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Interesting comments above (and welcome back Dr B!). I've fairly recently returned to CWDF after really quite a long time away. I don't find it particularly lacking in participants, even allowing for the fact that the political stuff is getting diverted somewhere that I largely dot have to see it - a major improvement in my view. I am discouraged however to see some have retuned who seem to think it more important to make the last derogatory post in a thread than to actually address topics about boats, canals and rivers. But the "noise" is still very much secondary to the genuine, and often very interesting content. Long may it remain so.

Yarrkshirre if CRT has it's way...

But how do you find the cat?

Surely in Wales they would be Corgie rather then Dinky

This boat has a cat aboard who is well travelled https://oleanna.co.uk/

When we initially did this the conversation we had with our designer( we had help from a boat designer ) at the time was about making a wide beam and so we agreed that we would make this however, looking back we should have stuck with a narrow boat rather than the wide beam size as most canals are more designed for a narrow boat rather than a wide beam I think if and when we do another one it will be more narrowboat etc size

I have always regarded Hollingworth Lake as an inland mini Blackpool! The closest point on the canal is Smithy Bridge.

If I understand the question correctly then unusually I have to disagree with Eeyore. If the inverter output is not already tied to earth (ie it’s floating), there is no live or neutral. Whichever is connected to earth becomes the neutral, the other one being the live.

Why? It seems informative and has engendered discussion. If he had put a link to a selling website then I could understand, but he has simply put an invitation to ask him more questions and an ordinary email address to allow this. I think it gets fed into a large shredding machine and the results are pelleted for reuse. Definitely much more recyclable than GRP, and arguably recyclable with lower energy inputs than steel/aluminium.

If the OP doesn't already have a petrol outboard then (depending on the charging arrangements) I think the best move would be to remove the engine and replace it with a battery bank, this would at least partly solve the ballast issue and give a much greater range - thus removing the need for a back up petrol outboard. This all assumes the batteries can be charged on board when the boat is not in use.

Not necessarily. Some of them might get sucked away down the wires to a different house. Probably, but you'd have to look really closely to read them....

Today’s Update: Looks like priority has been given to Canal traffic.

15 tonnes of Lithium batteries? It could make quite a good rapid recharge station for passing electric boats. Cover in solar and fill it with batteries. People could plug in for an hour or two to top up their cruising range.

This will be an electric boat I think.

I've encountered bras like that.

It's an interesting concept. A couple of comments. Welding is very easy with HDPE. It's much easier, safer and less energy intensive than welding steel. As has been commented on, adhesives stick very poorly to it, but it is simple to weld angled braces and lugs on so it should be straightforward to create a stiff structure with mounting points which can be screwed in to. It should be sufficiently tough and abrasion resistant to give a good service life. I think a design for canals would need suitably placed rubbing strips, in the normal places and probably along the chine. There is no risk of corrosion so these need not be sealed welds, but I think they would be needed as wear plates. The shift away from fossil fuels is leading to oil companies revisiting what they can do with their reserves. Replacing other construction materials with oil-based plastics is an attractive option for them so expect plastics to be developed for such purposes and to be priced attractively. HDPE is reasonably environmentally friendly in that it can be recycled several times in a cradle to cradle process, although it does eventually degrade. Overall, it will be interesting to see how this goes - ballasting will be necessary so there will be a compromise to be made to achieve draft without excessive height to allow headroom over the ballast. I'm not sure how much ballast it will take in practice - more than a standard boat but perhaps not that much - you only need to add the difference in weight between the steel and the HDPE. It should have a nice low centre of gravity though which should make it pretty stable. I particularly like the idea of no blacking. The cabin could also be made self-coloured, as has been done with 'plastic vans' recently https://arrival.com/uk/en/topic/van so no painting at all! Alec

Our lab Rosie And Athena

It's on a weak quick release, it pops off occasionally...but luckily the tracker's always been somewhere I can retrieve it easily.

A potato! You had it good. When I was kid we had to use bulbs stolen from council parks.

i must Correct something i said The size is 40ft x10ft (not 12ft) this is built using 20mm for the base 15mm for the sides and 12mm for the upper sections

This would be ideal. About 130kg apparently. Elevated large solar panel as a shade for the helm. Could be a really nice setup. Basic lead acid say 25kg per 100ah so you could put in 500ah the motor probably uses about 50 amps flat out so 10 hours of range. Nice ! charged up when not in use by the 365w solar panel. Not much good in winter but would probably stay well charged in summer if not used intensively every day.

If you've painted over rust, then that bond is going to fail anyway, unless you have removed all the loose rust and used a product designed for rusty surfaces. At one time hammerite might have been such a product, but it has been reformulated (presumably to reduce VOCs) and I doubt the current version is any good.

So how many crates of canned beer would be needed to sink a boat even all stacked on one side. I think its just a good story as they found a few cases onboard. I weigh the equivalent of 160 cans so unless there were other problems that would have been thousands of cans to sink it.

We applied for, and were granted, the historic discount for Oates last year. As an iceboat it originally had no cabin - it now has a brand new steel cabin and a tug deck. Points which they were interested in: We absolutely had to have a National Historic Ships registration. We had to provide a decent history file (fortunately I already had more documentation on the boat than anyone else, dating back to the 1970s, including letters to the then owner from BWB confirming its history!) They wanted to confirm that the wooden cabin which was removed was not itself historic (it wasn't as it was not early enough to qualify as historic in its own right and had been replaced in its entirety at at least one point, documented by photographs). I felt it was a pragmatic assessment. The historic point of interest was always the hull which is largely as built, although it did have a counter conversion in the 1970s. There were no concerns from the registering officer. To the OP - it might be worth reviewing who you are insured with. We are required to have a survey every 5yrs and pay a relatively normal insurance premium. There do not appear to be any more restrictions/requirements/costs placed on our 150yr old boat than would be applied to a 25yr old boat. By staying with the same company they even accepted the previous owner's survey which was less than a year old at the time, rather than requiring us to have a new one. The discount is 10%. Alec

But 'Black Lives Matter', irrespective of you being a pot or a kettle.

You have proof of vaccinations so you can go to any practice as long as they have the same vaccines. The rest is cheap you just pay like I do