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Showing content with the highest reputation on 18/10/20 in all areas

  1. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  2. I kept my data with Yahoo, but they gave away all their customer's usernames and passwords. I kept my data in the Cloud, but Trump decided that China had infiltrated the Cloud and closed it down. I kept my data on an external hard drive, but when my old computer failed, my new one could not be connected to it. I kept my data on my computer, but Apple (or was it Microsoft?) upgraded my software and I could no longer access it. I kept my data on paper under the bed, but when they came to take me away, they wouldn't let me take the bed.
    3 points
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  6. No, its modern, streamlined, looks fast, but NOT pretty.
    3 points
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  10. Well it was a bit longer than I expected.
    2 points
  11. On the plus side, such an event would improve the overall look in very short order.
    2 points
  12. Thanks to all who helped me this last month: Includes noddyboater, and Martin, and Jan, and Sean. The best of the best ......
    2 points
  13. 2 points
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  15. What gives you the right to think that other people should be forced to give out personal details for ongoing data mining by predatory tech companies just so it saves you from having to provide your email address so you can receive what you asked for? Just because you are happy to be ripped off by the said companies does not mean everyone is. I accept that you may not realise just how much you are giving away to such outfits but some of us do. I think your post I quote above shows who really deserves the accolade you gave Alan.
    2 points
  16. There is a video on their YouTube channel of coming up the channel by Gloucester lock, again over the weir on a high tide
    2 points
  17. The idea (that I read) was to use excess electric, (for which we are currently paying the generating companies to switch off when not needed), and produce the EFuels at periods of minimum domestic and industrail demand (overnight was suggested) that means that the energy used (even tho very inefficient) is, to all intents and purposes, 'free' so it doesn't matter it uses 2x or 3x the power that conventional diesel production uses.
    2 points
  18. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  19. Or even simpler, commission a hull-only survey and try to pass that off as all the buyer needs because you know the hull's about the only aspect of the boat that isn't in trouble. Also, I found a fair bit of the value of the survey was talking to the surveyor about what remedial work he would and wouldn't expect to be carried out by the vendor, why he'd made the optional recommendations and other things he'd noted about the boat but not written down.
    2 points
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  24. Although much has been said about the power required for moving, no mention of hot water for showers and cooking. These can easily be the same as the movements daily power consumption, currently can be supplied by gas but that too is a fossil fuel, add in space heating in winter and you are now using massive amounts of gas. Generating heat is a much bigger use of energy on a boat than moving. even in summer.
    2 points
  25. But built as something quite quite different.....
    2 points
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  28. I would imagine they're going to fill in all the canals soon anyway because most of the people involved in building them were also involved in the slave trade, or didn't ensure their work force was multi ethnic. We can't possibly use something that is that racist - can we?
    2 points
  29. Only £55,000 this time. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/45ft-cruiser-stern-narrowboat-duch-barge-canal-rive-narrow-boat-liveaboard/124387570426
    1 point
  30. I thought I'd start a new topic specifically on this since the other one has got very long and gone a bit off-track. It's a bit long so feel free to not read it if you can't be bothered. Instead of complaining about how difficult it's all going to be and how it will drive people off the canals -- exactly the same objections as to BEV on the road -- I wanted to think about how it could be made to work on the (very likely) assumption that this change is inevitable. Unfortunately technology is involved, which I'm sure will offend some people ? Let's start from the assumption that the hire fleets *have* to go electric, they renew boats fairly often anyway (and have the money to do so from hire fees), they have facilities, and are not going be allowed an exception to the rule because they don't really have an excuse. So they switch to electric boats with a decent size battery bank onboard -- say 40kWh of 2V traction cells for the moment (see absorption comment below), lithium in the future if the economics (and charging) make more sense -- which together with solar panels on the roof (typically 2.5kW of mono bifacials) is enough to keep boats going for 2 or 3 days cruising (depending on length of day and enthusiasm of crew) before they have to stop and recharge -- a bit like water tanks. Boatyards will have to install recharging facilities to deal with their own boats at changeover, big enough to turn round their entire fleet in time on changeover days -- sound like a lot but they only need about 10kW per boat which isn't so bad, the connection to the grid (probably 3-phase) would only be the size of maybe 3 houses (each of which are normally on separate phases) and the grid seems perfectly capable of supplying far more houses than this. On all the other days this supply is available to charge passing boats, probably at more than 10kW per boat because there will be fewer of them, so a charge would take an hour or so -- and the boatyard would charge for doing this, which helps them pay for the infrastructure. Avoiding the need for long absorption charges for both their own boats and visiting ones would probably push the yards towards lithium batteries, which anyway is the way that cars are going so prices will continue to drop, and boats get a "free ride" on the propulsion technology (high-voltage battery packs and controllers, motors) developed for cars and made in big volumes. The battery state (and boat position) can be remotely monitored in the same way the Victron systems are, this can easily tie into a computer at the boatyard which can do things like warning hirers if their charge is running low, and giving them advice on where the next boatyard/charging station is and how long it will take them to get there -- this is the kind of thing that Teslas already do. The boatyards can then talk to each other via the internet to do things like booking charging slots, warning yards when a boat will turn up, and charging this back to the hiring boatyard who can then bill the customer at the end of their holiday, just like is done now for diesel (or lump it in with the holiday cost). And all this is also available to non-hire boaters too, presumably they will pay more for the electricity to cover the boatyard's costs but this will still end up cheaper than diesel. Boats who only move a bit like peterboat can get enough power from solar and don't need to recharge, at least during the summer -- as in the other thread, things are going to be a bit tight for them in winter. What happens if hirers ignore the warnings and run out of juice, I hear you say? Simple, the boatyard has a 10kW-20kW generator in the back of their maintenance van, they drive out to the boat and recharge it like they would for a breakdown -- and charge the hirer a decent fee (50 quid? 100 quid?) to cover the cost and discourage hirers from ignoring the warnings, just like if they block the pumpout. From the boatyards point of view (once they've bought the boats) this is a winner for their business -- the cost of running and especially maintaining the boats is far lower because they're so much simpler, breakdowns would be few and far between, and they make extra money by selling electricity to passing boats (like they do by selling diesel to them today). On most of the the canal network boatyards are closely enough spaced to make this all work, but there are some sections with few boatyards where additional charging stations would be needed -- the Rochdale and HNC spring to mind, otherwise Shire Cruisers for one are screwed. The obvious thing then is to install these at water points, these are often on towns/villages which have mains nearby. They'd have to be paid for, installation costs could come from CART or a shared levy on the boatyards, but they could make money back by charging more for the electricity at these charging points -- again, just like for BEV. As far as I can see this will work just fine for hire boats, new builds, and anyone else who converts their diesel boat to electric -- which comes at a price, but there's no alternative if we assume this change *is* going to happen. Boating becomes much more pleasant and tranquil for everyone because the noise and fumes are gone, like horse-drawn days but without the sh*t. Some of the biggest objections will undoubtedly come from the traditionalists who (justifiably!) like engines that go chug-chug (or bonk-pause-pause-bonk-bonk...), presumably there would be a "vintage/traditional boat" exception to the rules for these in the same way that there is for classic cars -- but I also guess that building new replicas against the rules would be banned for the same reason. Doesn't affect the current owners since these engines go on pretty much forever, but stops them breeding --the boats, that is. So the traditionalists can be kept happy, but the people who live on old scruffy boats because they're cheap won't be since they'll be unable to afford thousands of pounds to convert their boats to electric -- or will claim they can't afford it and protest mightily to the press (and the organisation we shall not name) about how they're being driven off the canals and their home is being taken away. It's difficult to see how this could be solved, because they basically want to carry on living on a boat which used to be legal but isn't any more -- should they just be accepted as a casualty of change, or should some subsidy be found to help them convert? I can hear the howls of protest now, "I'm not watching part of my license fees used to subsidise scruffy layaboats who break the rules"... I'd love to get comments about this idea -- and if you're going to find problems and pick holes in it, maybe you could try and find solutions to the problems instead of just naysaying? Because even if every doom-monger on the canals doesn't like this change it's going to happen, the only question is when, and it would be better to find ways of making it work for the boating community than it being screwed by having change imposed by a government that doesn't understand the issues. Over to you...
    1 point
  31. Or even if there's a dead cat in the fridge ? ? ................Dave
    1 point
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  36. Victron is cheaper! I also think they have done a better job of open-source inter-box communications. Young folk setting up “off grid living” like that sort of thing, eg Bluetooth connection to your phone. IMO Victron stuff is less good at the fundamentals than Mastervolt. But on the other hand, MV have recently bought out a new range of Combi’s that are pretty cheap. The cynic in me suspects some sort of rebadged Chinese offering!?
    1 point
  37. The July 2020 isse of "Modern Railways" has an article that discusses the government's decarbonisation proposals for railways that confirms the government's intention to use spare electricity capacity for hydrogen production. Due to conversion losses a hydrogen train needs about 3.4kW of grid energy to deliver 1kW to the wheel, compared with 1.2kW for one powered directly from the grid, so only by using off-peak power would it be economically feasible, and these conversion losses would no doubt be the same for canal boats. Hydrogen also need seven times as large a storage tank as diesel for storing the same amount of energy, so for the same size of tank, a diesel tank's weeks would be a hydrogen tank's days. Re heat pump efficiency, my recollection from thermodynamics lectures at university is that a gain of about three is the theoretical practical maximum.
    1 point
  38. Rather than pay firms not to produce, why don't we already just 'ship it to where its needed' ? Could it be that like the 'algae farms' that the infrastructure and the 'will' is not there.
    1 point
  39. He already has : All narrow boats are just a box on a hull. Absolutely nothing about any of them that is particulary pretty or out of the ordinary. They are designed to travel on narrow waterways and the term "sewer tube" is appropriately apt for ALL narrowboat style boats.
    1 point
  40. We did indeed, you were engrossed in tatting with paint when I said hello. Likewise.
    1 point
  41. I've never criticised it for its looks, I've given my opinion on its design. It's the obvious doubtful claims the vendor has been making over the years it's been for sale that bother me. Statements like sustainable on its solar panels, I seem to remember it had an electric motor as well at one point that they claimed could be run all day via panels. The last time it was advertised a photo of it being lifted out was included, it was clearly visible that it has absolutely no swim at all, an essential for any inland waterway boat regardless of which mechanised power unit is decided upon. That's just for starters, far too many exaggerations and dodgy claims to eliminate "Scam" for me.
    1 point
  42. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  43. There is a boat moored directly opposite our mooring that appeared in february, so 8 months on a 14 day mooring. CART have stuck various notices on it and no other person has been near it since february. It has a number on it and CART obviously dont want it there hence more than one notice. This is one of how many around the system?? Whats to stop numpties mooring on an electric charging point which will be nice and handy, not charging at all, not having number on his boat as with many many and staying for hours then buggering off? and who will police it all.
    1 point
  44. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  45. But who monitors when the boat is moved off, yes it has been unplugged after charging, but you cannot fit a sensor in the ground to detect if it is still clogging the access. Car sensing is easy so you know when the car has moved away. Without a means of automatic policing and fining for overstay, there are some who will happily spent weeks there, particularily in winter when space heating is requred.
    1 point
  46. More on Kennet's trip. After bright sunshine at Greenberfield, the descent of Barrowford was in torrential rail, which had eased off by the time Burnley was reached.
    1 point
  47. Is a Telford toilet better than a Brindley bog?
    1 point
  48. Everything that uses energy has a CO2 impact, including mining the lithium for batteries and neodymium for motors, and all the alternatives. This fact is always trotted out by fossil fuel fans (also said against wind turbines and solar panels), but it carefully ignores the facts -- not opinions! -- that if you analyse the total lifecycle impact including manufacture and disposal, all these renewable energy and propulsion systems are far *far* better for CO2 emissions then the fossil fuel ones we use today. If they weren't, the whole world wouldn't be pivoting in this direction. If you disagree, please produce a factual analysis that backs this up, because I've never seen one -- and I've looked, having heard this argument umpteen times. There are loads of scientific analyses out there from reputable sources (not inaccurate blogs and websites) which back up what I said above, a minute or two on Google will find them. Electric boaters should be reassured that they are indeed helping to save the planet, including manufacturing and disposal CO2 costs ?
    1 point
  49. Dremel carving is an outdoor activity when you live on a boat due to excessive sawdust and a desire not to be beaten senseless by my better half. So today was my first attempt at whittling as it is sawdust free (wood chips easily swept up) and I can do it in the boat over wintertime
    1 point
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