KenK

Reading the document the locks would be locked closed except during manned opening hours. Blakes lock comes under the EA but I would have thought a joint operation would have made sense, EA license one way BW the other and split the cost. Hanham lock is already manned, or at least it was last year when we went through, although again there is a keeper employed by Bristol docks at the begining of the feeder canal so again why not use the facility, you have to pay to use the floating harbour so it would not be difficult for him to check the license, although if you are comming from the Sharpness canal it could be and probably would be checked there. BW's intention makes sense, it's just the execution, so respond to the consultation, you never know they might listen. Yes I know, but it's Friday, the weather is not bad, might even get the boat out, so I'm being positive. Ken

In my opinion we all need to respond to these consultations especially when they directly affect us. If we as boaters don't tell BW what we think then we can't complain when they do thing we don't like. I would like to see the end of unlicensed boats, if you want to use the system you should pay your way. Whilst agreeing with the objective I'm not sure the methods would work, so I will add my two pennyworth. Ken

I received a communication from BW in the post today, a consultation document requesting my views on various proposals designed to remove boats without a licence from the K&A. The proposals include opening times at both ends of the navigation, 9 am to 6 pm April to October, 10 am to 3 pm in the winter. Lock keepers at each end to enforce the above and check, issue licences, 6 monthly or yearly only, paid for by credit / debit card. Lock keeper in attendance at other locks randomly to check licences. The consultation is open to anyone boat owner or not with a view to express. Response can be either by e mail, the prefered option, or by post. Anyone know if this is happening anywhere else or is this a trial to gauge the efectivness of such an operation, it is easy on the K&A as it is a linear navigation only connected at each end. Ken

There is lots of mooring in the harbour, if you want to stay away from the night-clubs head down past the SS Gt Britain and moor on that side. Take a couple of old tyres as normal fenders don't cope well. The harbour is definately worth a visit although it is expensive to moor there £46.00 last year for two days for a 60 ft NB. Enjoy the trip. Ken

OK if you take the end off, the one you could get into could you turn the pump impeller by hand, if you can't then it is jammed and thats causing the problem. If you don't have a meter why not take the pump down to the boatyard and get them to test it for you. Ken

Do you have a multimeter? If so put it on the Ohms range connect the probes together and make a note of the reading and then connect it across the two terminals which are connected to the 12 V, do this without the 12 V connected. You should get a reading which is higher than the first reading, I don't know exactly what it will be 10, 20 maybe a couple of hundred Ohms. If it is the same or almost the same as your first reading then you have a short circuit across the motor which is why the circuit trips. Ken

Three minimum, one front, one back, one centre. Centre line should according to conventional wisdom be long enough to reach from the tiller but not long enough to foul the prop if it falls in the water. Front and back as long as you like depends on where your cruising, on the Thames the locky normally expects you to pass a rope around the bollard and back down to the boat front and back and you hang on, stops you crunching all those nice plastic gin palaces you are in the lock with. We have two sets one longer than the other in case of need. Thickness is your choice but thicker is easier to grip and less likely to take the skin off, gloves are a good idea if you're hanging on to the boat. Ken

Or pull over, join in, get a beer and enjoy yourself! Isn't what this boating lark is supposed to be about? Ken

It's what it is supposed to mean however there are lots of settings on the unit and if they have not been set to suit your battery type and size of bank you could be fooling the charger, if it is set for time and gell batteries then you get a four hour maximum absoption phase even if the batteries are not fully charged, it would then go to float. As a default, it is set to adaptive charging not time also to gell batteries not wet cell so the charging voltages may be too low for your batteries but someone may have changed the settings. There is also a max current setting from memory, best bet get the installation manual out and see how yours is set. As a test you could just try run one charging cycle and when it's finished start the cycle off again and see what happens, if it runs for a further four hours on absorption then the batteries aren't charging properly. The other thing if you have a split diode do you have the sensing leads connected so that you get true battery voltage? Ken

Which type of batteries do you have? A friend of mine has this unit and the default 4 hrs is for Gell batteries not wet cell which has a 6 hr default however the default charge system is adaptive rather than timed. Might be time to get the manual out and check the settings. Ken

The locks are manned during normal working hours, outside of that you operate them manually but as far as I'm aware no key is required. Facilities are limited but generally not locked most of them are at boatyards so working hours only. Mooring is also limited, often chargable, generally badly signed, pick up a guide most of the information is in there. Ken

Chris, Many years ago, 1st week of June 1970, a group of air force apprentices myself amongst them hired an ex working boat for a week, basic as it comes, boatman’s cabin, engine, hold planked over and the cloths as a mobile tent, 12 bunk beds and a bucket. We were on our way back, after a glorious week, to the hire base somewhere in the Midlands, with me steering, we entered a lock, dropped down and had to make a sharp right turn out of the lock. As the front of the boat exited the lock it started to rise, the far side of the canal was silted up, I kept going and eventually wiggled the back of the boat out of the lock and started to straighten up. The front of the boat then dropped over the silt and the back raised, the prop virtually out of the water. At that point I looked forward to behold the world’s largest sign “DANGER DO NOT MOOR BETWEEN THE POSTS” underneath the sign, indeed all along the bend between the posts were moored small fibreglass cruisers. We were heading straight for the one underneath the sign, if you think stopping a full length boat is difficult in shallow water I can confirm it is impossible if the prop is running in air, we cut it in half, at which point the back of our boat returned to the water. The cruiser’s owner a middle aged gentleman dressed in cavalry twill slacks, blazer, cravat, neatly finished off with a captains hat was purple with rage. We backed off, moored up, beyond the posts, and went back to examine the damage. It was total the cruiser was in two halves, we called the hire base and about half an hour later the owner of our boat arrived, he checked his boat, not a scratch, we showed him the cruiser and its owner. His comment, “if you’re stupid enough to moor under a sign that big with that message you deserve everything you get”, he explained the sign was erected to stop just this problem, whenever a full length boat came out of the lock and turned right it went up over the silt, deposited by the operation of the lock, and hit the bank, or anything which was in the way. The cruiser’s owners strangled comment about compensation or insurance was met with a “good luck mate, but I don’t think you’re insured against stupidity, I know I’m not”. That was my first trip on the canals but it didn’t put me off although I’ve never sunk another one, well not yet. Ken

I'm with Chris, I have a totally useless battery which I'm prepared to get rid of (donate) to any one who wishes to try this, provide your own fruit. Good luck Ken

Your requirement for a mooring or not really depends on your lifestyle, if you are retired or rich enough not to need to work, then living on a boat without a mooring is perfectly possible and many people do it. If you need to work, unless you can do it from the boat, it is not so easy, people do it but it is not consistent with BW's rules for CCing. Moorings come in many forms and costs, from simple, no facilities, on line moorings some run by BW some private landowners, to state of the art marinas with all the comforts. Finding one is easy in some parts of the country much more difficult in others, decide what you need and where and then do some searching. BW are currently running a tendering trial for their moorings but everyone else will tell you the cost upfront, longer boats and wider in marinas cost more. Ken

To be fair the other six all start the engine without problems, the boatbuilder probably was probably more concerned with cost than quality. Also the general advice on here seems to be buy cheap batteries as it is just as easy to wreck expensive ones. I'm just glad I found it before we took the boat out. Ken

Hi Ernie, I was at Woolhampton last week, it is flowing strongly and the boat was still on the EOG mooring on the right as you go in. Easiest way to do it, stay well to the right, turn into the stream and then turn into the lock entrance at the last minute, there is a long tail on the lock so you have room. Also this weekend is the Devises to Westminster canoe race, starts Friday, so there will be plenty of spectators if you come to grief. Ken

There is always a grey area it's called cost. I have seven of these batteries, six leisure and one starter. I only found the problem when by chance I picked that battery as the starter battery. They are Numax "Starting and Deep Cycle Batteries", like all compromises they are probably not the best for either purpose, but that's what was fitted when I bought the boat, when they die I'll look at obtaining something more suitable, the replacement will be a starter battery. Someone with far more knowledge of battery manufacturing than I, Darren, might be able to tell us how likely this kind of fault is, the normal tests i.e. measuring with an accurate meter or with a hydrometer don't show any problem. Equally if it was still in the domestic bank I'd be none the wiser, it only fails under a heavy load, cranking the engine. Ken

Hi Strads, I assume by generator you mean the engine driven alternator? If you only have one alternator then you will have some kind of "split charging system" to charge both the engine start battery and the leisure batteries. This would explain why the batteries are linked. Is your engine start battery also 24 V? The Victron unit if it is an Inverter / Charger needs to be connected to shore power to charge the batteries. As the batteries are sealed you can only check their charge state by using a volt meter, a fully charged 12 V battery should read around 12.7V DC and a half charged one around 12.2V DC therefore you need an accurate meter. Without equipment it is difficult to test everything but you should have an ignition warning light on the engine panel, does the warning light go out? If so the alternator is probably ok. In that case the engine battery may be being charged but not the leisure batteries, in which case you have some kind of problem with the split charging circuit. If you have shore power, use the Victron unit to charge the batteries, if that works then the batteries are probably ok, in which case you're back to the split charging circuit. If you try taking photographs of the set-up there is a good chance someone will have a similar system or at least recognise what you have. Ken

Hi All I have a Numax 110 Amp Marine Starting and Deep Cycle battery, it is approximately two years old, its not been used much and has been kept charged. At the moment it is on my workbench connected to the charger. It appears according to all the tests to be in full working order, 12.71 V across the terminals, surface charge removed, (measured with a calibrated Fluke x 2), all the cells read the same on the hydrometer around 1.270, the battery is probably at ambient temperature around 20oC as its been in here for a week.. It has been equalized several times and charged several times over the week, using two different intelligent chargers, all the cells bubble happily during charging. However put a load on it and it does not work, for example a small 12 V motor used to start model aircraft engines will spin but can be stopped by hand pressure, normally this motor runs from a 4 amp battery and would take the skin off if you tried to stop it. It will turn the boat engine over but only for a few seconds and too slowly for it to start; any other battery starts it at once. Measure the voltage on load and it drops to 11.6 V however it recovers fairly quickly to 12.5 V once the load is removed without further charging. Clearly this is one dead battery but does anyone know what is actually wrong with it? Ken

I don't know if you have looked here http://narrowboat.co.uk but they claim to take a 10% deposit and the rest on completion on their standard boats, possibly the safest way to buy new, they quote 12 weeks to deliver a new boat. Spec seems good for the price and they look good in the photographs. I have no connection and other than their advert know nothing about them but if I were looking to buy I'd take a look. Ken

Which way are you going via Bristol or the long way round? Where on the K&A is your mooring, we are at Newbury? Enjoy the trip whichever way you go. Ken

Hi Martin, I did this yesterday, filled in the form, selected pay by credit/debit card and submitted it. At no point was I asked for the card details, any idea why? Ken

Hi Jackie, Welcome to the forum, Google Silvermans or Timbermet, they have branches around the country and carry large stocks. Ken

Have you tried writing to BW and putting this point to them? I've always found asking the question usually results in some sort of solution or compromise, BW do get a lousy press but most of the staff are very helpful. Ken