1st ade

Nice one - Greenie

When I said "Dip your headlights..."

Although not canal related we were shocked what Internet booking has done for some tourist attractions. We holidayed (Early August) in Fort William. Mid week we drove to the Station with our friends and their two young daughters to ride on the Harry Potter Steam Train to Malaig. Next free space, mid-October in two months time! We had similar luck with some of the other attractions. Fortunately the Sea Life Centre and a cruise on the Caledonian Canal were not quite so fully booked.

I can't (of course) speak for C&RT but this strike me as 8/10 on the reasonabless rating (provided NB Plod does not extract the urine too much): - A shortish (but excessive for a non-driver) distance from his home mooring - a stated and once only reason for the request - an intent to comply as best he is able both during the work (moving every now and then) and after (put it back on his mooring)

Again - the issue of incomplete (or wrongly interpreted) data is not unique to C&RT. Our local ASDA applied for planning permission to install CCTV enforced parking restrictions. Two hour limit, no return within three hours. (Two points; they needed planning permission for the cameras and the signage, not the use the images would be put to. Second, they are next to the railway station - a lot of London commuters used ASDA to avoid the station car park and £7 a day) Most local residents supported the application, citing difficulties they had with parking and shopping. After the CCTV went live, a huge number of local residents got booked. On investigation, most were quashed. A typical story was "dropped wife at ASDA, went to B&Q (two miles up the road), came back and picked wife up". Two visits, each of five minutes but within three hours of each other. So, the locals had interpreted "Two hour limit, no return with three hours" in a different fashion to the parking company. We've now got it (I think) agreed as "no more than two hours in any three hour period" - whether they can actually reprogram the computer to action this correctly is anyone's guess.

To be fair - it's not just boating. I'm Vice-Chair of the Parish Council and also Chair of our local Parish Planning Committeeand it amazes me the number of people who have ideas like "Why don't we have a barbecue for 400 people, sixties music and free beer in the local park" or "I'm going to put decking over two-thirds of the lawn, couple my sky dish to a projector, get a case of lager* and open the World Cup to all comers" without thinking about insurance, licensing, Performing Rights etc. (let alone the impact on neighbours) I too feel a right Kill Joy but, which would you rather happen; you make them stop and think now or just after that fatal accident, they have an "Oh $#!t" moment. * For the avoidance of doubt, I hate lager! But, with my Parish hat on, I'd feel the same if it was Real Ale.

This may merit a new topic - in which case I'll ask for it to be moved. Lutine Bell has a strange mix of wiring. The "heavy duty" stuff is beautifully done; Well crimped cables, just the right length and with coloured sleeves to identify wiring. Three leisure batteries and one starter, good quality isolators (none of this red plastic key nonsense) a SmartBank and a single high current fuse near the battery end of the feed to the inverter. The low current stuff (smart gauge, engine wiring, bilge pump and headlight) are: - all in one colour - white badly crimped (or worse) Have taken instructions literally - "connect Smartguage + to Battery +" equates to a single white wire in a straight line between the battery and the Smartguage. It looks like a spiders web! Not a fuse in sight I'm planning on tidying it up for Magpie but it will have to be done a bit at a time. Perhaps Smartbank on the first visit. Then Start / Stop / Field from the Ignition switch to the engine. Then Bilgepump / Horn / Headlight. Then ... For good measure, the cable between the Smartguage and Smartbank has been cut at some point and joined with tape; I guess because the connector wouldn't fit through the hole in the bulkhead. I'm not too bad on electrics but my experience of boats is over fifty years of holidays; not owning one. Any advice is welcome!

Less is often more....

OK - short story - boat now on 14 day mooring but no reason it can't move further (will let MP update that bit) Longer storey - Bizzard well on the right track. The bizarre electrical problems have their root cause in an odd looking dual control system. There is a normal ignition switch on the back deck and three rocker switches + a light on the inside of the bulkhead. I guess the original intent was that mid-evening when the inverter started alarming, reach up and flip two switches and start the engine without either going outside or leaving the keys in the ignition. When batter charged, press the "stop" switch and turn the ignition off. So far so good. Life made more entertaining by: - A unique colour code - "if it's wire, it's white" Extensive use of scotchlock / cheap crimps / wire twisted together and a bit of PVC tape. All three connections were (seperately) intermittent. Engine stop had stopped working so MP fitted the mechanical linkage referred to above. Engine start worked nine times out of ten (but was obvious when it failed). Field supply failed more often than not but sometimes was on when starting (so Ign light illuminated). In general, no or little charge. I basically ripped out the second control station and wired everything straight to the keyswitch. Dropped our spare battery into place, fired things up and we are on the move. The domestic batteries were down to 0.7 volt (no charge for four days). After four hours running then three hours rest they seem to hold 12.4 volts when MP got back from the pub. Time will tell how bad the permanent damage is to them. As an aside, I think a smaller alternator pulley may be an idea; there's no charge at tickover and you need to pile the rev's on to get a decent current. But that can wait for another day.... I think they may be getting used to this one from Lutine Bell...

I've noted the comment regarding Alternator Excitement - hence packing enough wire and a 6w tail light to at least try it (bypassing ignition switch as well). Apologies for not acknowledging the source of the suggestion; I'm still grateful for it (Thanks Bizzard and others). Magpie is only 30 miles away, as noted in one of his posting's I'm also his brother so if 60 mile trip just gets him off the 48 hour moorings and onto 14 day, so be it. We'll report back!

I'm off to Banbury today to visit Lutine and MP with (amongst other things) a fully charged battery and a set of jump leads. If / when started we'll investigate the lack of charging (I've got a 12v 6W tail light wired to croc clips - it's meant as a test light but I'm sure it'll suffice to excite the alternator if that's the only problem. Any thoughts or tips on starting with jump leads? If it was a car it's more like "jump charging"; put the leads on, leave the 'good' vehicle running for a few minutes to put some juice into the dead battery, then hit the key. I don't know if my battery has the same terminal posts as Lutine's starter battery but don't want to flatten it by putting it in parallel. Put the spare in then if (when) it starts use the jump leads to charge the original?

For the first one I'd like to see a D*** Good risk analysis on what to do if there is a fire. Was moored by the Galleon in Wolverton a little while ago and there seemed to be no way out except for the front doors. (Also dark and gloomy inside but that's personal taste).

Thanks (and to MJG). Hadn't considered that angle; will do so next time. Although I suspect Ollie will follow anyone who offers a biscuit!

Time well spent then?

The problem being that if you have: - Dog's name (seems wrong not to have it no matter what the law says) Your name (legal requirement) Your full address (legal requirement, four - five lines) Your mobile number (so the person who found him can ring you up and ask "you lost a dog?") The dog won't be able to annoy anyone as it won't be able to lift his head up! Ours has his name, our surname, our house number and postcode and mobile no. It identifies a unique property and neither me nor Mrs 1st Ade is going to argue whose dog it is. When he disappears at elderly fathers house five minutes after we get there we go a phone call to collect him from a neighbour. More to the point it's all that will fit on any tag we've seen for sale. And then only because both we and the dog have short names!

At Marple a year or two ago the maintenance guys were demonstrating how they made the wood fit. Bolt it in place, apply paint to the leading edge and close the gate. Where the paint had been squashed out the way was a high spot, plane it down a bit and repeat. After three or four goes the wood had the profile of what it closed against whether that was the opposite mitre (bottom) or stonework (top). Obviously all done with the lock completely drained.