Rebotco

Another source of relevant information is the technical pages of www.12VoltPlanet. I have frequently found them invaluable on 12 volt equipment.

I am wondering if there is confusion between the old "Fibreglass" and the more modern "Rockwool"?

Sorry - your cunning plan doesn't hold water.......... .........Unfortunately, neither will your bike! Plus you will drown before reaching 4 mph underwater.

Boat sinks. What to use for hole? Sorry to hear your boat sinks. Is this just occasionally, or is it a regular feature? I wouldn't use anything for a hole because you have most likely got one already. They are definitely bad news in a narrowboat anyway. I suggest you get rid of it pdq - a dirty great cork may well do the trick. 🙄

I've hired electric boats on the Mon and Brec a number of times, over 20 years ago. The main thing is that they have dedicated mooring spots with charging, which are not available to other canal traffic. At that time it was necessary to recharge pretty much every night, but that may well not be the case nowadays. Grounding was often a problem, especially late in the day, when the batteries didn't have enough oomph left to get you out. The barge pole was essential on those occasions. Being separated from the rest of the canal network means even in the height of summer total traffic remains the same. In my view it is the most beautiful of all the canals I've used and I would thoroughly recommend it to both the novice and old hands. They were pioneers of electric boats decades before they caught on elsewhere, and it is probable they are well ahead of the game today.

Those are almost certainly Caldwell windows. They were favoured by Dartline boatbuilders who often supplied the old Black Prince vessels. When I inquired about exactly the same thing, they asked for pictures to identify the correct version.

Not strictly correct - there have been electric charging facilities along the Mon and Brec for at least 20 years! Although this is a CRT canal, it may be the charging infra structure was installed by the electric boat hire companies.

I gave up using a wet vac on my cruiser stern. It is designed to have a wet bilge, and and takes multiple empties with a vac. It does have an automatic bilge pump, but this still leaves about 2" of water. So now I also use a cheapie small bilge pump fixed to the end of a stick, with crocodile clips to temporarily attach to the domestic batteries. I also use a longish piece of hose, which will reach the far side of the towpath. So I just dip the pump into the bilge and it runs continuously, with no emptying of a vac., until I'm happy with the result. If there is a bit of oil as well, it doesn't much matter as its not going into the cut. I find this most useful for emptying the bulk of the engine tray especially, as this cannot be dealt with automatically.

I did this over 20 years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Probably the prettiest canal in the country IMHO. Certainly then, had to moor each night at one of the half dozen dedicated mooring sites. Never had a problem getting a spot then, though there may be more electric hire boats nowadays. By the end of each days cruising the speed was noticably slower and the engine power definitely reduced, which didn't help when you got grounded. So I would say a recharging mooring is essential each night. Things may be a bit different now, for better or worse, but from my experience I would thoroughly recommend it.

Tell you what .......... Let Nick be right on Mon Tues Weds and Gibbo on Thurs Fri and Sat. .......................................................................... then we can all have Sundays off!!!

little electric engraving tools are quite cheap.

Perhaps technology has improved. Nevertheless, there remains a specific lifetime for all CO alarms, quite apart from the batteries.

I think its worth remembering that the internal CO sensors only last up to 7 years anyway. So the whole unit really has to be replaced after 7 years. That's irrespective of the battery condition.