phantom_iv

Yes this was my understanding as well, LFPs are quite happy to sit at 100%

I found that a gas fridge really struggled to keep things actually cool in summer, but works well in the winter. An electric fridge works well in summer when there's plenty of solar, but struggles in winter unless you run your engine regularly. So I figure the way to go is an electric one, and if you run out of electricity in winter you can always put things you want to keep cool in a box outside when it's probably at fridge temperatures anyway!

I looked at one of these then decided that stolen diesel would be less costly than the inevitable leaks of water into the tank from failure to seal it properly.

Domestic car “chargers” don’t do ac/dc conversion at all (well, apart from some low power stuff to run the electronics) the actual charger that does this is in the vehicle itself, the wall box basically just passes through AC to this. Many of them require their own earth rods installed though, so could be some interesting effects there if it’s very close by / depending on ground conditions. If pulling a full 7kw though the voltage does tend to drop a bit, could an out of spec too low mains voltage be upsetting the boiler? Would seem unlikely that their car would need that much charging though, would think it would be quite intermittent if this were the case (e.g only at night time)

I went there late October (I think), it was clean, comfortable, food was good, prices were reasonable, people were friendly, generally a nice atmosphere. I don't recall what the beer selection was like but I don't remember being disappointed for something to drink. Having tried pretty much all of them I might even go as far as to say it was my favourite pub in Kinver at the time.

The obvious solution to this problem is just to buy a boat.

I have a Bosch 18v cordless strimmer at home and it is a most excellent bit of kit - even folds up for easy storage. I've thought I should take it boating many a time!

Yep, I was right about the bleed bolt as per https://betamarine.co.uk/resources/Operators_Manuals/10-115T-KC-OM/#page=36

These pumps are usually connected by a hose to the bottom of the sump, so even if it's mounted next to the gearbox it might still be connected to the engine sump (probably is). Also, re: the fuel filter - apologies if this is a stupid question but did you undo the bolt in the middle of your first photo when you pressed the manual priming button? I suspect (would check the manual though) that this is probably the bleed screw that you're supposed to vent the air out of when you press the priming button. When you stop getting air and get mostly fuel out of this hole then you're good to go.

Can't really see hydrogen on boats being viable tbh. Some combination of batteries, solar, with charging points and synfuel generators as backup seems to be more likely.

Indeed. If you can't see CRT/others installing electric charging points all over the canals then you have to wonder who's going to install all the hydrogen transportation/filling infrastructure.

I happened across this video the other day while taking apart one of these pumps - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM4F7jbFh-I Apparently there's a dampener in the pump which you can change which may improve this if this is what you're seeing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd5aePEB-4g&t=34s

Gate valves are a pain. I have to say I hate gate valves even more. They tend to stick after a while if you're not very careful of them, and they seem quite leaky even from new (maybe I've been unlucky). Would rather have a decent ball valve such at this type - https://www.screwfix.com/p/lever-ball-valve-red-15mm/67744 , or indeed one like MP suggested above if space is at a premuim - I find the lever ones easier to operate if there's space though

I'm not sure I'd go as far as "prettily"... surprised they didn't paint the air filter too

Or indeed they never bothered to start the engine after filling the oil, thus avoiding noticing the stalling problem.

To be fair to them, they have been full time boaters for 2.5 years now, and have previously owned another boat before this one, and are pitching their videos at the 'uninformed' more than seasoned boaters, so are bound to come off with a bit of a "know it all attitude" to people who have been doing this for decades. That said, I don't really understand the opposition to the boat so much - sure, it's way overpriced, and doesn't have much in the way of 'heritage' value, but apart from that it's a far nicer boat than some of the ones we've seen for sale. At the end of the day if they can get top dollar for their old boat due to their profile & following and thus have more to spend on their new one, well who can blame them for that?

Launched mid-2019 by the looks of it

I have a feeling it was like this from new - it may be that it was blacked on top of an epoxy primer? https://youtu.be/BfqQA2lzW1Q?t=17 About 2 mins in you can see it being jet washed.

Nice, thanks, didn't know about the new connectors, makes sense! Reading more about them, should be online by 2027. They also have some new forms of inertia coming online in the next few years to manage the frequency and voltage better, so by 2025 they recon they'll be able to turn off all the gas if there's enough wind/solar around - at the moment they need to pay wind farms to shut down instead. Hopefully will make the bills a bit cheaper 😉

Frankly a lot of builders seem to have multi-year waiting lists right now, so why would you build something that you think will be hideous? Not exactly a great advert for your business floating around. However having seen the interior I don't think the exterior looks so bad now by comparison! But hey, as long as they're happy and they're not smashing up bridges / tunnels and they don't plan on having a high resale value....

Out of interest, is there still someone seemingly permanently moored on the water point below lock 46? He kindly did his best to drain the pound we were moored in to refloat his boat over the summer, despite CRT's assurances that they were running more water down from the summit and he'd be afloat by morning.