robdalej

Makes sense , the only thing is that i had noticed, at the back end of the summer ,that the tacho needle had started waiving about wildly when out cruising , would presume that, in that case, the batteries would be slightly discharged (after an overnight stop), although the needle waving about is only intermittent, all this seems to have started since i had the 240 v charger fitted so ,maybe , the batts are always fully charged and no neeed to worry? ideas please!

our boat is ,at the moment hooked, up to the mains supply and batteries are being charged through a 240 v charger, when i check the voltage it usually shows a reading of 13.45 v . Today i went up to the boat, turned off the mains supply and ran the engine for awhile through the 12v system , noticed the rev counter needle was swinging from zero to 2000 rpm and then would settle back to 800 rpm , also putting a voltmeter on showed a reading of 15.1 . i suspect either a fautly alternator or regulator, anybody any other suggestions?

Just been down to have a look at the set up. water now in and nearly ready for boats, the elec. points are yet to be fitted , although there are a couple of hook up points installed. All the surrounding areas , ie car parks etc are nowhere near finished so any one moving in soon would a have a very muddy trip. have to say though should look o.k when finished ., would think it will create a lot of competition around Northwich once up and running

Interested to notice in last night episode caught a glimpse of our old boat(Brimstone) moored up just as they approached Braunston, wondered where it had gone after we sold it

dont think he said he was navigating after dark. i understood him to have said he was on the front of the boat, and looking at the shadows in the trees, with the headlight on ,as he mentioned his wife had gone to bed

why? i am one of your so called old boaters, and object to that comment

Poor bloke, only his 3rd post on here and he gets slagged off for posting something he probably thought was being helpful!

why not have a hull survey done while it out of the water, maybe if you suggested this and offered to go halves on the lifting out and in, the broker may agree to this

One of the worst things have seen out of the weed hatch was a few years ago on the Bridgewater, 2 of us travelled down the Runcorn arm and he was turning around at the basin, when his boat stopped , on opening up the hatch he found someone had put a dead dog into a bag and this had caught around his prop, not a nice job at all!

May not be in the midlands but try Nantwich canal centre, been building/ fitting out narrowboats for a long time and seems to havea good reputation

Hadthis problem once with our Vetus engine, would suddenly start chirping and rev counter gauge needle would fly about, turned out to be a faulty alternator

interesting reading this thread, having now reached the ripe old age of 74 and gone back into boating this year , decided a couple of years ago to give up as we were finding locking and hauling around a 50 ft boat was getting too much and sold up. now 2 yrs later my other half decided that she missed the canals that much so we decided to buy a smaller 30 ft , put it into a marina, which we have never done before, and use the boat as a weekend getaway and just a few days away rather than trying to do long cruises as we used to. Find this is working out fine , apart from my wallet taking a battering again!As someone else has said its far better than sitting at home watching homes under the hammer every day

depends which way you are going back, if using theMiddlewich arm then Trent and Mersey there are a few, try Kings lock pub at Middlewich, or there is a good pub at Wheelock also one about half way up Heartbreak hill , also one at Redbull basin, sorry cant remember any of the others but then your not so far from home

We did this trip a few years ago, from memory it took us two weeks ,so think you should allow this amount of time,, as you are governed by what time / dates C.R,T will allow you through the Liverpool arm . Not sure but think they only allow one passage per week through now

you havent factored in how many times you will be down the weed hatch on the run in to Liverpool! reckon you will be pushing it and have no real time to enjoy it

well said

if you had anyone in your family suffer from that illness, as i have then you wouldnt describe people like that, or maybe you would , anyway thought canals were for folk who like to take their time !

not very nice

I would say there is a deal of difference between builders , some good and some not. Colecraft, Piper and many others at the good end of the market , Springers were built for an entirely different sector, although there are still many Springers still on the canals most of them will have had or wlll need some hull work diong by now. It all depends on your budget but even boats like Colecraft , if an older model, may require work on them hull wise, never heard of ironwise

Winding holes maybe as , often there are no signs , so someone could moor opposite them by mistake but my pet hate is people mooring by bridge holes , often in a line , then cruise a mile up the canal and there will be loads of mooring spaces !

reason i think battery is on its way out is that , when i start up, the battery turns the engine over very slowly, as if its flat, then suddenly it seems to spring to life and the engine starts, its on shore power so assume that its keeping a charge that way, starter motor has just been overhauled so thats ok. all connections have been checked and 2 new leisure batteries fitted so am thinking that someone has fitted a 110 leisure batt , as the starter and is not getting enough initial kick to turn the engine initially , hope that makes sense

keep wondering about the starter battery fitted to our boat, it is due for replacement and wonder wether a large battery is actually needed , at the moment there is a 110 amp fitted along with 2 110 amp leisure batteries and as the starter battery is only used once, for starting the engine , if i could go down to a smaller starter batt which would then save on having to recharge 3 largish batts when cruising, the engine is a 3 cyl sole diesel 26 hp so anyone any suggestion as to a suitable size i could go down to ?

The t/v on our boat gives an excellent picture but ,as with all modern sets the sound is awful, I am a little hard of hearing(comes with age!) so that doesnt help. At home we use a sound bar but they would be a bit big for a boat. anyone any suggestions ?

just been thinking about how long a n/b engine should last, our 3 cyl Sole engine has 2300 hours showing and is 17 years old , and seems to be running well so how many hours have other boaters got on their engines,? unlike a car engine , which , usually can be measured by the cars mileage , there is nothing on a boat by which you can gauge the engines life

Especially if they are going to wreck the pub!