next little while, and wouldn't mind doing me a little favour, please PM me. Thanks

Hi Roland, yes that's us, still rural Australia, and yes the boat sat on hard standing for 2 1/2 years during covid, so I'm happy to have got another season and a half out of the batteries. I was a bit surprised this season that they lasted another 6 weeks, I was waiting for them to go. Sad selling but Gippsland is nice, though cold right now. At least the value of your boat should be a little better now than a while ago from what I've heard. Good luck selling. Cheers

Sorry I should have been clearer. Yes they are a retailer, he just said he's used them several times and found them friendly, easy to deal with and good delivery. I've rung them and had a good chat, though a monday delivery is looking unlikely at this stage so we'll have to sit a little longer and wait. I've headed back to Windsor now so we can sit on shore power while we wait. Also looking at Varta.

So I've identified the faulty battery. They're sealed lead acid, 105 ah's. Vetus SMF energy I'll replace the lot, it's about time. I need to buy from a retailer that delivers. Any suggestions on a good retailer and brand? I've had a look around and find rebranding and house brands, and it's difficult to know which to look at. Along with brand I need to find ones that fit in the available space of course. Any ideas to just replace what I have now? A friend says he's been happy with Tayna. And any suggestions on getting rid of the current ones? I've probably got that covered as I have a quote to do that from a recycling place, but always happy to take suggestions. Cheers

Thanks Tony, I'll give that a go. Annoyingly these things always happen at or on the weekend! Cheers Peter

Hi all, so our domestic batteries are about 5 or 6 years old. I've wondered how long they will keep going. We've had a sudden precipitous drop in voltage over the last few hours, even with good solar it's dropped down from mid 12 volts to now 11.3. I'm no expert but I'm assuming that's terminal, given their age. We're not really using much power other than the 12v fridge. They were fine up until just recently. We're on the Thames just near Bray lock. Anyone know a good place near here which will offer good quality domestic batteries and help put them in? 5x105 ah batteries. Thanks Peter

Our shower gulper has become a little intermittent. I often need to turn it on and off several times before it goes. My inclination is that it’s the switch, one of those small black ones. And I figure that if I replace the switch and the problem is the same it’s the gulper. We’re heading up the Staffs and Worcester and turning right at Great Haywood. Does anyone know of a good well stocked chandlery on the way that might have a switch? I’ve rung several but no joy. Thanks

We're currently on the Stratford just below Preston Bagot. We turned off the GU yesterday. Water levels are all good, best we've seen in a few weeks. No problem. We're pretty much doing the same route as you over the next few weeks. Fingers crossed.

Success! We have insurance. I went to a few websites for quotes and amongst them I went to the GJW website and got a quote. Encouragingly one of the first questions it asked was “what country are you a resident of” and when I selected Australia it allowed me to continue and didn’t disqualify me. I went right through their paperwork and there’s nothing I could find about British residency. And the policy clearly states I am an Australian resident with an Australian address. I looked at lots of polices and read the terms and conditions, and in almost all cases there was a condition that the policy holder (and anyone on whose behalf you purchase insurance, whatever that means!!) need to be British residents. Some, Zurich for example, even state it on their website as well as the T&Cs. I even got a quote from a broker at Mercia who was very helpful when I explained the problem and suggested that I get a quote in my wife’s name as she is a British citizen and has an address here, her parents. Yet even still when the forms came back there it was in the terms and conditions, British residency. On some websites it’s quite possible to get a quote, and it seems take out insurance not knowing there is this condition in the T&Cs if you don’t read them. Many people just click yes to “have you read the paperwork” and may well have no idea that there is a condition in there which, if they are not British residents, will mean that effectively they can be denied any payout if they make a claim because they have broken one of the conditions of the policy. And there will be people who just renew every year who don’t read the T&Cs and who will have the same problem. The insurance companies must know that some of their customers can be denied cover in the event of making a claim, but they take the premiums anyway. It would be simple to add a single question to an application for a quote – “are you a British resident?” and if they answer no make it immediately clear that they don’t qualify for insurance. Yet they don’t make this condition clear they just take the money and I’m sure many people now hold insurance which is, in effect, not worth having. That’s insurance companies I suppose. I think some people may well get a horrible surprise when they make a claim in the future. By the way HarleyJ we’re not from Melbourne, but about an hour east of Melbourne, in the country. 10 times better than being in Melbourne, though at the moment it’s dreadfully cold and wet in either place!

I need insurance so I can licence the boat to go cruising, and of course just generally. The boat is kept in a marina when we aren't cruising. We are back now, on the boat on Monday and planned to go cruising (after almost 3 years waiting due to the virus)

Brilliant point Ronaldo. I'm planning to start ringing around on Monday to see if I can convince an insurer to insure us, I'll ask that exact question. Thanks

I don't think trying to become a resident is a possibility or option Roland. When you take out the insurance you must be a resident, in other words have already spent 6 months in the country just to become a resident. Then you can get your insurance and use your boat. So if you want to cruise for, say, 4 months you in effect need to spend 10 months in the UK - every year. And as I am not a British passport holder for me to do that (even if we wanted to) would require visitor visas. Each is only 6 months and so I would need ongoing visitor visas to do this. And of course as my wife is a British passport holder I am entitled to apply for British citizenship, but even that doesn't qualify. Even though she is a British citizen she still isn't a British resident. She too must spend 6 months in the UK to qualify for insurance as a resident.

I rang Circle Marine and couldn't get anyone to answer the phone. Then noticed a phone number for their Nottingham branch who told me they don't do narrowboat insurance and referred me to a broker at Mercia Marina. My wife is British (and Australian) and they asked me if she has an address she can use in the UK. We do, where she grew up and her parents live, so he asked me to send in a form using those details for a quote. It's an interesting aside. We can use a name and address of a British citizen and I doubt they would even bother to try and find out if that British citizen is a resident or not. But I suspect that they might try and find out if there is a claim. And she doesn't live there when in the UK she lives on the boat. Also interesting, who qualifies as a British resident? What is the definition of a British resident? I looked online and it said 183 days (6 months) in the UK in a year. We can easily spend 6 months on our boat, does that qualify us/her as a British resident? And as David Mack points out it says "you and anyone else". If we insure in her name does the anyone else mean we don't qualify as I am not a British resident? Can of worms really.