IanD
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Posts posted by IanD
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21 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:
There are very few No Cycling signs but as you say compliant bikes are OK FAQs | Canal & River Trust (canalrivertrust.org.uk)
"For clarity if you have an electric bike with a ‘twist and go' throttle (that can be propelled without pedalling) this is NOT a legal e-bike, it is not allowed on towpaths and can be confiscated by the police if done so."
"It's not currently legal to ride an e-scooter in any public place, except for where rental trails are being held. We've not allowed any trails to take place on towpaths. We issued this statement on e-scooters in 2020 This makes it clear that e-scooters are prohibited under our bylaws and that we will not be allowing e-scooters to be used on towpaths unless it can be proved that it is safe to do so. As yet, we have not seen such evidence.
Loads of both on the towpaths (and pavements and roads) though, the rules are obviously useless without any effective enforcement ... 😞
(though as discussed earlier, it's difficult to see any way CART could actually do this in reality...)
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1 hour ago, BilgePump said:
Tufnol is a resin composite thing and seems to work well. Low friction, long lasting. Seems to have an indefinite lifespan as a bonus. Have washboards and pulley blocks made out of it and they're 40 odd years old.
Tufnol isn't as slippery as HDPE, which in turn isn't as slippery as PTFE -- but which is a lot more expensive and a bit of a pig to work with...
(I think mine are HDPE but I suppose they could be white PTFE)
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15 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:
I have that on the underside of the hatch that runs on the brass
Me too, except the fixed slide is stainless steel not brass...
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2 hours ago, JungleJames said:
Again, I never argued that.
I'm sure I said I'm not claiming who does or does not know what. I have no idea how much hard line greenies know.
It was purely over what they say in public, and how they would like Mr Jupiter's use of the term 'carbon neutral'.
You are reading far too much into what I said.
What you did, referring disparagingly to "Greta and her disciples":
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/straw-man-fallacy/
"A straw man argument is the logical fallacy of distorting an opposing position into an extreme version of itself and then arguing against that extreme version. In creating a straw man argument, the arguer strips the opposing point of view of any nuance and often misrepresents it in a negative light."
Not only does Greta know a damn sight more about the issue than you seem to, she's shown on many occasions that she understands the difference between emissions in use and total CO2 burden (including manufacturing/disposal and other overheads) of many things, EVs included -- and that though EVs may not be perfect they're much less bad for the planet than ICE.
An equivalent argument would be to refer to people like you as "ignorant petrolheads" who don't care about the planet and just want to carry on driving your massive gas-guzzling SUVs everywhere, including to the shops and taking the kids to school... 😉
(which I'm sure you not -- but it's the same type of argument you're putting forward...)
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8 hours ago, JungleJames said:
Hold on.
Where in my post did I query any figures?
I never once argued the merits of either power source. I specifically didn't.
I only said one thing.
Greta and her disciples will only want to tell you the good side.
I even pointed out how most of us are guilty of it in other forms.
I also never mentioned whether everybody does know the full story or not. I only said that certain people won't divulge it. Well, why would they.
Batteries may or may not be the answer to the meaning of life, I never argued that.
So what have I said is BS? Nothing.
You were reading far too much into what I said. Nothing has suggested what I do or do not believe in. Nothing has suggested how much people know or don't know. You just thought it did.
It is a bit like greenies and nuclear. They hate it, so they only tell you the bad points.
Politicians and any policy they come up with- They will only tell you the good points.
Opposition- will only tell you the bad points.
Look back. All I have done is pointed out why Greta would love Mr Jupiter and his way of looking at carbon neutral when it came to the buzz words of electricity and batteries.
Whether you would or wouldn't do something wasn't initially part of your argument though.
Hence I took it to an extreme to point out the error in how you looked at carbon neutrality. Or basically, how you ignored the lifecycle costs of fuels.
Hence why HVO is deemed to reduce net CO2 by 90%, not 100% as you claim.
Like most people who respect and understand science, "Greta and her disciples" -- whoever they are -- understand the concept of total C02 burden, and how this applies to EVs. You claiming they don't is simply not true.
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20 minutes ago, Paul C said:
I CBA arguing with you though. I’m just trying to help Lady G based on my own personal experience of Ee and THM
The review is definite that THM don't have band 20 and have poorer rural coverage than EE (or 1p Mobile), EE use this low-frequency band because it has very long reach from a mast, which can be a long way apart in the countryside.
THM are not the only MVNO to be in this position, and like the others they keep very quiet about it -- and this had been confirmed by users who have dug into this. For the best rural coverage EE or 1pMobile or Spusu or IQmobile (all with the same coverage as EE) are better options.
Your personal experience doesn't contradict this, unless you use THM and have confirmed band 20 reception -- which would prove the review was wrong.
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7 minutes ago, Paul C said:
I don’t think it’s true though
So provide some proof -- the SIMSherpa review was definite about this, no 800MHz (band 20) coverage... 😉
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4 minutes ago, Paul C said:
THM use all bands
Not according to the link I posted above, it says they're the same as Lyca (no Band 20).
https://www.simsherpa.com/networks/talk-home-mobile/review-and-guide
"Talk Home aren’t as slick as joining EE directly. You don’t get WiFi calling or VoLTE and your SIM won’t connect to EE’s Band 20 4G transmitters, which will affect coverage in rural areas and capacity in urban areas."
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4 minutes ago, Paul C said:
Lyca and talk home mobile do introductory offer deals and use the EE network. THM use all bands too
Lyca and Talk Home don't offer all the EE bands, especially the 4G one (band 20) used in rural areas, so coverage may be poorer "out in the sticks".
https://www.simsherpa.com/networks/ee/virtual-providers-on-ee
"Lyca don’t have access to the band 20 frequencies of EE’s network that provide 4G in rural areas and boost urban capacity. So 4G is worse in some areas than on EE, which is worrying as 3G is being switched off."
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8 minutes ago, LadyG said:
Oh dear, just found a flaw in my plan.
At the moment i have a sim card in my mi fi, i probably have one in my phone, i pay Three two contracts, but ive no idea which payment is which or about usage.
If i now add a mains router, do i have to buy another sim. I think 1pmobile charge about £10 per month, so that would be three contracts, which has to be excessive.
If you want to use all three at the same time you obviously need a third SIM.
Or swap the one from the MiFi into the router.
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6 minutes ago, Jon57 said:
Facts. Sowerby selling off boats. Offering discount to move boats onto the Leeds Liverpool.
I know Nigel wanted to retire and sell off Shire Cruisers as a going concern -- were there any takers?
If they shut up shop in Sowerby Bridge it could be a body blow for the Rochdale, no hire boats there any more... 😞
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11 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:
Enforcement of cyclists has the same problem as enforcement of CC rules - identification. It's impossible for ordinary bikes to be identifiable though it would be perfectly easy for electrics if the will was there, which it isn't. That would take politicians (of all stamps and at all levels) who had some interest in real life rather than playing games.
The trouble is that it *wouldn't* be perfectly easy, and certainly not cheap... 😞
You have to not only identify the bike but the rider, just like prosecuting/fining a car driver for a driving offence. This works for cars because drivers are licensed and cars are sold/registered/insured with drivers and have visible numberplates -- how would this work for ebikes/escooters without a *massive* amount of bureaucracy (DVLA on steroids) as well as law changes to control the sale/registration of both bikes and riders?
It's easy to say "something must be done" and "it can be fixed easily", but coming up with a workable scheme is *much* harder, and maybe impossible in reality -- which is why politicians aren't interested, they have easier and more important things to do like stuffing their own pockets with taxpayer money... 😞
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13 minutes ago, Heartland said:
Enforcement, I agree may well help and may be it should be a topic to consider in the forth coming elections.
On the roads and footpaths there is the problem of Deliveroo and Just Eat cyclists, electric cyclists and even ic powered scooters who regularly are odds with the Highway Code. These abuses can no doubt be seen by those who monitor the cameras in certain places. May be the companies should be fined as a way to get their staff to follow the rules.
The problem is still how to detect infringements and then enforce the rules -- the escooter/ebike problem is endemic just like traffic offences by car drivers, and almost all the detection (speed/lights) for these is done by (lots of) ANPR cameras not (scarce) bobbies on the beat, because cars have nice big visible numberplates and their owners are on record so can easily be tracked down and fined.
This is impossible with escooters/ebikes on pavements/towpaths never mind roads, because they don't have numberplates and nobody knows who owns them -- and there are no expensive cameras to snap them anyway, even if these could somehow recognise the livery of Deliveroo or whoever then how do you prove which rider/bike it was?
The only way to fix this would be to have enforcement of licensing/numberplates for ebikes and escooters like cars, which is simply never going to happen -- apart from the practicalities, who would pay for it, and how do you control their sale?
Bad behaviour by their riders is an increasing problem, but any way to stop this has to be workable in real life -- and so far nobody's come up with one... 😞
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5 minutes ago, LadyG said:
I envisage using my invertor to power the new router. Not sure if the indoor aerials it comes with will cope.
If the new battery will get the mifi working again, I would then have two systems.
I think the fundamental problem is getting the Three signal inside the boat.
Unless you're moored in a good signal area and/or the router is near a window you're likely to need external aerials, definitely so if you want to move around the canals and have reasonable reception -- steel boxes like narrowboats are not good for mobile reception inside.
Three have worse coverage out in the sticks (meaning, many canals) than EE do, which will make your reception problem worse if you move around lots.
But if you only care about where you are right now and Three works there with the router inside, you'll be OK -- suck it and see is the only way to find out... 😉
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13 minutes ago, Heartland said:
Hiring boats can be expensive at certain times of the year and that can be a factor.
Visiting Birmingham is worthwhile and recommended and there are some canal such as the Wyrley & Essington and Tame Valley that deserve more boats to explore their routes.
The cyclists and scooter owners remain it seems to be a deterrent and it sad the CRT has not more to regulate the more antisocial aspects that tarnishes all the good and care the sensible cyclists do. As to the electric scooter users their use should be regulated more and it should be recognised that they are banned on the Rail Network.
Towpath improvement has contributed to the higher speeds of bikes and scooters and those that moor up can be confronted by those that do speed past their boat. CRT seem totally oblivious of the Risk Assessment and Health and Safety concerns.
How are the H&S concerns any different for towpaths than pavements and footpaths where fast (and often illegal) ebikes/escooters are also ridden illegally, and have hit and killed pedestrians?
Regulation is useless without enforcement, and I don't see that there's a damn thing that CART can do about it, given that elsewhere the police force can't keep them under control either, and they have far more powers and staff than CART do... 😞
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7 minutes ago, JungleJames said:
Ok. Last post of mine here.
Hard line greenies luv anything that has electricity or batteries in the name.
If you say you have a car with batteries in it, Greta gets all excited.
But we all know batteries produce CO2 during production. Well, everything does.
But Greta and her disciples won't want to admit this. So, your form of carbon neutral (ignore the carbon used to produce stuff) is exactly what the greenies would use, so as to make their favourite items look better than they are.
I suppose we are all guilty of it in some form or another. Ignore the bad bits of things that you like.
Like Michael Jackson fans ignoring his bad side, greenies ignore the bad side of batteries!
So in that regard, the true term of carbon neutral is the fairest of the 2!!
Let us see the whole picture.
Utter BS -- anyone green or not analysing ICE vs. EVs is perfectly well aware of the carbon debt involved in battery manufacture, and also that reduced emissions when driving mean this is paid back in not many years, which means that over the lifetime of the EV total CO2 emissions including manufacture and disposal are around 3x-5x lower than ICE depending on the assumptions made (e.g. renewable energy mix). That is "the whole picture".
Loads of analysis from loads of sources on the web explaining this, I suggest you go and do some reading... 😉
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21 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:
It saves having to move - you just need to ensure that your toilet discharge pipe is downsteam of your abstraction 'pick-up' pipe.
Not allowed on the canals, obviously...
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3 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:
Water was so low at the T&M summit last week that I couldn't get into one of the Stoke locks, and it has rained a bit lately. The CRT bloke who came to sort it out blamed vandals for opening paddles overnight - I did point out that the gates on the flight leaked so much that a lock someone had just emptied (and mistakenly shut the gates on me as I approached it), was half full again by the time I'd walked up to it. Others on the flight, filled by someone going up just before me, were almost empty by the time I reached them. It really doesn't bode well for the summer.
Until a few years ago there were anti vandal locks on the top couple, too, presumably taken off because vandalism isn't really a problem.
The water level at the T&M summit was fine when I went through it the week before...
If the culprit was vandals, putting the locks back on would help -- I assume they were the usual handcuff key ones?
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10 minutes ago, Yellowback said:
Maybe if they had better signage at the bridge this wouldn't have happened.
Not convinced signs make much difference given truck driver stupidity -- our road has width restrictions at the far end to stop trucks using it as a cut-through to the industrial estate, and big signs warning of this at the road entrance including "Width restriction 2.0m" and "No access to industrial estate" and "No HGVs" (and "No Heavy Goods Vehicles"!). All this still doesn't stop artics regularly driving down it and getting stuck and causing a total jam... 😞
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37 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:
I passed a few hire fleets over the last few weeks and was surprised that most of them were still pretty full of unhired ones. But at the prices mentioned, and the way the weather has been (and was forecast to be) , I suppose it's to be expected. Doesn't bode well, though for them, especially with the expected summer water shortages and stoppages on the popular rings.
I suspect the hire companies were hammered by Covid and then the slow business return afterwards, which meant they put their prices up, which discouraged people from booking boating holidays, so fewer boats were hired, so the prices went up -- and the increasing number of stoppages in the past few years can't have helped either, once you've booked a fixed-date holiday with a planned route it can be difficult to change when you find out just beforehand that you can't do it.
This could well be a death spiral for a lot of the financially weaker hire companies, as well as those who are quitting/selling up due to retirement. Anyone know what's happening to Shire Cruisers in Sowerby Bridge?
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1 minute ago, matty40s said:
That's it, Leicester ring stuffed now.
Another emergency stoppage, it's all CART's fault for wasting all their money on blue signs and comms systems for Standedge... 😉
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44 minutes ago, Midnight said:
I totally agree the super duper comms system should be bottom of the list.
Not what I said, so I don't see how you can agree -- and I notice you carefully avoided my question... 😉
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6 minutes ago, Midnight said:
What I do know is under this shower i.e. lightweights who created the current system and who don't maintain the paddles, very few boats can get to the tunnel to use any comms system.
Given that the HNC was reopened on the cheap and it's now 25 years old and hasn't been properly maintained due to lack of money -- like the rest of the system -- how do you think any heavyweights could have done any better? Especially given the tiny number of boats who use it, so it's well down any "fix it first" priority list compared to canals with 20x more traffic?
The Rochdale has pretty much the same problem for the same reasons, which is why both canals keep having so many closures... 😞
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16 minutes ago, Midnight said:
Are you sure about that?🤣
As it's only April and there's already been 3 stoppages on the HNC I suggest the money would be better spent maintaining the paddles. No point in a super duper communications system if boats can't reach the tunnel. Only my opinion though and I don't give a fook if anyone asked me to back it up with facts and figures.
Without knowing *why* the super duper comms system was installed you can't say the money would have been better spent on maintaining paddles -- what if they'd have had to close the tunnel part or all of the time if they hadn't upgraded it, for example because Network Rail refuse to allow them to keep driving quad bikes through the maintenance tunnel?
It's easy to blame an organisation -- especially CART, in some people's opinion -- for doing something when you don't know *why* they did it... 😉
Brass 'sliders'
in General Boating
Posted
That may be why on mine the long fixed sliders on the roof are stainless steel, and the plastic ones are strips under the hatch where they can't move or buckle because they're confined...