Leaderboard

Here you go -

Or throttle cable has bust or come disconnected and will only tick over, fore and aft gears on the control lever still working ok I suppose.

Welcoming new family member Spud! This picture paints an entirely false picture of reality! 🤣

Cheers Alan, yes, I remember when Odin was a pup, I recall the pics. Your Dogs always look so happy! Spud is going to be trained to respond to some of my lads Autistic dysregulation and if his untrained influence is anything to go on, we’ve made the right choice.

C&RT wouldn't need to check - if the applicant qualifies for all the help / support/payments that they get from the Government after means testing, then C&RT can 'ride on the back of it'. Prove you are on benefits and you get a reduced licence fee - which is rather stupid, as if you are on benefits, the Government will pay (all of the costs) for your licence and moorings anyway.

Even further west! 😉 This is the former swing bridge on the Frodsham Cut on the Weaver Navigation. Frodsham Lock and its cut weren't part of the original 1721-32 Weaver Navigation but added as an improvement in 1780 with a weir built on the river. The bridge provides access to the land between the lock cut and original river channel. I presume a bridge was built in 1780, certainly one appears on the 1846 tithe map. The Weston Canal opened in 1810 bypassing this section, particularly for larger vessels, but despite that the lock was rebuilt in 1830 and local traffic continued until the mid 20th century. This report suggests the swing bridge might have replaced an earlier one between 1898 and 1911 but I'm not convinced. There was work on the lock in about 1908 adding an extra sluice for flood control. Frodsham Lock, intact but in poor condition, in the early 1960s A closer view of the bridge. The pier and abutment seem original but both decks are clearly modern. It's quite low even in a canoe. Head of the lock on the left, 1908 sluice on the right. Amazingly the tail gates still hold an inch or two of water. There are stop planks at the head of the lock; nothing visible remains of the head gates except the collars.

I paid a carpenter in advance to construct me a double bed. This turned out to be a mistake as when I got back, I found he'd done a bunk.

And another 4 I have more but got to reduce file sizes…

Quick oil sketches based on bits of the L&L…Liverpool end. See more at instagram@nealethomaspaintings I can only display one here due to file size limit.😬

Apparently ratified 14 January, details linked below. https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/boating/boating-news-and-views/boating-news/commission-to-review-future-framework-for-boat-licensing https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/boating/boating-news-and-views/boating-news/commission-to-review-future-framework-for-boat-licensing/boat-licence-review-commission-note-on-terms-of-reference

A point worth making. The sensors have a life and will deteriorate. A new battery won't make any difference.

Should have got it really as Francis posted elsewhere his was a rare boat on the Weaver around Winsford in the Summer for some while whilst the swingbridge at Vale locks was being fixed, though he could navigate the lock being a shorter boat. Seems logical to assume he would go exploring at the other end of the Weaver too. Then again he gets around the network does Francis 😂

You might have to put us out of our misery! I've gone west and looked at Derwent, Foss, Swale, Nidd, Wharfe, Douglas ... and I'm running out of ideas, and now I'm really curious to know.

Old trick. If you come through a lock ok and then try to go back the other way and can't, turn round and go back through the lock in reverse. Think of the shape of two bananas one in top of the other, one way they match, the other......... I'm not saying your dad's boat is banana shaped but some boats are as are some locks.

I always assumed they were the price tags. 😀

Fogstar are saying its okay to do use the high voltage cutout and their recommended charge voltage is 14.4V so presumably their advertised cycle life must be worked out on the assumption that every cycle will involve a high voltage disconnect. The ten year warranty is either an indicator of significant confidence or something else. I suppose it would be rare to find someone doing 2 cycles every day so the actual cycle life in reality is outside of the 10 year warranty anyway. So if the battery was advertised as having 8,000 cycles and a ten year warranty but the useage was only one cycle per day my slide rule says that after 3,650 cycles the warranty time will have passed thus making the claimed 8,000 cycles merely a marketing exercise. So if the regular use of high voltage cutout halved the cycle life then on a typical 1 cycle per day use that would be irrelevant to the battery supplier as the warranty has passed. And to be fair 1 cycle per day is probably.more than the typical use case for most situations anyway. for the rare high cycle count circumstances which turn up the occasional warranty claim can be tolerated.

1. it is not typical for solar to be used to top up the engine start battery, if that is what you mean, unless a VSR is involved. 2. Just saying 13.65 without a unit (it is actually volts) and without any reference to how long the engine had been running is no use in diagnosis - and that assumes the LED panel is fairly accurate. If it is soon after starting, it is likely (but not definitely) to mean the batteries are tolerably well charged and the alternator is probably OK. If it is after several/many hours running, it suggests that the alternator probably has a blown diode or a phase failing That is why you really need battery monitoring, but with your very idiosyncratic system you probably need more than one, and they usually show accurate amps as well as volts. Or you could have a pair of leads with fuses fitted that terminate in a convenient place so you can take the voltage readings of each bank. Assuming those are rested voltage or voltages taken with very minor current flowing then they are not too bad EXCEPT 12.6 volts is not that much over half charged. Probably more charging time is required. 12.5V is about a true 75% charged, but taking the 50% rule to maximise battery cyclic life, consider it half charged. 12.4 volts is still over a true 50% charged, so practically consider it to show still a bit over the maximum discharge, which would be 12.2 to 12.3 volts. I think it is a lack of engine running time @1200 rpm+ at this time of year. After a very few hours, the charge will only be a few amps. To maximise the effect of solar I would suggest doing the engine charging later in the day, especially in winter, in winter you may need more tome than that allows.

Zooming in looks like there is an upstand bracket and bolt at the left. Have a good look on the right hand side to see if there is another. Camera or phone at full teach, or a cheap fibre camera to put on your phone. Example endoscopd

I normally enjoy and appreciate your posts but find this offensive.

LadyG seems to think all you need to do is talk to them.... Did you not see her post yesterday saying so!

???? Wrong thread by any chance

My last shareboat had the pumpout points on the roof. I never experienced any issues on the 10 years I had a share in it.

That may well mean something around the prop so he may need a frienldy boater to check that for him and hopefully remove whatever it is. Get HIM to post with his location and a forum member may be willing to come over and take a look. Regrettable, it s too far away from me.

I think there might be some confusion between being “in balance” for cells in series (very important) vs being “in balance” for batteries in parallel (of zero consequence). I think it’s likely that most of this SoC difference is to do with the BMS rather than an actual state, however it doesn’t matter. If you fully charge the batteries, by the time they are approaching fully charged they will in reality both be at more or less the same SoC (regardless of what the BMSs might say), and when the first battery is fully charged, the other battery will also be fully charged. Once the voltage is up around 14.2 or so, and the current has decreased to perhaps 5% of capacity, both batteries will fully charged. This is an important point - cells in series don’t “automatically balance” (the BMS has to engineer that state), whereas batteries in parallel do automatically balance where it matters ie approaching high or low SoC. I don’t think you should be too shy of fully charging from time to time. As the other “faction” mentions, plenty of people do this and it’s fine. Although ultimately it shortens the battery life, the life is still very long and there isn’t an alternative to occasional (every few weeks) fully charging, if you want to know the SoC (ie to synchronise the Ah counting battery monitor). I sometimes fully charge our batteries if eg I know we aren’t planning to move for a couple of days, it saves having to run the engine when moored, which I rather dislike. So I think the point is to try to avoid getting close to 100% (or 0%) as a matter of routine, but doing it occasionally when necessary is fine. What people struggle to get their heads around (due to decades of lead acid mindset) is that hitting 0% is not as bad as hitting 100%. But neither is in any way catastrophic.

Tony, I'm not sure that we actually disagree on this point either, if you get down into the weeds of it. It is a fair question to ask what the objective is and yes, there are two objectives which can, and should, be separated out. The first is to achieve compliance with the rules - for this, firstly the rules need to be clear and secondly failure to do so needs to be addressed rapidly and efficiently in a way which is cost-effective for licence payers (it is in none of our interests for CRT to waste resources on this). The second is to define what the rules should actually be since, if they are unclear, the process of clarification will inherently also involve an element of definition. It is this latter point which is more contentious, since it could also be used to make fundamental changes for the purpose of driving other behavioural changes, e.g. to address overcrowding. Probably the most contentious changes will relate to cruising patterns, particularly range and frequency. This would be an indirect approach to addressing overcrowding, since if you have a centre which a finite number of people want to congregate around, the larger the area you force them to dissipate over, the more you reduce the population density and, if you make the area large enough, some will simply leave. In the context of 'satisfying the board' my previous comments did not attempt to anticipate any particular changes. Any fundamental change to what constitutes an acceptable pattern of cruising such that something which is currently universally agreed to satisfy the board is re-defined as no longer doing so would be a difficult step and would require full justification. It is equally clear that there is pretty much universal agreement around what explicitly does not satisfy the board (in essence, squatting). If there is a point on which we disagree then it will be somewhere in the grey area in the middle. There appear to be several aspects to this. I am not happy with people whose intended cruising pattern falls outside the guidance clearly issued by BW and CRT (for example that if you need to be in a fixed location for educational or work purposes then continuous cruising is probably not a suitable option) who then expect the guidance to be progressively bent to suit their needs. I also think there may be some interpretations of the requirements which twisted the intent so far that they could not, in all good faith, reasonably be said to be appropriate. Someone who shuffles up and down the London end of the Paddington Arm of the GU is hardly on a continuous cruise, when they could travel so much further than that in just a weekend. There will be points on a longer cruise which are not so convenient for working in central London, but if they fall beyond what is practical to commute I refer back to the original, longstanding guidelines that continuous cruising may not be suitable. There are similar requirements which could be applied to the Western K&A. Essentially, if what someone really wants is a houseboat then continuous cruising is not a reasonable compromise. One aspect of this whole question which I think has a major bearing is timeframe. CRT could simply announce a change but instead the whole process is being carried out slowly and very much in the open. The commission was announced in advance, is open in its constitution, terms of reference and engagement approach. It will report in 2025 on findings/recommendations which will not be implemented before 2028. That gives two years for people to make adjustments. Given the reported average stay of a London liveaboard boater is 2yrs, and that the overcrowding issue would reduce dramatically with a reduction in numbers of ~25%, it would also open the way for existing licence holders who have demonstrated a currently compliant pattern of cruising to be granted 'grandfather rights', ie personalised cruising patterns of the type used on the K&A, with licences issued to new holders after the revised terms to be subject to a more rigorous, clearer, universal (and enforced) set of Ts & Cs. This would make an impact on overcrowding within six months and largely address it within a year, without imposing any substantial change on people who had a genuine desire to keep cruising in a currently acceptable pattern. The solution does not need to be punitive, but it does need to be clear and unequivocal, and deal with those whose intent is to circumvent or ignore the rules to the detriment of everyone else. Alec

Oh Thanks Ronnie! I’ll explore the tip. Maybe viewing issues dissuades people from looking. I was going to do more or these…when I post next time I’ll keep it in mind. I’m interested in finding a different way of representing canal landscape. I’ve done a number of paintings based around Liverpool in similar style to these. Only small, 7.5 inches square. Had five in a gallery last spring and just dropped two off on Saturday for a joint exhibition starting next week. Any way thanks for commenting!