Keeping Up

We've got stable doors. I wouldn't be without them (for these same reasons)

Thanks for the suggestion, but I do actually have a solar charger - and it's a good one, made by Exide. It seems that my car just consumes so much current when it is left that the charger, which I had placed on the rear parcel shelf to get the maximum amount of sunshine, still could not produce enough current to keep the battery topped up (and yes it was connected directly to the battery terminals). Having wrecked two batteries in two years, it seems the only answer is for me to disconnect the battery when I leave - although that does cause its own set of problems. Apart from the fact that the alarm automatically goes off when I reconnect it, there are more things than you could imagine that are controlled by the engine management computer and which need to be manually reset or recalibrated, not just the radio but also including all the door locks, all the windows and the even seat positions.

I hope you get a good price for them

Go for it. Get a second-hand boat, keep the house or downsize. When I retired, early and unexpectedly, Pingu & I just set off on the boat 2 days later without any idea where we were going. Nobody heard from us again for 3 months, and it was the best bl**dy 3 months of my life. Now we spend winter in the house and summer on the boat, and it's just perfect.

Are we still talking about the bacteria in the poo-tank here?

That is too low if it's a no-load voltage, it is effectively empty. Your batteries will be suffering at that voltage

The one in my car always fails in the summer - because it goes flat while I'm away boating

Also, the lower the temperature the higher the charging voltage you must apply. If your charging system does not have any temperature compensation built in, you may not be charging yuor batteries fully when it is very cold.

I don't think a crust is likely. Settlement and sludging are much more likely. I used to worry about needing to leave the tank empty, but as I said above using a suitable biological additive I haven't found it necessary. We don't live on board during the winter, and I have often left the tank quarter-full for several months with no ill effects. For my first pumpout of the year as the tank reaches the "nearly empty" state I always remove the inspection hatch that I have in the top of the tank (note - make sure the pump is sucking well before doing this, so you won't be assaulted by the vapours) and flush round inside with a hosepipe that has a garden nozzle to give a good jet of water. At all subsequent pupmpouts I don't lift the hatch, but when the tank is nearly empty I poke the nozzle in through the dump-through flap (waiting until the tank is almost empty of course). I've installed a short length of flexible hose, with its own tap, as a permanent fitting under the bath, so at pumpout time I just pull it out from under the bath and pop it into the loo.

A brilliant report with fabulous pictures Janet. I am so jealous of your kingfisher picture, I've tries for years and never managed anything like that.

Well I'd hate to see the results of connecting one to a pumpout machine

Yes it really is as simple as that (for hairdryers)

I have no hair but my wfe has plenty. I don't know about hire boats - it's a "how long is a piece of string" question, some hireboats have 300 watt inverters and some have 3000 watt inverters We had a 600 watt hairdryer on our boat, it really wasn't powerful enough. We've now got a 1200 watt one, Pingu reports that it is perfect

Depends on the additive. The one I suggested does the opposite.

Uppermill is a wonderful town, we stopped there a for few days this summer. We even nearly bought a canalside house there 5 years ago, which had an end-of-garden mooring but it was too short for us. We were also put off the house by the number of locks to be passed before travelling anywhere.

Now here's some REAL ice for you (Taken on our trip to the Antarctic. The ship's captain was playing a sort of giant snooker game to clear a passage down the straits, running into the icebergs and using the ship's bow as a snooker cue to sending icebergs spinning off ahead of us to ricochet off all the other ice and make a passage!)