nicknorman

It is used to sterilise babies bottles, but it is muchly diluted when doing so. I’m inclined to agree about 500l but we did it with about 50litres in the tank. Chlorine gas is given off, and in the confines of a water tank I think even the bits above water are sterilised. In any event the bottom line is that it worked for us.

No, the active ingredient in Milton is sodium hypochlorite NaOCl. Big difference! You don’t need much to sterilise a water tank, maybe 1/2 a bottle - assuming the tank is only about 10% full.

Our boat, which was new in 2012, has a stainless steel water tank. After a few years we started to notice a slight odour and taste from the water. Not chlorine, more like some bug. So we mostly emptied the tank, added some Milton, left it for a few hours and pumped that through the system, then rinsed etc. That was probably 8 years ago and the issue has never recurred. We always drink water from the tap - we are still alive after all these years!

In theory it doesn't need trunking. But sometimes BSS examiners have their own opinions... And there is mention of exposure to potential damage. However it is flex with individual conductors insulated, then overall sheathing, so IMO it doesn't need trunking.

You over-filled it. The correct level is about 2" below the filler neck. This is because the coolant expands when it gets hot and you need to leave enough room for that. Depending on how much volume of coolant there is in the skin tank etc, the exact "full" level will vary a bit but the correct level is the point at which it stops coming out of the overflow pipe when the engine is hot, and then allowed to cool right down again.

However if the boat doesn't belong to the "seller" and he subsequently does a runner and the real owner comes calling, I'm not sure that such a document with all the legaleese would have any useful value.

It does seem to be the way of inland boat sales that it is a very informal process without any safeguards other than common sense and due dilligence. If the previous owner has had the boat for 6 years and there is a reasonable paper trail such as licences, receipts for servicing / oil changes etc that is reassuring. If the boat "looks" like it would match the style of the present owner (totally subjective I know) and such other things, then that is a comfort. If the current owner is able to answer reasonably technical questions about using the boat, ditto.

This is pretty old technology and I have not personally encountered it. However, looking at the manual for the Link 1000 you should be able to see what is happening by means of the digital display, which can read current in/out of the battery, voltage, AmpHours consumed and time to run. Pressing the SEL button cycles between the 4 parameters to be displayed. This will give you an idea of what is happening during various phases such as: Charging from the shore power: Charging from running the engine: Using the batteries to power stuff when moored. If you can gather some data from that, ie current, voltage and Ah consumed along with a description of the circumstances, and preferably some photos showing it, then we will be in a better position to help, because at the moment your main complaint seems to be that the battery status lights are not reflecting the battery state of charge. It does sound as though the battery charging via shore power and alternator is working, and getting only a few days of power when moored is reasonable. So it could be something like a wire come off the Link 1000 shunt so the panel is not detecting current flowing. Anyway, more data about how the whole system is behaving is needed please. Edited to add: I don't know how the system decides which coloured lights to illuminate on the battery status lights, but another possible explanation is that they are based on the expected State of Charge as measured by the amount of electricty taken out of the batteries vs their original capacity. If the capacity of the batteries has fallen significantly below the new value - as happens with all lead acid batteries fairly quickly, especially if the are over-discharged - then it could be that the Link "thinks" the batteries are still at quite a high state of charge when in fact they are nearly flat, due to lost capacity with age. How old are the batteries and were there any events just prior to this problem eg excessive discharge or leaving the batteries fairly flat for a long period? Anyway, a review of the current and voltage parameters during charging and discharging should give us more of a clue

Leaving the button pressed for a long time will have caused major overheating. Probably there is some plastic inside that had melted, maybe the seating for the return spring. Here’s a clue from the operator’s manual: “Notes for all panel types: Do not depress the stop button for more than ten seconds as this will lead to overheating and failure of the solenoid.“

I don’t think there is anything “smart” in the actual shunt bit, it’s just a shunt. So removing power from that won’t achieve anything. Yesterday just unplug the cable. From either end. If that doesn’t work do you have access to another phone/tablet with Bluetooth? Just to eliminate the App end of things.

Unusual. The Bluetooth can be turned off, but since the phone can see it presumably Bluetooth must be turned on. Check that the App isn’t offering a firmware update (top right hand corner ISTR). You can turn it off by unplugging the cable at the back, which removes the power. I don’t think there is another way.

Well, bearing in mind TRG get most of their income from CRT contracts, you’d think CRT could have put some pressure on them. If they had felt like it!

Yes that was the unfortunate bit, we had to leave behind lots of lovely people (although quite a few of them have now left). Hope to see you out and about on the cut sometime…

Well that’s good. I’m pleased to have been of service to you! We had already decided to leave in December, as a consequence of 2 days/week services / management “presence”, and no pontoon security (and having explained this to the marina manager, and proposed that eg they could make the pumpout self-service with tokens, but had the idea resoundingly rebuffed). The pontoon thing was crazy, the combination lock just needed a bit of fettling and probably just dismantling and oiling as I had done to it about 5 years earlier. But that seemed too much trouble and consequently our boat was left for 6 months with anyone from the towpath able to gain easy access. The mooring fee increase was just further confirmation that we had done the right thing.

See my edit. Proper sealed lead acid doesn't have removable vent plugs as they are gel cells. Maintenance free may have vent plugs, depends. Sometimes they are shipped dry and then filled with acid at the retailer (proably no vent plugs) or if they are shipped wet, I guess they would need vent plugs.

Yes open or sealed. Sealed is probably just open wet lead acid without the access holes for topping up! EDIT: well, sealed lead acid sometimes mean gel cell lead acid. Totally sealed unless the safety ruptures. But I think perhaps you mean "maintenance free" battery, which is wet inside but no unscrewable caps to access the electrolyte. They usually have a bit more calcium to reduce gassing.

I agree that at places like Grindley they are necessary at busy times, just to organise the traffic flow. But of course they don't have actually to operate the locks if the boat is adequately crewed to operate the locks reasonably expeditiously. It's a bit different for you as a single hander, I am sure if I was ditto I would be quite happy to accept help. But with 2 of us we are more effective doing it ourselves. Fair enough. I just hope part of the training is "ask first". If they were they would probably have better things to do! But then they would say "don't you know, it's the afternoon!"

Smokeless = Smokes Less. Not Absense of Smoke! I find it better to put a little on at a time onto a still-hot stove, not a great load onto a nearly-out stove. More hassle but less smoke.

Part of the fun is not only operating the locks, but also meeting other boaters and chatting when doing so. As per the "And so it starts" thread, we had a bit of queuing on the T&M between Gt Haywood and Aston last week, and spent the waiting time helping other people through and chatting to them. Of course the same boat ahead of us on each of the 3 locks and it transpired they too were moving their boat to Aston. And she had been a glider pilot! Lovely people. In the end we exchanged phone numbers. You don't get that with volockie-operated locks.

Personally I would have taken the opportunity to demonstrate that it is a priviledge for volockies to be allowed to mess with the locks we are traversing, not a right! Did they ask you if you wanted assistance, or just assume?

Set against your unfortunate experience, tens of thousands of boats and millions of road vehicles have lead acid batteries and alternators that are well above 25% of battery capacity. They didn't explode (well maybe a miniscule fraction did😱). So I would just stick with wet lead acid and ensure the charge voltage and venting is correct. AGM is anyway less tolerant of overcharging that wet LA.

For optimum life, a LA battery should ideally be charged at around 10-20% of capacity. But “optimum life” is not the only consideration, eg engine running time is another. Most boat engines with 2 alternators have at least a 45A alternator for the engine, and around 100 or 110Ah starter battery. This works fine for thousands of boaters! In part because starting the engine takes about 1Ah or less, and so the charging time at high current is just a few seconds, the charge current rapidly decreases as the surface charge is replaced. It would be worse if the battery was in a very low state of charge but even then, we are only talking about a slight reduction in life. And as we know, LA batteries have a suicidal tendency whereby whatever you do with them will shorten their life! Even just looking at them! (Something to do with Schrodinger’s cat perhaps?). I know you have had a very nasty experience with the exploding battery, but honestly I think you are over-thinking it. Your problem was likely caused by the combination of leaving the bung in and too high a charge voltage. So rather than questioning your whole setup, I would just get a couple of new batteries, install them correctly, and then check the charge voltages with a multimeter to ensure they are reasonable and if not, identify the cause of the high charge voltage.

I've forgotten, but definitely more expensive than FMM. The new regime at FMM in terms of electricty is certainly better than the old (proper bills with meter readings etc, and it's fairly cheap with no standing charge). But then we don't use much so it's not of any consequence to us. Now we have Li we don't leave the boat plugged in during the summer, and winter with the dehumidifier we use about £3 a week (probably £4 at the new marina). You get a lot of electricity for the £565 cheaper mooring fee!

… but Aldi is excellent for wine. And steaks. Not much else, admittedly.