davidb

Yes, I have had some very good advice on here, thanks a lot. I plan to get a shunt and an ammeter fitted soon, and will be looking into a couple of solar panels to top up the batteries properly when nearing the end of a charge. I'll also find out if the Victron can do an equalise cycle. Yesterday we had a long evening of TV viewing and more besides and very pleased we are with the way the voltage kept up. With the engine running we are soon charging at 14.5 volts and, on the clamp ammeter, the highest I see (for a short while) is about 60A.

" is reading 14.4-14.6 volts & with a current of under 2% (ideally 1%) of battery capacity" All the readings are with no charger just running the battery down to show how long it was lasting with the fridge thermostat working normally, and normal evening usage with no engine. Tomorrow I shall see what it gets up to with the engine running again. That will be when we leave Liverpool having had a week on shore power.

We have had a week on the boat with only the two old batteries and they have been fine for cruising every day. I did an overnight test with just the panel voltmeter (no measuring of amps, I'm afraid) and have attached my readings. Yesterday I removed them and fitted the 4 T-105s and will do another static test shortly. All connections are good and solid.

Do you mean the sideways slip from inside the shed in Mayor's ?.

Good news, well photographed and thanks for that.

Well they haven't gone to the scrapyard yet thanks for that info Mike,- I had never thought of that. I think they are 7 or 8 years old but will check with the previous owner .

Thanks again for all the input. I have resigned myself to getting 4, but before fitting them, I shall do a test run for a few days with the remaining two, then take them home for maintenance and possible sale or use for something else. Last back end they wouldn't keep the fridge going properly overnight if we had any TV use, so we could see what the difference with two new ones on their own is before taking them out. Each dud one was in a separate 12v pair ISTR

Thanks for your prompt replies, so 4 new ones it is then. Are we all happy with Tanya as a supplier?

In our boat we had 4 Trojan T-6220 batteries, and two have expired. It is running satisfactorily on the remaining two, so is it bad practice to fit just two new ones and see how they go? I think these are the replacements https://www.tayna.co.uk/leisure-batteries/trojan/t-105/ Also, in the specifcations, they list the followng AH ratings, so do I work on the c20 value? Capacity (C5) Capacity (C10) Capacity (C20) Capacity (C100)

Impressive, ! , well done those workers whilst we kept warm and well fed at home.

Sorry, no, you should have reminded us earlier, we would have kept an eye open for them

We thought we might have met ours yesterday morning when we ran into the PennyWort just below the A59 bridge on the Rufford Branch on the way to our winter mooring: Firstly we ran staight into it, but came to a complete standsill as it closed in behind us, blocking the prop and rudder. A lot of jiggling about with the gears got us out backwards and we managed to get tied to a tree and off the boat up the bank via the plank to find a phone signal and check on the length of the blockage (about 60m realy bad and 100m not good). We rang the family to re -arange our plans, got through to CaRT eventually and put the kettle on to consider our position. The solution seemed to be - take a little run at it, let the boat come to a stop, reverse half a boat length, repeat. Again and again. So we felt like we had cried wolf after we got through to Tarleton with half an hour performing like this. Never needed to open the weed hatch once, thankfully.

You are spot on! We could easily have been in the middle of Burnley or Church when the breach happened, so have got off lightly again.

We have been stuck at Top Lock, Wheelton, for nearly a fortnight so will be heading down the flight tomorrow morning and will be trying to get to Wigan top before 12 noon Sunday. We need to get down through Dean lock before 1st of Nov when the winter stoppages begin, or we won't get to our winter mooring.