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An unusual journey today. We were travelling from Shipley to Apperley Bridge and arrived at Field Locks - a three-rise staircase, for those who don't know them - to find three CRT bods in the middle of trying to sort a problem. They'd figured out that a large bit of timber, or similar, must have got stuck right through the paddle in one of the top lock's bottom gates (= middle lock's top gates), meaning an extra-leaky paddle and a gate that was difficult to fully open. So I invite one of them aboard to have a go from our back deck as we go through from the top to the middle lock - nope, water too deep, can't get at the problem properly. So I suggest backing up into the top lock, draining the water, and having him poke about from our front deck. Hence the boat ends up sitting on the bottom while the blockage is successfully removed, then has to be refloated by opening the ground paddles as per the photo, before heading through to the middle lock. Bit of a different experience of going through a set of locks, but it was nice to be able to help (and nice not to be stuck due to an out-of-action lock ourselves, of course).

So far this is the only post I have understood in this thread

Spillchucker has mangled what I wrote. Problem is I can't work out what I originally meant to write ?

wow, you plainly don’t have much experience of body piercing if you think that’s the most disgusting ?

It is CO2 that is heavier than air. CO and CO2 get confused a lot, by me too sometimes. As @ditchcrawler says CO is lighter than air and will pool close to the ceiling, which is why the alarm destruction manuals say to put it near there. Jen

Found myself at a double lock one day after a very long days boating, drained the lock, opened the gates, closed the lock, filled the lock up, thought to myself something doesn't seem right here and the it clicked I had forgot to put the boat in.

Peaceful? Fairly dead i would have thought.?

Perhaps we should call it the David Bowie sensor...

The plan is to use the voltage to "nudge" the SOC: most of the tracking of changes will be done integrating the current, but if the voltage is consistently giving a lower or higher answer, the SOC can be trimmed up or down as needed. I think I need to get the real batteries in place and record a few complete discharge cycles first, to see if I'm generating data which has useful information in it. There's plenty of storage in the computer to log stuff. One problem I may have with coulomb counting is that I'm using a hall-effect current sensor, not a shunt. It's pretty accurate, but can suffer a small persistent offset due to induced magnetism after large current excursions. The spec says this is 300mA max (in plus/minus 200A) but it does represent some drift. Time will tell. 480Ah bank is arriving tomorrow! MP.

Dunno if it's true, but I heard that many years ago, a radio programme had an interview with a Romany family, about their way of life. They told the mother that as the Romany custom of cooking hedgehog by the ball of clay method was a well-known thing, they couldn't really avoid asking her about it, but they wouldn't ask her anything about catching or killing the hedgehog, or the actual cooking, to avoid lots of complaints from animal lovers. Ands she wasn't to talk about these aspects in her answers. The interview went on something like this: "I'm sure a lot of our listeners will have heard stories about Romany people eating hedgehogs. Is it true?" "Oh, yes, quite true." "Have you ever eaten hedgehog meat?" "I have, yes, but not for many years now. It's something that goes back to the Old Days. It's not done as often as it used to be." "What does it taste like?" "Difficult to say. It's a bit like cat." The switchboard went into meltdown.

Who am I trying to kid? If there was no one about, I’d ride the bike.

No but apparently my fault for having a heavy bote.

Agree with all this. Running these stoves hard, with dry fuel is the way to keep the flue free of clag. I've just used an old bit of scaffold pole to knock out the concrete like stuff that has formed with the weather being so mild and the stove ticking over 24/7. Jen

Every day is a school day

Ok I won't get a Cav/Delphi with a glass bowl and that Fuel Guard unit is silly money (£170 ?), so I'll just get a CAV/Delphi with a steel bowl. Thanks all

An easier way to clean the flue is to gaffer tape a wire brush to a broom handle and shove it up and down the flue a few times from the roof. Remember to close the stove door and the air controls.

From the BSS notes to examiners : A number of boat owners have contacted the BSS Office asking if the Fuel Guard water separator and fuel filter Type FGD conforms to the requirements of the BSS if installed in the engine bay of either a diesel or petrol fuelled engine. Description / scenario The BSS Office has been in contact with the UK suppliers of this device who has provided a copy off a Declaration of Conformity. This declaration indicates that the filter meets the relevant requirements of standards ISO 7840-2004 and ISO 10088-2009. The BSS Office has reviewed this declaration and it indicates that the Fuel - Guard products listed below meet the requirements of BSS Check 2.12.2 [2013] and C2.16 [2002] Are all fuel filters inside engine spaces fire resistant? The declaration reviewed covers the following devices, Fuel filters / water separators Type: DCI Certificate number: CE-RCD- ı395 Model types: FUEL-GUARD FGDI00, FUEL-GUARD FGD230, FUEL-GUARD FGD560 FUEL-GUARD FGD1120, FUEL-GUARD FGD 1680, FUEL-GUARD FGD2240 Implications for BSS examinations Examiners finding such devices installed within the engine space should establish that the label on the top of the device has model numbers as listed above and apply the appropriate checks as normal.

When we had the mooring in west London there were occasional problems with hoons racing motorbikes on the towpath and would often have words with the riders, which most times solved the problem, but the last couple of years we were there this became impossible primarily due to a number of boaters riding and parking on the towpath. A sign of the times and the 'me and my needs first' mentality.

At least you don't open the fridge door first, then stare into it for ages, like the Memsahib....,

Yes, I know it's a great place to moor - we moor there! ? Just didn't know what they are like as brokers.

Great to see such enthusiasm- I do have a soft spot for Sabbs -when my own isnt out of action awaiting spares that is..?

In case it was missed Simplest thing is to take alternator to somewhere like this http://www.kingslynnautoelectrical.co.uk/our-product-range/starter-motors-alternators/ And get it tested!

Since increasing my ignore list to include all the pratts that babble and the one or two who are just looking for an argument, life has been much more peaceful. I can recommend it, saves all the angst. The general content of posts seems to have improved too after certain members huffed and left. Just a few more to go and this will be a good forum. Still got a few wallies who ask for advice and then say its all wrong and do their own thing,they don't last long anyway. The thought has occurred to me that if I could also ignore myself, it would be really peaceful all the time. Is it possible with the forum software?

Most of the comments on here about the costs of owning a boat seem to be comparing with having a mortgage (presumably from people who have or had a mortgage). If comparing with renting then the equation changes somewhat. I'm certainly not ignorant of all that - I used to have a mortgage, paid it off, but my ex now lives there, so the alternative to living on a boat for me was renting. My current financial situation wouldn't allow me to get a mortgage, however I am in the fortunate position of having plenty of capital (though not quite enough at the moment to buy a house with cash), hence I could afford to buy a decent boat - my attitude is that it might not appreciate like bricks, but if looked after properly neither should it depreciate significantly, hence it's an asset. I've read lots of comments on here, done the sums again and again and I'm still convinced it's far cheaper than renting, at least for me given my circumstances - a single bed is no use to me as there's no space for my kids (my boat has a second cabin for them), hence I'd be looking at £800+. Of course it does all depend on your exact circumstances but as an alternative to renting, living on a boat certainly can make financial sense IMHO. I've never hired a boat either - instead I started living on one in winter! As the OP discovered, hiring can quickly eat up a lot of money compared to buying - even at long term winter rates. I suppose it depends on how prepared you are to take a risk - but not only on that but also what other experience you're coming in with. The OP mentions that he's happy with camping and that living on a boat would be a step up - in that case he's unlikely to have big problems with the living conditions in winter IMHO. That was one of my considerations when I decided to get a boat - I don't need luxuries (though as it happens I have plenty on my boat) and happy to cope with all the stuff some people seem to think is difficult. Sure I might have only been living on board for 3 months and have a lot of winter ahead, but I'm nowhere near my discomfort zone at the moment despite several nights of frost - TBH it's not really anything like camping, it's far easier than that, but coming at it with a camping attitude makes it all seem fine. The other point you mainly cover is the moving a boat aspect - I'm not sure how much of that the OP is planning on doing, but again I've found it nowhere near as hard as some seem to make out - certainly not if you're young and fit as I'm guessing the OP probably is (I'm not so young myself, but way fitter than most 20 year olds). I gained my basic knowledge of steering and working locks on the first day I owned my boat! Well that and through doing a huge amount of research in advance, and a lot of experience of sailing dinghies which helped a lot with the boat handling. Personally given my circumstances there was only one possible option of where to live - my whole voyage started when I found there was a mooring available here. It is indeed the most important thing, I didn't commit to buying a boat until I'd got the mooring confirmed. Again it depends how confident you are about doing new things like this - my trip to get here was 80 miles and 130 locks and took me over a week single handed. The first time I'd ever driven a narrowboat was when I had to get mine out of the marina where it was moored (which is still the hardest thing I've ever done, it's way easier getting in and out here). The first time I'd ever done a lock was about an hour later, the first time I'd slept on one was a few hours after that. Most people probably think I was a bit mad, but I made it here without any major mishaps and now kind of know what I'm doing. I'm so, so glad I did that - it was an adventure with a purpose which I'm never likely to repeat. It is sensible to set a limit on range when looking though for practical reasons - that was about the furthest away I was considering (though plenty of choice within that range for me).

Pah! Current plans for 2019 have us starting in London.

Too true! This is always the way, I'm good at ignoring it though... but yes, I'm figuring boats can really get expensive. * I found two which caught my eye: a 35ft - but "believed to be 6mm" for the hull, should be 10mm no? Otherwise layout is nice and tidy. But 19k? Maybe more like 16k, assuming no nasty surprises? https://www.apolloduck.com/boat/colecraft-35-cruiser-stern/572936 The next is much larger and it really looks a nice boat - interestingly, was on sale two years ago for 29k - so either was sold to a broker and furniture removed but not sold, or was bought and sold within a two year period? Mmmmm, it has a GRP superstructure, not steel... maybe worth 20k? https://www.apolloduck.com/boat/narrow-boats-cruiser-stern/565564 Am I right in thinking some people list to sell and other people just throw boats on sale with heavy price tags and see if an idiot like me comes along?

If my balls were stuck on spikes I'd want to go to hospital too!

Judging by her distinctive leather toolbox, she's a Vodafone lineman - the mobile phone mast behind her gives it away.

Probably about time you bought some diesel then

Thanks, but my new year resolution is to get rid of stuff rather than accumulate it. No doubt this won’t last long, but I must try at least. I have already been to the tip this morning and am feeling virtuous. Happy New Year to you

Life is too short to carry around hatred and recriminations, New Year is a time for fresh starts and forgiveness not a time for carrying around old baggage Phil