to Adverc or not to Adverc, that is the question

Sorry, this is going to be a bit of a nerdy techy blog entry but I am confused. I have an Adverc battery management system which up to now has worked beautifully - optimising the charge my batteries receive from the alternator. Recently my alternator died a natural death and so, being a member of River and Canal Rescue (the waterways version of AA or RAC), I called them out. A very nice young man came and fitted a new alternator. However he neglected to tell me that he had disconnected my Adverc.

Over the next couple of weeks I noticed that the performance of the alternator was disappointing, especially considering they replaced a 55amp with a 70amp alternator. I contacted RCR and another, not so young man came out and replaced the first alternator but also mentioned that the Adverc had been disconnected by the first chap. When I asked him to reconnect it he refused, saying it would void my alternator's warranty. He then went into great detail as to why Advercs are a bad idea and would shorten the life of my alternator by a third. He said if I really wanted it reconnected I would have to take my boat to a boatyard and pay.

I accepted his explanation, but was disappointed as I am not getting as good a charge into my batteries without it.  A couple more weeks went past and then I received the RCR newsletter. Blow me down with a feather; there on the front page was a whole article praising Adverc to the skies and saying that their engineers were now trained to diagnose many common Adverc faults!

I got on the phone to RCR and was first told that 'our engineers don't deal with Advercs'. When I drew their attention to the article in their newsletter, I was swiftly passed on to someone else. He told me that they do like Advercs and that their engineers are being trained to diagnose problems, but that they still couldn't reconnect my Adverc as it was 'too complicated to do on the bankside and needed boatyard services'. That confused me further as their engineer had told me that it was a simple matter of reconnecting one wire, but that it needed soldering.

I have a horrible feeling that I am being given the run around to avoid them having to come out to me again - even though I have just renewed my membership at the cost of around £150. So my next step will be to contact Adverc and see what they have to say about all this.

Boats... who would have them?!

Ashby and Coventry Cruise

Sorry I'm yet again going to write an entry without accompanying photos. I will get my computer out at some point and update the pictures.

Friends Roger and Shirley Ann Andrews came for a visit and we took the boat out for a blissful 8 days cruise. We left Fradley on the Monday and made the entrance to the extremely rural Ashby Canal within two days. Mind you my usual pattern of cruising for 4 hours or so and then stopping to explore was replaced by the Andrews' preferred habit of cruising all day and so we made more progress than I would have made alone. I had forgotten how lovely the Coventry Canal is from Fradley down to its junction with the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. In fact the Coventry becomes the Birmingham and Fazeley for a while and then changes back into the Coventry - all to do with competing canal companies when they were first being built. You can tell the B & F section as bridge numbers are replaced by the much more fascinating bridge names.

The Ashby Canal is so extremely rural that even I started to crave the sight of a building or person to interrupt the isolation. However it is very beautiful, lock free and of great interest to anybody interested in the English civil war. We moored for the night at the Bosworth Battlefield Moorings and had a BBQ whilst Bonny ran madly around in the woods and refused to come back until the burgers were cooked! We cruised to the current end of the Ashby Canal, where we met a lovely lady who was fundraising for its continued restoration and viewed the first pound to be refilled with water - all very exciting.

Because of our rapid progress, the decision was made to return down the Ashby and then continue on to Coventry city centre. I wasn't that keen as I hate cities but I was persuaded as the Andrews said that if I wasn't happy in the canal basin, we could come back out to Hawksbury Junction to moor overnight. I'm afraid my city prejudice was confirmed as we approached the city and the rubbish content of the canal grew to ridiculous levels. We had to avoid - among other things - two three seater sofas, three doors and countless lesser objects floating in the water. I took off nearly a bin bag full of carrier bags and plastic that were wound around my propeller. Interestingly, the water itself was very clear compared with other canals but I think that was because so few boats had ventured down its length that the silt had settled on the bottom.

The canal basin itself was quite smart but surrounded by high rise tower blocks and it was all I could do to leave my boat and Bonny for a couple of hours to explore the city. The only highlight for me was the visit to the old and new Coventry Cathedrals. The bombed one had a lovely altar with a cross made from burned timbers and the legend 'Father Forgive' written behind. The new one looked to me like a multi storey car park from the outside, but had the most beautiful etched glass doors and stained glass windows.

I was relieved to leave the city and moor at the beautiful Hawksbury Junction where Bonny and I explored the heathland which used to be a series of coal mines. We eventually wended our way back home via the stunningly lovely area of Hopwas where we ate in the Tame Otter - highly recommended as a great pub to eat in with helpful and friendly staff. Only one criticism - the area is hugely popular with dog walkers and yet no dogs are allowed in the pub.But Bonny was quite content to be left behind on the boat to catch up on her sleep. As usual she was brilliant while we were cruising and spent long hours happily patrolling the roof.

I got back on Tuesday evening and am back into work today - tannned, happy but very tired!