Wells next the Sea – Part 5
The Round Up
Total 180 miles, 6 locks
So the trip to Wells next the Sea was a resounding success
with Naughty-Cal proving herself to be in fine fettle, running smoothly and
unstressed for the whole journey. Everyone had a thoroughly enjoyable time and have
all vowed to head back again sometime soon.
We had a couple of minor issues during the week. The
outboard motor for the dinghy suffered an impellor failure in the early part of
the week and unfortunately we couldn’t get a replacement at the time. We have
ordered a full service kit for it which should arrive this week so by next
weekend it should all being well be back up and running again and freshly
serviced.
The other minor hitch, which is still unexplainable, was a
failure of the batteries on the day we came home from Wells. Admittedly it was
a lumpy ride home but the following morning the batteries were really
struggling and reading 12V which is the lowest we have ever seen them. Somehow
after we managed to get a hook up for the night and leave them on charge for 24
hours they seem to have made a recovery and are back to normal. We still don’t
have an explanation for this but all now seems to be well again.
All in all a great first coastal trip of the year. Now we
can look forward to our next coastal cruise next month when we head to the
Norfolk Broads for a couple of weeks. Before we head out on the next cruise we
will change the engine oil and filter and generally check everything is
operating at its optimum.
Hi Rachel, batteries do accumulate solids as they age (could be sulphur but not sure). It is these solids the usually short the battery out internally and kill it. Could your rough crossing have strred the solids up and introduced a temporary/intermitant internal short, draining the power but not killing the battery. Still waters and a recharge then allowed them to recover.
ReplyDeleteThat is a possibility and is certainly the only thing close to an answer that we have found.
ReplyDeleteThey were back to "normal" over the weekend with no apparent loss of performance so fingers crossed they have survived their ordeal.
They are due another good shake in a few weeks when we head to the Norfolk Broads so hopefully they will survive that as well.