I left my mooring at Great Haywood on Saturday 5th after having a catch-up and lunch with Rod N.b. Tilly Mint on Friday and very pleasant it was as well.
I cruised to Handsacre and this is where things took a turn for the worse electrically speaking, more of that after a few pictures of the trip.
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| Rugeley Power Station |
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| You wonder what some owners are actually like |
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| Armitage Tunnel |
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| Armitage factory where the make the loo's etc. |
I moored up at Handsacre and that evening the domestic batteries (everything on the boat is powered by these apart from engine starting) went flat overnight. On Sunday they did again despite me hardly using them and turning the fridge off overnight. They had gone from just coping to virtually no life left, hence the absence of blogging.
On Monday I ordered 5x135Amp hour batteries to replace my 6x110 Ah ones, that gave me virtually the same electrical storage capacity, a little bit more, for less room taken and less links in the system, I also arranged for an electrician to look at my charging system, just to check it. The batteries arrived next day and on Wednesday after the Electrician had been I fitted the new batteries. It seems my charging system is not working properly but it is working and I need to get it looked at again.
The difference with the new batteries is amazing, I think I have always known mine were not fully functioning but I did not realise how bad they were until now. So hopefully no more worries about whether or not to put the CD player on!
Yesterday I cruised from Handsacre still on the Trent and Mersay canal to just past Whittington on the Coventry canal via Fradley Junction going back the way I had come last year, The weather was not good so no photo's. I was just looking for a mooring when through the bridge ahead of me came Rick on fuel boat Auriga so I pulled over and waved him down mooring up for the night at the same time, he topped up my diesel and I took three bags of smokeless which I think should be enough to see me through until November!
Today I pottered about, fitted some extra retaining bolts on my rear hatch lock, I also made a device to secure over my diesel filler cap, to prevent opportunist theft, I have to paint it before I start using it. The time had also come for an oil and oil filter change, the oil gets changed every 250 hours with a filter change every 500, so I did that as well and then I walked into the village about 20 minutes away to get some milk, a productive day, a productive although frustrating week.
Hopefully now I should be back to my usual with the blog, I am heading to Hinckley on the Ashby canal where a family visit has been arranged and then on to Stoke Golding where I have arranged to have the boat taken out of the water to have it 'blacked' which is basically painting the hull with a couple of coats of bitumen to protect it, should be fun, glad I am not doing it !
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