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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.

So is doing 31 mph in a 30 zone but i bet you do that. If someone is taking a bike to a boat and they ride it slow or have it in gear and walk alongside then what is the big deal. People blasting along is one thing but someone being careful is not a first world problem. I would rather hear a motorcycle coming slowly than an idiot on a bicycle doing 20 mph in silence.

Every day is a school day

It helps if the fuel is not perfectly dry when fed onto the fire is to twice a week get the stove roaring really tremendousely hot for half an hour which should burn off most of the gunge and soot in the flue. I believe Morso recomend this performance.

I had a hunch it might be something like that, hence my post leaning away from the flue hat. Presumably you'd had that set up for a while so if something changes......prolly summat else, ??

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.

Thank you everyone for replying, and thanks for your advice. Here's the culprit, it's a fatburg clinkerburg of tar and creosote (I think). Goes to show how this stuff builds up, to only having an inch or two diameter hole for the smoke to escape. The chimney was cleaned before we lit the fire last autumn. Since then we've burnt 13 x 25kg bags of Excel, and 12 x 20kg bags of New Heat. That's 565kg of coal burnt since September. It was probably November when the fire was kept in for 24 hours We've been burning New Heat (was told this will replace Excel???), it's good, but it's chemically. Fire was left to go out last night (glad the weather had warmed up). Today we got the bottlebrush out rattled a length of chain down the flue. Note to self: Clean the chimney more often. Note to everyone: Don't ignore an alarm.

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.

I believe so. I noticed a huge number of greenhouses on the opposite bank. A missed opportunity for scrumping!

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.

I think we are of a similar age and I find it happening to me more often. IIRC they are called "senior moments" ?

Next to top lock at Glascote http://www.nortoncanesboatbuilders.co.uk/home/index.php/boats-for-sale Tim

I don't have a "big" steel narrowboat, just a 23 feet GRP (fibreglass) cruiser, and I don't live on it. But I bought it within the last 3 months, and it was my first boat. So I was in the same boat (if you'll pardon the expression) as you. The main problems I had to overcome before being able to go to my boat and step aboard whenever I liked, were to do with finding a boat, buying it, and tying it up where I wanted it to be: 1 - I didn't know anything about boats - just always wanted one, though not to live on. So before taking the plunge, I joined this forum (and another one for the make of GRP boat I had decided on getting) and spent a very long time reading through previous posts. I read everything. This taught me a lot about what I was letting myself in for - costs, pitfalls, legal requirements and so on and on and on. I learned a lot. I think this was the most important preparation for boat ownership that I made. 2 - I didn't have anywhere to keep a boat. This is something you need to think about before you buy. Where is it going to live? Can your hoped-for mooring-place accommodate you? What will you do if it can't? In my case, there were two marinas relatively close to my home, one 35 minutes from home by car, and one 45 minutes away. Both could fit me in. I went for the least costly one, which happened to be the nearest one. 3 - When you find you ideal boat, where is it? My ideal purchase happened to be 55 miles by road from where I wanted to keep it, or 65 miles and 104 locks by canal, which would take me between 5 and 6 days. As a beginner, I didn't fancy doing 5 or 6 days, single-handed, on an unfamiliar boat. It cost me several hundred pounds to have the boat craned out of the canal at one end, moved the 55 miles by road and craned back in again at the other end. Hope this helps.

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?

I don't think you do it with live ones, if only because they would break the clay ...

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.

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