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Showing content with the highest reputation on 05/01/20 in all areas

  1. I experienced the WORST customer service yesterday at a shop in Hull...I don't want to mention the name of the shop because I'm not sure how I'm going to proceed. On Wednesday I bought something from this shop. I paid cash for it. I took it home and found out it didn't work. So today, less than 48 hours later I took it back to the shop and asked if I could get a refund.The girl in the shop told me “NO” even though I still had the receipt. I asked if I could get a replacement instead then. Again this person told me "NO." I asked to talk to a manager now as I'm really not happy and I explained that I had bought the item, had got it home and it didn't work. The manager just smiled and told me to my face that I was "OUT OF LUCK." No refund. No FREE replacement. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrereerr. . I''ll tell you what... I am NEVER buying another Lotto Ticket from there again !
    4 points
  2. I think your best course of action is to buy a whole new pump immediately, fit that and get the water back on, then you'll have a whole defunct pump you can dismantle and learn about all the parts in it, and work out how it works. Not longer having to worry about breaking something as you take it to bits and learn about it makes the whole thing far less stressful and more enjoyable.
    3 points
  3. You’re right, it’s becoming oddly depressing ? Ill add her to the blocked list so I can stay on here-clearly the intention is to drive me away as I’m not the right “type” to own a narrowboat.
    3 points
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  6. I wonder if you can hire him for guest appearances at fishing matches? ....... only asking.
    3 points
  7. Thames Tideway boating this evening ?
    3 points
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  10. Obviously it depends on many factors. Access, type of stern, etc, etc. Having recently changed the mounts on my BMC 1.8 in a semi trad NB I can't imagine using a jack. Even if access had been possible the risk to fingers, toes to say nothing about the engine would have made it a non starter. I used a chain hoist suspended from a 40mm x40mm steel tube across the cockpit. Anything else would have been plain stupid. Hiring a chain hoist is not expensive. On e bay there's a company in the West Midlands who want £20 a week to hire a 1ton hoist (overkill). How much do you value one of your fingers
    2 points
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  14. They may have paid 15 or even 20 years hosting fees in advance. Hosting is pretty cheap. Or maybe there’s someone somewhere wondering about what that obscure annual direct debit that keeps coming out of their account is for...
    2 points
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  16. If you need to save on rent why not try vanliving? I did it for 2 years in London but not having a permanent address was becoming an issue with the insurance. I bought a £500 thing and running costs averaged £180/month for 2 years. Costs are much cheaper and if you buy a nasty van at least you don't end up at the bottom of some canals. I am looking at boats as well to save on rents: the main advantage I see on them is more space which can give you more quality of interior/facilities and therefore life; (and easier insurance papers).
    2 points
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  20. Sub £10k you will always get a much better fibreglass boat than a narrowboat.
    2 points
  21. I wrote this elsewhere but as the same questions pop up regularly I thought it might be an idea to post it here. I don’t intend this to be an exhaustive in-depth ‘instruction manual’ which covers all aspects of marine battery charging, there are already many web sites and books which attempt to do that. Rather, this describes, in pretty broad brush strokes, my opinion of how to approach the matter while taking into account your boating style. It’s also not written with substitute examples (like buckets for batteries) but with real products that you may have on your boat.While I’ve tried to avoid being overly technical whilst describing what is a highly technical subject, there are nevertheless mentions of volts and AmpHours here. Despite that, I’ve intended it to be reasonably light reading for those with a little knowledge of the subject yet possibly containing some nuggets of useful information for those who know the subject quite well. It's also worth pointing out that there is no such thing as 100% charged; by the very nature of its chemistry a battery can never get there. You can always squeeze just a tiny bit more in. However I will refer to 'fully charged' as meaning "as charged as practical" !Please read the couple of safety points at the end of this post. It’s more than possible that I’ve overlooked something or made errors in which case I’m sure you’ll let me know . So, here we go.Battery charging is a topic that generates almost more discussion on any boating forum than anything else. This article tries to set out the basics for keeping your batteries healthy and happy, but can only be an introduction to such a complex business. Let us first understand the problem. When sitting in the cabin with no engine or generator running, you are consuming power from your batteries. TV, radio, lighting, pumps, phone chargers etc. all use power. Now, if you cruise for a number of hours the following day then it is possible, depending on how many hours that your engine is running, that your alternator will have replenished the lost charge by the time you moor up for the evening. Then you start the cycle again.In the summer a good solar installation can take care of some or even all of your charging needs (depending on the sunshine and the size of the solar panels). In the winter solar will not achieve this. In fact you will experience days or even weeks where the solar contributes virtually nothing at all. Wind generation is of even less value.If you require extra battery charging then the solution is therefore a mains battery charger. What type, how it is used, and how it should be configured is covered in the following sections.Before we get to that, let us first understand what a modern, microprocessor controlled battery charger does. All modern battery chargers have three basic stages. Marketing departments will sometimes advertise 4, 5, or even 6 stages of charging but that is purely so they can make their charger appear superior to the competition. For a straightforward recharge of discharged batteries there are only three stages. (Equalisation or Desulphation are not a charge stage, they are a maintenance stage). So, what are these three stages?1. Bulk Stage. This is when the batteries are at their lowest SoC (State of Charge) and will 'demand' the maximum output from the charger. All chargers are categorised by their maximum current rating (20A, 40A etc) and during the Bulk Stage the current will be at this maximum while the voltage slowly rises up to the preset maximum (typically 14.4 to 14.7V, depending on battery type and internal chemistry). This stage is sometimes called "Constant Current". Note that the size of the charger (its maximum current) should be chosen to suit your usage, the size of the battery bank and the battery type. How this is arrived at is outside the scope of this post.2. Absorption Stage. The batteries have now reached a higher SoC (typically around 80-85%) and are gradually demanding less and less from the charger. The voltage remains at the preset level (typically somewhere between 14.4v to 14.8V) whilst the current slowly reduces. This stage is sometimes called "Constant Voltage". This stage should continue until the batteries are very close to 100% charged.3. Float Stage. Depending on your charger's float voltage this can be considered to be similar to the Absorption Stage inasmuch as the voltage is constant, but the voltage is now reduced to around 13.6V (again, preset according to battery type and internal chemistry) in order to treat the battery gently and to slowly bring it to a fully charged state whilst simultaneously countering self-discharge. Some chargers, however, have a much lower float voltage of only around 13.25V. If yours is one of these then float should be considered as a maintenance stage because it will not charge the battery, only keep it at its current state of charge.Self-discharge is where a charged battery will slowly lose its charge if left unattended.How a battery charger should be used and configured depends largely upon your boating style, which is discussed below.There are three main scenarios for using the batteries which will be taken in turn.If you are off-grid with no access to shoreline If you never have an opportunity to plug your boat into a shoreline and solar/wind is insufficient then you are reliant on either the engine alternator or a TravelPower or separate generator to feed an on-board charger. Whichever of these two methods you use (engine or generator), you will be limited in how long you can run it. CRT licence conditions do not permit the running of engines or generators for charging purposes outside the hours of 8 am to 8 pm and in any event, it is highly inconsiderate to spoil the peace of an evening on the cut with engine noise. Besides, why add wear to the engine and use fuel any more than is essential?Note that thanks to something called Charge Efficiency (don't worry about it, just accept this), more energy needs to be replaced when charging than you took out when discharging (by a factor of around 10-20%). It is impossible to tell from a simple volt meter when the bank is fully charged. In brief, you will need to monitor either the specific gravity (relative density) or an ammeter to know when it is safe to stop charging. This is particularly pertinent to off-grid boaters who for reasons of noise and expense of fuel do not wish to charge for hours on end when unnecessary.If using the SmartGauge to monitor your batteries, be aware that it is not as accurate when charging as discharging and therefore continuing charging for some time after it shows 100% may be advisable. If using a monitor that contains an ammeter, you need to watch the current flow into the battery bank. It will start very high during the bulk phase, then tail off during absorption. When it has either stopped reducing over a period of an hour or reached 1 - 2% of the bank's capacity, then little will be achieved by continuing charging. So for a 400 Ah bank, for example, you should aim for a "tail current" of 4 - 8 amps if it is achievable.There is however a problem with most (if not all) battery chargers. When charging with a generator and 'mains' battery charger it is very important to note that many chargers switch to float voltage much too soon. This is because the designer was imagining them being used on a never-ending household mains supply, and switching to float early treats the batteries gently at the expense of charging time. An off-grid boater needs the opposite; he needs the batteries to charge as fast as possible so that he can switch off his generator as early as possible. Ideally, an off-grid boater doesn't want the charger to ever switch to float; simply continue at absorption voltage until the tail current indicates that the bank is fully charged. Note however that this requires the boater to be vigilant. Continuous charging at the Absorption voltage once the batteries are charged will irreparably damage your batteries.Some chargers permit the user to configure the settings to a large degree, and I would advocate, where possible, that an off-grid boater should set the float voltage to be the same as the absorption voltage - somewhere in the order of 14.4V depending on the make of battery. It is important to repeat the advice that if you do this you must be vigilant and stop charging once the batteries are close to 100% SoC.Although somewhat inconvenient and requiring experience, it is possible, once charging has finished, to use an accurate voltmeter to estimate the state of charge, but only once the surface charge has been eliminated. One way of doing this would be to turn the tunnel light on for around 10 minutes. This table shows the relationship between resting voltage and charge state of a typical 12V bank:12.65V - 100%12.45V - 75%12.24V - 50%12.06V - 25%11.89V - 0%The highly accurate way to check the state of charge of individual cells is to use a hydrometer or refractometer to measure the relative density of the electrolyte but many boaters will not wish to go to those lengths and those with sealed, AGM or gell batteries will not be able to do so anyway.You should aim to fully charge the batteries daily for maximum life. If that is impossible, then every few days, certainly every week, to avoid sulphation permanently reducing the bank's capacity.If you are off-grid with occasional access to shoreline If you are able to get into a marina occasionally and plug into a shoreline, then you can give the batteries a much more thorough charging. Leaving the charger on until it goes into float mode, turning it off for a while then back on, will result in the batteries being brought to a much better state. Ideally, leave the charger on overnight.If you have configured the Float Voltage to be high as described above for off-grid boaters then it is essential that you change it back to a suitable float voltage for your batteries when connected to shore power.If you have regular access to shoreline If you regularly moor in a marina or somewhere else where you can use a shoreline, then in addition to all of the foregoing you can routinely leave the bank on float charge. Most modern chargers will go back into absorption mode from time to time to ensure that the batteries are kept in good condition.During the summer, a decent solar panel array will achieve the same effect, keeping a float level of charge across the bank, as long as your power usage is less than that which the bank is producing, but the weak UK winter sun will not be adequate for this purpose.EqualisationYes, I know it's not a 'charge mode' but I thought I'd add a little about it here anyway. Some chargers will enable you to give an equalisation charge at a much higher voltage than usual, probably above 15V for a 12 volt system. This has the effect of ensuring that all the cells in the bank have been fully charged and that as much sulphation as possible has been removed from the plates. Some warnings about equalisation: 1. Sealed, AGM and gel batteries should not normally be subject to equalisation. If you are considering doing so, take expert advice first.2. Some items of equipment in the boat may not be able to handle the high voltage and should be disconnected. The safest way is to isolate the bank before proceeding.3. Hydrogen gas will be given off during the process. The bank should be well ventilated and must never be left unattended. During equalisation, check the temperature of the batteries from time to time, say every 15 minutes. They may well become warm to the touch but serious heating is a bad sign and the process should be stopped at once. It is not unknown for batteries to boil or even explode if a cell has failed.4. The cells will need topping up with distilled water after being equalised.A couple of general bits of safety advice should be added here:1) A permanently installed charger must never use crocodile clips to connect to the battery. 2) Temporary chargers should only be connected with the input (230V mains) power turned off, and only disconnected 3 minutes after turning off the charger input power to minimise the risk of explosion from hydrogen gas generated during charging.
    1 point
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  24. I'll tell of the Battle of Hastings, As happened in days long gone by, When Duke William became King of England, And 'Arold got shot in the eye. It were this way - one day in October The Duke, who were always a toff, Having no battles on at the moment, Had given his lads a day off. They'd all taken boats to go fishing, When some chap t'Conqueror's ear Said 'Let's go and put breeze up the Saxons;' Said Bill - 'By gum, that's an idea. Then turning around to his soldiers, He lifted his big Norman voice, Shouting - 'Hands up who's coming to England.' That was swank 'cos they hadn't no choice. They started away about tea-time - The sea was so calm and so still, And at quarter to ten the next morning They landed at place called Bexhill. King 'Arold came up as they landed - His face full of venom and 'ate - He said 'If you've come for t'Regatta You've got here just six weeks too late.' At this William rose, cool but 'aughty, And said - 'Give us none of your cheek; You'd best have your throne re-upholstered, I'll be wanting to use it next week.' When 'Arold heard this 'ere defiance' With rage he turned purple and blue, And shouted some rude words in Saxon, To which William answered -'And you.' 'Twere a beautiful day for a battle; The Normans set off with a will, And when both sides was duly assembled, They tossed for the top of the hill. King 'Arold he won the advantage, On the hill-top he took up his stand, With his knaves and his cads all around him, On his 'orse with his 'awk in his 'and. The Normans had nowt in their favour, Their chance of a victory seemed small, For the slope of the field were against them, And the wind in their faces and all. The kick-off were sharp at two-thirty, And soon as the whistle had went Both sides started banging each other Till the swineherds could hear them in Kent. The Saxons had best line of forwards, Well armed with both buckler and sword - But the Normans had best combination, And when half-time came no-one had scored. So the Duke called his cohorts together And said - 'Let's pretend that we're beat, Once we get Saxons on t'level We'll cut off their means of retreat.' So they ran - and the Saxons ran after, Just exactly as William had planned, Leaving 'Arold alone on the hill top On his 'orse with his 'awk in his 'and. When the Conqueror saw what had happened, A bow and an arrow he drew; He went right up to 'Arold and shot him. He were off-side, but what could they do? The Normans turned round in a fury, And gave back both parry and thrust, Till t'fightin' were all over bar shouting, And you couldn't see Saxons for dust. And after the battle were over They found 'Arold so stately and grand, Sitting there with an eye full of arrow On his 'orse with his 'awk in his 'and.
    1 point
  25. Inside that gauge will be a bourdon tube one end of which is sealed and attached to some gears whch in turn actuate the pointer. The bordon tube is designed to flex under the effects of pressure or vacuum and is usually made of a copper alloy. The gears are usually of brass on steel arbours running in brass plates. All a bit like the internals of a clock without as many parts. None of which should cause any issues. On balance I think I'd replace the filter assembly, do you really need the extra complication? If in doubt K.I.S.S. is the best rule to follow.
    1 point
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  27. Don't worry - the owner has just sent me the photo!
    1 point
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  31. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  32. Yes, indeed, 100 regular donations of £12, once a year, would be lovely, If we could have them spaced out neatly so there were 8-10 donations every month with the bulges just before we pay for the forum software, that would be even better. Unfortunately the reality is otherwise. However, what we do have now, is a position where we have outgoings that are less than our income in most months and where we do not have to sporadically appeal for funds because we don't have enough in the bank to pay the bills. That is due to the on-going generosity of the Forum's users and to work by Rich M to reduce OpEx. I have looked through the Paypal stats to see what detail is available , but I appear to be unable to answer the "How many" question without doing a detailed sort and count from each monthly Paypal statement. Even then I am likely to miss or double count some individuals. It may be some while coming,....... What I can see from Paypal stats is that there were 301 donations last year (2019), of all types. Looking at the statements, in a typical month we received between 15 and 18 subscription donations and 6-10 one-off payments. Mostly the regular subscription payments are donations of £1 , which, less Paypal's fees, gve us somewhere in the order of £15-20.00. There are a couple of months with a cluster of 6-monthly and annual donations and these are better for the bank balance. The one off payments make up the bulk of our income. Nigel
    1 point
  33. On the other hand, looking at the obvious age of the installation, I think it is safe to assume it used to work properly at some point back in the mists of time. I doubt the installation got that old by never ever working from the get go. There are three possible faults at play here: 1) The alternator NEVER excites due to excitation current too low. This is the one most peeps here seem to think is the case. I'm inclined to disagree as it obviously used to work. 2) The alternator excites but the charging is poor. This is the fault caused by a pulley too small and run by the half speed cam. This does not fit the symptom described by the OP. 3) Something has broken, e.g. a wire or the charge indicator bulb. I think we should focus on this.
    1 point
  34. No hang on, my mistake. Spike Milligan!
    1 point
  35. Not sure how to highlight sentences but the pipe into the lift pump was the answer. After heaven knows how many attempts to bleed system (flattened agood 110ah battery 4 times in total) someone 35 years my junior and far more supple got really close to the pump, felt all around it, gave the inlet pipe a tug and thought he felt movement. When the nut was undone there was no evidence of the olive having been compressed. A few sseconds with a spanner and problem was resolved. The amazing thing is that that joint had held faultlessly for at lèast 10 years without a hint of a leak. Thanks to everyone for their advice and comments.
    1 point
  36. Boaty theme from Spike Father Thames Let us look at the River Thames. One of England's watery gems. Oily brown, greasy, muddy. Looking foul, and smells of cruddy. The conservancey say their cleaning it, so why is it the colour of sh*t?
    1 point
  37. Lady Barnaby takes her ease Knitting overcoats for fleas By this kindness fleas are smitten That's why she's rarely bitten. Spike Milligan.
    1 point
  38. Just to quash the rumour, as the current owner of Sudbury, she is most definitely NOT for sale and we intend to keep her for a very long time! Rob
    1 point
  39. Some nice stoves popping up in this thread, we have just fitted this. I had a plate made up to fit over the open grate for safeties sake when we're out or asleep. As long as the boat isn't a new build and the stove is correctly installed i don't think you need to worry about anything.
    1 point
  40. So how would folks who are trying to find out about narrowboats to help them make a decision to buy or not chat to people who have the right experience? And tbf the nasty posts on here have come from boat owners.
    1 point
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  43. 'Tis a terrible shame the nastiness posted in this thread is once again tolerated on the forum by Team Mod. The number of active posters seems to be reducing daily and I know LOTS of boaters in real life who have stopped posting on here as a result of bad manners and intolerance on the part of a tiny minority here. But they drive away the nicer type of boater this forum really needs to come back. Just my opinion.
    1 point
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  46. If you really need to save money, you can buy a GRP in short term... and then sell it, it wont need much maintenance to hold the value... here is a youtube video of a guy who has done it...
    1 point
  47. Just before you 'make the jump' are you 'up to speed' on the costs of maintaining and mooring a boat ? Your mooring costs will vary by location - London can be £10,000 - £15,000 per annum for a liveaboard, the Midlands can be nearer £4,000 - £5,000. Farmers field moorings can be even less. Mooring costs will also vary with facilities offered, do you want security (gated access), water, electricity, toilet emptying, close to shops, car parking etc etc. - the more you 'get' generally the more expensive they will be. Marinas will often not offer a reduced price for (say) a 30 foot boat because you are still taking up a pontoon that could (say) accommodate a 50 or 60 foot boat. If they need to fill 'space' and get some income, they may do a deal, if the are fairly full, they may not. If you do not need to be in a 'fixed area' for family / work / hospital or whatever reasons and are free to move about then you can 'continuously cruise' without having a mooring. The downside (for some) is that you have to move every few days (usually 14 days) to a new place and you cannot just go A to B to A to B etc, you do need to be actually 'moving about'. In addition to mooring costs and 'general running and maintenance costs, you will need : Boat licence (a 30 foot boat is about £750 per annum 2020/21 rate) Boat insurance (fully comprehensive £100-£150 per annum) Boat Safety Certificate (Boat version of the MoT) Boating is not a 'cheap way' of living even when compared to renting a house.
    1 point
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  49. I posted this thread a couple of weeks ago as I was surprised how high my CO monitor had gone. It seems like I am safe as the levels were below the 'unsafe' level. The following week after finding this out, I looked at the CO monitor regularly and even with my normal cleaning routine (door open no longer than a few mins) the level was going up to 50-80. I was a bit concerned about this as any CO is bad for you as it binds to your red blood cells! OK, end of story then? No. Over the past month, I have noticed our stove has been struggling a bit to get up to the really hot temperatures I expect and when loading it with coal or wood, it was taking longer than I remember to get back up to hot. I was blaming this on damp coal as the last 10 bags we got had been stored outside and the dust on the outside of the pieces was not dusty but damp. Also when burning wood, there had been some smoke coming out of the vents on the stove when the wood was first put on. I finally figured out that the flue probably needed a clean. I did it yesterday and was amazed that the top of the flue where it exits the boat was totally blocked with 'crap'. There was probably a very small hole for the flue gas to get up the chimney. Cleaned it out, hacked out the solid deposit and put a rope and chain down the flue and cleaned the top plate in the stove. All back to normal now. Fire working great. Nice and hot. 'Damp' coal burning well.........and ZERO CO showing up on the monitor!!!!!! That last bit is worrying. The slow decay in performance of the stove over a few months had not really registered there was something going wrong until it was very wrong and almost blocked.....and it wasnt just the burning performance. The restriction in the flue meant that CO was getting into the cabin when the door was open. I had never seen the CO monitor showing any CO in our last two winters on board. For the last few months, everytime we have opened the stove door, there has been significant CO getting into the boat. OK, the 50ppm level is only dangerous if at that level for 8 hours (time dependence) but 50ppm for a short period twice a day, 7 days a week is still not good for you. Our stove is on all the time apart from maybe 20 days when we have been off the boat since we lit it for the winter.....and in that time the flue got blocked. Morale of that story is keep your chimney clean! It's not only poor stove performance you get with a blocked flue. It's also a low dosage of CO.
    1 point
  50. Ignore a lot of posters on here is my advice! I have a composting loo it works great, I have a garden to finish of the composting, and plenty of land to get rid of the wee. it is by far the easiest toilet I have had to deal with, the pump out was a days cruise wither way to empty, and then it was a gamble whether it was working! The cassette twice a week carrying a heavy cassette and a good chance it will glug and you are spattered! nice ?. I empty solids once every 3 months into the compost bin which all the veg matter goes into as well, and wee every week or 2 simplicity itself
    1 point
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