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January 17 2003 Well, here we are in a new year! I am looking forward to the coming season and hoping we get more time to use the boat this year than last. Really, owning a narrowboat only becomes a realistic option in finacial terms if you can make frequent use of it. If not it is probably far cheaper and less hassle to hire on the occasions you want to cruise. Having said that there are the numerous afternoon trips down to the boat to check everything is OK, start the stove to warm her through, run the engine to keep the batteries charged which are on the whole quite enjoyable. The work that was done all seems OK, the new layout inside suits us perfectly and the engine room appears dry. I've bought some new wall lights for the dining area. There were lights already fitted but one of the switches was not too good.
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They were not expensive and have 10watt bulbs whereas the old ones were 20watt so they will be a little easier on the batteries.
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Another view of the new dining area
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The stove heats the whole boat quite happily and I have not used the central heating except for hot water even when the temperature has been around freezing outside.
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The stove "in action"
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March 10 2003 I went to the boat last week with the intention of spending a few days aboard to "chill". I arrived at the mooring and ran the engine for an hour to top up the batteries and get a tank of hot water. I lit the stove had a meal and settled down for the evening when the TV began to buzz. I looked at the control panel and the domestic battery condition light was amber. As time went by the TV died and the battery condition light was red. Obviously the domestic batteries were flat. I could not really run the engine again as there were other people on their boats and I did not want to disturb them. I could not understand why the batteries should be flat as the last time we used the boat we came back from Doncaster which is about 2hrs and then the hour at the mooring this should have been sufficient to last the night unless something was amiss. I did notice however when we spent the night at Doncaster the voltage did seem suspect. I put this down to the fact the boat had not been used much during the winter. I could not get the batteries off on the night as it was pitch black and I didn't fancy scrambling around the engine bay trying to get batteries off in the dark. I abandoned the idea of staying aboard and went home. I returned the next day and removed the batteries. I brought them home and put them on charge but after 3 days the charger had not reached the "Ready and Maintaining" state so I concluded they had had it. No problem I thought just get 2 more. You would have thought that in Thorne with 3 marinas and a boat yard you would be able to walk into any of them and by 2 deep cycle leisure batteries. Not so! There were batteries OK but all of them had the terminals on the other side. Would you not have thought they would be all the same? I did find one the right way round on display at Blue Water Marina, great, I thought. "Have you got 2 of those?" I asked. No only the one was the reply. So I had to order the batteries which have now arrived but I've not had time to fit yet.. I will check the starter battery also when I get to the boat next. The domestics were not old. I believe the previous owner had fitted them not long before he sold the boat, so that would make them about 2 years old. I guess they have gone flat over time and the frost has got to them making them not hold a charge. I checked the starter battery and it would not fully charge either. Although it started the boat fine I did not want to take any risks so I replaced it too. All this prompted me to look at the mooring situation. If I had a 240v hook up at the mooring I could have stayed on the night. The batteries would never have got so low as they could be charged on the mooring. I have decided to give up the mooring at Bramwith and move to Blue Water Marina www.northernnarrowboats.co.uk . I have got a mooring there with hook up from the beginning of April. The marina is more expensive but there is diesel, pump out, gas, solid fuel and other services there. It is also a bit easier to get to by car. For most trips this will add on a couple of hours unless we are going Keadby way (not often as it is the end of the line apart from going out on the Trent) but It does not really matter as when I'm cruising I don't really care how long it takes to get anywhere. I will put a
charger in the engine room on a timer so it charges every day for a couple
of hours which should keep the batteries in good shape and come the winter
they should never discharge and therefore not freeze. |
