George and Dragon

Ah, home made equipment. And you had no part in its appearance on your vessel - best not take the risk. Of course, it's possible it was designed and built by someone extremely competent. Or not.

I just use vinegar. But CB may be stronger so worth using if you don't have time to leave it overnight.

Yes, that occurred to me. How does a multimeter help me? Understood.

Yes, and clearly there's something wrong - we should be able to last more than 24 hours without cruising. But I ain't putting hundreds of quids into new batteries until I'm certain they will charge from the engine Not quite.

Other commitments in the way now 😞

I managed to unconvince myself from buying new batteries: after a day when they took no charge whatsoever despite running for 4 hours, the voltage at the distribution board showing 10.3 and the fridge completely defrosting. The following morning the rested voltage was back to 12.2 and they happily took charge and powered the fridge and inverter. Very strange. Since then no problems, we got back to the marina and they're happily on charge. ❓I found something that suggested that the battery part numbers (31 etc) refer to the case design. Can anyone confirm this?

Due to the crap weather over the last few weeks we decided to postpone our South Oxford trip. Many thanks to everyone who posted info. It will come in handy, I'm certain.

What I really want to know (having convinced myself that i do need new batteries) is what do the letters and numbers in LX31MF actually mean? Which must I keep the same and which don’t matter? I have a bank of 4 sealed 12V batteries. 3 are Lucas LX31MF, the other is another brand but the same part number. Are these AGM? They were already installed when I bought the boat. They don’t have a date of installation marked but since the range on the label finishes at December 2014 my guess is they’re at least 5 years old. Unfortunately they’re barely holding any charge - finish cruising at 6 pm by 8 the following morning they’re down to 12.3V despite only running lights and the fridge overnight. I have a MCS monitor built into the 12V distribution panel - change over with to display battery voltage (domestic and starter) the ammeter shows the same value whichever bank is selected so presumably only on domestic. I’m normally on a marina attached to shore power and the domestics are kept charged by a Waeco charger, there’s also separate alternators for domestic and starter batteries. There is some corrosion on the steel parts of the terminal clips (I thought they should be brass) but there’s no furring.

That's mortgage money

Amazing. In an era when the GBG list of brewers takes more shelf than the whole of the 1979 GBG... I guess we'll be carrying some supplies. I understand the situation in Oxford itself is OK though I expect to need a mortgage to have what passes for a proper night out these days (4 pints).

What?!?

That's reassuring! I'm quite intolerant of road noise and found the stretch of the Trent and Mersey that's next to the A38 from Wychnor to Branston unbearable. I guess the M40 was built more recently than the M1 so perhaps the engineers were able to apply some the lessons learnt. Thank you, will bear that in mind

I know this is a little premature for a cruise diary but since we're in the planning stage I wanted to have a gander and see where the nice mooring points are between Braunston and Oxford. I'm particularly worried by the closeness of the M40 between Cropredy and Aynho. Are there places where the noise isn't so noticeable? :eardefenders: Maybe we should aim to stop at Cropredy then press on to Somerton or beyond? What do the experts advise?

I hope Alan takes that as a criticism rather than an insult although I suspect is it intended as such.

Ok