The Unexpected

 On a canal boat the unexpected always happens!

We spent Monday in a fairly laid back fashion after the efforts of the day before. One or two tasks were tackled, including a couple of recommendations from our first BSS exam. The first was to move one of the fire extinguishers from under the step out to the fore deck to a visible location on he front cabin wall.

Late afternoon, Mike also remembered that the inspector also asked for the Fuel Cut Off plate to be move from on a locker to the stern deck board as it is actually located in the engine bay. Only a matter of removing two screws and re-inserting them.

Straight after completing that task it was time to begin to prepare the evening meal - our second attempt at a roast since we abandoned it yesterday with such a late arrival. As Mike retrieved some veg from the back locker he detected an unpleasant smell (the proverbial rotten eggs). At first he was unsure where it was coming from but almost immediately our next door neighbour, who had been chatting a few boats along from our pontoon, came back hastily to warn us about the smell. By now it was very strong indeed and clearly coming from our engine bay.

There was no option but to assume that one or more of our batteries had decided to melt down and give off a large quantity of dangerous H2S. We closed down the gas and had a quick think. The likelihood was that we would have to cease using any 12v or, indeed, 240v, electrical equipment, including the water pump and lights. The only realistic option was to pack up as quickly as we could and to return home - at least we are only 100 minutes away now. The Mastervolt display indicated a battery temperature of 57C!

We had already made arrangements with the electrician who fitted our solar panels a while back to take a look at the charging problems, as we saw it, and so on Tuesday we emailed again with a n update on the situation. He has promised to start work on it this coming Friday - today as we write. We imagine it will not be a cheap fix!