AndrewIC

Indeed. My insurance specifically prohibits single-handing at night.

A traditional incandescent build is a few percent efficient at best: almost all the input power comes out as heat, and very little as visible light. What does come out at light will interact with whatever it hits, and (assuming you keep the boat curtains closed!) end up as heat as well. That said, having all the curtains closed and lots of bright lights may prompt speculation as to the nature of one's exotic house plants...

Tercoo?

There is a Newcastle in Staffordshire...

That does require that you can rotate the pipe in the fitting after insertion, which may be tricky for short lenghts or bends.

When the new style white Hep2o came out I got a 15mm "sample pack" direct from the manufacturer for free, which included one elbow, about 6in of pipe, and, importantly, the new blue dismantling tool. No idea whether that offer is still on though, I think there was a website to request the pack. I seem also to recall that the grey Hep2o came in two versions with plastic grab rings - green and white, but I could be making this up... There was a plastic tool available to remove the grab ring from the pipe, but with care it would be done by hand or with a bit old card rolled round the pipe. The new style seems overly complex.

Have just PM'd you. Andrew

5kW is around 20A. I wouldn't put that through a 13A plug...

Huge range of relays and contactors at RS, I'd be very surprised if they didn't have something suitable. If I was starting again with the shoreline wiring, I think I would put in a power inlet at each end of the boat and auto-switch between them with a relay, but otherwise I'd go for simplicity and the fewest number of moving parts every time!

Check the wiring carefully - two "loose rods" in sleeves may be TWO thermostats, one which switches on and off as the way temperature falls and rises, and one with a manual reset button which switches off and stays off if the water temperature rises dangerously high. If this one trips you have to open up the cover and press the button to reset it. The heating element is not normally loose in a sleeve, in order to ensure that it is in good thermal contact with the water. Andrew

That's been changed back since the summer, then. The stretch between the museum arm bridge and the road bridge were quite definitely signed as 24 hours in August. Did CRT ever put the washer and dryer back in the service block, or is that a permanent loss?

Stopped there this summer. Inside the gated area, the moorings on the museum side which used to be 48hr had been reduced to 24hr. On the service block side there was a short length with no signed restriction between the road bridge and services (although I think this is officially a workboat mooring), and between services and tunnel was all long term or tunnel trip moorings. Can't comment on the moorings outside the gates, other than one area seemed to have a serious goose poo problem!

In a tweet CART referred to "unauthorised use of a lengthsmans hut". Must be planning to employ some lengthsmen, then!

Something very similar in B&Q yesterday.

If coming from or heading to Fazeley there's also the Star City pontoon near Salford Junction, handy for a range of chain eateries. Didn't stop at Cuckoo Wharf, probably ok but a bit desolate. Aston Science Park - lots of graffiti, never a good sign. In the middle, Gas Street, Cambrian, Oozells, ICC, etc. Bottom of Smethwick? Probably not, as someone else has suggested try the Engine Arm (friendly residents, 48hr mooring and full service block right at the end of the arm). I seem to recall another pontoon somewhere between Summit Tunnel and Brades on the old main line, can't remember exactly where. Black Country Museum is our usual spot, although that now appears to be 24hrs only. New Main Line, there were boats moored a bit below Factory Locks by Caggy's Yard, probably ok. Never stopped at the top of Wolverhampton; There is an offside mooring, but it's probably quite noisy and I don't think I'd bother unless desperate. The leaflet mentions moorings S of Coseley Tunnel, I definitely wouldn't stop there, too many kids about whenever we've passed through there. If you're going the scenic route, Perry Bar top lock was quiet, as was the pontoon at the entrance to the Walsall Arm (terminal basin recommended by others but too open for our tastes). Ocker Hill Tunnel branch should be ok if you can get in, when we stopped there in the summer it was chock full of dredging plant! Sneyd was quiet, and the secure mooring (singular) at the United Kingdom pub looked ok.

That (fairly short) length of towpath embankment has been subsiding for decades, but whether due to salt extraction or river erosion I do not know - quite possibly the former as that is the origin of the flashes. Every so often (must be about 4-5 years since the last time) when the edge had dropped to water level, BW would cast another slab of concrete onto the top of the coping of the wash wall. By this summer boat wash was lapping over the concrete, and it wouldn't have taken much of a rise in the pound to cause a steady flow over the top, which is what I think has happened here. The embankment between Barnton and Saltersford tunnels is in a similar state. The only spillways I can recall on the whole of that pound from Middlewich to Dutton are a small one at Jackson's Turn near Anderton, and the large one at Anderton by the Boat Lift. Andrew