What a day. New batteries, and an engine start failure.

We filled the water tank and slipped our moorings a little later than yesterday at around 8:30pm, and said our goodbyes to Dave and Anne as we passed Kernow, even though there was no sign of life at the windows.

TQ at Hawkesbury Junction.

We cruised only a few hundred yards and stopped to relieve the propeller of its accumulated detritus consisting of an old curtain and a shredded poly vee belt. It took ages to unravel the tangle. My trusty prop cleaner helped enormously, but in the end I had to get my hands in there - yuk!

The intention today was to check the domestic batteries as reports have been coming in that there is little life left in them. This was confirmed today when after yesterday's seven hour cruise and turning everything off overnight, (no telly used as we went in the pub), the voltage was reading 12.5v but after one shower, the Webasto on for hot water and breakfast they were down to 10.0v.

So we cruised on up to Star Line Boats in Nuneaton to change the whole pack. Well, things didn't quite go as planned, the batteries were not too much of a problem, after drop testing to further confirm their demise it was out with the old, in with the new, but when it came to testing the charge circuit with the engine running it wouldn't start! YES, I thought, this couldn't happen at a better time or place. It took ages to diagnose the fault, at one point there were six of of us looking into the engine 'ole, all scratching our heads. We were looking in the wrong place thinking the fault must be on the positive side, but it turned out to be a poor earth connection. This was proved by attaching a jump lead to the negative on the battery and to a suitable point on the engine and attempting a start. BINGO! and a lively start it was too. So the negative earth connections were dismantled, cleaned and replaced, and lo and behold it worked. Not quite so lively as with the jump lead, but better than I've heard it start for a long time. So now I'll obtain an extra earth cable and attach it to a suitabla point on the engine and to a point on the hull as belt and braces.

I promised I'd get this plug in for them:-

STAR LINE BOATS in Nuneaton. Very helpful and friendly service, very highly recommended.

Thanks a million, guys.

This is a lovely spot, just outside Nuneaton,

Oh! and Lucy...

...Zedsville!