MrBean

The data you have provided from the battery monitor shows that on the day where you generated the most power the minimum voltage of the battery was much lower than the other days. Therefore, the battery had the capacity to absorb much more power. See the value underlined red below. When you look at the minimum voltage over the last few days, in you other screenshot, the minimum voltage is barely below 13V, hence the batterys were unable to absorb a lot of power. Before I get told off, the voltages provide an indication of what amount of power the batteries were able to absorb. The low voltage could have been an instantanous dip when you turned on a heavy load, but if not on for a long time then the battery may not have discharged much of course!

One way to ease enforcement burden would be to shift onus onto the owner of the mooring. Unfortunately this would likely encourage even more CM’ing. A difficult issue to tackle.

If you are referring to my post, at no point does it say unlicensed boats. I very carefully refer to boats not displaying a valid licence, which I believe remains a requirement. If this is true, one may infer these boats are not licenced but I suspect that would be highly inaccurate. I’m unteuigyed why so many boats choose not to display a valid licence, if they have paid up.

My own impression is that there are far more boats now with no or out of date licences displayed than there used to be. When passing a single line of private on-line moorings recently I counted 29 boats showing a valid licence and 72 either not showing one or it was out of date. A very small poll, but I did it to see if my feeling that I seem to pass a lot of boats not showing a valid licence was a realistic impression. The licence now has the date much smaller so it is very difficult to read from any distance, which can’t help compliance checking. Do people with a valid licence choose not to display it or are there just a very large number of unlicensed boats and CRT are kidding themselves as to the real scale of the problem?

The other side of the shunt should effectively go to everything: consumers, chargers etc. not just the freezer...

Oh dear. From my layman’s perspective, it would suggest it’s not wired correctly. I can’t imagine that it is of any use if it is only seeing the out current.

I have little knowledge of these and don’t have one. However, I can’t see how a ‘battery monitor’ could perform its function without monitoring the in and out current. Otherwise it would simply be an electricity meter. Tony has confirmed what I have found about it’s current readings. Does yours show positive and negative current values at different times?

I was checking for others, who were trying to work out if they could get through Birmingham from the south, having come across another stoppage they weren't expecting. They've decided it would be too much of a push to get there and through before Monday. Many thanks for the offer though.

Thanks very much, what service. Noted.

Does anyone know if the Wolverhampton flight is currently open? The wording suggests there is no work going on over this weekend, but it is not clear if it was to be opened between these dates...

According to a previous poster, asking the same question, they contacted the CRT who advised it was possible to CC on this canal. Surprises me, but we all have a different definition of CC it seems. The last time I was on this canal the southern 1/4 was almost impassable due to weed - as it seemed no one ever goes down there - and we were down the weed hatch every 20min. Wouldn't take many CC's to clog up the remaining canal even more than the long stretches of official moorings that already exist.

Interesting, we did turn at Red House then. Didn't see the end of navigation sign either. If 2014 was your last visit, I wonder whether the reeds have encroached into the river somewhat since. In a 60ft boat the bow was well and truly in the reeds and rock was clearly visible just behind the stern, I'd say 6" below the surface. Now I may have got my angles wrong and there could be a better approach, but it was pouring with rain at the time (that's my excuse anyway🙂 ), and I couldn't see a better alternative.

One might hope, but I think one will be disappointed when it comes to an Avon Licence.

The inland waterways do tend to attract a good number of grumpy folk, don’t take much notice and just enjoy your holiday. You will need to buy a license for the river Avon, this is done online, a “short term” 7 day through license, £50. A few observations about the river Avon from my trips along it in both directions earlier in the year: If you buy the guide book, take its contents with a pinch of salt, it is not particularly accurate. I assume the content is simply out of date and they don’t bother to warn you of this. The Avon in general is lovely to navigate, but I advise that you are very careful in the approach to and transit through Evesham Lock, it is awful. Upstream the lock landing is the walkway along the top of the weir (contrary to the guide book), and depending on the water level can seriously damage the cabin sides as the piles are set back some way from the edge of the actual walkway. Combined with the slight pull from the weir, I witnessed it do damage to more than one boat in quick succession. The lock itself is quite fierce, but take your time and all will be fine. Moorings are quite sparse and there is only sufficient room for one or two boats at a number of the designated moorings. Pleasant places with plenty of mooring spaces are Pershore and above Offenham lock. For such a large place, Tewkesbury has very few public moorings. It is common to have to double up on the moorings, so don’t be shy in asking if this is what you need to do. It was the first time we had been along the Avon upstream of Stratford, but contrary to what others have said, I did not find it particularly clear where to turn around. I think we turned at what would be called ‘The Red House’ but we couldn’t see a red house nor was there a sign to say the end of navigation – so maybe we turned in the wrong place! However, where we did turn was very shallow on the inside of the bend (with rocks) and the outside of the bend was stacked full of reeds and I wouldn’t want to try and turn a 70ft boat there, for sure. Navigating the rivers is somewhat different to the canals, but I'm sure you will enjoy the contrast.

As you don't provide your weight, taking a nominal 100kg (15+ Stone) in the middle of the beam, the maximum deflection of the aluminium channel would be almost 11mm. The beam wouldn't fail, but the deflection is more than I would be comfortable with, particularly as some of these drainage channels have very little overlap to the channels at their ends. As the material is free, and if you have the clear space available below the deck, you could bond two aluminium channels back to back. This would reduce the maximum deflection to under 3mm (less than a single steel channel) and the beam would still be a third lighter than its steel cousin. Yes, corrosion would occur where the aluminium contacts the steel, but 1) it will not happen overnight and 2) if the steel and aluminium are well painted then it would dramatically reduce the corrosion.