Clifford

Rotherham / Rotterdam. What's to choose between them? I suppose they speak better English in one of them.

A&S. Can't wait to hear when you've tried out your shiny 'bog and bridges' key. You may be pleasantly surprised how nice the loo is. When there is a warm shower room, with a dry floor, it's bliss - and most of them are like that. Don't look in the Elsan bit though (or rather DO, if you were thinking that emptying a cassette bog might just be acceptable to civilised human beings). Bleeeerrrrrch! Edited to say : I don't mean that most HAVE showers. I mean that when they DO have showers, they can be quite nice.

Before you get too interested in a Great Haywood boat, make sure it's still for sale. Sold boats tend to linger a bit on their website.

Ah. You'd kind of expect it to be standard. But I gather not everyone likes NE bonding. Out of interest, do you know if the Airlink instructions say to earth the case ? To the shorelink earth, or the hull?

Thanks Tony. Btw, thanks for all your course materials online. They were practically the first technical stuff I read when we first got a share in a narrowboat, long before we thought of getting a boat of our own. I refer to them a lot. I put off going on one of your courses too long - and you stopped doing them! Very readable materials, I was reading them again this morning.

Thanks very much. Hoping to avoid stuipid questions when I get an electrician in. But maybe 'internet expert' questions will be even more annoying. I'm enjoying learning about this stuff, thanks again.

Lots of equipment will say in the installation instructions "must be protected by a fuse". But does it have to be literally a fuse? If the gear comes with a fuseholder and a fuse, then I guess I would use that - in case there was something special about it (speed of blowing or something) that makes it essential. But that apart, can you always use a circuit breaker of the same capacity ? Or are there times when 'fuse' must mean 'fuse' and nothing else? What about in the BSS?

Is the torque that the steerer exerts at the rudder post related? You can probably estimate that.

Not quite sure if it officially counts as part of the flight. It's about a quarter of a mile below the 'real' flight' of close-together locks. And a similar distance above the next flight.

You are cheating .. you aren't "New to Boating" at all! Have you read "Narrow dog to Carcassonne"? If not, you may find some inspiration, and a few laughs. By the way. I like Rotherham. But never boated there (boat is at Barton). Rovrem is not perhaps the best overnight spot. But if anyone wants to start a "Nice boaty bits in Rotherham" thread, I will read it avidly. Dash it, I'll start one myself!

We don't get many visiting boats to Sheffield. If this was a visitor, the stats will make the Sheffield and Tinsley one of the most dangerous waterways in the world, in % terms. "Last year, 1% of visitors to Sheffield sank", or something. Who'd ever come here again after reading that!

Fantastic! That must be the most ambitious post ever to appear in "New to Boating"! I blame Tim Spall. I can only admire your get up and go. I live in Sheffield and have never boated to Rotherham!

Sorry Martin, I didn't mean to imply you didn't know the canal geography up here. I just meant that I assumed that the C&H being so close to them was the reason they asked about a hasndspike even though they were not actually on the C&H. Oh, bother. I keep getting into these "No, But, You said I said you said." discussions at home. It usually ends badly, but I never learn! BTW, I've been to Selby from Sowerrby Bridge, and looked timidly over tyhe lock to the Ouse. But I've never been on the Ouse or the Tidal Trent, or even the Sheffield&Tinsley.

Passing a survey is no guarantee that a boat is sound. Sure. But if a boat is going to FAIL a survey, I want to know BEFORE I buy it. And btw, money spent on a failed survey is NOT 'wasted money' (unless you could have guessd it was going to fail, in which case you shouldn't have gone ahead). I find it bizare that people regard a survey that stopped them spending thousands on a dodgy boat as a waste. But if it turns out to have failed because of something the vendor/broker knew about , I think one has a right to be annoyed, to put it mildly.

I assumed they asked about the handspike because the C&H is the next canal along to the A&C. The most exciting pub to get to is at Wakefield. Coming into central Wakefield from the West, on the Calder, you have to do a right turn into the lock off the river, otherwise you hit the weir a quarter oif a mile ahead. But instead of turning right, look at the river wall oposite the lock entrance (opposite side of the river). There are some big rings set in the wall, and a ladder up the wall. Moor on the rings, climb the ladder, and you are at the Wharfside pub. It's gone a bit posher recently, and a bit foodie, but you are welcome just to have a pint (and the food is good). You can stroll to the Hepworth Gallery from there, too.

What if you've no port left? Why is there no easy way to remember how to spell mnemonic ?

Yes, if I'm paying someone to find problems, I want him to look everywhere. What I also want is someone who is sensible about what he does with what he finds. And someone who listens rather tyhan just ticks his boxes saying "I'm in charge". There was that issue on another thread about battery terminal connections. One bit of paper says "crimped", but some guidance says (not a direct quote) "screwed is allowed, provided the load is spread by a strip of copper under the screws". If the examiner hasn't seen the guidance, ands wants to fail my screwed connections, I should feel free to politely point out the guidance without worrying about upsetting the examiner.

I did Gibbo a disservice. He also has two pages on wiring an isolation transformer. Output has NE bonding, of course. But there is also discussion about whether to wire the IT case to shore earth or boat earth (hull). http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/iso_wire.html

Thank you, all. It is becoming clear, gradually! I shan't be wiring any of this AC stuff myself, of course. But it is important to me to know what is going on.

IT transformer, too. Yes. Because the transformer in effect breaks the shore NE bond, you have to reinstate it. Is that part of the wiring of the IT, or a user issue.

I do understand the difference between hull/earth and neutral/earth bonding. Well, I mean I know they are not the same thing, can't claim to get AC yet, it makes sense when I read it, then I have to read it again! The smartgauge page DOES show earth/hull bonding. Ok, thanks. So the only NE bonding is on Inverter output. Not wanted on shoreline input. (Eureka moment! That's why combis have a relay to do NE bonding automatically (only when shoreline not connected). Have I at least got that bit right? Ed for typos.

Excellent, well done to you AND your examiner. Do yuou mind if I take this opportunity to ask a question I've beern storing up. I don't think it's too hi-jacky because it springs directly from your experience here. What is the on-paper rule about minor fails. Is the examiner supposed to give you chance to fix it on the spot? Or are they supposed to say. "You've failed. Goodbye. When you've replaced that bulb, ring me to arrange the next test, and have your bank details ready for another full test fee."

On the excellent old smartgauge site (from Gibbo's days, I assume), is a guide to boat AC systems. It shows various ways of combining rcd/mcb protection with shoreline and single or twin inverters, and using manual switches or relays. For each combination, there are a pair of diagrams, one using an isolation transformer, one using a galvanic isolator. On each IT diagram, it shows NE bonding at the output of the transformer (possibly meant to be part of the wiring of the transformer itself). But on the GI diagrams there is no NE bonding at the galvanic isolator. Is this meant to imply that you do not have NE bonding at the shoreline input (rely on the marina having it?, thought that was dodgy?) Or is it just that NE bonding is not the topic under discussion here (I suspect the latter may be true, because no NE bonding is shown at the inverter outputs. Or have I just not *got* AC at all yet? Am I a hopeless case? Edited to add link, Doh! http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/nb_ac_sys.html

I thoght it could be aerial money saver!

We have a dump through and don't use blue. An occasional whiff in the loo is better than the whole BOAT smelling like a Portaloo.