Detling

Describes Grenfell Tower perfectly.

There are often more boats for sale at this time of year in London, they bought a boat last year struggled through the winter no sun, cold and damp with condensation, started to enjoy it around Easter and have been having a good time since, but now solar isn't always enough, getting cold nights, they know what is coming and want out.

My mate has had his alternators parallel for years and both still but they are identical 70 amp models. Because you can only get one poly v pulley on the engine and 70 is what he likes on the single v belt. You maybe better fitting one 150+ otherwise. He has measured 100 amps into a big inverter load for a long time without alternator problems.

My new 4 zone induction hob bought 2020 cost 220 quid.

Yes the alternator supplies a lot of the power but it still goes via the inverter to become 240v for the washing machine, so you still need a big inverter. My 3000/120 Phoenix takes just under 2 amps doing nothing, the amp hour counter reckons it adds up at 1.9 amps the ammeter displays 2 so take your pick. The powersave seek mode screws up a lot of things, the fridge will not bring it out of power safe mode on it's own, the microwave keeps beeping and the mains radio looses its settings, so I leave it on. As a summer boater mainly, the solar does the work anyway 600 watt via MPPT means full batteries at tea time virtually every day without using the engine.

I have heard that a old incandecent light bulb in series with a 5amp diode between domestic and started will act as a trickle charge. You could probably use a 10ohm power resistor instead of the bulb, it is just to limit the current when starting the engine and the starter volts drop to about 10 volts the diode stops the domestics getting any power from the starter.

Same happened to me, with an acumulator as said the on/off periods are just a longer but still there, new pump is also a lot noisier. The old pump had developed an internal leak and wetted the motor so it rusted solid in the first lockdown.

Inside or under cover storage is important, ours fold and hang on the bulkhead in the cratch area under the cover. They do need wiping with oil a fair bit to keep the rust down and they are not visible from the towpath. Electric bikes could also have issues with damp. In these days of battery angle grinders, outside visible storage of good bikes, is not that secure, and once on the bike the toe-rag will depart at speed.

I understand that the 1/3 rd income was a result of licence fees + mooring fees + Marina connection fees i.e. all the dosh we boaters provide. But it became politically desirable to downplay boaters, so they only attribute the license fee income as coming from boaters, the other bits are regarded as just that, other bits and services, not as cash income coming from boaters pockets. Quite who pays mooring fees without a boat puzzels me, but bean couters have a way with numbers.

The golden rule for a contented boating life is KISS. Keep It Simple Stu***, if it can go wrong it will. It is't easy to get a 'man' to come and fix it, a mile down a muddy towpath, from the nearest car park. Most boats use coal wood or diesel in a stove to provide heat because the alternatives use electric power to drive fans or pumps (except the rare good gravity back boiler systems). Electric power in the months of December and January is like gold dust very scarce, unless you are in a marina on shorepower. February, March and October November are not a lot better. Even with the roof covered with Solar panels in winter you can only get enough electricity for lighting and pumps, even a 12 volt fridge is questionable, and 240 volt anything will really strain any solar charge. So you are left with petrol/diesel generation and that works out about 5 times as expensive as mains power, per unit.

Back on topic. Are there any environment friendly dishwasher tablets? given that the waste goes straight into the canal.

Drip of water or spit on the metal body, if it just evaporates you are fine ,if it spits and boils it is over 100C which is probably a sensible top temperature, if it balls up and rolls around furiously you will probably be to late as that is about 200C.

That power can be useful stopping sharply, instead of ramming the boat coming round the bend on the wrong side. Also used for reversing the boat off the sticky bottom the bow has slid silently onto and is now preventing forward progress. As both of these are reverse gear maybe a low power motor for one way and a big one for going astern.

Problem, with MSC is if they freeze. The pressure sensor can withstand a bit of frost if no power is on, but if powered on and below 0 the buggers stop working, as they do if you get minus 10 even with no power on. I now take email home for the winter.

Same with domestic appliances, I have dishwasher that has Bluetooth the digital display worked well for a few months then decided to scramble the texts, and add weird characters, making it unreadable. The blue tooth no longer connects so a man has been summoned to replace the control unit. 2nd time in 6 months, the old dishwasher with a click knob was 12 years old with no problems. But it was the wrong colour for the new kitchen so SHMBO decided we needed a new one.

Or as happened to me you nip back on board grab hammer and pin with your back to the bank, turn round while stepping forward and realise there is 4 foor of water between the boat and the bank, unfortunately by now you have too much momentum to stop, so have to jump gracefully into the water feet first, marginally better than falling forwards and hitting head on bank.

If use cross head countersunk bolts use a drill to round the cross head after fitting.

Solar panel small one sorts that fully charged in a few days at most more often hours as it is short bursts of high current so not massive Amp hours used.

For boats parallel connection is better because wired in series if one panel is partially shaded it will restrict the current flow for the string, in parallel only that panel has reduced current all the others can provide full power. Trees and ropes frequently provide partial shade, on a rooftop of a house it is unlikely to happen but on a boat every day usually.

Thanks for replies. I too thought Caldwells but no marks in the glass beyond the safety glass etch. My friend fitted double glazed units 5 years ago so far no problems but they don't travel as far as we do and they were channel glaze. The boat was fitted out in Bollington last one before they went bust, unfortunately that means we have no way of finding out from them.

I have been persuaded to book the boat in for re painting this autumn which involves the windows coming out. As they are not in the first flush of youth and are single glazed I would like to replace them with double glazed ones. I have nice wooden liners on the inside I wish to keep. It would seem sensible to get the new windows from the company that made the original in 2007 if possible because they should be the same shape, but I don't know who made them. Has anyone else had new windows keeping the old liners? Can anyone tell me who probably made my current windows.

red rag?

any news on a reopening date?

I mounted a pump and heat exchanger on a plywood panel which was fixed to the side with PU expanding foam as a glue. Sprayed the back of the panel and held it into place with a sissor jack to the top of the engine to keep it firm against the side, for 24 hours. Been there 6 years now never moved at all. PU glues are very versatile but as this was a flat bit of ply onto a curved surface I needed the foam, which is essentially just a high frothing version of the glue.

And you thought speeding cyclists were an issue https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57610362