Linda Musgrove

it's obvious. it doesn't take a person to manage a boat in a narrow lock, it's simple idleness. and two on the bank halves the work. in a flight, once the crew has set the lock they should be at the next one while the helm operates the one the boat is in. whilst it's absolutely up to you how you do locks and I'll accept you may be too infirm to go up a ladder this is the most efficient way for a crew of two to do narrow locks.

five.

this is correct, with two of you both should be on the bankside in a narrow lock.

Why do you think they want you to move? if I pass you on a bike while you are walking, changing direction is not helpful. The bell or 'hi' is to warn you. if i need you to move I will slow down and say 'excuse me'.

How do you work an engine of that size? you need a good thrash on the river.

You may suspect he's right but the figures say 10:1 is the ratio of harvested energy winter to summer. There was a post on this forum many years ago by a boater who posted a year's solar, so very real world. 10:1 is the accepted ratio for most solar installations. Here's the national grid's figures; http://euanmearns.com/uk-solar-pv-vital-statistics/ I will keep looking for a more personal take. Many have up to 5:1 ratio but I don't really accept that in the 'real' world - i.e. on the canal with a 12V system I would imagine the curve to approximate to a sin2 graph, i.e. a sine wave for the hours and a sine wave for the declination of the sun at midday overlaid. Found it: http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=51162 and another; http://www.mitrajenkins.org.uk/solar-panels/