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Yes Algwyn is a 25 foot Dawncraft so no problems with manoeuvring as long as there is no breeze and to be honest I just popped the kettle on for a cuppa while I waited that seemed to upset the rude boater more than being told he was rude lol

Arthur is right. Whichever way we look at it, we can't afford a canal system so it is gonna get shut down one way or another. So I think Parry is actually going quite a good job of managing the decline and close-down, making it happen as slowly as possible. He will probably spin it out until his retirement, and then Midnight can take over and demonstrate to us all how to successfully run a canal system on half the money it requires. MIDNIGHTFORCHIEFEXEC!

That sign does serve a purpose. With that level of towpath vegetation you could cruise right through Banbury and not notice if it wasn't for the sign... 🤣

I think it depends on whether you regard them as services for boaters, or services for those arriving by boat, which is not necessarily the same thing. If we arrive back at our linear mooring after a trip out, we generally want to leave the toilet empty as it could be a while before we are back. The services we use are 20mins boating away, which is fine, but if we boat up, use them and boat back but want to leave the boat pointing the direction we originally arrived then we have a 40min run the other direction to wind, so all round it's a 2hr+ trip to empty the toilet. Taking it up by car is a 15min trip all-in. I could probably wheel it up and back on the towpath in around 40mins. The contents was produced by the same people, boating in the same way (and probably at the same place and time) and the facilities are being used as part of the same licence fee, so I'm not sure that obliging the boat itself to be there to empty the Elsan is entirely justified? Alec

I thought I'd rejig the numbers into a more easily understandable post, which might even get pinned as useful... 😉 Assuming all the solar energy can be used (e.g. any excess used for heating water), for 1kWp of flat/30deg/60deg tilt (south-facing) I get this (100%=30deg tilt as reference) (daily averages using real weather data from https://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvg_tools/en/tools.html#api_5.2) Dec: 0.4/0.8/1.0kWh (50%/100%/129%) Mar: 1.8/2.2/2.2kWh (80%/100%/101%) Jun: 3.4/3.4/2.8kWh (101%/100%/84%) Sep: 1.9/2.2/2.3kWh (81%/100%/101%) Year: 1.9/2.2/2.1kWh (85%/100%/97%) -- fixed tilt Year: 2.25kWh (102%) -- variable tilt (60deg in midwinter, 30deg in spring/autumn, 0deg in midsummer) So flat-mounting loses nothing in midsummer compared to tilting at 30deg, 15% averaged over the year, but 50% (of much less) in midwinter. A 60deg tilt in midwinter gains another 30% compared to 30deg tilt, so flat-mounting loses 60% compared to this. But you need to look at the kWh numbers not percentages to see what actual output to expect -- which is why averaged over the year even a variable tilt up to 60deg doesn't give a very big increase, because the biggest percentage increase is in midwinter -- though output in midwinter is obviously better, it's still probably not enough to keep most boats going (only 30% of midsummer output even at 60deg tilt). And if your boat only tilts the panels sideways -- which most do, certainly to any angle -- you only gain this if the boat is moored E-W (panels facing south). If the boat is moored N-S you gain nothing by tilting sideways, if moored at 45 deg (NW-SE or NE-SW) you gain 70% of the south-facing gain. The numbers for flat-mounted panels (which is what I've got) agree with what I've seen over the last year from VRM logging data. In all cases the numbers are averaged using actual UK weather data for the time of year; on a good (sunny) day output is at least 50% higher, on a bad (dull cloudy) day at least 50% lower based on what I've seen. The key point is how many "equivalent hours" of sunshine (at maximum panel output) you actually get on average, which is *much* smaller than sometimes realised, less than 3.5h (average -- maybe 5h maximum?) even in summer, and only 1h (average) in winter even with 60deg tilt and south-facing. I hope this is helpful when people are considering how big solar panels to fit, whether to tilt them or not, and how much output to expect in real life... 🙂

The Bibby Stockholm could be relocated to the Thames and used for MP's. It holds 500 people apparently, and as not all MP's need overnight accommodation at the same time would Seem an ideal way to make significant savings as it has already been paid for by us taxpayers.

Just to add if your 27A on 2.5mm is based on cable specs, you've fallen into the first trap.... ignore the current ratings for cable even on 24v its the voltage drop you need to think about. For example in your bathroom example. You have 2A for the pump, typical macerator will be 12-15A at 24v so say anther amp for light and fan. So say 15A overall. The volt drop on 2.5mm over 20 metres round trip (you said 30 foot so about 10 metres each way) at 15A is about 10%, 2.3v, 3-4% is usually the acceptable volt drop. You would need 6mm2 cable in this case to get just under 4% I used the vd calculator at 12v planet. Others are available. The current rating of 6mm will typically be quoted as something like 48A by the way. Hope that helps.

On the other hand perhaps such a trawl might show no matter who in in the hot seat, there are plenty of moaners...

Who preceded Richard Parry at BWB/BW/CRT/whatever they are called this time around? And who before that? If Parry is doing such a bad job I'm sure a trawl through the old posts here and usenet would reveal plenty of posts expressing great satisfaction with the previous head honchos.

All these boaters facilities are surely just that. If you pass by boat then they can be used. Why should anyone who drives there expect to have free use? The skips at Norbury are now in the yard of Norbury Wharf and are closed at night, but can still be accessed out of hours by boat. When I was last there, one very disgruntled individual arrived at the old site with an estae car full of black bags and chose not to use the skips in view of Wharf staff. If liveaboards on field moorings feel excluded, then maybe they shuld negotiate with their hosts and pay for a domestic service like he rest of us. You would be amazed at the quantities of crap that we've had left by visitors at our Club that we have haad to pay to clear up.

But - the operator can apply conditions to their sale, including, credit card only, cash only, 100 litres minimum or even 60/40 only. If you don't like their conditions of sale you can go elsewhere. It is not a legal requirement for them to offer every permutation of % they may be asked for.

No, some on here think CART are probably doing the best they can given the parlous state of the canal system and the constraints they're operating under, and that blaming Parry or saying he should be sacked is pointless CART-bashing... 😉 Doesn't stop you repeating it endlessly, though... 😞

and not by camper van! whatever next, my first thoughts are it’s a good thing, only way to guarantee it is a boater dumping rubbish or using the elsan

No. He was just a selfish entitled git. You do get them occasionally, but fortunately not very often. No point in fretting about it. Although if you happen to see his boat again and happen to have a large drill about your person…

No

I don't think the consultation had any effect on CRT's decision whatsoever, and I suspect most people will agree. CRT may have heaved a sigh of relief when they realised only a small minority would object, but it's a bit naive to think the result had anything to do with it. The decision would have been made long before the consultation was rolled out. If the only CC registered boats were actually cruising, we'd all be paying the same licence fees, but something had to be done about the majority that just use the towpath as free moorings, whether or not they live on the boat. I suspect that within a few years the CC licence will be redefined as a "liveaboard" licence, and all the dumped boats will be cleared off the system, either onto moorings or just off. That may be unfair on the three people who do actually progress their boats round the system while living three hundred miles away, trekking to the boat every fortnight without fail, but it's a lot less unfair than penalising genuine CCers, which is what is happening now.

Please provide the links to where NABO has screamed blue murder about licence increases as I will need to address this within the organisation. Certainly we have pushed against surcharges both for widebeams and ccers as we believe in one boat licence charge but that's very different to what you are alleging. As for 'not enough income to do the work', the old truism that a stitch in time saves nine would save CRT much more money to go towards maintaining the system rather than the 'wait til it breaks' policy that has led to some very expensive repairs. For instance, the Easenhall slippage and Lancaster canal problems were known well beforehand, reported to CRT, but ignored. Highlighting issues - well what else can boaters do when dealing with a monopoly but this? And if boaters don't, who after all rely completely on a functioning navigation, then who will? NABO initiated the Fund Britain's Waterways campaign to ask the gov. to have a fresh look at the Defra grant. I do hope you have signed and shared that petition, please also write to your, probably new, MP. The results of apathy thrive on non-action, I would love to see the result of 'boater enthusiasm', how refreshing that would be.

This is the crux of the matter. Where do canals fit in modern society. Is it a national asset, a rich person's playground, an essential part of the economy etc? The challenge is we all see it differently. To some it's employment, to others a place to live and so on. We all want a NHS, an effective transport system and other essential services but as governnental money is finite, the canal system would seem to be, rightly or wrongly, some way down the societal list of "nice to haves"

The perils of autocorrect.

get a younger mrs

A few years ago we were moored up one gloomy afternoon drinking tea and biscuits & watched some C&RT employees install a sign. 1 sign I may add, not particularly big perhaps a foot square and the post had already been installed... 3 vans 3 employees, less than 10 mins actual work but they all sat in they're vans on they're phones for over 3 hours... And we wonder why C&RT is hemorrhaging money...

Ceiling conduit? Personally I think it is better to run the wiring under the gunnels. After all, most of the services are not in the ceiling, lighting excepted obvs.

In an ideal world, and with a big budget, I would probably go for 1000Ah, or even more. As a year round CCer, you'll probably move once or twice each week during the winter months. And when you do move, it'll be a 4-6 hour cruise, or maybe more. During these long-ish cruises, if you have a powerful alternator, you can be charging the lithiums at up to 160 amps. So assuming you use about 160Ah per day during winter, it means that in a 5 hour cruise you can generate 5 days worth of charge. It would be great to have enough battery capacity to store all that charge from the alternator, and use it to see yourself through the next 4 or 5 days with no need for generators, and with perhaps a bit of help from the panels.

I'd be very interested to hear how well the 1400w of panels meets your needs in winter, because I have exactly that amount. I've had mine since Sept 2021, and after 3 winters with the panels, I think your expectations are in line with how I remember things going during winter. Your panels will almost certainly stay flat for 8 months, if not more. My panels actually stay flat as the default all year round, because on the majority of winter days the sun is obscured to some degree, and its not worth the hassle of tilting them. But that said, I find that on those occasional sunny winter days we get, then it is worth tilting them, as long as the side of the boat facing roughly south. In my experience, tilting yields slightly less than double the amount of charge, compared with the panels laid flat. So when circumstances are favourable (on about one day in ten), the panels can do really well- even in Nov and Feb. One good thing about the big panel array (and excess power) during summer is that you have more options to moor and still be self-sufficient for charge. So you can moor under the shade of high trees in both sides, or between two tall buildings, and as long as you get a couple of hours during the day where the sun hits the panels, you'll always get a full days charge. I think the extra panels were one of the best things I've done with the boat. If it wasnt for the fact that I need some roof space for coal during the winter, I'd have fitted more panels already!

It really isn't much good worrying or moaning about it. You wouldn't expect a two hundred year old road to be functional without massive modernisation, nor a railway line from the dawn of time working with the same signalling system and points. And that's what we've got, and it's falling to bits. Look at the sheer number of lock gates now held together with angle iron. Twenty years ago they'd have been replaced with new but now they're cobbled together to wait till another bit of them rots and falls off because there is no longer the money, the facilities or the expertise to build enough of them. Didn't CRT recently close one of the places that build them? And as they'll all probably fail at the same time (as they seem to be doing), just a year later, what do you expect to happen? You can't treble licence fees, and even if you did it wouldn't make a dent in the cost. Old bridges get hit by lorries and cars, embankments erode, because nobody trims the trees they fall taking half a cutting with them. The only way the system can work as a navigation is with government money - CRT are even having to beg the public to pay to clean up a cyanide spill. Us old stagers saw this coming thirty years ago and got slammed for saying it. It hasn't been helped by a load of freeloaders dodging fees, though I certainly don't blame the homeless for finding any cheap way to avoid sleeping under a hedge. Been there, done that. We've had forty years of being told by all political parties we could have a good working infrastructure without paying for it (check out tax rates fifty years ago) , mostly by flogging things off abroad and spending the capital. Then we made a deliberate decision (praised by many on here) to dump our best trading partners and increase the cost of importing everything, as homegrown industry barely now exists . It doesn't work, it was economic nonsense then as now, and the results can be seen not just with canals, but roads , rail, bin collections, schools, universities, leisure, parks and everything else we took for granted as kids. It's been a hell of a lot of fun while it lasted, but it's nearly done. Rant over, I'm off to play the euphonium. Got a dog show to play at on Monday and Tilston Wakes on Saturday.

No it doesn't, because this is a discussion forum, remember? CART is a dumpster fire, with far too many stoppages and a huge maintenance backlog. Nobody is pretending otherwise, especially me. How would you fix this without more money? How would sacking Parry (your Holy Grail!) and replacing him with somebody else with exactly the same constraints improve things? Go on, answer the difficult questions instead of just moaning all the time. I've asked them plenty of times, maybe this time you could actually answer instead of either avoiding them, diverting to something unrelated, or throwing out insults. But somehow I doubt it, because there are no easy answers... 😞 I'm sure if Parry (or anyone else) could wave his magic wand and make everything better, he'd do just that. But there's no magic wand here, just a system breaking down because of lack of investment... 😞

But if we all paid a higher rate there maybe more money to fix things and less admin required.

If it did, then it woudn't be, but as it doesn't, it is.

Isn't it a horrible place to pass between the 2 staircase locks due to the bottom locks being ofline to the left of the drydock

£3.5m. Hardly worth doing when trying to address a £400m shortfall.

I think where we stayed in Rufford would be such a target for someone like Aquavista. A lovely, unspoilt and inexpensive Marina. They have just had all the jetties refurbished. It’ll be a shame to contaminate the Marina with, excuse the comment, accountant orientated owners. Many moorers will leave if cost escalate.

I have a small oil can full of thick gear oil I perch on the roof when cruising, a lot of paddle mechanisms are in dire need of lubrication and it helps a lot. They seem to grease the rack and pinion but never the pinion bushing!

Yes I think the stock in the shop belonged to ABC and was not part of the sale, although basics such as coal and gas are still available. ABC's accounting system will have been withdrawn. I think the shop will be restocked in due course.

My thoughts are that firstly you may not get around the problems that your mates are having simply by installing a larger capacity unit. Indeed that could actually make matters worse. A lot of the problems people have with Webastos, Ebarspachers are similar heaters is that the boilers are too large for the radiator output (so for example a 5kW boiler but only 3kW of radiators), and then when maximum radiator output has been achieved the heat has nowhere to go, coolant returns to the boiler still hot or warm and the boiler starts to cycle down. Over time unburned fuel from this type of use cokes up the unit and that's where a lot of the problems arise. These things need to be run hard - so work out the kW output of the rads (ignore any calorifier as once that's up to temperature it's not acting as a heat sink) and roughly match it with your boiler. If you can't fit enough rads then consider larger rads or double panel rads of equivalent size. The other thing to do is remove any thermostatic radiator valves (or don't install them on your rads in the first place) as you don't want radiators shutting down and restricting heat output just because the boat is getting warm. Better to open some windows or turn the heater off - but let it run for at least an hour every time before shutting it down. These things hate very short cycles.