PeterF

If you buy a grp cruiser for use in the Midlands but from another wider waterway do not take the seller / brokers word for it that it is 6ft10in beam, make sure it is measured. There is a thread on here about someone buying a cruiser advertised as 6ft10in from outside the midlands and on brining it up to the midlands found that it was actually slightly above 7ft beam and too large. One already in the Midlands should be known to fit.

Yes, it was a little tongue in cheek and the Birstall issue was accredited on here to needing to ease the top gates open with the boat as the lock would not fill. Birstall was fixed and we passed through it OK a couple of weeks ago. I looked up the Memory Lane Moorings as we passed them and they were empty. Apparently they were going to have a mixture of residential mooring and visitor mooring. This was announced pre COVID but appears to be somewhat delayed in implementation.

Perhaps the same person that did for Birstall lock gates 3 weeks ago which also needed a crane boat to repair. They have slowly worked their way up through Leicester.

Ordinarily there are temperature sensors in the battery that communicate with the BMS which disables charging if the temperature is too low. Some of the self heated types activate the self heating if temp is below 5degC using charger power then allow charging once above this.

The CRT services at Branston on the T&M open to a truck stop on the A38 with laundry facilities.

Around 10-15 years ago there was a boat where the hull was made from plastic drinks bottles tied together with 2 converted bicycles driving propellers for motive power. From memory it had some form of tent like superstructure. It was moored in Brighouse Basin for a while. It may have been a project to highlight plastic waste but my memory fades. I can not find amy old photos either. Found a picture, not really bicycles but still pedal powered. "Orbis".

I fly radio control planes. A few years ago there were changes bought on by drone issues that meant we would need to register with the CAA as drone operators at a cost to ourselves. The national group organised members to email MPs and the transport Secretary. Potentially 35,000 members in the main national body plus others but I can not recall the numbers who did so. It did not change the new legislation but cut the fee in half so there was some measure of success. However in this case we were talking of an income stream of £2m/year being halved to £1m to pay for the CAA registration system and admin, so less of an issue tjan the CRT grant.

The difference this time is CRT can play the "not our fault" card and pass the blame elsewhere and push it through.

Plenty of traction in this thread yet. Spotted loads of tyres precariously hanging on old bits of rope on the abandoned moorings at Woodend Lock on the T&M when we moored there recently, all just waiting for an avid collector. Thinking about it, with the footpath upgrade work there are a lot of gravel laden tugs and hoppers moving about creating extra wash to loosen the tyres.

Open since Monday. They had 2 stoppage notices and it appears they only cleared the one on Monday, todays notice was rather late.

We got stopped from going through Leeds lock on one occasion 15 years or so ago. There were high winds from an unusual direction and panes of glass were getting sucked off the north end of the Royal Armouries and landing on the towpath by the lock.

Update this evening, looks like it will be shut for another week. Looks like the S&W and Shroppie for us assuming Otherton gets fixed tomorrow. Update on 13/07/2023: Please be advised our specialist contractors have attended site today, and established a method of repair for the broken heel post at Lock 57, Top Lock on the Trent & Mersey Canal. We are now awaiting for additional parts to be fabricated and our contractors will be returning to facilitate the repair next Tuesday, 18 July, we anticipate the repair works will take two days to complete. A further update will be provided by Thursday, 20 July.

Add in the closure of Otherton lock on the S&W from today till Friday I am hoping one route will be open to go north. Wife just reminded me we could turn off at Fradley and go through Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

1sq.m (10sq.ft) of skin tank 2.5cm (1" ) wide is 25 litres, it soon adds up.

Derwent Mouth opened this morning. Travelled up to above Stenson. Water levels all OK. One boat that was travelling today said the problem started with the recent replacement gates at Stenson which do not leak. If the bywash at Stenson or upstream block and the canal overtops the overflow wiers then no water gets below Stenson to replenish the leaks on the other 5 broad locks. I do not know if this is the real reason or not, I repeat it for interest. The other thing he said was Stenson was in one CRT area (W. Mids?) And the other 5 were in another area (E.Mids?) so there was no joined up thinking when Syenson was regated. Again, I do not know the truth of this.

Often you will find groups of live aboard boats moored together where there is a location with good access to transport especially near bridges if they have a car.

Copy of what I posted on the other thread. I have been sat in Sawley cur since Wednesday lunchtime. This morning lots of boats coming downstream said Derwent Mouth was open. So I set off and it was padlocked. Apparently the lock had been cut by someone early morning, lots of boaters go through believing the stoppage has cleared, at least a dozen. By time I get there it had been repadlocked by CRT. The galling thing is the water level even after all the boats had been through was still over the bywash weir.

I have been sat in Sawley cur since Wednesday lunchtime. This morning lots of boats coming downstream said Derwent Mouth was open. So I set off and it was padlocked. Apparently the lock had been cut by someone early morning, lots of boaters go through believing the stoppage has cleared, at least a dozen. By time I get there it had been repadlocked by CRT. The galling thing is the water level even after all the boats had been through was still over the bywash weir.

Some Victron inverters do not like working with some generators which do not produce a good waveform and there are settings in the inverter to try and accommodate this such as "weak ac". I have no idea if some of their stand alone chargers are equally finicky and have similar setting options.

We went through Dutton stop lock both gates open in April, the Bridgewater seemed to be a bit higher than normal.

One of the boats waiting at Sawley phoned CRT who said it is likely to be Monday morning before all levels are back up along the stretch and Derwent Mouth hopefully reopened. No update to the stoppage notice though.

I would expect the switch to have a terminal tightened with a screw to clamp the bare wire or a bolt post needing a ring crimp on the wire.

it appears that the low water is not just at Derwent Mouth but along the whole stretch, so if the lower section is used then Derwent Mouth will improve but you end up with less water below Stenson so it is just shuffling the low pounds around. I wonder if problems also arise having two of the largest marinas just either side of this section meaning more frequent use of the locks compared to the Burton to Alrewas section.

Use swept / large radius bends rather than elbows to reduce the risk of blockage.

Today's update for Stenson lock to Derwent Mouth lock section says that Derwent Mouth lock is unlikely to be open before the weekend as water still needs to be let down below Swarkestone and travel on the whole section is discouraged.