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I have encountered quite a few boaters who deliberately head for the stoppages as an excuse to stay still (on prime VM's) till the work is complete. In one case the work was delayed by bad weather so he waited on the VM for 6 weeks till it started! ...............Dave

In that case I will stop trying to help you. OK, so I made one huge mistake but it was quickly corrected by the forum. I have tried to answer each question you posed in a manner that you stood a chance of understanding. I estimate I have now probably wasted a couple of hours on you and so have others. You got told the ammeter was probably in the wrong place within the first few posts so you got the probable answer. The fact you seemingly did not like or understand it does not mean you did not get or see it. This is a repeat of the Perkins 4-108 cold start topic and the fridge volt drop topic. The OP has done some degree of self diagnosis and is looking for confirmation rather than the truth.

I thought I would share my experience trying to improve my internet and phone communications whilst out on the cut. For a number of reasons it is essential that I can have a reliable connection, especially internet wherever possible. As a CC for at least six months of the year the need for something more reliable than the standard ‘3’ Mi-Fi offering (as good as it is) quickly became apparent. The forums search facility will bring up many useful threads on the subject of improving both internet and phone communications. There are many ideas bandied about, some more worthy than others, such as dongles wrapped in plastic bags or yoghurt pots and dangling by bits of string from chimneys and such like. They work with varying degrees of success. I know, I’ve tried most of them at one time or another. Having experimented with different ideas over the past couple of years I have come to the inevitable conclusion that in order to have the best chance of receiving a reliable signal for both phone and internet you really need to invest in some serious equipment. Of course there are those that the ‘Heath Robinson’ approach is more than satisfactory and indeed may well give excellent results in the right location. But those who travel the system extensively and need reliable internet/phone connection for business say, will probably need something more ‘fit for purpose’. Internet I think it’s well recognised, and it’s also my experience, that the ‘3’ network has the most extensive and reliable coverage of the canal system. I had one of their standard Huawei ‘Mi-Fi’ units that didn’t have the external aerial socket and found that, although generally quite good, it did have limitations as to reception and performance. I then purchased via Amazon the Huawei E5332 which did have an external aerial socket (TS9 connection). I initially tried connecting that to a 12 inch magnetic mount aerial placed on the roof and that improved reception a great deal. But there were still many locations I found it gave no reliable signal reception. In those locations I found taping the mag aerial to the top of my boat hook raised vertically did indeed generally improve the reception. I did a lot more research and eventually decided on a demountable 2 metre mast with an aerial from Connex Technologies. http://www.connextech.co.uk/3g-external-high-gain-omni-antenna-bundle---600603-253-p.asp Their aerial comes fitted with 5 metres of cable and the TS9 pig tail required to connect to the Mi-Fi unit and costs about £120 This proved to be the ‘bees knees’ and with this aerial mounted atop the 2 metre mast I got reliable internet connection on ‘3’ just about everywhere we go. I installed this ‘enhanced’ system in the Spring of 2013 and has proved its worth during our extensive cruise last summer. As we try and use 12v wherever possible I also purchased an in car charger unit for the MI-Fi from Maplins which saves having to use the inverter. Although the Mi-Fi unit has about a 5 hour battery life, if we are moored up for a couple of days or so, using as much 12v equipment wherever possible is preferable in my opinion. We also have 530 watts of solar panels which provides all our electrical needs in the summer when not cruising. Recently we had a need for a second Mi-Fi unit and rather than go for another E5332, as good as it is, I thought technology may have improved and the latest offering from ‘3’ is the Huawei E5756. It is more expensive than their standard unit but it does have the external TS9 socket. Apparently this also has two internal aerials and is more sensitive to signal reception and can in fact use two cell masts at the same time if they are both in range. I gave it a try, first without the external aerial and alongside the E5332 and it is definitely faster opening identical pages on two identical laptop computers. Then I connected both to the external aerials (I now have two mast aerials, see later in this report) and again the E5756 was noticeably faster than the E5332 opening identical pages on identical laptops. Technology has definitely improved in the two years since I purchased the E5332. E5756 mifi with patch lead and 12v power lead Phone Although our requirement for phone communication is not as pressing as our need for internet, there are occasions when it is necessary. I have a contract with Vodafone which gives me loads of free minutes, but on the cut it has proved a pretty useless network. We also have a couple of cheap Nokia phones on ‘Pay-As-You-Go’, one on ‘3’ and the other on O2. Unsurprisingly the ‘3’ network is quite good, but for some unknown reason the ‘3’ telephone signal is usually weaker than the Mi-Fi signal. The O2 signal is also generally quite good, certainly better than Vodafone, but can be very patchy in coverage. It is quite irritating to have to move around the boat to find an area that has the best signal strength, often having to go outside to have any decent call quality. Even then, often speech communication can be quite difficult if not impossible. I did at one point invest in a mag aerial from Boaters Phone Co, with a Velcro, wrap around, ‘passive’ patch lead for my iPhone 4S and found it made absolutely no difference to my signal quality. The iPhone doesn’t have an external aerial socket. In fairness I have spoken to others who use that system with the Velcro and they say it does make an improvement. It just goes to show that everyone’s experience can be very different. Following on from the good performance of the Mi-Fi and the Connex aerial I decided to see if I could improve telephone performance by the same amount. Very few, if any, of the current offerings of handsets that I have come across have an external aerial socket. However on investigation I did learn that the Samsung S2, S3, S4, and quite possibly the new S5 do have an external aerial socket. However this is not generally publicised and is installed primarily for Samsung service technicians during maintenance. It is hidden away behind the battery cover and has its own small round plastic cover concealing the actual socket. On the S3 it’s marked by the code ‘W1’ next to it but, depending on model can also have a second one marked ‘W2’. Generally ‘W1’ should be used. The cover can be prised off using a very small screwdriver. Some models of Samsung the aerial cover is I believe also marked ‘R1’ and ‘R2’. But that’s where it got confusing, my eyes started glazing over and I lost interest! I was thinking of treating myself to a newer phone so opted to buy a used Samsung S3. So all reference is made to the S3. It only has just the one socket, hidden under the ‘W1’ cover. Pic of rear of Samsung S3 As far as I am aware, there is only one supplier of patch leads for the Samsung, they are Telco Antennas in Australia. www.telcoantennas.com.au They do cater for other phones so if you are thinking of modifying yours, it is worth checking their website to see if your phone might be suitable. Some patch leads they offer though, including for the iPhone, are of the ‘passive’ type. Although I have never used the ones from Telco, I personally have found that, in general, the performance of the passive type disappointing. That was based on an iPhone 4S and a basic Nokia and Samsung phone. I also tried the passive patch lead on my original Mi-Fi unit and found it made no discernable difference. I purchased a couple of patch leads from Telco and also a rear battery cover pre-drilled in the correct position for the socket. http://www.telcoantennas.com.au/site/samsung-galaxy-s3-patch-lead-and-back-cover-combo The plug and socket connection is very secure, but I would be wary of continually removing the patch lead from the phone as it seems a little fragile and might just damage either the plug or socket. I have decided to keep the Samsung just for the boat when we are aboard. Sort of like a home phone. The patch lead comes with an SMA female connector on one end and the Samsung plug on the other. Altogether it’s about A$65 (two patch leads and a back cover drilled to fit) plus A$32 shipping (in addition I was stung for £19 customs duty when it arrived in the UK!) Very impressed with Telco though, and DHL the shipper. It was in my hand just 36 hours after ordering it! Someone of course will now point out that there is a supplier of patch leads in Braunston and/or at the Crick show and they cost £5 each! Frankly, I don’t want to know! I wish to remain in blissful ignorance, thank you! Caution. If you try and use a DIY approach by pushing a thin wire into the centre hole of the aerial socket you could seriously damage its internal aerial which won’t work again without major and expensive surgery back at Samsung. It is important to use a purpose made patch lead. The connector supplied with the patch lead (SMA female) also fitted the connector on the Connex external aerial (SMA male) which I had been using for the Mi-Fi, and it worked perfectly. Inside the boat, before connection I was getting one or two bars of signal strength, occasionally losing signal altogether. Once connected, the signal jumped straight to a solid five bars. Call quality is superb! I have been operating this now for a couple of months and I am very pleased with the set up. I purchased a second dedicated aerial from Connex to use for the phone and that is also mounted atop the mast next to the Mi-Fi aerial. I did think about the possibility of running both the Mi-Fi and the phone from the same aerial, but that might affect the quality of the signal to both so thought better of it. The Mast I mount the mast, which is a 38mm diameter, 2 metre high stainless tube, in a couple of brackets fixed to the forward face of my roof top box, which also incorporates four 100 watt solar panels. The mast can be lifted in or out of the mounts in just a few seconds. It can be removed entirely for secure stowage inside the boat when left unattended. The cables run across the roof and in through a saloon hopper window to the various adjacent receivers. They can be unplugged or reconnected in just a couple of minutes when erecting or removing the mast for storage. mast mount on top box TV Having gone to the trouble and expense of fitting the mast, it seemed an ideal place to put my Avtex ‘figure of eight’ omni directional freeview TV aerial. http://www.midlandchandlers.co.uk/Catalogue/ProductDetail/aerial-avtex-12v-digital-sth1000?productID=a23362c3-cbf1-40b0-aca8-2eaf41aea332&catalogueLevelItemID=a4a42a16-1cad-4748-90d3-70ba5a71f73e It generally works very well most places we go. As we prefer to moor in out of the way places there are occasions when we can’t get a good signal for the TV. Last year, at the Crick show I bought a ‘Toura Plus’ antenna with a mount that can convert quickly from vertical to horizontal polarity, and has a built in amplifier powered by the TV’s 5v powered aerial socket. http://www.midlandchandlers.co.uk/Catalogue/ProductDetail/aerial-toura-plus-uhf-antenna-7db-22db-?productID=3ca5b2cb-8aee-4582-b250-b828c0978841&catalogueLevelItemID=a4a42a16-1cad-4748-90d3-70ba5a71f73e Most new TV’s have the 5v facility, usually buried away in the settings menu. I have found it a superb aerial and is allied to the excellent ‘Antenna Aligner’ app on my iPhone which points to the nearest transmitter. As the mast can be rotated easily, I just turn it until the TV aerial is pointing towards the transmitter. A few seconds and the jobs done! When not required, eg cruising, the mast lays in a couple of purpose made wooden blocks on the forward roof. The mast can be erected or removed in about 20 seconds! Great if it’s raining! As I have an interest in meteorology it seemed an obvious place to mount a small wireless weather station on the top. Interestingly, (and off topic, I know, - well it is my thread!) as a result of fitting the weather station, specifically its windspeed readout and historical data record over the last two years, it has become quite clear that mounting a wind generator, in our experience, would be a complete waste of time and money. The number of days that it would have produced any worthwhile power was in reality, very few. And several of those days were of the ‘bright and breezy’ type where our solar was performing well anyway. Of course there are those who swear by their windgens, but I think they are few and far between and must be moored in very exposed places Conclusion Prior to embarking on this little project it seemed that, in general, I got a good Mi-Fi signal about 25% of the time, a barely usable signal about another 25% of the time and the rest (50%) no useable signal when out on the cut. The mobile phone was not much better which is why I had three networks to try and get at least one useable signal. I guess, between the three networks, I was successful about 70% of the time. Since fitting this equipment I have improved the score on the Mi-Fi to I would say, well in excess of 80% although in practice I can’t think of anywhere that I haven’t got at least a useable signal. More usually, I get a good to excellent signal. Even in Braunston, a ‘black hole’ for me when it comes to phone signals, I can get a useable signal. On the phone network side, it seems a toss up between O2 and ‘3’ with the Samsung on the external aerial. The balance so far I think just favours ‘3’. The jury is still out on that, however signal reception is much better using the Connex aerial regardless of network. Vodafone still languishes in third place! Typical, as all my free minutes are on Vodafone! I won’t change contract though as when I travel abroad, which I do regularly, Vodafone is far superior! The waterways I’ve used them on so far are the River Thames, North/South Oxford, Grand Union Main Line and Leicester Line, Coventry, Ashby, River Soar, Erewash, T&M, River Trent and Bridgewater Canal. These are just my thoughts and experience with playing around with various items of equipment. I hope some may find them useful. Others may well think my ideas are ‘overkill’ and find the ‘plastic bag and yoghurt pot’ approach more than adequate for their needs. It’s ‘horses for courses’ at the end of the day. I required something more suited to my needs. Previously I have searched the forum for a ‘Bizzard’ solution but can’t seem to find one, which is truly surprising and disappointing! I would have been very interested in that, and may well have saved me a lot of effort to say nothing of a small fortune! Ken

They don't do that at all! ........ sometimes closures can run into months. Take Blisworth Tunnel , it was closed between April 1982 and September 1984. If this is the lifestyle you have chosen then it is your responsibility to operate within the rules and be aware. I can't think of a single instance in this world where ignorance is an acceptable excuse. That's why this is relevant to your post.

Skateboard grip tape from Amazon or Ebay. A huge range of colours is available and it is self adhesive.

And yet a similar amount of steel between you and the muddy or industrial ditch is OK? Or carrying the same effluent around in a thin walled plastic tank and having to pour it out isn't getting even closer to the unpleasantness? I completely agree about it being personal preference, in fact I have no particular strong feelings in favour of one over the other and didn't/wouldn't choose or dismiss a boat based on this facility, but it's always such a emotive subject and I just don't get any of the justifications potty folk so adamantly apply. "The boat came with it, so I've stayed with it" works fine for me and beyond that I guess I'll stay mystified - at least the 'frozen in' myth is busted.

Update - I am on Facebook and used this to track down Neil. Following a few exchanges of information and a little digging I have located the original records that Neil had photocopies of. I will arrange to view these records shortly. I have not yet made contact with Nick Hill

Well I'm now 4 months into keelblack and its still stuck to the boat as is my neighbours that is 9 months in. Both were prepared proper like and left to harden. One done in February and one in July so one cold one hot! My guess is that those that have problems don't prepare properly and put the boat back in the water to soon.....

That'll mean that the hold will now have 30 tonnes of composting Loo contents in place of the coal...

Perhaps today there were less boats in your area for you to share the rays with.

Yes, up to five times as fast (depending on type). Plus some can be discharged down to 20% SoC. Other than cost, their big drawbacks are that they don’t suffer heat very well (some engine rooms in summer get pretty hot), and they don’t like to be overcharged - a float voltage of below 13.6V is usually recommended. HOWEVER... specs change constantly, so don’t take the above as gospel, check the data sheets before any prospective purchase. If the model you’re looking at doesn’t have a data sheet then I’d suggest avoiding it.

Some do. I have 11 year old Lifeline AGM's which still have around 60% capacity left as proven by a discharge test. Capacity is 660Ah, but I can easily get by with half of that and still not drop below 60% SoC. The manufacturer recommends immediatly recharging to 100% after a discharge and equalising them at 15.5 to 16.3 volts for 6 - 8 hours. http://lifelinebatteries.com/2015/10/can-i-equalize-agm-batteries/ They have always been used for leisure use, not liveaboard so either cruising daily or on a landline. I do not have the equipment to equalise above 15.5 volts, and then only for an hour before the charger resets, but even without the recommended equalising regime they are lasting well. However they are eye watering expensive so when it comes to replace them I will probably go for Trojans of they will physically fit.

In the Air Force we called that a 'shufty scope'. It pairs very well with a magnet on a stick, for picking up dropped screws or nuts in the engine bay.

If the battery manufacturer provides a specific SoC/Voltage table for their batteries (many premium brands such as Trojan, Yuasa, US Batteries, Lifeline do), then obviously it is better to use that, rather than a generic one, particularly if they show temperature compensated charge voltsges as well.

But how many sets of scales do you have and are they in calibration?

Anyway all this silly arguing is getting rather tedious. So I'm going to take charge and say: Dr Bob, you are banned from ever buying a Smartgauge. It is far too clever for you to understand how it could work and anyway, you don't need it. Never Ever buy a Smartgauge or you'll have me to answer to. There, that seems to have solved the problem.

Yes. One source, copied many, many times. Is the degree to which it is copied and thus it’s ubiquitousness on the web a good indication of its validity? The thing is, there are other tables out there with different values. Which is right? Which is right for your particular batteries? Do batteries with a lot of calcium in the plates have the same SoC to voltage relationship as those with lots of antimony? So many questions!

I have advanced the theory before without hearing a contradiction that if you could see the voltage that the SG was working on to the precision that it does that then you would be able to reverse-engineer the SG (more easily) and take advantage of Gibbo's work without paying him for it. MTB, is the reason you have not taken your SGs back that you have opened the boxes?

0845 (and 0345) numbers are local rate from a landline, mobile networks charge different rates. most networks do not include these numbers within your free minutes on contracts and will charge you their standard per minute rate (EE show this as 50p per minute)

Here: https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/media/13871919/ccmnovtechnical.pdf?type=archive

I thought it a helpful suggestion. A 'battery problems' forum would gather together all the battery wisdom (and stupidity) in one place for the CWFer with a charging problem to read everything written on the subject. We all know how flaky the search facility can be. In addition, there must still be some Smartgauge-adulation/hero worship threads that would benefit from having my balanced and reasoned views adding

Dear moderators, could you consider adding a separate battery related sub forum to cwdf, it may save the on going repeated posts.

Generic FLA Charge levels :

Tick wire = thick wire (typo). You have decent batteries which were quite expensive, and a lot more expensive now with the £$ exchange rate. But what you lack is adequate means of monitoring what they’re doing, how they are being charged etc. You (and we) are clutching in the dark because you have no means of knowing what current is flowing in or out of the domestic batteries. I would therefore recommend that you buy and install a battery monitor such as a NASA BM1 of Victron BMV700 series. Then we will no longer have to guess!

They had an outing on the Ashby a few weeks ago, i cruised past on tick over, cup of tea in one hand, big fat bacon and egg sarnie in the other, saying hello to each one... You could see the hatred in their eyes as they grumbled back and lifted their poles out the water.

I certainly did and am still here. I need to go down to Northwich for a few days but hope to get up here again next week. They have a great open mic night at the Red Lion, for a small depressed town they have some very talented people. I love the Weaver, it must be a very expensive navigation to maintain and is not used nearly enough by boaters to justify this expense, the last thing it needs is fishermen scaring boaters away. This is why I have submitted an incident report so that CaRT can, I hope, have a word with the fishing club. ..............Dave

Ok let me start by saying that if you dont have a good signal you will never get the service that you are looking for, but most people should be able to get a good solution if it is designed and installed correctly. Start by looking at the coverage maps for mobile networks for their 4G networks, if it says that you should get good indoor 4G coverage then you will be ok, even if it says good outdoors coverage there are things you can do to make sure you get a good connection.. Now to the bit I will guess will cause some comments. If you want a business grade service a consumer MIFI type device will not provide you with the type of service you are looking for, well not one that I would bet my business on anyway. firstly you need a good external aerial, my recommendation is a good quality omni directional aerial, again people will start to say a directional yagi etc etc will be better and there is something in what they say but also with LTE ( 4G) it can also make things much worse so on average a good omini will work better more often. Also you need two of them and its best to place then a few feet apart, again you can buy great aerials which actually have two seperate aerials in one housing and they have two cables coming out of them ( I use one of this type and mine also has 2 wifi and a GPS aerial in it as well so 5 cables coming out and mine works ok). Next you need a good LTE ( 4G) router and here you definitely get what you pay for, go for one that is designed to work in vehicle and run on 12v and it should work well. If you want a belt and braces solution go for a router that supports two sims, then you run on two seperate networks which gives you better odds of having a good signal. my preference based on network coverage and performance is EE and Vodafone. Then you have the choice to connect an internal WIFI device in the boat to extend your data connection or use a wired connection, wired is always better. now there are mobile solutions that are used by coaches to provide WIFI streaming to its passengers, also the police use systems that then use their patrol car to act as a local data point that the on foot offices connect through to provide a performant and secure connection for personal video and data . So what would this cost, well I doubt you could set up a system for much less than £800- £1000. and such a system is not for the average narrow boat user but if you are running a business then its a different matter. As to how good could this be, I have installed similar systems in high street retailers to run all their in store systems on and they are stable and work great, there are however some locations where it wont work and we have to put in a land line but that is less than 5% of locations and getting less every month. As to router manufacturers the main commercial grade ones I have seen that work well are peplink and cradlepoint or Sierra Wireless who between them have most of this market and antennas two makes I have had good results with are Panorama Antennas and Mobile mark. I have no connection to these companies other than as a satisfied customer so I would advise that you speak to on of them or similar specialists in commercial mobile data solutions. Wireless Connectivity, Westbase and Aquamare Marine. Personally I have set up that allows me to work from the boat and I use webex conferences, stream video and transfer files as good as if I was in my home office, I also use Now tv and Netflix for streaming video, occasionally it buffers but not enough to be annoying and my clients are amazed when I say I am working from my narrowboat. you absolutely get what you pay for but make sure you pay for good advice as that is the best money you will spend.

As there is no requirement to pass any sort of test prior to being allowed to handle a boat on the inland waterways there can be no requirement to know or understand the etiquette surrounding a 'sound signal'. I have always considered these signals to be more related to sea boating, and whenever I have used them on inland waterways it has only added to the confusion as the other boat operator has not had a clue what they mean. To be honest I do not even remember these signals now, apart from a single blast which means 'get out of the way as I am coming through' - and is usually supported by the high fore end on a large Grand Union motor

..having called up the necessary file(s), entered search terms, read the results, and transcribed them into an email. Several minutes at least. Would you indulge your thirst for personal interest if you had to pay for it?

I'm a bit puzzled and concerned about your approach to having the boat surveyed. In your original post you said you didn't get it surveyed as you made a deal with the seller that you'd get the boat cheaper if you didn't. I can see the advantages of such an arrangement to both parties - the vendor gets to sell it quickly and you get a cheaper price, but you've potentially put yourself in a risky situation. Now you're getting the boat surveyed but have no option to walk away if it turns out badly. I very much doubt that the deal you got will cover you for the cost of extensive overplating, and should that turn out to be the case you may end up seriously out of pocket. I hope I'm wrong about that. I suppose it's all a bit of a gamble but I think you've given yourself the long odds. Anyway I hope the survey turns out well for you.

cheers daniel the voice of common sense

Treated the tank once with Milton when we first got the boat, used it ever since for drinking water. Never bothered with a filter or boiling it.....unless for a hot drink. Since being on the boat we have never had a stomach bug (famous last words). However we do have to re-new our colostomy bags twice a week and trim the hair in our mouths everyday. Rob....

To be honest I decided to bite the bullet. Apart from the pitting - which I have no reason to doubt - all the windows need replacing, the batteries are due for replacement (five years old and not holding charge as well as they used to), plus various other work needed. In the cold light of serious reason the boat was reaching (had reached) a point where it was becoming a money pit, 30 years old with a 6mm base plate and 5mm sides. Without extensive funds to throw at it, which would have equated to buying a much newer boat or even a new build sailaway it was an unrealistic proposition. OK, I've lost money on the sale, but I've also saved myself the mooring fees, licence, insurance and the ongoing expenses. My family have had four years of great fun, three generations have enjoyed the time we have spent aboard - that's something that can't be quantified in terms of money. Someone has now bought a boat that, with time and money, could well see another 30 years of service. I simply do not have the finances to fund the sort of work needed at the moment. Realism can be uncomfortable, but it does shine a light into the dark corners we would all rather ignore.