Steve Manc

I cannot say we use this practice! What is the right way ?

Recently whilst waiting to go through locks and watching other narrowboats how they operate them. We like to be at the back of the lock which at times can make it more difficult for us. I note others like to ride the cill then have the front of the boat travel up against the lock gates. Q, does riding the cill contribute to a damaged cill Q, perhaps this is the only way a single manner can manage the lock. Q, were the locks designed to have a narrowboat ride the cill These are questions and not accusing anyone of damage https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices/0197d498-7071-74b7-b7f3-11523e399d3f

Ok thanks Gone home for a few weeks. Thanks for all contributions even if they made you tired 😊

David The boat came with no drawings. The hire boat company went bust and I bought it off the receivers handling the sale of assets. I will probably have to get a good electrical boat engineer. Boat is currently near Rugby. Can anyone recommend anyone? Thanks Recommended to me by a marine engineering business.

https://onboardenergydirect.co.uk/products/victron-argodiode-80-2sc-80a-battery-isolator-2-batteries?variant=43672923504865&country=GB&currency=GBP&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pmax&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=22253309226&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22253310897&gbraid=0AAAAAojzlPTU1OPpr5tkJwtCK79F0Iey6&gclid=Cj0KCQjw64jDBhDXARIsABkk8J7-7mcKL4fnfCSHIgTHS9gxrRIRQ6QYk_3V58s8ZRUA74ad1r1I5SgaAm0gEALw_wcB Ok I call it a splitter. I believe this is the unit. Solar goes in at one point and then feeds to 2 sets of batteries Solar panels feed the splitter. Battery monitor monitors the inverter batteries only There is no monitoring of the 12 volts/domestic batteries

Hi Thanks for the replies. The boat is an ex hire boat. Sail away built by Colecraft. Interia built by the hire company in 2006. We purchased it 8 years ago. When we bought it there was no solar. It had 8 batteries on it. 4 x inverter side and 4 x 12 volt side. Why so many batteries? We have a 1200 mm corner suite Jacuzzi. It did work when we bought it. We now just use it as a big shower tray when we have a shower. I have reduced the batteries from 4 to 2 on both sides. The solar panels x 2 feed to a spliter. The splitter feeds 50% to both banks of Batteries. The batteries monitor looks at the 2 batteries on the inverter. When it regulates it's monitoring the inverter batteries only. The Electrician I employed to set up the solar panels only connected them to the inverter batteries. Afterwards not realising what he had done I had the spliter fitted. This was 8 years ago. End of last summer cruise I new we needed 2 X 12 volt batteries. These were fitted 14th June 2 weeks ago. We have just had a week out on the boat. All seemed good. Sadly have to go home due to a family illness. Yesterday all semed good. I was sat on the back deck until 19:30 ish and the battery displays looked ok. Switched the TV and lights off around 00:30. Started the engine around 08:30 ish today and noticed the 12 volt was at 12:00. We were in sunshine at this point therefore the solar should have topped up. Ran the engine for 90 minutes ish to get to the marina. Battery displays shown both banks at 12:95 ish. Put multi meter on the 12 volts it shown 12.9 Disconnected the solar feed from the splitter and connected the multi meter. I watched it drop from 12.9 to 12.2 within 20 seconds. Thoughts please The solar controller is in the wardrobe. Yes the wardrobe is stuffed up with clothes therefore little if not no ventilation.

Morning We put two new batteries on the 12 volts side of the narrowboat. Been on the boat for a week cruise and all is well. We have two on the inverter side for the TV Set off this morning at 08:30 and the 12 volt batteries showing 12.00 volts on the display. Run for 1.5 hours and the battery now showing 12.9 We also have solar panels which should have topped up the batteries by 8am. Clear sky this morning. Disconnected the solar feed the batteries started dropping from 12.9 to 12.0 whilst I held the multi meter to them. Only thing on is the fridge which was new last June Was it extremely hot last night. Anyone else had an issue? Thoughts please. Leaving the boat at 11 am and going home for a week or two.

On route to Oxford and hopefully go onto the River Thames to Reading. How do I apply for the River Thames license? Very sorry if it's in this thread 😔 doing long days at the moment. Thanks

Wellies or waders I have neither. I am hoping you are joking 😀

Starting our summer cruise tomorrow from Broanston to Bristol. I will reach out for advice and recommendations I am sure 😄 Re your link to the Government website re water levels atv the locks on the River Thames. This website says its data can be 18 hours out of date. It does give a history. Have you found it useful? Thanks https://thames.me.uk/s00331a.htm

😂 I had priced one up to pick up today. Thanks for the humour and update

David, BEngo Thanks

I have just googled MSC and couldn't see anything relevant.

What is CMer ? Thanks

I have a 7 foot plank on the boat. Should I try and get a 9 foot plank for the Kennel and Avon ?

Hi Whilst out cruising I like to keep on top of small patches of rust. Due to limited space I don't carry drills, grinders etc. I normally use emery cloth around 40 grit for the heavy rust to enable me to get down to the metal. Can anyone recommend a good one from Screwfix, Toolstation, Amazon or a other? Thanks

Thanks for the information Plan to set off from Braunston next week to Bristol. Plan is to return to Braunston by end of August.

Tony, dmr Thanks for the information.

Planning to go to Bristol at end of June. Can you please let me know where the summit is? Thanks

Thanks for the information

I have covered this previously in the thread. We use the boat 3 to 4 months of the year. Then we winterise it. These valves cut off the hot water tank. Once we cut off the hot water tank I fill the cold and hot water pipes with fresh water antifreeze. Last September someone suggested I could blow out the water from the fresh water pipes by taking the filter cap just before the water pump. This is Something I will try in September. Thanks for all contributions

I am guessing the neoprene washers for this unit will not be a standard washer size ? What approximate size would you recommend? Again thanks for your time and information

Thanks for the additional information re neoprene seals. Considering they may have been there since the boat was built I am guessing they would require changing should I disturb them by opening up the joint?

I have highlighted the nut with two flat surfaces with red arrow. If we were not using the boat at this time I may have taken the risk. I plan to call two local marinas tomorrow to see if I can get one of them to check for a filter. Using spanner 🔧. Thanks for your suggestions and help

Hi I have two of these with me.the smaller nut has just two flat surfaces on it. Therefore needs a spanner. Thanks Thanks I did this today. I stripped the bath taps down and put a silicone grease for taps on the internal fittings. The hot tap didn't have as much movement as the cold when opening it. Swapped the taps cartridge over and didn't make any difference. The shower runs off the bath taps.