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Showing content with the highest reputation on 19/04/18 in all areas
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Hello all I visited the Minworth site yesterday (Tuesday) on the advice of the of the Historic Narrow Boat Club (Where our boats can go, so can yours!) Navigations Officer who is also a member of the CRT Navigations Advisory Group (NAG) who said I should find CRT engineer Jane Marriott on site and I should talk to her. Jane was there to 'sort it out'. Her regular job is 'Programme Manager, Asset Improvement', so she'll never be stuck for anything to do then! So I did and learnt a lot. She is very approachable, happy to share all her information and I think she listens. The works here were overseen centrally by CRT not the local West Midlands Waterways Office, who have had the sticky end of the stick in sending out the Notices, email or otherwise, so some, including me, thought it was down to them. It isn't. Kier are the contractors and as you will see it's not down to them either. As I understand it the issues were to make a permanent repair to the troublesome embankment against the A38 trunk road into Birmingham, and to deal with multiple canal bed leakages just downstream of there. The contractors did put a haul road down the drained canal as the first postings on this topic confirm with really good photographs.. And at the end of works Kier advised CRT that it must come out before rewatering. However here lies the problem. CRT had considered that the silt here was not of a hazardous status. It was. Surprise? And therefore the haul road material added was now also of a hazardous status,it having been added to the silt. The cost of removal of the hazardous material was huge and therefore, against the advice of the contractors Kier, and not wishing to add to the already large cost of the contract, CRT decided to rewater with all the stone left in, the timber having been removed. As you all know, boats will push through silt, even hazardous silt (!) but stone is different. They get stuck. Jane Marriott tells me that they now know this was a great mistake from which they have now learnt. And can't apologise enough. Whilst I was there Kier had a large machine back in the canal bed and were removing the now 'hazardous' stone, which will be very expensive to dispose of. All round the very best of intentions but a great cock up nevertheless. I must add that the site is embanked, and for a part on both sides of the navigation. This is the reason the silt was replaced against the wash walls to add stability as would be expected. A breach onto the A38 wouldn't just inconvenience us boaters! Besides, who wants to moor here? The depth at the Services further up is another issue but not unrelated. In short, CRT must consider all silt around the BCN, and probably many other former heavily industrialised areas, to be 'hazardous' and enjoy the bonus if it's found not to be. And make their original assessments based on this. Kier the contractors appear not to be at fault at all. Having had the passage out of Birmingham on the Birmingham & Fazeley denied to me 10 days ago, I am returning this way in the next few weeks. Ummmm. We shall see. James9 points
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I fail to see how such gratuitous rudeness helps anyone. I understand that she has visited and is very much involved, but if you want to know, why don't you ask her? It is precisely hurtful and personal comments like this that is the reason that CRT staff don't participate in forum discussions, which in turn leads to misinformation, rumour and conjecture. Your comments, Sir, would be more appropriate on another site. James6 points
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3 points
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Really been two wonderful days on the Oxford between Braunston and Cropredy. Stunning weather beautiful scenery which after the last couple of weeks has been a major improvement. I know some will say it has been a miserable winter ( we got here at the end of March) but days like the last two days start to make up for it. Stunning!!2 points
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Well we have an automatic changeover which has always worked fine. Yes you do have to check for a red flag occasionally but is that too difficult? Same as you check you have enough diesel and water (and food and booze!). If checking for a red flag is too complex I’d recommend a care home. Gas cylinder contents is best measured by weighing, but you do need to know the starting/ full weight as the empty weight varies as mentioned. When the liquid “gas” turns to gas “gas” it absorbs heat and thus cools the cylinder. So whilst you are using gas you can determine the level of the liquid by the temperature of the cylinder wall, the more rapidly you are using gas, the easier. You can get thermally sensitive strips to attach to the side of the cylinder the show the level of remaining liquid (when the gas is actually being used). But really, just lifting the cylinder is a fairly good way to get the general idea how much gas is left.2 points
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Not planning on cooking anything, the only things that will need washing are coffee cups and wine glasses2 points
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Had a note from Martin Kedian to say they have completed the overplating of my boat. Just got to complete the engine rebuild and fit it before 2nd May. Can't wait to get back on the water and not worry about sinking every time there's a scraping sound! Also... Sent the forms off for the BCN 24hr challenge.1 point
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It happened to a friend of mine. Yes that's it. A chap I know quite well. He says it's a quick way to stop showering though. Especially if the water is cold.1 point
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I suppose that is where all those with composting toilets store their production.1 point
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I'm thinking he'd first turn into a musty Rusty, then dry out and become a dusty Rusty, but we won't know unless we try it...1 point
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Only for first time buyers. Most Banks etc do them Can put £1200 in at set up. max £200 per month. Government will give 25%. Min £400 max £3000. Not life changing, but 25% return on £12k is not to be sniffed at.1 point
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We need to get Cart to fit overhead electric cables like trains have.1 point
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The person who posted about them merely made me aware of them. It was the nccorg verification that made me think about considering them. But, more than anything, support, or the opposite, from people here and on ybw.com, is the thing that will sway me in one direction or another. Hence the question1 point
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You've not seen the totally stressed boaters - you can tell as you go past as they be shouting "slow down", even to the swans.1 point
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I think that's Known as a light bulb moment which seems very apt in this case.1 point
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A friend of ours was complaining that his sea searcher was rubbish - hardly picked anything up at all. Then I showed him the keeper plate and suggested he tried removing it before using the magnet1 point
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I can't get this to work with the Tracer controller. The options on the load controller are Manual, Timed or PV voltage - not battery voltage. As it is an MPPT controller the panel voltage goes all over the place to produce maximum power for the conditions. There does not seem to be any way to make the controller use a dump load when the batteries are in float charging mode. I spent a while trying to make this work, but neither I nor Bimble could figure out how to do it with the Tracer series. If the newest 3rd generation Tracers have a different setting you might be able to do it. I was trying to use the free sunshine to heat water exactly as you are planning. I agree with others that it is not very efficient, but every degree you could heat the water is one less you need to burn diesel or gas doing the same job.1 point
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Another totally unhelpful comment. I would judge her as very much hands on, given her pre CRT background, and I'd be very surprised if she hadn't got directly involved.1 point
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Broadly speaking, this! With some notable exceptions, it is mostly my middle class customers who sort out their rubbish into five different bins, buy the latest 'low emission' car every two years, carefully put food waste on the compost heap and constantly metaphorically hand-wring about the coral reef off Australia getting bleached, or something like that. The lower orders are too busy trying to survive to worry much about conservation and the upper classes have staff to do the worrying for them.1 point
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That's far less of a problem Rusty. You'll squash into the sand, the tide will come in, the boat will float off on its own, and no-one will be any the wiser. Later, you will become a fossil and perhaps one day become a museum exhibit.1 point
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Recycling is a poor substitute for using the earth's resources frugally and considerately in the first place. Recycling LA batteries wastes huge amounts of energy shipping them back to China, melting them down and making new batteries out of the scrap. Far better to mollycoddle them properly in the first place. The term 'recycle' is little more than a sop to middle class guilt about the massive natural resources we waste.1 point
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I have had a number of glass fuse end caps fall off when blown and removed from the holder. Some with the fuse wire intact allow the end caps to twist to a degree. There is no way I would assume such fuses are gas tight and do not think the run of the mill glass fuses are full of inert gas.1 point
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Beware of student rentals, particularly if you arent nearby... you could end up refurbishing on a regular basis. Returns may be good, but expenditure could be relatively high.1 point
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You need to get a multimeter, and a NASA BM2, (or similar). The multimeter will allow you to measure voltages and resistances in all kinds of places. The NASA BM2 will tell you instantaneous battery voltage, instantaneous amps flowing as a charge or a discharge, and cumulative Amp Hours used or put into the batteries - very simplistic, but good enough to start with. The State of charge reading on the NASA is pretty much useless. You should fully charge your batteries daily if possible, and every 2nd day if not. Any longer than that, (e.g. once a week), you seriously risk sulphation and short life. Some will disagree, but there are threads on here which support this.1 point
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For future reference, washing soda(soda crystals) is better than bicarbonate of soda. It neutralises better, is cheaper and comes in bigger packs. It also is an effective degreaser. Find it with washing powder etc. in your supermarket. N1 point
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How do you know that those boats displaying out of date or no licences aren't actually licensed? There is a legal requirement to display your licence, but the reality is CRT rarely bother if it has been paid. And of course none of the cars you refer to display a current tax disc.1 point
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£5.55 for a 10 unit card isn't quite £1 a lock, however, I am now planning a move to the Ashby so I can get maximum distance for minimum cost☺1 point
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Some people take delight in displaying out of date licences whilst actually having a current one. The only way to see if a boat actually is licenced is to use the CRT licence checker. https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/boating/licensing/boat-check1 point
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The best time to check is some time after the batteries have been on charge. Good batteries will be cool: a faulty one will be noticeably warm, and the cells will be bubbling. You can often hear the bubbling. If, when you look in the cells, five are bubbling and one isn't then that's pretty clear proof of a shorted cell. Any battery with a shorted cell should be disconnected from the bank as soon as possible. (The energy warming in up is coming from discharging the other, good, batteries in the bank.) Since the bubbling is hydrogen gas, wear eye protection, especially whilst disconnecting. A stray spark then could ignite the hydrogen. MP.1 point
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Do you mean the program where the winner left the cauliflower in the oven?? And still won.1 point
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