Callum

Thanks for all the comments. To try & clarify, when on 'charge only' the Victron does also pass through the 240v shore power. I know this to be the case because all the 240v sockets are live - the tele works, phone chargers work etc. The sequence of events with PC was; i) set up in house & working fine, ii) moved to boat & won't power up, iii) subsequently moved to office and it works OK. I tend to agree that this implies that the marina's 240v supply is weak/dirty and the PC doesn't like it. I did try switching the inverter to 'on' when the PC was on the boat but it made no difference. However what I did not try was putting the inverter on AND disconnecting the shore power to force the 240v to be from the inverter only. This may make a difference if the inverter produces a 'cleaner' supply signal. I will try this & report back, although it may be day or two. But thanks again for the comments. Callum

Apologies to the 'old lags' who no doubt have seen similar queries before but I couldn't immediately find any such previous threads. Our boat is currently in a marina and plugged in to shore power. We have a 2.5KW Victron Phoenix charger/invertor currently set to 'charge only' My understanding is that this means the 240V shore power is being passed straight through (the 240V washing machine certainly works OK!). Have just fetched a desktop PC onto the boat and it won't boot up. The power lights come on and the fan runs a bit but it won't actually boot. I've tried said PC at my work office and it boots fine, so it seems that the 240V being provided to the boat isn't up to snuff. Can anyone explain what is likely to be going on and if there is any work around? Much appreciated.

If it happened a month ago then I would have thought that no active acid will still be remaining, i.e. what was spilt will have reacted with the steel/copper until no acid remained (see Peter's chem formula), so I'm not sure you need to worry about neautralising stuff now.

Thinking about a hinged tiller arm. See most places only sell hinge. Does anyone know if a complete arm & hinge can be bought made up or do I need to buy hinge & arm separately and get someone to fit one t'other. Do you cut arm to get required two pieces or what? Cheers, Callum

Hello, We have shore supply sockets at both the stern & bow. There is a three way switch on the 240v panel that we use to select "aft/invertor/bow". Looks like just a simple rotary switch, but never had cause to investigate more closely. Callum

Curiosity fully sated - Clicky- road bridge over, towpath under.

Yes, seems most likely. I would have thought just slapping a couple of steel or concrete beams across the finished lock walls would be cheaper/easier, but I'm not a civil engineer. Also, it looks offset to the left of the lock centre to me...

What's the 'arch' at the far end going to be? First (silly) thought was guilletine gate but now thinking a footbridge or road bridge? Foreshortening of photo makes it difficult to determine the depth of the 'arch'. Just curious.

Agree with all above; Saul to Gloucester is do-able in 2 hours but 2+1/2 is safer timing (last bridge opening is 6:45pm at the moment). Think Gloucester dock is still on restricted operation - lockings every 2 hours only (on the (other) hour, I think) - best to call the lock keeper directly (and hope you don't get the grumpy one!) Quedgley (nr Pilot pub) is a good 'decision point' if you get away from Saul in reasonable time. Alternatively, if you are late leaving Saul I'd either potter up just past Parkend and eat on the boat, or just get out of the marina and moor up either side of Junction Bridge (the footbridge) and eat at the Bell in Frampton (in walking distance).

Just come back from doing the 'Droitwich Ring' (nothing to do with iffy curries!) last week. We had no troubles with water depth in the tunnel, but another boat who went through the day after did have to 'self-dredge' their way through by their report. I would also say it is fair to warn others that the water level on this section is variable, so both water & air draught are going to vary. I suspect that at higher water levels (and the spill weir just to the west of the tunnel had a good 3-4" showing spare when we went through) some boats just wont fit through. We enjoyed the Severn to Droitwich stretch but were underwhelmed by the Droitwich to Hanbury leg. Still, rather it was open than not, so well done all! Callum

Apparently they are waiting for the relevant water board to do their bit. However, there is a temporary water point just opposite the pontoons on the side of the Droitwich Trust's 'compound'. Having just done the full Droitwich this week I suggest that filling up with water is best done in Droitwich, as above, principally because we found the water point Hanbury to be totally inaccesible because of other boats belonging to the boat builders/fitters/chandelry moored there. Also, although the official guide suggests that there is a water point available at the top of the 3 locks immediately before the Hanbury junction, this was not in use. Oh, and a full water tank may just make the difference in getting through the M5 tunnel or not! And to finally answer the original question, there are no facilities other than the water point. The pontoons are purely visitor moorings. Callum

The last time we were in that neck of the woods (about 2 years ago) around festival time the we moored just below the first of the claydon locks (going North from Cropredy. There is a good length of armco nearest the lock (not the lock landing, btw), if that matters to you, and the rest of that 'straight' (upto a winding hole/corner, as I recall) is OK to moor up on pins. Then if you walk up the locks 5 mins there is a small road from Claydon that passes over the canal, with a small parking area to one side. We have also left our boat there for a week on a separate (non-festival) occassion with no problems. It is about 30-35 mins walk down the tow path into Cropredy. Callum

Slightly off-topic, but I do find that glorified leaf-blower that masquerades under the title dredger somewhat of an offence to my engineering sensibilities. If there is too much muck in the canal then take some out, don't just redistribute it! I mean, how hard can it be to reconfigure the same basic hardware to suck the silt up instead of squirting water at it?

Also sounds not unreasonable. Bum!

I think there are only two possibilities here; either someone is using the phone without your knowledge (got any other relatives/friends/petsitters etc with keys to the house?) or the sim has been cloned. You could set the phone to demand a security code (PIN) when it is first switched on (or change the existing one) to rule out the fist possibility, or get a new sim. Agree with earlier posts that there is no way a phone can 'accidently' make a call itself when switched off. (suppose you could also remove & hide the battery and/or sim seperately from the phone) Callum

Thanks for the reply Paul. The boat has been kept reasonably clean so I'm slightly surprised that the paint has degraded to allow moisture osmosis, although it does seem a good candidate reason. More frequent application of polish, then (i.e. some!) Callum

Greetings one & all. I'm seeking advice on a potential paint problem on our boat. Around one of the cabin side fender eye fittings small (about 5-10mm diameter) blisters have appeared in the paint. The paint has not cracked, i.e. it is still a complete skin, and the blisters are slightly flexible when pressed. There is also no signs of rust around the blisters or anywhere else near the skin fittings. The blisters appeared this spring but don't seem to be getting any bigger. First, anyone care to suggest what the cause is, and second, what is best done with them - leave well alone or sand back & touch up? The boat (and the paint job!) is about 4 1/2 years old. Ta muchly, Callum

I heard reports from mid-week that there was some ice in Gloucester docks. I'd give the lock keeper there a call - 01452 318000 - before making any firm plans.

Yes, I do appreciate that they are separate issues. I had luckyjacks comment re seals in mind when posting. Regarding water absorbtion, my guess (and it is only that!) is that presumably with 5% bio-diesel content the new fuel will at worst absorb only 5% more water, which I personally consider a minor increase, and like other poster's above I don't see why the current anti-water/anti-diesel bug additives won't still do their job. I am entirely open minded to any evidence based arguments and will be watching developments with interest with the rest of us. Callum

I might be in the minority here, but I welcome this news. Most of the problems with Eber-kuni-asto diesel heaters arise from them being designed to run on higher quality low sulpher road diesel, so the use of this fuel on the canals should reduce these problems significantly. As for the bio-diesel content, I believe road diesel is actually 5% bio-diesel and has been for years with no detriment to the various rubber pipes/seals in a modern diesel engine, so I don't see why boaters should experience any problems. Yes, using 100% bio-diesel in car engines causes problems but if you look at the online forums on this topic it seems blends of up to 50/50 are fine. Callum

You might find Ctrl+Home and Ctrl+End appealing to you.

From memory (i.e might be wrong!) there is actually quite a bit of room immediately above & below most of the locks on that stretch by virtue of the old single lock chambers being adjacent the 'new' doubles, so I suspect that you could probably wind at a lock. Callum

Thanks all for the replies. Happened to pop in at the boat jumble at Gloucester docks today and chap there was selling stuff for side hatches (as well as taking orders to make them). He had various sheets of stuff including some 6mm polycarbonate that should do the trick very nicely. Also had some Lexan but I thought bullet proofing the boat was probably a tend unnecessary! DIY here I come. Callum

Greetings all from a long time lurker & very, very occasional poster, I'm planning on making a simple screen to fasten in place when the side hatch is open. The current basic plan is to use a piece of clear 'plastic' big enough to cover the hatch aperture from the outside and screw some small bolts to it to use to fasten it to the wooden hatch surround. My query is in what 'plastic' to use. My initial thoughts are 4mm clear polycarbonate (single sheet, not the double skinned variety used for roofing) because I believe this should be rigid enough. Has anyone else used this and if so where did you buy it from? What else have other people used, if anything? I'm discounting the floppy acrylic stuff you get at B&Q etc as being, well, too floppy! Any help appreciated. Thanks, Callum

If I'm also not too late, a very tentative suggestion for No.7 is the bottom of Stockton Locks? Does assume some pretty impressive telephoto forshortening but possibly ties in with the view of Bascote.