I reversed back up to Little Venice rather than carry on and turn in the basin. Not sure really if it was any quicker, but it worked out OK. Then we set off for Harefield. Very little other traffic moving, certainly less than 10 boats. Grey skies and a bitter wind so much that inspite of many layers of clothing we had to take it in turns to go below to get warm. We arrived back about 2.30pm, got diesel and some more solid fuel (only Excel left) as we anticipate this cold weather continuing for the rest of the month.
I am still concerned about the battery situation. Some may say that with TV all evening and a fridge freezer to keep working we have a high demand. The Smartgauge is telling me that in the morning we have as little as 30% battery capacity left and on one morning the toaster caused the voltage to fall below 11 volts triggering the built in alarm. It is taking over 6 hours of engine running to get anywhere near 100% charge with expected amperage numbers during this time. Yesterday we didn't use the TV and we were only down to about 60% in the morning. The solar panels are fine in the summer - sort of, but I really need something that will trickle charge for 24 hours if we are moored up for a few days. It just doesn't seem right to keep running the big engine.
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