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I do think chimeral is by far and away the best part of this post ............. there be dragons and all that ...........

Having run a Dickinson Adriatic for 20 years to heat my 60ft boat I'm very interested in all the comments in this thread many of which accord with my own experience. The fundamentals of the way the Dickinson pot burner works may (or may not) help to clarify some of the points raised. i) the device employed to stop the diesel from overflowing the burner pot in the event of the flame blowing out, is a float valve incorporated within the metering unit. ii) overheat situations where the fire runs away with itself are controlled by a fuseable link: in effect a bit of solder melts allowing the needle valve to close. Once everything has cooled down it can be re-soldered. iii) my fuel consumption never varies far from 6 litres per hour and for this I can maintain the boat's temperature throughout, in pretty much any weather, at a steady 20 deg C. Of course Mr Smelly will appreciate that a thermo-electric fan is required to evenly distribute the heat! iV) I also get hot water, a hot radiator in the bathroom and an oven and large hotplate to cook on. v) my biggest revelation was the result of installing a barometric damper .......... having seen the price when I bought the stove itself, I instantly decided that it was an optional extra I could well do without! However, the stove tended to soot up quite quickly, the flame rarely burnt with Dickinson's recommended lemon yellow colouration and it also tended to climb out of the burner pot in anything stronger than a light breeze. Fitting the BD transformed the operating of the stove and everything is now as per Dickinson's spec. The biggest bonus is that I hardly ever have to clean the burner pot – certainly not during the winter's use which tends to be from October to April. The worst I get is a light residue which just brushes off the sides of the burner pot. The all-important holes around the circumference never block and there is no longer a hard layer of baked on crud needing chipping off the bottom of the burner on a regular basis where the superheater sits. It's interesting that it has taken until fairly recently for Dickinson to post some really user-friendly operating instructions where they acknowledge such foibles of diesel fuel as the fact that it thickens significantly in cold weather and thins in hot. That means that needle valve settings are also a moveable feast and the closest I've ever come to the flame going out is not down to down-draught (pretty much a thing of the past since fitting the BD) but due to an unexpected cold night when I already had the valve set to the minimum!

Update on 04/12/2019: The tanker is now free and no longer causing an obstruction. Original message: A tanker has become stuck, below Aldwarke Lock causing a restriction to the navigation. Can skippers of all craft please slow down and take care when approaching. We will update the notice when the obstruction has been moved. You can view this notice and its map online here: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notice/16695/stuck-tanker You can find all notices at the url below: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices

Nope, I think I'll settle for marmalade .............

Sounds like a very sensible idea!

I've always had this held up to me as being a safe mooring for Birmingham .............. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-50536472

Or the exclusive services of a butler ............

In the article he calls himself Andy Burns, claims a chemistry PhD and reckons to live on one of those floaty boat thingeees ............. in the Midlands of all places! Ring any bells?

Ctek quote their 10 amp charger as suitable for a battery bank in the range 10 – 300 amps. While this model will give a maintenance charge for a larger bank, there will inevitably come a time when you have a flat battery bank and it will need a good deal more oomph than this can provide. The M300 is both a marine variant and can look after battery banks of up to 500 amp, whilst providing a maintenance charge to a larger bank. The Current Ctek range includes a 25 amp model (MXS 25) which has a similar spec as the M300. Ctek is not the cheap and cheerful option but the price reflects the quality and durability of their products. Remember also that ideally you will need some form of charger to independently maintain your starter battery which can easily be forgotten and neglected during prolonged periods tied up. My domestic batteries are looked after by a Ctek M300 while a wee MXS 5.0 looks after my starter battery. At one point Ctek 'threw in' a 5 amp charger when you bought a larger marine unit (which is why I have this set up!).

I'd second that. They have a branch in Southam which is much closer to Rugby. Used them for decades (literally).

I'd second the choice of a Ctek multi-stage charger. Does all the things that lead acid batteries love plus has a reconditioning function that revives an iffy battery suffering from sulphating. But go for the largest model you can afford – the M300 (20 amp) is the largest they make, otherwise a M200 – that way you can fully recharge the battery bank if needs be rather than just providing a maintenance charge. The M300 will recharge up to a 500 amp battery bank from scratch; anything more and it will only be maintenance. The M200 (if I remember correctly) is 15 amp so something like a 400 amp battery bank is it's max. Have a look on the Tayna site (https://www.tayna.co.uk for confirmation, information and excellent prices.

With no distinction twixt canal and river further south!

Future compliments will have to be exchanged via an HMP address ............

Exactly my experience too.