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Pretty much what Tree Monkey posted. Plus I felt that the apology as published seemed on the grudging side and was not followed up by "those in power" sufficiently publicly. That is my view and it reflects on the rules related to modding and especially the "thou shalt not criticise a mod" one. The MtB affair was just the latest and such walkouts will go on unless there is a wholly transparency way of resolving modding issues with members. This is in no way a criticism of your modding that seems fair and sometimes almost to the point of beyond fair. It is an issue with the secret modding that takes place with no explanation. Topics deleted, posts deleted and so on with no explanation to the members as to why. This breads suspicion and lack of trust so when accidents do happen they are seen in the worst light.

Good Morning Sam I knew you'd show up at some point, though I'm a little concerned that you showed up at 4 in the morning. Yes there was much drivel last night and it was such fun, MtB would have loved it if he was here to join in but alas it wasn't meant to be however we got you instead, your wonderfully grumpy curmudgeonly self; not quite the same as MtB but....... you'll do. Hardly that important cos I suspect you weren't the first to think of it ? Much as I love you dearly - yes I really do, that very grumpiness you exude is quite endearing - your understanding is not always as good as you think it is and you might be a teeeeeency bit behind the times with this one. Anyway, it's been fun chatting with you even if you can't see my posts - Have a hug (you know you love them really)

An Air Force Officer, a Navy Officer and an Army Officer are all using the urinals at the same time : When they come out, the Army Officer begins thoroughly washing his hands and says, 'In the Army they taught us the importance of good hygiene.' The Naval officer then begins washing his hands using only a small trickle of water and says, 'In the Navy they taught us the importance of good hygiene AND water conservation.' The RAF Officer walks straight out without stopping and says, 'In the RAF they taught us to not piss on our fingers.'

Wow thanks for all of your replies! Sadly, notifications of your responses went to my junk folder hence my lack of input.. The problem is pretty much cleared up now after connecting a battery balancer although I do wonder why most people get away without having to use one of these. It also emerged that my voltmeter slightly overstated the voltages after I borrowed a better quality voltmeter from a friend. As for the confusion about charging voltages, what I meant was that I had the charger set to 28.8v (or 14.4v per battery), and receiving uneven voltages on each battery. The 12v charger was a different unit that I used to bring the batteries up to full charge independently. There are no 12v appliances involved, only 230v. Temp sensor was fitted. Anyway, like I said the problem is pretty much sorted and the voltages have levelled up and are fairly consistent with what you'd expect. Thanks everyone for your enthusiastic input, sorry I was off the radar for so long!

Indeed it wont. You can test a 16amp cable that only has 3 or 4 strands of each core connected and it will pass! I did this years ago when I was told that a visual inspection didn't matter and it was all about the test. However a visual inspection will if done fully pick this up. A boat with a GI will fail on the earth resistance test, however depending on the settings of the tester it should survive. As for the IR test it should survive that as well. When I was involved with testing on a regular basis I used to put "duff" cables into the pile just to see if the testers picked them up, if they didn't then I wanted to know why. ETA Testing is just an ass covering exercise, you have to be able to prove that your equipment is electrically safe in the case of an accident and PAT has become the accepted way. You could equally have a meticulous inspection record which may also stand up in court depending on the item.

We want Mike. When do we want him? Now! We want Mike. When do we want him? Now! We want Mike. When do we want him? Now! We want Mike. When do we want him? Now! Right.I'm marching on Downing street. Who's with me? He is also happy to apologise if he is wrong,I have it on good authority. Not everyone would!

OK, it's not the most scientific of experiments - I'll give you that - but here's my look at a cheap 12V diesel heater. I made this video because I couldn't find out (online) the voltages and amps it would use when starting up, running, and when shutting down. I was taking a change buying it as I assumed it would drain my battery pretty quickly, but it seems not. Hell, I've had it sitting for over 4 hours with just the LCD screen on (no heating) and the battery voltage hasn't moved. I'm pretty impressed by it. £160 from eBay. Yes, I know it probably wouldn't pass a BSS exam. It would mysteriously go missing the day before. Anyway, here's my quick look at it:

Our Rusty (no not that one, it's the very hairy one I'm talking about) has been having an intermittent tummy upset. It's been becoming more frequent, despite being careful about what food he has. He's been really good, we've not had any accidents in the boat, though he has been in distress, padding up and down the boat. The last bout was when we were iced up on Tixel Wide, having to get off the boat every half hour or so throughout the night. We thought it time to seek help. The reason for the post is to recommend the Rivermeet Vets, it's a short walk from the bottom of Lock 5 on the Atherstone flight. We had an appointment with a brilliant lady vet there (Jordan). She wanted to conduct investigations to rule out anything nasty. She planned to see us today at Riversmeet Vets (their other facility) near Tamworth for ultrasound and blood tests. But to get there we needed transport. We discovered 'Animals At Home ', it's a specialist taxi service (amongst other services) for pets. The service is nationwide (franchised), and the driver that took Rusty and my OH to the vets was brilliant. He even waited with my OH in the reception as they'd arrived half an hour too early (thanks to light road traffic because of half term). Cost of the pet's taxi £60 for two journeys. Well worth it we thought, and it's reassuring knowing this company can get us out of a possible horrible situation anywhere on the canal system. We can always phone 999 in an emergency if we get into trouble, we can't do that for Rusty. Pleased to report the Vet didn't find anything horrible, just a couple of non-worrying strange points, like a large spleen and a high red cell count. We're hanging around for a while for blood test results re pancreatic anomalies. Other good points, the vet knows we're on a boat and said that wouldn't be a problem, if Rusty has to have regular medication, the vet can provide a prescription, to be picked up from the nearest vet to where we're moored.

I'm sorry Rusty is feeling poorly I hope you get to the bottom of whats bothering him soon, the whole thing sounds terribly distressing for both you and him. The Animals at Home service seem like a rather brilliant idea. What a good find.

What wonderful weather it is for this time of year. I wonder if the warm weather will encourage the MtBs to blossom early.

They get away with it because one shouldn’t be necessary. Think about a 12V battery - that has six cells in series. They don’t require a balancer to keep the bottom 3 in sync with the top 3. Adding another battery in series simply means that you now have 12 cells. There’s no reason why the batteries should be unequal unless you’re tapping 12V off the bottom battery. You state “there are no 12V appliances involved” so can you confirm that the only cable between the +ve of the bottom battery and the -ve of the top battery is the single fat battery link? Absolutely no other connection (apart from your new balancer)?

He was given a couple of warning points, as it turned out in error and for which an apology was given but it was a bit of the straw that broke the camel's back, so he left.

I understand that viewpoint, and personally I would feel the same, but it may be that your previous experience in the Grey Funnel Line may have given you an advantage which others may not have. To someone coming new to boats it is an alien environment, and may seem too complex and fraught with pitfalls as a venture without someone to hold their hand until they gain a little knowledge? Like many things in life, there are good and bad surveyors but having seen instances of both I think a lot of people will quickly sort out the wheat from the chaff. Howard

lol @Athy no further comment required in this instance, but it gave me a good giggle, ty. ?

Sam's gone for the italics - you just know he's right when he does that!

I draw the line at rhumb.

If you're looking for a leisurely time and lovely scenery then I'd be avoiding Birmingham, the Black Country and Stoke. Which rules out some of these suggestions and also rules out the 4 counties rings. Rings are overrated anyway. Too much pressure to complete them. Head north through lovely Shropshire and Cheshire Countryside as far as Chester. Turn and head south again. When you are approaching the Middlewich Branch junction, take a stock of your time left. If you have a couple of weeks left, go down the Middlewich Branch and then down the Anderton Boat lift and have a couple of days on the River Weaver, before heading back to Norbury. You might even have time to venture onto the Bridgewater Canal too. If you have about 10 days left, go up the Llangollen and back, then return to Norbury. If you have a week left, go all the way down the Shroppie to the end, then turn and go back to Norbury. There's nothing at all wrong with doing the same canal in two directions. Everything looks different when the other way round and you can plan to stop at different places.