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Yep, he really knows his stuff, and unlike many posters on social media he talks a huge amount of sense -- and as he also says, none of this is new or rocket science, and it's all backed up by both LFP theory and research papers and how the batteries are used in real life in solar/boat applications. But then I would say that, because he's saying exactly I've been saying for several years now... 🙂 Which is that in use like ours (fractional-C use on a boat in the relatively cool UK) there's no need to worry about lifetime or over/undercharging, take them up to 100% SoC regularly to keep them balanced, go all the way down to 0% if you need to, and don't stress about things like trying to keep them forever close to 50% (or below 80%, or whatever). Just use the damn things, whatever you do they'll probably outlast the boat... 😉

Yep, I've not been on here myself since , well i reckon 8 years.. Been boatless.Its worth a try.Its a great forum this is, I get plenty of decent quality replies .

My thanks, I'll look into who may have the parts, hopefully with no complex bits I may get someone who can fettle the bits on it. Wouldn't have been my main choice but it is what it is, the vendor may be of some help, he's owned the boat for 38 years.

If it is leaking water (not gas) then it is worth seeing where from. It could be a gasket, diaphragm, soft washer or seal.

Correct. He also did my TRIN in 2018. I have his current contact details so have shot him an email to see if there is any leeway and also slipped in a question on the VAT issue. You never know.

Good idea, I must write start date next time I replace mine. 10 year life…must be good ‘uns.

And one which works very well -- my blinds came with this fitted, also blackout fabric. You also don't have to manually raise them, just tip them off the magnet and let go and they retract slowly. Not cheap though... 😞 https://www.blindsforboats.co.uk/product-page/copy-of-roller-blind-slow-rise-blockout-fabric-1

Yes, but the point of investigative journalism is rather to find out stuff that they don't know about. The ST blokes who uncovered the thalidomide scandal were neither chemists nor doctors, nor were those who dug out the paedophile rings interested in having sex with children. Novara Media obviously know more about the waterways than they did, even if they're only interested in one side of the story, as is the case of most politiclly biased journalsm, whether in NM or the Daily Telegraph. If you want something slightly more unbiased, you have to go to something either publicly owned and separate from Government or something owned by a trust rather than an individual. You can tell it's less warped because it gets attacked by both political wings.

Bought a new Kidde 2030-dcr alarm. Impressed with model , inserted their batteries but a green light did not appear every 50sec so went to website. Robot suggested subscription £25 pcm! Its working now, but i ll buy a different make next time. It was £26.99 in ye local shoppe but i handed over the cash anyway. I've put the start date on it, 3 year warranty but it's a 10 year alarm, then it chirps.

Lots of assumptions are made, I recall a boater trying to figure out his electrical probs, he had removed his batt banks & stated that he could deffo eliminate those on the basis that they were good batts & were fully charged (after all he'd run his engine at least 2 hrs 🙄) When I put a multimeter on them it recorded 11.5v, he refused to admit they were nearly discharged even suggesting my meter was faulty! I politely made my excuses & left. You can lead a horse to the water etc...

I used the gazebo for the sign writer to give her shade, I still have it (the gazebo not the sign writer) lying in the garage

Thank you, as always, you lovely, lovely people. After adding more turns of PTFE, and some more goo, I am leak free. The New boiler appears to be functioning as well as the old one did. Perhaps a bit too early to say, at this stage.

This Beko machine does a cold wash. It is also less than 50cm deep. https://ao.com/product/bm3wt3741w-beko-b300-washing-machine-white-101187-1.aspx

I use blinds. Much tidier.

https://www.activeplumbingsupplies.co.uk/product/end-feed-28mm-x-1-bent-cylinder-union/ Should be readily available at your local plumbers merchant. Get a few spare fibre washers at the same time. The sheds don't do the 28mm ones Compression ones should be available if you don't fancy the soldering.

OR.... Use the correct fitting for the job, being a tap connector with a loose captive nut, and fibre washer to make the water seal. But I agree, the back nut method will work too. Just a little clumsy to do.

You are putting a parallel threaded female fitting onto the parallel threaded male spigot, so sealing with ptfe tape will always be iffy. I would put a backnut onto the spigot first, apply whatever sealant you are using, then screw on the fitting, apply more sealant around the end of the fitting, then screw the backnut back up against the end of the fitting.

Being defra approved you cant fully shut down the air inlets to slumber burn, useful for keeping it in overnight. Ie to make less smoke/ cleaner burn they stop you from fully closing the vents, even if you think they are shut. Also efficiency is gained by adding a more restrictive baffle plate plus tertiary burn at the rear. Some stoves smoke out when refuelling, which would be annoying! The more efficient it is you may find on a boat the short flue length isn't good enough to draw the smoke up the flue. The DEFRA approved stoves are supposedly more efficient but with the issues above. I haven't changed my stove for a DEFRA model, so can't say if more efficient as sounds counter productive to not fully slumber and have the fire burning more brightly. You could try adding side bricks to make the grate smaller. A more compact coal base may use less and generate the same heat. Morso Owl stove reviews uk James.

Tru blu is good stuff for sealing threads. Screwfix and Toolstation do it. You need to leave it 24 hours to set though. Heldite is also pretty damn good, but sets rather hard, making dismantling a bit more difficult.

Yes you often need lots (30?) wraps of PTFE (from my limited experience) tape to seal. I had a similar problem with a water pump fitting and was told by a plumber I was using too little tape. 30 wraps fixed it for me. The Gas PTFE tape which is usually yellow colour is much thicker and useful where you need a decent thickness of PTFE

Depends if the iron fitting you have has a flat mating seat like a tap connector where the washer can seat and then compress against the boiler flange to seal. If no recessed seat inside the fitting then just the PTFE tape or Hawk white and hemp. James.

In spite of the outside warm and sunny conditions here, and a stream of out of town guests, some yet to arrive, and other Christmassy tasks, I have started to plot the suggestions here on google maps, and the hire boat web sites. Next stage is to look up the suggested enroute towns on our extensive collection of Michelain Green Giudes. Remember them. We based our European road and camping touring on their contents, by selecting routes that connected the most "stars" with the least travelling. We actually have a well used rebound 20 year old copy of the Michelain 1:250000 Road Atlas from which we would extract the relevant pages for our intended touring. We used paper copies of the OS 1:250000 for the same purpose when touring in Britain. Still managed to get lost though!

We had 23 attend the informative talk given by Graham on Saturday Thanks to all who came

Gosh, WeWuzThere, Amazing, if damp. day

Not necessarily by the NBTA, but the author's bio gives a clue to his general angle: "Interested in radical ideas and projects to empower the dispossessed, and to dispossess those who concentrate the people's power for themselves. In our radically unequal and unjust age, only truly radical projects for equality and justice can triumph. Stick around for more, and connect to work together. Forever on the side of the down-trodden, solidarity always!"

But a regular schedule doesn't actually achieve this aim, and can be easy to avoid (if you want to). Any one spot is only visited 26 times a year. If close to a spotter boundary, once people know the schedule they can moor in the same place for 339 nights a year and yet never be spotted there! Moving to the other side of the boundary for 26 nights would probably mean they won't be spotted there either. Not suggesting that C&RT need to employ more spotters than they current do; just to make the schedule a bit more random. If a particular stretch is checked on different days each fortnight, and occasionally twice in a week then not for a month, then it would be impossible to avoid. There will be occasions where 2 visits are less than 14 days apart, so you can't send an immediate letter, but being spotted somewhere nearby 20+ times a year would be still be picked up.