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People don't have to play golf or tennis, but the recent changes mean that they are quite at liberty to do so. Since you and others seem so intent upon 'commonsense' how about some commonsense Government decisions rather than being led by the wittering classes of the Daily Wail and Sun. When the lockdown is lifted there will be an increase in infections and deaths, I think pretty much everyone is accepting of that. When Spain started to come out of lockdown, their daily infection rate was circa 500-700 (under 1000) and now after about 10 days they are back up to 3000+ so, unless you still believe in the English exceptionalism, we can pretty much expect the same, except we are currently starting from a far higher figure, so after 10 days or so, instead of going up to where the Spanish are at 3000 (still less that where we are now) we could easily rise to 16,000 - 17,000 infections a day if we get the same percentage rise. Do I trust the 'commonsense' Government to then say,"Oh we need to re-impose a lock-down", frankly, no I don't as it would be acknowledgement of lifting the lockdown too soon so we will rattle on with increasing infection/death rates until they have no choice and we will be back to where we started from. Two more weeks lockdown and then monitor what is happening elsewhere and follow the sensible lead would be the commonsense approach, but as you say we don't do commonsense.

As one of the few (maybe only) people here who has done significant boating during the lockdown, can I second this? You're not just sitting, fat and happy, in the middle of the canal, and surface transmission at locks is the least of your worries. Much more of the problem is when you're standing on the back of the boat in the bottom of a lock and someone's ugly mug appears above you whilst they gawp at this new sight: there are a LOT of people taking their Boris exercise on towpaths who have never been near a canal before lockdown and have not seen boats moving. Two metres safe distance is two metres HORIZONTALLY, if someone is standing above you, you're much more vulnerable. To be safe, expect to have to shout at people to get them to clear lock areas before you use the lock, and expect to get very strange looks when you shout at people standing on bridges as you approach to ask them to move off the bridge whilst you pass under. Now that everyone has been let out again, somewhere like Foxton will be hell to boat through; it'll be heaving, as will Buckby top lock; the pub may be closed but people will be using the tables on the lockside. Add similar places in you locale to taste. Also expect the towpaths to be busier than you're used to: there will be a lot more people walking past your boat, and a lot more people cycling. Judging by the prevalence of groups of young males travelling fast on bikes during the lockdown period, gay, poly, marriage is a lot more common than I thought. MP.

I'm amazed at this thread, it's not that hard to understand, boating for pleasure ain't yet permitted, just wait and continue to do your bit to keep the population as safe as you can. Anecdotally the number of boats, that appear to be non-liveaboards, that are moving has at least doubled since the weekend. Including a absolutely massive wide beam which moored up next to me for exactly a week before heading back off in the direction it came. We all like our hobbies, but for now we should make small sacrifices with them rather than looking for loop holes in the new rules

You can only chose from what's on offer, and that wasn't.

We shouldn't forget that the main purpose of the lockdown, as 'sold' to the public was to prevent the NHS being overwhelmed. It wasn't introduced to stop all deaths from the virus. To do so would be impossible. To get close to 'no deaths' would require limitations on freedoms that would be unacceptable in our culture. If by chance these limitations were accepted, and widely adhered to by the vast majority of the population, the economy would be left in a state as unpalatable to the British people as would have been the limitations to 'achieve' this. So I'm afraid the path is still to prevent the NHS being overwhelmed until such a time as some kind of 'herd immunity' is established and/ or a successful vaccine is developed.

In a nutshell Dan, thats how most people with, as the PM put it " Common sense " see it. Rocket science it isnt.

I think you will find we have left the E.U. Granted we are in a transition until the end of the year, but we then finish that period. Negotiations are continuing to finalise a trade agreement.

Edwardian are superb, not cheap but the best never is ?

There was no spark between them then!

When I first encounter locks, I shall be washing my hands after each and every lock. Wearing gloves is pointless IMO. It just means you may have virus on your gloves instead of your hands. If you then touch your face, the outcome is the same. Your hands are easier to wash too. Disposable gloves may have some value IF you discard them after every lock but that's probably more bother than washing your hands.

How can common sense be applied safely to what has oft been very wooly information. Even Ministers have had problems interpreting it correctly at times. Easy to say you got that wrong, where is your common sense. Typical get-out clause in my books.

if every thing this girl says is true .and yes there are two sides ,but lets just say its all true what she is saying ,,the bods on here would still look for an angle to twist and turn every thing she said ,look at most if not all the threads on here ,it happens every time ..there are some well meaning threads and even those get the snide remarks ,they all start off well ,but then they slowly go down hill over time .a thread can start of by some one needing a bmc engine ..10 comments in or so. the thread turns to some thing compleately different /.whats her health got to do with this ...any one got any eggs for sale ...oh i might end up being offered a box of spanners ...stay safe all

I agree. It was jolly useful to see their plans over the next few weeks. Of course, we all know those plans may have to change. Let's all hope the R0 stays below 1.

For permanent liveaboards, the question is, can they go on longer cruises, or only to the water/elsan and back? I do think that's a legally grey area but for the sake of being reasonable, they should all be minimising their cruising. Where forum members have had good reason to cruise to a new area, fair enough. I would be cruising mainly for my own enjoyment, so that's not fair enough (even though some boaters are clearly doing this). I will wait until overnight stays at second homes are allowed and then I may head off for my cruising season.

It's both. The key thing is that we can't stay overnight away from our primary home. I'm in an odd position: My boat is my primary home. However, since lockdown started I've been living in someone else's house with them. So right now, this house would reasonably be classed as my home. I could, if I wanted to be bloody minded about it, go to my boat today, declare myself home, and set off cruising. That's clearly not what the government or CRT intend though, so common sense kicks in...

I'd call that a graph, and I think a graph does need labelled axes and a title and possibly a key to mean much. Otherwise it's just a pretty line that means nothing.

Cold fusion is certainly the way forward and I have been working on this too, I used to work at Southampton University in the building next to the chemistry department where it was invented, and I did find a few bits and pieces in the skip, but still can't work out exactly how to put them back together. ..............Dave

My thanks to yourselves for getting this going, and to all who have participated. There have been departures, certainly by myself, from the specification of nice things today but the general wish is to be interesting, I am sure. This field pattern at Montady, beside the Canal du Midi hopefully complies, although it is, I believe eight centuries old!.

As they do where we moor, the boat next door to us is liveaboard, we are hobby boaters.

I'm not too clear as to what work is so urgent. Blacking? a few months not That critical. Depleted anodes? You can always hang a few overboard bonded to the hull with a bit of wire or chain. Galvanic isolator, no big deal if not on shorepower or in a marina. Others may shoot me down but I think you're overthinking the issues.

My daughter is a teacher. She is DESPERATE to get back to work in order to help her children. She would happily work through the traditional summer break in order to try and help the kids make up for lost time. She is not alone.

Might I suggest they could go out as long as they wear a label that means Total Withdraw of All Treatment or T.W.A.T. for short!? Just in case anyone is in doubt I am joking!

Quite so. If was able (I live in Wales so can't) I would be tempted to go to the Marina and check the boat out but at the moment even if I could I would not be going out boating until a few more weeks yet.

And a vaccine may *never* arrive. The common cold is a coronavirus and no vaccine has ever been found for it.

That's how I understand it. The virus is here now and only herd immunity will stop it. We can't hide until a vaccine arrives so have to control the rate of infection at manageable levels to achieve the same result, or to minimise the human suffering pending the achievement of herd immunity by vaccination.

Other than people who are retired and don't really mind where they might be stuck think it would be wise to avoid going too far this year . I have certainly curtailed my plans and hope for a little more freedom later in the year . I must confess to being very surprised at the decision to allow day trips by boat. Terrifying as it may seem this is of course the underlying plan, the idea being to spread the virus in a controlled fashion while not overwhelming the NHS . Worst case scenario is the infection rate drops off completely and people stop the social distancing which will create a repeat performance. Better to introduce freedoms gradually. We must behave ourselves , not exceed the limits advised , and keep apart from people who are not living in the same household.

Actually found a photo of this day 2016 Grugey Canal burgundy

Sorry , but if people make decisions from "posts like mine" on a canal forum then we really are f@#ked.

Of course I do not, I never said that and you know I didn't say that, but there will be certain sections of society that will see that headline as an excuse to do as they please, that was the point.

That line rather demonstrates that you to haven't the foggiest idea of what the government want, so much for your claiming that it was all very clear. If the Government wanted us to 'stop at home where possible' I would have little or no argument but they did away with the 'Stay at Home' advice, or didn't you notice? My belief, with infections still running at getting on for 4000 per day (3,877) and deaths at over 200 per day, is that we are winding down the lockdown about 2 weeks early (bearing in mind we were 2 weeks late going into it) and the message from Government, rather than your interpretation of it, is that we need to 'get out there'. You can take limitless exercise so how do three rounds of golf and a tennis session match your idea of 'stop at home'? After that, should I wish to do so I can drive from Birmingham to the North York Moors and go for a walk, how does that fit in with your idea 'stop at home'. The lack of logic of the current proposals was highlighted by the primary school teacher who asked the PM the question of why she was expected to now teach a class full of children (whose infective state she would have no idea of) but was not permitted to go and visit her mother who has been isolated for the past 6 weeks so it should be reasonably safe to suggest she isn't infected. Joined up thinking? probably not. The final issue for me is that, despite the rhetoric, do I trust the Government to re-impose a lockdown should the infection rates start to skyrocket again? Since we were 2 weeks late imposing the the first one, it would be expected that we will be 2 weeks late re-imposing another one since to do so might suggest that they were premature in lifting the first one. I would expect an increase in infections whenever the lockdown gets lifted, but if you look at figures from other countries, Spain were down to 700 infections a day before winding down the lockdown, they are now back to 3000, if we start our wind-down at 4000 and show the same sort of increase, we are going to be back up to 17,000 infections a day.

Solar : great in summer, not much use over the winter. On the fast charge / cycle life thing, yes I’m sure this is true but then these batteries are designed to be charged at 1C so if as i suspect we end up with around 450Ah, my max of 275A which, allowing for alternator overheating is more like to be around 200A is less than half that. It won’t be a straight line graph of charge current vs cycle life, it will be an accelerating loss of cycles at very high charge rates. In other words I think that the difference in cycle life charging at 0.5 C (225A) vs 0.1C (45A) will be minimal. As you go over 1C the cycle life will start to fall off quickly.

It's all about the locks really. What do you do when you arrive at the lock and there's a dozen Gongoozlers and three fishermen on it. Not easy to socially distance.

Ivan, apologies but a rather long reply to your question “can I use a 30A Sterling BtoB”. I think the quick answer for your particular situation is “maybe not” but likely “yes” for others. I am very tempted for my new set up and it looks like DRE is happy with his. I think Nick's response is the key (30A is too low). Now, the long story (which answers some previous questions on alternator temp). First lets go back over what I am using and my experience over the last 12 months. I am using a 150A AtoB on a 2002 Beta 43 with a 90A domestic alternator. On the 'US gel' setting, it nicely backs off current to the Li's at 80% SoC (around 13.9V) so not overcharging. On this setting it also restricts the current to the Li's at around 45A for the first hour then reducing to around 35A after that. I assume this is something to do with alternator temperature restricting the output of the alternator but it could be the AtoB. For summer cruising this is fine. I can forget about the charging and not overcharge or heat the alternator too much. I have measured alternator temps and it gets to around 95°C in the centre of the top of the alternator and around 65°C on the back plate where the diodes are. The typical temp of the top of the engine is around 75°C so that will also drive alternator temp. My engine bay is not well ventilated (I cant see an air intake!). I have tried to 'up' the AtoB setting to the UK gel but it means the current to the Li's goes up to 55A and the alternator temp rises too fast and gets over 100°C pdq. So for me 45A is the max I will do (50% of rated output). So all fine for summer. However, in the winter it is a different matter. With solar not working well and using 120Ahrs per 24 hours, I need to get as much power back in the Li's. We dont cruise much in the winter so most charging is done while tied up. We therefore run the engine for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening to warm the water up and charge. Having used 120Ahrs overnight, there is no way I will overcharge the bank so I CAN change the AtoB setting to UK gel and charge at 55A without fear of overcharging as I will never be near full. With the bilge blower on, I can do an hour without the alternator overheating. I can therefore get 110Ahrs back in per day. If I was in the lower setting, I would take 3 hours of engine running as the current is only 35-45A. This all depends on your adversity to risk and what temp you are going to allow your alternator to get up to. I have decided 95°C on the top is appropriate given that MP and T&B have both blown their 'cheaper' A127 type alternators.....mine is £250 to replace. Also though note that while solar is great in the summer, what happens when we get a spell of 30°C weather? I park under trees so the boat is not too hot. Not very good for solar. With my AtoB, I now have a choice of controlling the Amps I put in. Now, in your case, I worry that the 30A BtoB is going to be a bit limiting. I am guessing your alternator is a 90A one (you did say you have seen 50A out of it!). If you fit a 30A then that is 30A in. At 85% efficiency you are looking at only 25A out. That maybe fine with solar but in the winter you could be still looking at 4 hours engine running – and in the summer under trees. I think that is too low and you are loosing out on another 20A that the alternator could give you (you are wasting almost half the power available). If you are looking for a 'plug and play' box then you really need to be able to maximise power in the winter but not worry in the summer. I notice DRE is saying you can reduce power by 50% on his BtoB. One solution could then be to fit 2 *30A in parallel and de-rate one of them to get 40A ish or with both at max -50A in winter. Cost though is now going up. Another alternative is to buy an AtoB like I have but that is £350. The advantage here is that if you have 2 alternators (do you?) then the Amps can be got from both. I think your need to have a solution for winter is not to rely on the BtoB which will only give you 25A charge. Remember in winter you will not overcharge so maybe just operate without the B2B (but buy one for the summer) ...ie when tied up, bypass it, and just rely on disconnecting the charge on high alternator temp. Best solution is talk to Nick nicely and see if you can Beta test his alternator controller but that means dismantling your alternator.?

You could put it in a coconut

You probably wouldn't put a lime in a fruit salad either.

The guidelines don't object to people travelling short distances, or longer, to get to the boats. It's what is then permissible, once there. Once cruising is allowed, the ball game changes. All boats, apart for liveaboards' essential needs for services, are for visiting only.

Exactly this. I'd add that when the things a person says or writes are clearly to offend or wind up the other person rather than actually engaging with the debate, then I will find my patience wearing thin. This is exactly what defines a troll.

And it becomes a case not of "right" or "wrong" but "who produced the best video..." Bit like politics really?

All those things you noticed happened to come only from one person's side of the story. You didn't notice what she called the householders for example. She may have abused them too with much worse names than pikey. We don't know because we weren't there and the other party didn't post a YouTube video. It's difficult to make judgements or apportion blame for the incidents without hearing both sides of the story.

You have no idea how much I would like to be on a proper blue water cruising yacht at the moment ... with well stocked stores, obviously.

But this one had a TV series, I can't remember how many times he stopped the engine

Most marinas have quite a low percentage of live aboards and most of them can be very helpful to a new boater

Just had an email from Calcutt Marina to say that the marina is open to visit boats from tomorrow. They seem to have put a lot of thought into this with site signage, and what sounds a well thought out way of the office dealing with things like the sale of electricity cards. Not going to rush there tomorrow though.

Perhaps worth pointing out to the inexperienced that it is quite difficult to keep the cornflakes lined up in the joint as you tighten the bolts down, and your cornflakes gasket may well leak. But it's easier if you use the box.

Surely if you have a genie, you make one of your three wishes to always have fully charged batteries? ??

Front Page features in Practical Boat Owner over the last few months: Top 10 boats to trail and sail (from £3500) French Riviera, on a shoestring 6 Practical Projects. How to spot a bargain cruiser (from just £1500) 12 modern classics (from just £6000) Spring fit-out special. And from (the posher) Yachting Monthly. Solar panels and wind generators (group test and buyer's guide) What's your boat worth? 20 battery power tips. How to get afloat for less than £5000 (and also) "They sneaked on board and attacked us with machetes" (the offshore equivalent to Finch) When the inland mags start writing up about attainable boating, for the young and less well-off, I'll start buying them again. You read here about real enthusiasts, like Janet, GRPcruiserman and others who get their boaty fix without having to spend thousands and, apologies to others, I find that far more interesting reading than "We look at another Clonecraft, worth more than your house." If you want to get a bigger audience, write about achievable goals, as well as the Bugatti Veyrons of the boat world. I love to read about how ridiculously expensive it was to restore Lulworth but a story about a couple who rebuilt their 21' Kestrel for less than a grand makes my goals look achievable, too. The inland mags don't provide this and give the impression that anyone who spends less than £50k on their boat is no better than a licence dodging continuous moorer. Rant over.