Col_T

@Tony Brooks - what is a "trot", please?

Good info.

As someone that has never used nail varnish, would you mind expanding upon this, please?

I wonder whether those are narrowboat prices, not widebeam.

Nope, didn't know either of those things, I'll go for the birch core. Thanks to all for filing in yet another hole in my education.

Sorry, both - I think of birch as a soft wood with things like teak and iroko as hard woods - just goes to show how much I know about things!! I found a site advertising birch core phenolic ply and hardwood core phenolic ply as two separate products, with different prices, which kind of underlined my thoughts. Thanks for the info.

The front locker lid needs replacing, and I'm thinking of phenolic ply with the ashes sealed using West System epoxy. Which is more weather resistant - hardwood core or birch core?? Thanks in advance.

I need to replace the lid of the front locker on the boat, phenolic ply being one option. Presumably cut edges need to be sealed, so any recommendations on the best way of doing this? I should add that my carpentry skills have yet to reach basic, so making a nice wooden frame wouldn't be deemed as 'best' ?!!!

That's good news. Thanks Tony.

Thanks for confirming what I thought, gentlemen. The fan-heater as a fixed load is a good idea, and easy to implement, I can just 'borrow' the one from the workshop! The inverter is a 1600w Sterling Pro Combi Quasi sine wave jobbie of indeterminate vintage, so I'd feel a little wary of just running the heater until the alarm sounds. We have 5 off 110Ah 12v batteries, fitted in 2014!, so I'll probably run the heater for an hour and take Amps used and voltage readings from the BM-1, and decide how much longer to go from there. I know that the voltage will recover after stopping that kind of load, but at least I'll get a (very) rough idea of capacity and an indication of how soon the batts will need changing! FYI - It's a holiday boat and we have 360 watts of solar and cruise for about 4 hours a day when we go cruising.Yeah, I know, bloody sunshine boaters! ?

I had the engine running for an hour or three yesterday, with the BM-1 battery monitor showing a current of 0.7A at 14.8v for all that time. From other threads on CWDF, this would imply that the batteries are 'fully charged'. Is it possible, though, to infer the capacity of the battery bank from this information? I'm reasonably sure that the answer is no, but thought I'd ask!

If I have understood your code, the alarm LED will only flash when the condition below is true. if ((readStoke == 0) && (readButt == 1)) So, what condition causes readButt to return 1?

Someone once said to me that there are some things that you just have to accept, because you will never understand the reasoning or logic behind them. That may be the case here, and if so, there are options that negate having a solid fuel stove.

This kind of discussion always reminds me of the VHS vs Betamax situation - the better, therefore the most obvious solution?, of the two being left behind.

I think the 20=>80% range thing is more to prolong the life of the batteries, which implies that 0=>100% is perfectly feasible though it has consequences. That said, there is some discussion around whether 20=>80 causes a memory effect in lithiums, which might be regarded as the equivalent of LA sulfation. Fortunately, someone that actually knows will be along soon, he says, hopefully!

She absolutely is, and should be commended for it! We picked up our boat end of July 2015, and I was so naive I had no idea about stoppages, red boards or any of those 'niceties'. Still, we made it from Crick to Reading in 8 days, with no major disasters - though one failed mooring attempt (3 attempts in the same place before giving up and moving on) still brings huge feelings of embarrassment - we find a much better spot a little further one, and no other boats to admire my abilities, thank heavens!

Bung it on a truck - you can pretty much guarantee when it will leave London, and when and where it will arrive in the Bristol area. Unfortunately, bung it on a truck is also pretty much guaranteed to be the most expensive option!

Is this true? If the two battery banks are linked then you may only need the one monitor.

Fox Hangers, at the foot of the Caen Hill flight, have a slipway and an area of hard-standing beyond that. No idea if they would let you refit there, but might be worth a call.

Since the latest upgrade, there is an images frame at the top of the main page. Is there an option whereby I can hide these - they take up space, are a distraction and, currently, are all attributed to DarrenAldridgeBoatFitters so could be construed as advertising, not something I would want to see and, I think, in breach of forums rules. Thanks in advance, and congratulations on getting the last upgrade resolved so successfully - a great improvement. Colin T.

Understood now. Thanks.

Apologies for being dense, but could you expand upon this, please, as it doesn't make sense to me.

I renewed in October with no hesitation on the grounds that:- - it keeps them on business, should I ever need to use them; - I don't have the wealth of knowledge and experience needed to reliably diagnose, let alone fix, the majority of faults that might crop up; - I don't actually know any 'local fitters', let alone which of them might be competent and which less so. It's all a peace of mind thing, like most insurance.

If an elite athlete can understand the off-side rule, and has sufficient presence of mind to avoid being 'trapped' by the opposition, that athlete should have the intelligence and self-control to not indulge in a hug-fest after merely doing what they are paid for - scoring a goal. As for the 'elite clubs are their own bubble' - that may be true, though I think it's borrox - but going a-partying with other folk not from their club is still wrong. They're over-paid, entitled, whinging little prima-donnas, the majority wouldn't recognise a days work if it hit them in the face. Crikey - whatever was in that cup of tea!!!!!