pearley

As I said in earlier post, mine often charges at 15 volts. Have FLA batteries but they don't use any water. From a post on another forum, this is common with the 175 amp Iskra. I read somewhere that this has now been superseded? I don't let it bother me now. No DIP switches on mine!

Last time we were in Hebden Bridge was last November. The only mooring space then was under the footbridge which leached some horrioble muck onto the side of the boat which took an age to remove. Is it not possible to negotiate a mooring on the other, non-towpath side of the canal? Still highly visible from the park and easily accessible. Regards Pete

If you have a Clas Olshon store near you, they sell a precut length.

There was a curry boat at Gargrave last year. Not a fixed mooring, they moved every a couple of days.

Mine has done over 3000 hours on the original belt although it is the third alternator! The first 2 were 150 amp versions which both only lasted about 6 months each. The 175 amp one is now in its fourth year but it's always charged at quite a high voltage, sometimes upto 15 volt. Got a spare alternator and belt just in case. I thought, but am not sure, that the end of the rotor shaft had an allen key hole so as to hold the shaft whilst you undid the nut. Regards Pete

Thanks Richard It's the cassette system that you've shown below. I've alreadsy got that drawing. Leesan have ordered the 'pump rebuild kit' from the States which thay say will take a couple of weeks. I was just wondering if anyone has taken the pump apart before who might know that a liberal application of silcone grease should improve it. To get to it I shall have to remove the bed which I'm not keen on if it's not going to make a difference. I guess we shall have to keep turning the pump on and off. Makes me wish I'd fitted the switch in the bathroom rather than beside the bed. Regards Pete

http://www.waterways.org.uk/branches_regions/north_west/Manchester/ribble_link_draft

The vacuum pump cycles every minute or so. Having cleaned everything, replaced all the O rings and lubricated all, It still leaks. By a process of elimination I have traced the problem to the non return valve in the pump leaking. This wouldn't be so bad but Leesan have no stock of pump or repair kit. It will have to come from the States. Is there anyone else on here who has had a similar problem? Is there an 'easy' short term fix? Does the pump anbd valve body come off the doicking station easy? System is 5 years old but that shouldn't make any difference. Regards Pete

You've got better eyes than me but I can tell you that the keepers house was betwwen the lock and the old river route. There was also a very nice house at Woodlesford Lock trhat was demolished about the same time, after the lock was converted to full time DIY operation. I guess no-one on here knows if there are still any remains of Kippax lock, where the canal section finally dropped down to the river. And how about Leeds Lock, by the Armouries in its original form before it was electrified in the mid 90's? Regards Pete

My old diaries say 16 June 1995 when we passed by. Got to lock after hours to find DIY gear not yet in operation so moored for night. Walked through the building site that was the marina, basin dig out and in water but bungalows not built, to the Oak Tree at Woodrow for Vaux Samsom and Thornes Best Bitter. Stuck there for 8 weeks last Christmas so walked around a lot. Maz made us very welcome and let us run our hook-up cable across the grass and under the fence to plug in. Give our regards to Steve & Jan on Papillion and to Bob & Marie on Rebecca. Just to take the post a bit further, does anyone know if there are any remains of Kippax Lock? Best Regards Pete & Jeannette on Joanie M. Pics here of marina under construction http://www.apex-construction.com/gallery-lemonroyd-marina.html

If you are at Lemonroyd, if you cross the weir and take the path to the right towards Caroilina footbridge you can see the remains of the old lock about 50feet inside the wire fence. The gates are gone but you can clearly see the lower wing walls and plenty of bollards remain. I have a photo that I took last winter when we were stuck in the ice just above the current lock. The two photos in the original post both show the new lock and weir and the marina in the top LH corner but I can't make out the line of the new canal. As you go down river the piling that made up the later coal loading staithe is clearly seen but nothing else appears to remain. On the old line there were two loading points, one on each side of the canal. Unfortunately didn't take any photos as couldn't afford the film processing. No problem now with digital. We cruised here many times in the 90s, both old line and the new just after it was opened (had to walk through the embryo marina site to get to the pub on the other side of the railway) One of our favourite moorings is on the other side of Fleet Bridge in the layby just past the oil terminal. Used to be the loading staithe for Water Haigh Colliery. The open cast mine had a huge drag line excavator on the far side from the river. Is it still there? Regards Pete

But isn't the chandlery at Venetian run by Kings Lock at Middlewich?

Having spent nearly 40 years in the Aftermarket I can confirm that we are usually blamed but phones, alkarms and radios, WHEN PROPERLY INSTALLED, are rarely the culprits.

From the AA website As a result of European legislation adopted in 2008 dedicated daytime running lights (DRL) have been required on all new types of passenger cars and small delivery vans since February 2011. Trucks and buses will follow from August 2012.

Most car radios now are fairly high-powered of around 50W output, so thats 4 amps, the blower fan is another 4 or more, interior light about 1/2 amp. If you had the ignition on full then all sorts of things would be powered up. Modern cars are very power hungry. Most garages nowadays have special chargers to maintain battery whilst they are being serviced.

When I say 'genuine' I mean I keep moving and don't overstay without permission. If I want to stay in a particular area for any length of time then I pay. We cruise all over England but we come across many other CCers who restrict themselves to specific area. Can a boater who never leaves the Lee or the Lancaster, or where we are at present, the SSYN, really claim to be a CCer? Yes, many other boaters have said how much they would like to CC but, regretably, a minority have verbally attacked us. Verbally might be a bit strong but I can't think of an alternative just now. I see that Cotswoldman gives the Leeds & Liverpool as his present mooring. I hesitate to say this might be a North/South thing but we have been here in the North East for the past year or so and have found boaters up here much friendlier. If there was a vote for friendly I would give it to Strawberry Island Boat Club at Doncaster. Regards Pete

We obviously run the wrong sort of business. In my arm of the motor trade, vehicle electronics, whatever price we quoted that was what the customer paid, if the job took longer than we reckoned then we worked late to finish it, if it went wrong we bent over backwards to put it right and if that wasn't good enough, we would refund the customer. We also always paid our bills on time! Thats probably why we never made any money from it but at least we retired happy. Seriously, there are some good boatyards out there. When something went wrong with our blacking at Pennine Cruisers, they took it back in, without any argument, and redid it. Regards Pete

The excerpt from the Eye that started thius thread is not the one refered to in the letters posted. The first article (Eye 1296) was concerned with the Lee and Paul Davies and made considerable mention of the National Bargee Travellers Association, a member of whose Executive is one, Paul Davies. The two letters printed represent the two completely opposite views. As a genuine CCer I don't see why others shouldn't abide by the 'rules' but have a lot of sympathy for those who have taken to living on a boat as the only way they can afford housing. I have also been subject to attack from leisure boaters who perceive that somehow I'm getting away with something. Hopefully when CART and all those Local waterways Partynerships are established, some guidelines can be drawn up that are acceptable to evceryone. That will ulimately mean that continuous moorers will have to face some restrictions, even those on the Lee & Stort. There are large sections of the canals, particularly on the Lee and around some of our major cities where simple residential moorings could be established perhaps with the boating community who want that sort of mooring doing most of the work in setting them up and policing them.

Or, it could be Bridge 199 at Micklethwaite above Bingley. The barriers have been giving trouble there for some months. You need to get someone to lean against the towpath barrier to hold it hared into the holder. I assume that nothing will be done until they make up their minds about the new housing which will mean a new bridge.

Here just outside Doncaster we are paying £8.50 for a 25kg bag of Excel delivered to the boat from the local coal merchant. The marina also sells smokeless fuel at the same price per kilo but in 10kg bags which most of the boaters here seem to prefer. Our Boatman stove prefers Excel. There are 2 working deep mines nearby, Kellingley which used to send it by water to Ferrybridge but now only by train, and Hatfield. There are plans to build a Carbon Capture coal fired power station at Hatfield, pumping the CO2 down into the disused mines but it is untried technology so there is some opposition. Personally, I say get on with it.# The coal from Hatfield seems to take the Scunthorpe line through Thorne so is presumably being used in the steelworks but loaded coal trains also come the other way, presumably bringing imported coal from Immingham. Regards Pete

We have a 6" radiator fan made by Spal and bought from a company called Sempal. a 47 ohm wirewound resistor cable tied in the airflow custs its speed (and noise) in half. Regards Pete

Everytime last winter we visited our son at Godmanchester the same narrowboat was moored on the council moorings atr Huntingdon. Sometimes the river had flooded so they would have to wade through a foot of water to go shopping. Presumably the council have better things to do than chase overstayers. The Old Bridge Hotel in Huntingdon has its own mooring. GBG listed and fantastic restaurant. Well stocked off licence.

Thanks for your help. All sorted now. If I had read everything on the Victron download page I would have realised that I needed VE Configure 11 for my software version and the MK2 USB driver. Having downloaded this it put a link on my screen to VE Quick Configure. Opening this program got me to where I said in the earlier post. If I had looked at all the programs I would have noticed VE Configure 11. Opening this and everything works as it should. So have reset to slightly lower Absorption and Float charge voltage which hopefully will get rid of the occasional overcharging alarm I get when on a shoreline for any length of time. Will revert back to higher settings when we go off cruising again next year. Many Thanks Pete

Software is 1809146.HEX so am using VE.Bus Quick Configure Setup (v9010121) and VE.Bus Quick Configure Setup (v9010121). Program opens until I get to Select COMPORT. This has 3 options, Auto DEtect plus COM 8, 9 and 11. Whichever one I try gives message stating Port not found. Pete

What datfile? On Victron website it only shows http://www.victronenergy.com/Executables/VEConfig/CDM20814_Setup.exe Sorry, just found datfile at the bottom of the page but when I click on it it justs opens a page full of gibberish. Downloasded the VEConfigure file at the bottom of the page, this now gives me the proper start page but states 'cannot find VERSION.DAT file