magnetman
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Posts posted by magnetman
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I imagine they could have quite a long and varied discussion about charging rates and voltages for Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries and the benefits and disbenefits thereof for use in narrow boats.
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The big end has gone.
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1 minute ago, robtheplod said:
it all talks to each other so you get a good picture of the state of play......
One hopes it talks in a quiet voice respecting the occupants right to enjoy the peace.
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I was wondering if local authorities might ban it as a way of 'achieving' their climate change objectives and massaging some figures related to how green they are.
Maybe not as most councillors probably have nice wood fires in their comfy houses.
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Staplespun polypropylene. It floats and is durable.
I took the lead from the fact that the Thames tugs (upstream above Teddington) use this type of rope.
Staple is much stronger than the split film blue rubbish.
It doesn't stretch much but stretch can be something which you don't want on canal boats.
Whatever you use make sure the rope will part before breaking pieces of metal hardware off the boat.
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The oriental planes in the derelict pleasure garden at the estate are about 150 yars old and very large so they shed branches quite often. Hard wood which is rather difficult to split but it burns like a dream.
Lovely stuff.
I have an anxiety problem so the idea of not being able to burn wood is driving me to drink.
Hopefully these silly smoke control areas won't grow like tumbleweed out to the country areas.
I bet they will.
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I ran a Refleks natural draught float fed diesel heater on one of my boats until someone broke in and stole it. They took it while it was fired up. Must have had oven gloves/mental elf issues.
It was alright but did smell of diesel a bit. Pretty cheap to run but I much prefer the wood / coal burners which I have on each boat and they will not be going anywhere.
If the heat is on in London and smoke nazis are about I shall abscond to the country estate and burn oak, maple. ash, oriental plane, beech a hawthorn. A lot of it.
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Victron is good stuff.
They also do very good AGM batteries but you do pay!
I don't like Sterling. Not used them but just a vibe thing.
Dometic make some interesting smaller inverters.
When I bought my big solar panels I was advised to get Victron controllers by the bloke selling the panels and when I asked if he could sell me one he said he didn't sell them.
He was into off grid things and reckons that Victron actually is the best consumer grade product.
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Just now, MartynG said:
Boats do not need a sold fuel stove. Solid fuel stoves have only become popular in narrowboats because of the potential free source of fuel.
A gas or diesel fired heating system is entirely possible. Admittedly that requires extra battery power.
I hired a narrowboat in the mid 1990's which had no wood burner but it had central heating (not that we had it on in the summer).
Coal and wood is cheaper than oil or gas heating.
OK so a natural flued diesel heater with no electrics can be good but it will cost more on a per kilowatt basis.
Bottled gas for heating is unbelievable in consumption terms. Bordering on shocking.
Electric is crazy unless the boat is very small and well insulated.
Most boats can't connect to mains gas although I read somewhere if one has a residential site with other services it may be possible to have mains gas installed. I think this probably only applies to non moving houseboats.
Energy Density of Diesel FuelEnergy carrier Energy density by weight [kWh/kg] Diesel 11.6 Anthracite. Anthracite is an extremely dense, smokeless coal that burns slowly and has a very high calorific value; typically 9.2 kWh per KgRed diesel around £1.20 per kg?Anthracite around 80p per kg.The anthracite is a bit cheaper but not a lot.Bulk purchasing options on boats are limited.Don't know why the formatting went wrong. -
33 minutes ago, Felshampo said:
I had a look at the fuel filter, it was still clean, but changed it anyway.
As mentioned above make sure the fuel filter is definitely properly fitted with new o ring(s) if it is the old type. This includes the o ring on the bolt holding the parts together.
As the fuel filter was disturbed it seems the most likely candidate.
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Exactly! This goes to show that burning things is not a problem. If it was a problem then population would have gone down.
I'm on air pollution track not the climate change track.
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Quite large bolts. They look about M14.
Thats a serious bit of tapping work and with there being two separate pieces of steel (the rubbing strake and the boat itself) I think there would be a high probability of having trouble getting the tap right through.
Might work. I've only done up to M10 tapping so don't actually know but it looks like hard work and risk of breakage and tap getting stuck on the hole.
Also a very difficult position to work.
I think you'd need a mag drill but will they grip on curves?
I have in the past used a lever to push a drill in at an odd angle so I suppose one could fix a length of wood to the hole in the rudder and use that as a possible mechanical advantage but then you drop the drill in the water !
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There are some of the small white herons in the district but non on the estate.
While I do like seeing them I have no egrets that they have not taken up residence locally.
We also have a zero canada geese policy which is actually quite difficult on the Thames but we manage.
Parakeets need shooting.
I think the Heron in the OP is probably wound up about the mink. Released by animal rights people I guess.
Nasty little buggers they are. And the mink too.
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I wouldn't hang a bike off the back of a boat but if you are going to do it then I'd suggest finding a welding shop and as suggested give them the cardboard template. Make the holes a bit bigger to allow for inaccuracy.
Before bolting down I think you could wedge a piece of rubber pipe fender under the flat part, behind the bearing then as you bolt it down it would squash the rubber which would form a support so the part didn't bend.
If you show the image of the image of the other one to the welder and give your own measurements it should be alright. I still wouldn't hang a bike there although quite a few do.
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2 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:
First bit, yes, because the payment just gets deducted from the bill. Second, I doubt as CRT would presumably only supply the address once, but who knows? No one's admitting anything or answering the question. I think there are people on here with two CC registered boats, they'd know. The trouble is answering anything like that on social media can get you a torrent of irrational abuse, so most prefer not to.
Ah now I get why I had to apply. Its because I don't have an electric bill as it is all done via the CRT / metermacs hateway webshite. Were I a customer with an ordinary leccy bill it would presumably have been automatic.
Also presumably it was a one-off so there won't suddenly be an increase in the value of dinghies while everyone starts registering them with continuous cruising licences.
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Surely if they give someone the password it would become common knowledge fast.
Is the general idea to keep changing the password regularly?
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So if one had ten houses all with same electric bill payer and ten boats with cc licences registered to the same person would one have received 20 payments?
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Burning stuff is not the problem. Over consumption of products not needed to lead an ordinary comfortable life is the problem..
People need to consume less but the general idea is to get more money so you can buy more products and travel more widely. Wrong plan.
The basic problem facing short term 'democratic' governments is the economy. Forming policies which kill the economy is political suicide because virtually everyone buys into the endless growth model. Tell people they are going to be poorer and they won't vote you in.
So nothing can ever happen to make things better for humans. Its a lost cause because if the way humans choose to organise their societies.
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In which case surely the aim should be to cause there to be fewer humans.
If people can't deal with pollution they die. So what? One born every minute.
If the survivors are the ones that can deal with breathing dirty air then there is more chance in the long term if survival given that these theories suggest everything is going to burn at some stage anyway.
I reckon by stopping people burning things it may cause massive damage in unexpected ways. Humans burn things. Thats what we do. It ain't going to suddenly stop and if it is forced to stop Bad Things will happen.
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20 minutes ago, MartynG said:
Why would it be fraud?
As far as I can understand it the only requirement is to have a valid licence on a cc basis on a certain date?
And I may be wrong but believe no claim is necessary.
We did this earlier. I was wrong .
I admit I did not realise that the door had been left open for double claims.
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It is amazing how humans have survived for so long despite always burning things and now it has suddenly become incredibly dangerous.
Very odd situation.
I smell a rat and its not the dead one I just put in the fire.
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Ah yes the seagulls. I've had a few of those. Bit noisy as well.
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As to the OP it is interesting to consider how evidence would be gathered.
Traditionally one would use the Ringelmann scale but I wonder if video evidence from a phone camera would now be admissable.
If you see someone with a clipboard or phone videoing the boat get some shredded road cones on and make smoke.
That should clear the blighters!
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1 hour ago, Alway Swilby said:
No claim was required for the recent fuel payment. The voucher turned up in email inboxes automatically if your boat was listed as not having a home mooring. I don't see how that could be defined as fraud.
Sorry I thought one had to claim it.
I had to claim my payment using my residential mooring address.
I didn't realise people with cc licences got it automatically. My mistake.
Interesting for someone with a dinghy with a cc licence.
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What Length of Ropes and is there a best type
in New to Boating?
Posted
I'm looking for the @Chris J W thread about his injury from a non breaking rope.
Not sure what search terms to use but it struck me (pun intended) as a very nasty situation.
Here it is
worth reading this one as it is educational and quite shocking.
I liked this from Bristol and Argo (not sure if they are still on the cut)
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Que discussion on how everyone should be using 'dead' ropes on boats, rather than ones with the properties of an elastic band.
The stored energy potential is frightening as you unfortunately found out, who can work out the energy of say 10tonnes decellerated to zero from 1mhp, suddenly given the opportunity to accellerate 0.001 tonnes(figure wildly guessed) of metal ring, so that everyone will realise why they shouldn't stand in line with a taught rope."
Good bit of math work.