Leaderboard

Generators are noisy antisocial things. 12v electricity and gas are the answer for boats unless you have solar.

Y You were lucky they were only marines with machine guns, it could so easily have been submariners with tins of mcewans then you would have had serious trouble.

Before speculation goes any further and gets me into trouble I thought it time to make an announcement: On 07 October 2017 I entered an agreement with the owners of OTLEY, and all being well we are planning the handover of ownership to take place on 07 April 2018. My plan is to then bring OTLEY to the midlands for refurbishment work

How big is the area that needs insulation and how far away is the furthest point from where you would inject the foam? The sort of foam you might buy could set in seconds and not flow into parts a long way away. It could be tricky without the right kit.

Castle Quay went down the pan with the demise of Hood's- the ironmongers,- it was the sort of place that you call walk into and ask for a Left Handed Thingummy Sprocket for a 1949 Treacle Mill. To which the assistant would reply; - "Certainly sir, Would you like a Green one or a Blue one ?" A real gem of a place, and staffed by folk that knew what they were selling.

Blue Book identifies it as the Parker Branch. OS map shows Broadwell Forge on one side and Oldbury Railway Wagon and Carriage Works on the other.

How? I bet it was with some form of High Rate Discharge tester that was probably too small for the battery size. They will tell you if you have a problem cell but unless the batteries are really bad they do not give any indication of the sulphation. If you have been monitoring teh state of charge by using the inverter alarm that is probably set to below 12V for any length of time then I suspect your batteries are probably sulphated and only has a fraction of the capacity they had originally. The only ways I would test boat domestic batteries would be with a hydrometer and voltmeter for open cells or by a long procedure involving a charger and voltmeter for sealed cells. I suspect the batteries are in trouble through neglect. You really ne equipment to monitor them.

In my experience the more expensive, the better. Or rather, I've bought attractively prices lines on several occasions over the years and always regretted it. Decent rope is always expensive. If it's cheap, there WILL be something wrong with it once you are out and about, using it.

All good points. Much of the debate on the Ouse - and I think the main reason why GOBA, the main boating group, supported transfer to CRT - is over shoaling, dredging, and people damaging outdrives by running aground. The hundred foot is also getting quite shallow... Whether transfer to CRT would improve the situation is not clear to me ....

Hi all,managed to find the problem it was a clear pipe that had come away from the rear of the toilet,i think this is some sort of vacume pipe when its correctly attached it emptys fine when its not attached or when it comes loose the toilet just fills up with water,many thanks all.

I still maintain configuring and/or interrogating your solar controller is a lot easier and far more likely to be done properly with it on the wall at face height in a warm dry and convenient room inside the boat than on your knees with a torch in an engine room or battery bay. Therefore, in the wheelhouse is a far better position in the OP's case. Even when not configuring it or interrogating it for historical data, it is nice to walk past it many times a day and see the display telling you the charge current at that instant.

This is reminding me of the old thread on here where a boater recounts a fisherman yelling at him "Didn't you see my fishing rod?", to which he answered "No. Didn't you see my 70ft, 25 tonne narrowboat?!"

I have learned that Sir Frank Price has died at the age of 95. I have been trying to find an obituary online without much hard success, other than press reports of 15th January. He had retired many years ago to live in Spain. My thought is that Sir Frank, as Chairman of BWB, and Barbara Castle, as Minister Of Transport, were instrumental in saving the canals for us. Gratitude. James

No, I'm Tessa Sanderson. Boom! Boom!

Why? I don’t see it mattering a jot from an electrical point of view, unless I’ve misunderstood the question On the other hand having the solar controller easily accessible in the wheelhouse where you can see it’s diplay and dab it’s buttons sounds eminently more sensible to me, than tucking it away with the batteries in bilges.

Another one of them effing widebeams.

The problem here is the sheer cost of installing a electricity supply to the remaining six locks, all of which are in remote locations some distance from the nearest 240 voltage local electricity network. Costs would included the routing of the powerline either underground or on poles ,erecting a pole mounted transformer and providing a single phase supply. You would also have to get the agreement from the landowner to run the line across thier land, which would included a ongoing cost of yearly fees payed to the landowner. A few years ago there was on the beeb a program (2012) called 'Power to the Pococks' which was on the subject of connecting a croft in Glen Affric (Highlands) to the grid, The four mile powerline was costed at over £60,000 to install. Lets not forget that the EA has invested a great deal of money on the Nene in the last 15 years. In 2003 there were no lower lock landings on any of the locks, Only six or seven locks had a powered gate compared with now, where it is the other way round.

Oops my bad. Not a term I consider offensive, but clearly someone does so apologies. I quite like the substitute and also like bowdlerise - I had to look that up. Every day's a school day

Ah yes the old 'WTF' engine. A friend had one of those in Jetski. It did 60mph over the water on the river and when it went past people said ''WTF !!''.

Feck moi, what do you mean 'catch on'? It caught on ten years ago and the canals in London are now STUFFED with liveaboards or so I came to decide when I went there once. Reminds me of the Reading MP Tony Durant when he commented recently that "it is beginning to look as though the internet is going to catch on"

My idea of hell House Garden by Diarmuid Gavin Interior by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowtie

The general idea was to encase the batteries in a welded steel box mounted on the deck in a horseshoe configuration around the transom then the batteries would serve as a seating area. Something like that. My other idea is to locate them lower down in the engine room area however it would make access difficult. I was considering offsetting the weight imbalance by fitting a large around 1000 liter water tank amidships, very low down in the bilges to act as a counter weight........ But i'm open to suggestion. Perhaps putting them on the roof as suggested is the best way ahead the lack of stability could be countered by filling a balloon situated above the boat and attached to the roof mounted battery with the degassed hydrogen from the battery.

An easy way to get the batteries as low as possible, is to install them on the roof, strap them down well and then when the boat 'turns turtle' they will be at the lowest point, will stay cool and never need 'topping up'. Simples !!

I produced this based on original work by Peter Clarkson and Steve Pipe published on Facebook for my own use but I cannot see any reason why it can't be shared. It brings together the installation and calibration process for the basic functions i.e. voltage, current and power measurement (under/over protection and external relay functionality has been ignored). I have omitted to state that the display can be set to power off automatically after 10-60 seconds using the SET function on the display as the default is permanently on. For obvious reasons, I do not accept any liability for any installation issues caused by using the device or any installations not performed by myself. Installation of the DC 120V 300A Wireless Volt Ammeter Power Meter.docx

If you travel the Huddersfield Narrow canal you can't get out of the eastern end on the Huddersfield Broad canal, and if you travel the Rochdale canal you can't get out of the eastern end on the Calder and Hebble either. To see these canals you will probably end up doing what we did which is to start from the Manchester end of each and turn around at the eastern end, both times thus crossing the Pennines 4 times in rapid succession and becoming utterly exhausted.

I doubt an engineer will be much help. Most wear a suit and tie to work and sit at a desk, calculating stuff.

how is the flush controlled, ie is it a button on the toilet or a panel? In either case does it have a "evacuate" setting just to empty the bowl? What happens when you do this? As some have said it could be the macerator has something in it, I found a wet wipe in hours a few weeks ago and that was enough to stop it (nobody had put it in you understand it just appeared by magic). They also have an air valve, that allows air to escape and be sucked in during the flush cycle. These can get blocked and allow the bowl to fill but then not empty. If you look at the back of the toilet it is probably a small pipe at the top with a little rubber flap on it open to atmosphere. Get something like a cable tie and rod out that little pipe. For general maintenance, we have found putting white vinegar into the bowl and macerator once a month and allowing to soak for 12 to 24 hours, seems to keep formation of too much scale build up at bay.

5x leisure batteries 1 starter,i would not use the cooker i use a camping stove instead,suitcase type of generater,havent a clue what voltage they run down to the inverter sounds a alarm to inform me the batteries are running low,i suppose its just trial and error looking forward to it though.

Thanks for the advice, what's an asr, is it an assault rifle and if so why do i need one i'm going nowhere near leicester.