IanD

And that's the problem -- the hardline leaderships don't seem to want a solution, no matter how much pain and suffering a continuing war causes to their peoples who might very much prefer peace... ☹️ But it has to be pointed out that the Palestinian people are suffering and dying far far more than the Israeli people are, it's not as if the blame (and deaths) are equal on both sides of the conflict, and I'm sure Hamas are more aware of this than anyone else -- so I'd say that Netanyahu and his ultra-right-wing supporters like Smotrich are the biggest obstacle to any kind of peace agreement and settlement. And there is at least a chance that they'll be thrown out at the next election by an Israeli electorate who is sick of the deaths and what their policies have done to Israel's reputation world wide. Mind you the same could be said of Trump, and the problem is that -- like Netanyahu -- he still has many supporters who believe his lies and will vote for him no matter what... 😭

Ooh, Trump's just gonna love that -- cue another rabid anti-EU outburst, 1000% tariffs on every EU product...

So does anyone know how much water Bristol Water extract at Purton, and how this compares to the water volume pumped from the Severn into the docks? That would tell us how much of the responsibility for the silt lies with Bristol Water... (if the two volumes are equal, that would be 100%)

The real problem is that Israel's "supporters" are really supporters** of the Israeli government and business and arms trade, and are not necessarily acting in the best interests of the Israeli people -- who I'm sure lots of would much prefer a peaceful settlement with the Palestinians to a never-ending war. But the "supporters" probably make more money out of such a war than a resulting (expensive?) peace, and money talks... ☹️ ** or they believe what they're repeatedly told, that anyone who is against the Israeli government and their policies hates all Jews/Israelis -- which is fundamentally untrue, but if a lie is told often enough and loudly enough it becomes the truth for many people.

Is the root cause of the problem that Bristol Water extract water from the docks (and pay CRT a pittance, by all accounts...), and the water to replace this flows into the dock main basin from the Severn along with the silt? https://www.gloucesterdocks.me.uk/gloucester/docks.htm

Indeed, and that's the problem with agencies who only take a narrow view of their own particular responsibility not the bigger picture -- they'll do something which meets their particular target or saves them some money, without considering what it costs somebody else as a consequence. It's the plague of "Somebody Else's Problem" syndrome, and unfortunately such a lack of joined-up thinking is all too common in government departments... ☹️

Going by the number of boats you see actually moving, I'm not convinced that the number of "real CCers" has gone up -- but for certain the number of CMers has gone through the roof... ☹️ Do you really think there are 500 new 57'-60' boats being built and launched every year? Does anyone have any actual numbers?

But what is the alternative? War forever between Israel and Hamas/Palestinians? "It's an impasse which is impossible to solve" has been said before in not dissimilar situations (Ireland, South Africa) and been proved wrong -- but the key is that both sides need to want a solution, and Israel under Netanyahu shows no signs of this -- in fact exactly the opposite... ☹️

Doesn't fall into the "affordable" category though, like the Range Rover Electric...

Surely if Bristol Water are responsible for the silt being deposited (are they?), they should be responsible for removing it? (yes I know that's not what the current contract says...) I wonder if CRT would have a legal case for sending them the bill for the dredging?

The Macclesfield/Peak Forest have certainly been bad in the last few years because of Toddbrook, but that shouldn't be a problem by next year. Going by personal experience I would say there have been definitely been more stoppages elsewhere over the same period compared to 15 years ago, they've made us change plans or have to wait a day on several occasions but haven't actually stopped us getting where we wanted to -- though that did mean some planning/re-routing to avoid big/long stoppages. Moorings are definitely more difficult to find than they used to be especially in more popular towns/villages and near transport links, a lot more moored boats and unfortunately also more who selfishly ignore mooring rules and/or overstay on VMs, so as a cruiser/visitor it can be more difficult to find a good mooring. Of course you can still find plenty of space "out in the sticks" -- assuming you can get into the bank! -- but many cruisers prefer to stop in places with facilities (including shops and pubs) for the same reason moorers do... 😉

People 200 years ago didn't know about lots of things that people talk about (including on CWDF) today, like smartphones and the Internet and AI taking over the world and frankenfoods and vaccinations and... 😉 I guess they must have spent all their time smoking and drinking gin and smothering their children, or whatever else they did for fun in those days before doomscrolling.

That's certainly one widespread rumour, especially from certain "news" sources and of course the Internet. Whether it's actually true -- that he knew, and deliberately did nothing for nefarious reasons-- is a different matter...

Yes of course, and the recommended setting -- by the manufacturers and food safety organisations -- is 4C... (also the default for many with electronic thermostats, which they can also reset to after a power cut)

Why is that any different to leaving your home CH on in "frost protection" mode if you go away on holiday for an extended period in winter? Lots of people do this without worrying about their house burning down... 😉 Actually, it's better than most, since you can see what the boat temperature is and what the heating is doing. I have a Nest too, and can also see what the tank fuel level is -- typically this uses about 30l of diesel over the entire winter, cheaper than electric heaters (if anyone cares). That's true if you don't mind draining down the entire cold and hot water systems, and refilling and bleeding them when you return. If you don't want to do this, heating is a perfectly valid alternative, which some people prefer to do.

Unfortunately terms like "antisemite" and "Zionist" (or "anti-Zionist") are too often bandied around without people thinking about what they really mean, they're just used as labels with which to beat people they disagree with. I doubt that anyone thinks that what Hamas did to trigger off the latest war -- killing/kidnapping more than a thousand Israelis -- was in any way justifiable, or that severe action shouldn't have been taken against Hamas as a result. The problem is that the action that Netanyahu and the Israeli government/army have taken -- killing 70000 Palestinians including 20000 children, totally destroying Gaza and displaying almost the entire Palestinian population -- cannot be in any way justified as a response, and by most definitions clearly amounts to genocide. Indeed the ultra-rightwingers inside the Israeli government like Smotrich openly state that driving the Palestinians out of their homes and the country completely is what they want to do. Being against these actions by the Israeli government -- as I am, and I would hope anyone with any compassion would be -- does not mean hating all Israelis and certainly not all Jews, and labelling people who think this way with crude labels like "anti-Semitic" just shows a complete -- or possibly deliberate -- lack of understanding. Many Jews -- and even some Israelis -- are similarly against what Netanyahu has done, so what simplistic label should be attached to them? Anti-Semitic? Anti-Zionist? Traitors? The problem for the Green party is that the motion they have put forward -- essentially getting rid of Israel (as a "colonial power") and replacing it with a single Jewish/Palestinian state -- is completely ignoring both the history and current reality of the region. A two-state solution (Palestine and Israel) is the only one which stands any chance whatsover of being brought to fruition, and the chances of this are unfortunately precisely zero so long as the likes of Netanyahu and Smotrich are in power... ☹️

That's where a diesel CH boiler with a thermostat has an advantage for frost protection... 😉

Neither is mine, for the simple reason that Surecal don't make ones with big heating coils which heat up quickly -- probably because big copper coils (with fins) are expensive, and most boaters don't know or care about the difference. I've been on many boats over the years, and without exception they took several hours to get to properly hot water (not just warm) from a cold tank (e.g. after showers had used all the hot water up), whether the heat came from engine running or a Webasto/Eberspacher. There was also usually a warning not to turn the radiators off (e.g. in summer) and use the diesel heater for hot water only, because they don't like it (short cycling) -- but again, yours might be different.

Not at all -- just pointing out actual measurements on an actual standard Surecal calorifier as fitted in many boats. Plus how long I've found water heating to take -- from engine or diesel heater -- on multiple hire boats, which I assume were in the real world. If yours is different then that's good news -- for you... 😀 Recommended fridge temperature is 4C, to maximise food lifetime and minimise bacterial growth. That's what most domestic fridge thermostats are set to.

If they have an inverter with remote control/access (e.g. Victron + router) -- yes. If they don't (the majority of boats, who often seem to consider such modern technology to be the spawn of the devil) -- no.

And submarines, and (relatively low-speed) ships and boats -- of which a narrowboat is a good example.

Probably not, because if you buy second-hand after three years or so you get the same car at about half the price, with many years of life left in it -- which is why so many people do this, let those who value a new numberplate and the latest model take the financial hit of buying new. The UK car market is also still distorted by company cars and fleet sales as opposed to private buyers, and that means a bias towards bigger and more expensive cars with more bells and whistles.

The issue is not the power output of the heater, it's the heating capacity (surface area) of the coil inside the calorifier. Actual measurements show that with a standard Surecal twin-coil calorifier this is about 1kW, which will limit how fast the water heats up -- and if the Eberspacher/Webasto is set to heat hot water only and not radiators, this will lead to short cycling which is not good for the heater. https://www.perseverancenb.com/post/how-to-measure-the-calorifier This can be avoided by getting a calorifier custom-made with much bigger heating coils (e.g. 5kW in mine) but these cost about twice as much as an off-the-shelf one, so almost nobody does this.

That's the same principle as saying "there's no point in worrying about UK CO2 emissions when China is burning so much coal", when all the "small emitters" added together (including the UK) emit more CO2 than China does -- or the same principle for your own personal emissions, to excuse not doing anything to reduce them. Israel won't change their behaviour under pressure from just one country like the UK, but they will under pressure from lots of countries like the UK. So we shouldn't use this as an excuse for ignoring Israeli genocide** and carrying on supplying them with weapons... ** meaning the actions of the Netanyahu government and Israeli army, not all Israelis or all Jews.

If the backboiler only heats the radiators (is this normal?) then you'll need something else to heat the hot water -- and probably not an immersion heater. 30Ah/day is 140kWh/year, about the same as a good 230Vac fridge -- but certainly both are better than some of the expensive "converted" fridges. A crucial point is whether you plan to keep the inverter on all the time to run "mains stuff", or turn it off when not needed (e.g. overnight). In the first case there are lots of choices of 230Vac domestic fridges, in the second case a lot fewer (and often much more expensive) efficient 12V fridges.