doratheexplorer

Locks around Gailey are about average I think. If they're too stiff, get someone else to do it.

Do you have any experience of boat ownership or travelling the canals? I can think of 100s of unforeseen problems with a novice building their own cruising boat out of pontoons. Why not buy a cheap boat and get used to travelling the canals on that first?

Sorry sir. Your comment read to me like a proxy for your own actions. It was your use of the word 'us' which misled me.

You speak for yourself. That sort of thing disgusts me. Next time you read about some poor sod dying of winter cold because the DWP stopped their benefits, try and make the connection with your behaviour. Fair enough but doesn't change my point that the mersey ferry doesn't have anyone living on it.

An ISA isn't really tax avoidance or tax evasion. It's more similar in intent and practice to the tax free allowance on income. In other words it's the government's method to encourage behaviour deemed laudable. In this case, having some money for a rainy day.

I very much doubt CRT would win with this argument. We already have some judges comments which accurately describe the Mersey Ferry as continuously cruising. Who lives on the Mersey Ferry? The courts have made it clear that using your boat for bona fide navigation has nothing to do with anyone living on the boat. I clearly remember the judge's comments saying that the determining factor as to whether a continuous cruiser is bona fide is 'temporal not geographical'. CRT would do well to remember that.

I wasn;t really talking about people in your situation. There is an argument that you should be contributing to the coffers of the local authority where your mooring is. I was talking about people who don't live on their boats and aren't on the council tax bill in their house either. Why should they be forced to contribute more?

That doesn't make sense. Levying an extra charge on moorers by CRT doesn't have anything to do with council tax or marinas (except very indirectly). This is extra money for CRT without justification.

That is shocking! Have they given any justification? Do you have anything written you can share with the forum.

This seems very unsatisfactory to me. Many adults live quite legally in properties where the council tax payer is someone else. Grown up kids still living at home. Shared houses. New partners etc.

It could be an actual Rose and a Crown. Alternatively, there are general place names which linger after long lost pubs.

You can buy a Jabsco 1.9 for around £55. Look harder.

I didn't say when it would sink. But it will sink!!! There are incantations which need to be chanted, but I'm not sure what they are. You could try reciting the Lord's Prayer backwards, or shout Beetlejuice 3 times. I think you have to walk backwards round the boat 6 times while drinking a carton of Um Bongo too. Probably best to light some candles and have a priest on standby.

I'm telling you, the boat will sink!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Jabsco 2.9 gives 11 litres per minute. The 2.9 refers to pressure measured in bar, not flow rate.

I have a Jabsco Parmax 1.9 which suppposedly gives 7 litres a minute. I used to have a more powerful pump but when I replaced my last leaking shurflo pump, the seller sent me the 1.9 instead of the 2.9 by mistake. He gave me a big discount by way of apology and I put the 1.9 in. I'm very happy with it. The flow rate is a bit lower but still fine for a shower. I use less water and the whole system is now at a lower pressure than it was built for, which mean leaks are less likely.

Don't buy another Shurflo, they're crap. Don't ask how I know this. Get another make, like Jabsco.

Not that extreme, a few lights, water pumps, phone charging. That can't be taking more than 10ah from the batteries. So 1.5 hours a day should be plenty to put that back in, unless he has the smallest alternator of all time. Of course, if he runs his fridge than he's probably taking about 50ah a day in total so 1.5 hours a day wouldn't be enough. When I first had a boat, I had no idea at all what I was doing. I had 3 leisure batteries and I had no idea how old they were. I used to leave them until the inverter howled at me and then run my engine or genny for about 3-4 hours. Then carry on for a few days and repeat. I managed ok on those batteries for about 2 years. Was I doing things 'right'?- no. Do I care? - no. Was I enjoying my boat? - yes. Would I have enjoyed my boat more if I'd bought a smart meter and checked it every half hour? - no!

You're very much not typical.

I decided to go for a low price to err on the side of caution and to avoid forum know-it-alls arguing my point but saying they can get diesel cheaper. At 90p a litre my point is even stronger. Also many boats drink more than 1 litre an hour. Basically, there's a lot of tosh talked on this forum about battery charging and the received wisdom seems to be to charge for 2-3 hours a day 6 days a week and then charge for about 6 hours on a sunday. Even if you have solar for say 7 months of the year, that's about 20 hours a week for 20 weeks through the winter. That's 400 hours of battery charging a year (assuming no summer equalisation charges etc). At a guess I'd reckon about 200 of those hours aren't really to provide power as such, they're to keep your batteries healthy. 200 hours of battery charging is gonna cost (at 90p a litre and 1.2litres an hour) £216. So you could either spend £216 annually to try and keep your batteries good (and enjoy lots of extra noise, fumes, vibration, engine wear etc.), or you could spend £240 on a set of 3 batteries and, if they last longer than a year, have a little party to celebrate your good sense. Link: https://www.limekilnchandlers.co.uk/3-x-110amp-leisure-batteries-collect-only.html I'm sure there's some sense in carefully cossetting your batteries if you've just spent £2000 on 2v traction cells. But for the other 99%, it's probably a waste of money even trying. And when the red diesel goes, even more so. Now just let me nip out for some popcorn.

Or "Sparkly"!

Lots of predictable comments about battery charging, which are largely right as general advice but I'll give an alternative view: The OPs post indicates a very low power consumption. Pumps, lights (LED?), and phone charging. If that's genuinely all the power usage, and there's only 1 battery, 2 x 45 minutes is probably ok. The OP is getting to grips with things. There's a fair chance that the battery will be a bit knackered by spring, but better that with one battery than an expensive big bank. Getting 1 battery charged is going to be an easier and quicker job than a big battery bank too. Look at it this way: Assume the battery cost £90 and diesel is 70p a litre, and his engine uses a litre per hour (very rough estimate - bear with me). If the OP runs his battery for an extra hour a day between now and the end of March to look after his battery a bit better. By then he would have spent around £135 extra pounds on diesel, which is more than it would cost to buy a new battery. (150 days x £0.70p = £105) Not to mention the extra wear and tear on the engine. Don't bother with the fridge if you can avoid it, get a good quality (Coleman or similar) unpowered cool box and keep it on your deck. Milk etc will keep for a few days easily over winter. Keep your electricity usage as low as you can. Expect to bin the battery in the spring. In the Spring look at what you've learned and consider getting a proper battery bank with some solar (300w or more) - this will happily run a fridge through the warmer months.. Happy days! Note to add: I like the name 'Butterfly'! Don't change it or your boat will sink.

That'll do donkey, that'll do.