pearley

The last four winters, during the worst of the weather we were on a shoreline so I can't remember how my batteries behave in the cold weather. We are gas free so the batteries during the day are always fairly well charged but I notice that they drop off badly overnight. I can go to bed with a SOC of 85-90% with a warm engine bay due to the generator being run and wake up in the morning with the Smartguage showing about 65% Reading of the effect of temperature on battery capacity it suggests a reduction of 20% at freezing. Given that the batteries sit on the swim and the canal is frozen, I suppose that the battery temperature can't be far from zero. When this first started happening about 2 weeks ago I thought that my batteries were on the way out - they are nearly 3 years old - but then I can leave them during the day for several hours without the SOC altering so perhaps they'll stagger on until the Spring. Any one tried insulating under and around the batteries and would it work anyway? Regards Pete

This perfectly Ok. Once fitted out a Renault truck with high power system with sub. Needed two 30 amp droppers in parallel to stop the sub amp from dropping out on heavy bass. Regards Pete

It's not just the prices but the daft mooring sites they pick. For instance, why the VM at the summit level of the Chesterfield with no facilities but not Shireoaks which has everything. Why Eastwood with a long reverse back for water and a mile walk to the shops rather than Doncaster. For me to take a Winter Mooring I want water, elsan, electric and shops. There are not many CRT sites that offer all of these at a reasonable price. If you compare the price for a winter mooring with the published price for a long term mooring, at the same site, then the winter mooring is invariably dearer. And why can you only rent one for a complete calendar month? Why not just for two or three weeks over the Christmas period. Regards Pete

I have a pair of the long gloves - from an aquatic centre for aquariums and fish ponds but best of all is one of these: http://www.gardentoolcompany.com/long-handle-patio-crack-weeder-by-dewit-tools/ Being sharpened on the top side of the hook I can just rip the stuff off, providing its not wire in which case I've got the wire cutters. Regards Pete

Not a single boat to be seen. Although to be fair the Walsall is closed at present at Ocker Hill. Should get there next January or February. Regards Pete

First of all, can I make a plea to not do them up too tight as it makes them a bugger to undo. The ones on the BCN are variable. When they first fitted them I found you could just rotate the locking shaft and it would pop out. Now however, there are many that the square is rounded off, (usually the ones that are too tight)some have had glue forced into them or bits of wood to stop the key from being inserted. The ones that won't lock when you push the rod in can often be locked by turning the key at the same time as you push the rod in. Mind you, it is a real pain in the ass when the only paddles that can be unlocked are diagonally opposite and the pounds below are empty. Regards Pete

Does that mean they will crack down on boats who no number and or name displayed? Pete

The CRT Enforcement Officer doesn't know how long it has been there either, all he can do on his first visit is log it into his terminal. On his next visit he logs it again and up pops the information of how long he's been there, where his home mooring is, if any, the owners name, the name of his dog, etc. I don't see how a readily identifiable licence makes his job any easier. It just helps those other boaters who have some sort of axe to grind about CCers. CRT say the proposals to limit the amount of days in any month/year that we can moor on VMs won't apply to Hire boats and Share Boats. The enforcement officer can easily identify a hire boat but not share boats. Unless it has changed since I had a share, they have the same licence as everyone else, and pay the same fee. Are they going to have a readily identifiable licence too. So already, there will be two rules. One for Hire boats and share boats and one for the rest of us, unless those with a home mooring are able to moor for more than 14 days in one area. Regards Pete

You can easily see if they are registered as 'No Home Mooring' by looking at the code on the licence.

Then you've been lucky. We've often had negative comments from other boaters when they've found out we're CCers. We're now very careful what we tell others until we've got to know them a bit. Regards Pete

You don't sat whether built-in generator or one on the bank. Does it plug into same socket as shoreline? Can you plug something like a fan heater into the generator direct to test? Just because you have voltage doesn't mean you have current. When mine did this it was because the transfer switch inside the Victron had failed but then, mine wouldn't recognise shoreline either. Regards Pete

Tom Foxon in his book 'No. 1' writes about horse drawn coal boating in the '50s. Regards Pete

After struggling down Rushall Locks on Sunday and reaching the deeper water of the Tame Valley, I was happy to get a bit of speed on so as to get to Perry Barr before dusk. Halfway between Scott Bridge and Chimney Bridge in the middle of the channel we suddenly rose up and came to a dead stop. I could get the back end against the bank but couldn't get off the obstruction. No amount of pulling from the towpath and/or reversing worked, not even after taking 200 kgs of coal off the roof so had to wait for CRTs team to arrive. Between us all we managed to drag off although it was dark by then meaning we had to stay the night. I've had an email today from CRT to say it is a hay bale. God knows how they got it there, deep in the cutting. However, CRT say they can't get it out without some mechanised equipment which presumably means after the stoppage further up the Tame Valley. So, if you're going that way, be careful. On the good side, it wasn't raining, it was the quietest mooring we've had in a long time and the sun rise at the end of the cutting was fantastic. Regards Pete

I'm not too keen on buying from Amazon anymore because of the small amount of tax they pay. A lot of their stuff was shipped from Guernsey to avoid VAT. Has this loophole now been closed? So its back to Waterstones. Regards Pete

That's what I use. I have a 12" length of rigid plastic pipe on the suction end cut at a slight angle so it will go to the bottom without bending up on itself. Regards Pete

Ah but that states 6.3mm blade so that is standard blade fuse, not maxi fuse. From years in the motor trade I don't recall seeing such a thing but most single maxi fuse holders will clip together to make a bank as large as you want. Like 0-377-00 here: http://www.durite.co.uk/pdf/2012/4/04.15_Cable_and_Wiring-Panel_mounted_In-line_fuse_holders_Diode_and_Boxes.pdf Regards Pete

The Towpath Angler in Novembers Towpath Talk complains that too many boats are moored close to eaxch other and that it doesn't give fishermen a chance and that walkers don't like to see lines of moored boats! He also complains of the high fees that Clubs have to pay! My wife's Uncle complains that he has to pay £20 a year to his Club so as to fish. We pointed out that we pay over £800 to be on the canal. Saying that anglers on lock landings move their rods out way when boats come in to moor would be fine if it was true. At Thorne earlier in the year a fisherman on the lock landing below the lock had so many road out that he complained we hadn't given him enough time to get his lines in, despite he could clearly see us in the lock and exiting it. Regards Pete

Where in the Midlands are you? We are currently moored at BCLM. We used to have one of these but it became too troublesome so was replaced by an Onan. However, did learn quite a bit about it when we had it so might be able to point you in right direction. Regards Pete

Bonfire lit at 7.50pm, fireworks start at 8.00pm. Oh,beer tent open from 7.00pm to 11.00pm. If you're not here by boat already, plenty of space on the New Main Line but you'll have to breast up, 3 abreast! on the Old Main Line. Regards Pete & Jeannette Joanie M

No real mention of Coalite. Last winter was spent in Yorkshire where the local coal merchant sold Excel and very good we found it too in our Boatman stove. The summer being so wet and cold we had to buy some more fuel when on the Witham which was Burnwell. This was also good but by the time we got to Birmingham last week we needed more fuel. There was a coal boat moored in front of us at the back of the Sea Life Centre but all he had left was Coalite. Not having tried it before he gave me half a bucket to try. It seemed Ok but we had only used it for the day. So I bought 6 bags. Firstly being stored under bags of House Coal and logs it was very broken up with lots of wet 'slack', it generates prodigious amounts of ash and it is very difficult to keep in overnight. Have now bought a couple of bags of Taybrite (don't like to store more than 6 or 7 on the roof) which we'll use overnight and the Coalite in the day until it's gone. Regards Pete

This is what we have with an adaptor on the outlet to take two hoses. http://www.diavia.it/eng_aura.php?categoria=89&sottocategoria=0&marchio=0&id=117 We were lucky is as much as the company we owned before retiring installed vehicle air conditioning and we had a couple of these in stock. We often fitted a second air conditioner and heater in the space above the drivers head on Transit minibuses. A bugger to bleed the air out of the coolant but once you had it gave no trouble. We later bought a thing from Hella that evacuated all the air from the cooling system which made filling a piece of cake. Regards Pete