Paddington Basin (cruise retrospective)

The Basin is home for up to 14 days for around 20 boats. We were lucky enough to take the very last remaining space against a pontoon. The man from the boat in front kindly stepped out to give us a hand to hold the boat against a side-wind. The space was actually several feet too short, and we had to leave the stern sticking out beyond the end of the pontoon, with some unorthodox ropework to hold us fast. But we had a mooring, and four or five boats came in after us, and had to turn and leave.

It was here that we decided that our inverter was well and truly defunct. We'd been using it during the afternoon to power the washing machine, and it had displayed a red warning light constantly, complaining that it was receiving too high a voltage from the alternator in the engine. Our battery monitor said otherwise. It had finally shut down, leaving the washing unfinished. We gave it a long rest and tried it again, and it deigned to finish the washing for us. However, with the engine off here at our mooring, it again refused to work for us, saying this time that the batteries were flat. Our battery monitor said otherwise.

BOAT - Bring Out Another Thousand!

It looks as though we'll have to buy a new one. For the time being, it looks as if it might be capable of powering our laptops. Sometimes, according to its whim. But we're now faced with several weeks of not washing our clothes.

The Basin's a secure mooring, with little pedestrian activity, so it was a quiet night, apart from the background hum of London.