Sunday, April 28, 2013

Mixed Emotions

A far too brief trip down to the boat this weekend, combining installing a new set of leisure batteries with some much needed quiet time.

We have had problems lately with the Victron inverter/charger as it has been putting too much charge (15 volts plus) into the batteries. Some investigation has pointed to one of the leisure batteries going down, so the best thing to do was to replace the lot as they were all installed at the same time. So out with the old and in with the new. Never a cheap thing to replace, but a lot cheaper than replacing the inverter, so fingers crossed.

We headed out of the marina yesterday afternoon dodging the showers, and moored in a peaceful spot near to bridge 56 approaching Handsacre. This week has been difficult due to the unexpected death of one of our friends and we just wanted to get away and quietly reflect. There is no better place for us to do this than the solitude of the boat. We had a lovely few hours sat in the sun filled cratch raising a glass to 'Tiz'.

It was lovely to see our first ducklings of the season. This proud Mum was proudly displaying her 12 babies.

We spent the evening getting to grips with our new 'toy'. We treated ourselves to an iPad so we can have decent internet access whilst we are away. It also gives us the option of an extra tv if we can't get a satellite signal or want to catch up on iPlayer etc. Like all new gadgetry, it takes a bit of getting used to, especially for us 'technophobes' but so far we are VERY impressed. 

Unfortunately we had to return to the marina mid morning due to commitments, but our brief trip was much needed and enjoyed. The wind made mooring tricky and certainly meant we couldn't reverse into our berth as normal. Next weekend we will be hoping for some decent weather as we enjoy a short bank holiday break aboard. 


3 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear of your friends death, it is happening to us, never good and it does put your life in focus.

    Enjoy the new toy, it won't be long until you both have one... saves the arguments and you can play scrabble and other games without passing it between you... !!

    Nev

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  2. I would suggest you check the charger output carefully as the 15 volts could be the reason you need new batteries.

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  3. Funny you should say that Nev !! It's already been discussed and very much on the cards.

    Brian and Diana....thanks for that. We did initially think it was the charger, as did the electrician who came and had a look. However when we connected a good 'test' battery, it went back to charging at 14.4 volts and the fan didn't cut in as it had been doing. When we hook it back up to the shoreline I'll test the output very carefully.

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