KenK

Hi Stoney, Unless you are into hairy rides take a good book if you go to Drayton Manor, we stopped there a couple of years ago girls loved every minute, my wife and I sat and watched. One tip if you do Tesco and and have any clubcard vouchers you can do the 4:1 so £25 of gets you £100 and that will pay for the entrance. have a good trip Ken

That does not surprise me in the slightest. If BW can get someone else to raise the proposal and there is enough support they turn round and say, but that is what you wanted. Too late to complain then. Ken

Mine are also Numax but not the same model, they have that tab on the side its an overflow on mine each cell is connected just below the plug to allow gas / liquid to escape. Mine also had the tape on the top and the plugs were underneath, worth a look. Ken

Nothing in that consultation document mentioned special licence fees for one or two sections of the boating community. The document was all about increasing fees generally and as these increases are already in the pipeline the document was just a paper excercise to make people feel better. Boating is and will remain expensive. My mooring costs more per year than my council tax, the licence fee more than the road tax and insurance on both cars. The licence fee going up is a fact of life and as long as I can afford it I'll keep boating. My complaint is simple it is unfair to increase the licence fee for someone who chooses to CC or for that matter has a wider boat and I'm on the K&A, so now and again I do have to wait for a lock, so what time for a chat. I do think that boats dumped for months on end at the side of the canal should be dealt with, that's supposed to be part of BW's job. Many posts on similar threads support those who don't really CC but others are not so tolerant hence the ACPO petition. Ken

Headlamp

Neil makes a very interesting comment on the Boating Petition thread post #14 Ken

They may not be gel batteries mine were described as Low Maintenance Sealed batteries but in fact the seal was simply a strip of tape over the removable screw in plugs. They are in fact normal wet cell batteries. But Chris is right find out what they are before you damage them. SG is temperature dependant if I remember my schoolboy chemistry but a fully charged cell from memory should be around 1.27 and discharged 1.12. Ken

I that case will APCO make that point to BW, rather than leave them with the current impression based on the percentage agreeing, that they are totally in favour of the proposals? Ken

Agree totally. APCO are saying IMHO exactly what BW want to hear. I don't believe that anyone CCing should pay for a mooring or that widebeams should cost more than a narrowboat, I by the way have a narrowboat and a mooring. What I would say is that if BW take this idea on board then it is far better to have sensible alternative proposals rather than just cry foul. Ken

Thats on ITV Local Central, done that too. One nice thing the latest series has no breaks or start jingle so I don't have to listen to Russell Grant twice a programme. Ken

I don't think it's what we think that matters it's what BW think of the proposal. It does fall in line with their thinking, less boats moored on line, more revenue to replace the DEFRA shortfall, removal of unlicenced boats. I don't have any problem with CCers, I also don't have a problem with boats moored on the system. I do have a problem with inconsiderate people who don't give a hoot about anyone but themselves, but that's not confined to the canal system. What I suspect matters to people who do CC or who own a widebeam is that any change, if one comes about, is a fair one. Ken

No sad git that I am I watched both series 1 and 2 over Christmas, who said Christmas telly is all repeats.I'll try downloading it and see what happens.KenNo it won't download, you can only send a link to the programme.Ken

Works for me, you get the mooring in the summer, I get it in the winter.

You can watch or download all three series from ITV Local Granada, you'll need a reasonably fast connection. Ken

I have to say I did wonder why hire boat operators would be so concerned by CCers. I tend to suspect this petition has more to do with removing CMers (permanent moorers) and tatty boats from the visitor moorings around the honey pots on the system. When customers return at the end of the holiday the hire boat companys hoped for response to the how was it question is "wonderful we'll do it again next year" not complaints that they were unable to moor at the best places because of tatty old boats hoging the visitor moorings. However it's difficult to target them directly but they will almost certainly have declared themselves to be CCers. If CCers are forced to pay more I suspect the hope is many of these boats will disapear as the owners can no longer aford the costs. I make no judgements but I did see the problem at Bradford on Avon this summer and a couple of families on hire boats further down the canal made the point that the hire boat company had recommended they stop there the first night but they could not moor. There may be other reasons but I don't know what they might be. Ken

To be fair to Narrowboatworld this was nothing to do with them, they, as I did, simply reported it. The petition was by the Association of Pleasure Craft Operators (Hire boat companies). At the moment I assume nothing has been decided but if BW did decide to go ahead then having a sensible alternative for consideration is better than just complaining. The more ideas the better. Ken

These apparently are the questions asked in the CC petition, at least according to Narrowboatworld and the response obtained. The questions asked in the petition were: ★ Yes I agree that Continous Cruisers should pay a higher license rate equal to the cost of combining the average linear mooring fee with a private boat license fee. ★Yes I agree that Wide Beam boats should pay a pro-rata license fee (Length by Breadth). ★No I don’t agree with the above. Samantha Clarke tells us that 93% of respondents’ agreed that continuous cruisers should pay a higher licence rate equal to the cost of combining the average linear mooring fee with a private boat licence fee. Also 90% of respondents’ agreed that wide beam boats should pay a pro-rata license fee (length by breadth). Only 1.98% of respondents’ didn’t agree with the above. The results have been submitted to British Waterways, that is at present undertaking a licence consultation process. During 2006 narrowboatworld ran a similar petition, which showed a high percentage believing that continuous cruisers owners should pay more, though wide beam boats were not included. The other thread on this subject went somewhat off topic IMHO. So ignoring all the what is a CC'r arguments etc. would the following make a higher licence fee fair. In exchange for paying a higher licence fee a person CC ing would get a Winter mooring at a place of their choice, first come first served basis. In addition would have the right to overstay the current 14 days in the season for a genuine reason e.g. illness etc. subject to notifying BW. Yes, I know BW are normally ok with this sort of thing but this would be a right not a privlege. I don't see why a widebeam should pay a higher fee as they can only use half the system but it's open to debate. Ken

I'd forgotten this thread. Just as an update, I removed all the batteries from the boat late last year and found, as I posted on another thread, several broken battery clamps. When I put the batteries on the charger at home, proper digital jobby with all the bells and whistles, I found somewhat to my surprise that they were all in pretty good condition. All seven charged within an hour and despite being described as sealed, once I'd pulled the strip of tape off the tops I found you can remove the caps and top them up so I was able to equalise them. Therefore the twin alternator and Beta controller seem to be doing the job. I haven't measured it yet but the pulley ratio on the leisure battery alternator to the naked eye seems to be higher than 2:1. The concerns I had regarding the charging set-up I suspect were caused by the broken clamps, it's likely that two of the batteries may not have been in circuit. A good visual check would be worth adding to Jerry's excellent list. Ken

So around 40 Watts then. Ken

As you already have the inverter it's no contest. The difference in price and range of 12 V versus 240 V makes a standard 240 V TV the sensible option. We have a 19" LCD unit and the inverter doesn't even notice it's on. Evidently some cheaper inverters can give rise to interfearance but that shouldn't be a problem with a Mastervolt. Ken

I've never understood why boatbuilders always want to put the stove at the front of the boat. A friend of ours has her stove in the middle and both ends of the boat are always like toast. As your at the planning stage you might give this some thought. Ken

We get exactly the same problem, the heating system is connected to three rads and the calorifier. After a days run turn on the heating everything warms up however next morning the hot water in the calorifier is just warm. The calorifier dumps its heat into the cold water in the heating system as it's warming up. First job when the weather is better replumb. Ken

Depends on how the regulators in the various devices are set. The alternators probably have them set around 13.8 V and the Sterling Charger 14.2 V, hence the difference. The Sterling will be more efficent and will give the batteries a full charge more quickly. Doesn't seem like much but a few tenths of a volt makes a big difference. Have a look at Gibbo's website http://www.smartgauge.co.uk lots of useful information clearly explained. Ken

The Granada link is the first two series of Locks & Quays. 1-10 series 1, 11-20 series 2. I just pray that if they do put the latest series on they find anything other than Russell Grant to replace the adds with. Ken