Lophat Euro

Google maps, search item - Honey Street Wharf. Good satellite image of location. Can see boats moored close by. Pub is located on south side in the street running between the large commercial buildings. Plenty of fields. The mem'sahib is a keen board user - (a different topic which holds no interest for me). They organise meetings in the "real world" regularly but deem it necessary to have a small committee to take forward from the brainstorming phase to the operational phase. It will be difficult to plan for numbers until the date is firm, somebody will have to bite the bullet.

When I moved my narrowboat to France, I had it dropped into the yacht harbour at Calais. Mistake. We were trapped there for four days by a force 8 ( the harbour gates are below water for two hours either side of high tide). It was a very rough experience. When port control gave us the OK to cross to the Carnot lock, we had no problem with the light swell as we made our way between the cross channel ferries. It was two sea tugs coming out of the lock at 20 knots that almost finished us. Each one pushed a wall of water in front of it so high we could not see the boats. A narrowboat can take a lot of water on the bows, especially the old Harborough high bows, but it is the wave energy on the sides that take you to shake hands with the devil. You do not want to find out the maximum angle of heel of a narrowboat and so much depends on the security of ballast, and the amount of liquid in the tanks. You turn your boat through most of a right angle to cross the bow wave but before you can get her back the stern swell is coming at your beam: stern swell does not have crests and takes people by surprise. A second boat coming close up on a different angle, demands another fast turn. Its a doddle in a fast sailor, but fast and narrowboat are not often paired successfully. Should you find the idea of taking a narrowboat into tidal waters, or even a busy port, persist, try to get some time in on big continental rivers: a wide river with soft banks that absorbs a lot of the energy from the water and has a lighter volume of traffic, is a little more forgiving of the shortcomings of narrowboats and their crews.

Well, that sounds pretty good to me. I reckon "it ain't broke", so no need to fiddle with additions. I am very grateful for the advice.

The Merlin - that's the one with the roaring fan. I gather the Skipper light comes on only when the engine is running.

Why this " a wealthy landowner has . . ." concealing his identity as if he were an under age lager lout. Let's have his name in print and name the Planning Officers. Why should these grabbers enjoy anonymity! I am reminded of the sign at the Concoform boatyard at Weedon, something like: We were here first. If you don't like the noise you shouldn't have come here.

There are three items in the box: an XAlt alternator controller, a Skipper and what the fitting engineer details as, "Merlin 12 volt, 30 Amp charging unit. . . .supply and fit X-split 1 in, 2 BS charge splitter out at same time fitting X-Alt." Sorry, had to dash up to the attic to get the archive box to find that.

We have drop back hoppers. We had mossies, gnats, horse fly, black fly and low flying aircraft pouring in. For five years we used sticky Velcro and proprietary mossie netting – sourced in Germany – almost every DIY shop in the Reich sells the stuff. The system gets dirty and some of the adhesive gives up, so the entire thing needs to be replaced every third season. But some of the adhesive has not given up and it can be a swine to remove. Two years ago we had a set made and they are excellent ( I think the rules of the board forbid my mentioning the maker). This system would not work with slats. I am surprised your insurer has not tweaked your premium for having slats, low security, high risk.

Many thanks Gibbo for taking the time to deal with this. For me “technical” has the same meaning as juju. I perform the actions required and expect the great oompah to shower me with bounty. If told to light joss sticks and chant at the batteries, I would see it as no different to my assiduous watering (distilled, of course – but happy to use 4711, if the manual demands it) of the cells. I use Johnson’s baby Vaseline on the terminals and they would pass muster at Horse Guards. I will assume that as I water the batteries, they are wet cells. I bought them at the tractor spares depot, taking the cheapest I could find ( batteries are more expensive in France). I know – sorry - I believe the batteries were fully charged, because when I switched on the battery management system, it ran through the checks and the magic eye turned green within four minutes. I was there for three days and had the same result each day. As to what loads are left: I switch off the battery isolator switch; water pumps are switched off; and the phone is switched off ( this is wired to the starter battery). If I take your figure of wet cells self discharging at about 1% to 2% per week, over the period of 14 weeks, the expected loss would be between 14% and 28%. Yet the little dears produced the green eye after the four minute check. It will be another 10 weeks before I return and I expect the batteries to be fine. But it is leaving them year after year for these long periods that made me think about the solar panel. I have seen an advert for : “The Sunsei SE 400 (6W) can slowly charge large 12V deep-cycle batteries, protecting them through long storage periods. Connects in seconds . . .Includes built-in discharge protection . . . Charge controller, a rough rule is that if the panel puts out 1/60th or less per day of the rated battery capacity, you don't need one. “ Cost £60, not bad, if it saves me having to pay for a crossing a couple of times each winter. But, I fear that if the batteries are holding a full charge, this thing might over charge them, which I understand, sorry, believe, is just as bad as letting them run down.

From the impenetrable exchange I have just read, it seems you guys know about battereis. Can you advise me? For the last six years I have left my battery charger switched on for the : six months. As the boat was moored 800 miles from home, I did not visit during that period. Batteries seemed Ok but I thought I ought to replace them. My new mooring does not offer free electricity, so I have not kept the charger on. Nonetheless, after four months, the batteries were fully charged when I visited last week ( new mooring is only 250 miles away). I was thinking about a solar panel to keep the charge - but on seeing the batteries fully charged, I thought, why bother. Should I bother?Lophat

New to this website, and quite tickled by many droll entries, I regret that my “maiden post” should be even more dismal than Bob’s posting I moved my narrowboat to a new mooring last autumn and popped over to check on her this week. The new mooring does not have a powerful enough shore feed for my ceramic heaters, so I lit the Morso for the first time in five years, using a palette salvaged from the DIY up the road. I was warm but had to get outside to breath. It is clear that I have not given the stove the attention it deserves ( I thought it was “fit-and-forget). Back home now, I have spent time today reading up on solid fuel and CO poisoning. The Poisons Unit at Lille University Hospital reports: “ 305 severe cases of Carbon Monoxide poisoning among children in just two regions in 2006. Even in good condition and with effective flues, coal burning stoves present a danger. Atmospherique conditions play an important part in the incidents: low cloud, fog or a rise in atmospheric temperature are sufficient triggers to prevent the proper release of the gases and promote their distribution in the room. Coal stoves should be used only in very cold conditions: there must be a sufficient difference in indoor and outdoor temperature to ensure proper evacuation of the gases of combustion. If the weather improves – do not damp down your stove – put it out.” So, its back to the goose grease, Damart and thermal wool. Now, on a brighter note if anyone wants a recommendation on good places to eat on the French waterways, or how to take and pass your CEVNI test, or the vocabulary to use when menaced by French Peniche skippers, I’m your man. Lophat