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phantom_iv

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Posts posted by phantom_iv

  1. Lithium and Shorelines

    in Boat Building & Maintenance

    Posted

    On 09/11/2023 at 19:37, IanD said:

     

    That "we-know" comes from the received wisdom for lithium-ion batteries using NMC and similar chemistries; LFP batteries are not the same, and there's good reason to believe that they're perfectly happy being kept at 100% SoC.

    😞

     

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

  2. 3 way fridge on boat

    in Boat Building & Maintenance

    Posted

    On 13/09/2022 at 20:43, blackrose said:

    I'm thinking about if I'm moored somewhere in winter and there's no sun. I suppose I just charge the batteries with the engine or generator.

     

    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!

  4. Sunshine PSW inverters from Tayna - cleanness of the waveform?

    in Boat Equipment

    Posted

    On 21/08/2022 at 13:06, cuthound said:

     

    Sounds like the new car charger has introduced harmonics onto the mains. After all they are AC/DC converters.

     

     

     

    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)

  5. Stourport?

    in General Boating

    Posted

    On 13/07/2022 at 23:30, Laurie Booth said:

    In fairness the Vine might have improved, which would have been easy to do.

     

    THE VINE PUBLIC HOUSE, Kinver - Restaurant Reviews, Photos & Phone Number - Tripadvisor 

     

    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.

     

     

  9. Beta 50 Servicing

    in Boat Building & Maintenance

    Posted

    2 minutes ago, CanalRetentive said:

    That's what I thought but I don't seem to have one? There's one at the far end but that's on the gearbox? Attached a photo 👍

     

     

    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.

  13. 15mm water isolator problem

    in Boat Building & Maintenance

    Posted

    Gate valves are a pain. 

    7 minutes ago, pete.i said:

     Unfortunately gate valves tend to be a lot bigger with a great  big turning thingy on them, I will, probably, have to keep one or two of the ball type isolators due to space constraints but we shall see.

     

    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

  16. Anyone want to buy the most famous boat on the canals

    in General Boating

    Posted

    19 minutes ago, frangar said:

    I think some of the issue is the “know it all” attitude after being on the cut for 5 mins…this also leads to their followers thinking they are god gift to boating. 

     

    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?

    • Greenie 4

  19. Wind turbine

    in General Boating

    Posted

    On 21/10/2021 at 08:50, George and Dragon said:

    Sis-in-law says: 

    National Grid are working on plans to boost the existing connections from Scotland to England using Interconnectors from Coast to coast.  They were calling them ‘boot straps’.  One will be from Peterhead to Drax.  They will officially be called Green link 1 and 2 and are expected to get planning permission in 2022/23. National Grid don’t own the electricity system in Scotland but they run it for Scottish & Southern. 

    We really rely on wind and solar panels and NG have to manage constraints like frequency in set parameters. So I can see why they had to turn on gas stations. I guess managing frequency in Scotland meant they had to turn off wind farms to balance the system. 

     

    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 😉 

  20. Are Narrowboats getting uglier?

    in General Boating

    Posted

    1 hour ago, JohnEW2912 said:

    I've read the Canal Boat review. The first comment is that the owners found many builders unwilling to even consider some of their plans.

     

    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....

  21. Leeds & Liverpool breach

    in General Boating

    Posted

    On 16/10/2021 at 20:26, dmr said:

    Keep hearing that a boater drained the summit so that he could avoid leaving the Rochdale/not have to CC. Is there any truth in this? My guess is its the same person (non boater) who raised a paddle on Longlees several times whilst we were "locked down" just below it.

     

    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.

  22. The South Oxford

    in General Boating

    Posted · Edited by phantom_iv

    1 hour ago, dmr said:

     

    They sell good beer and there is just room to get three, possibly four, drinkers sat on bar stools at the bar. You feel like you are right in the way of the eaters buying the occasional pint and indeed you are. Its sad, if they just got rid of one or two dining tables they could make a nice little drinking area and be a pub.

     

    I have heard a couple of first hand very positive reports about the Red Lion in Cropredy so worth a look next time you are up that way.

     

    It did seem like there were a couple of 'drinking' tables in front of the bar, I went in for a pint a couple of times and never had a problem.

     

    Red Lion in Cropredy is a decent local drinking hole, a bit rough round the edges but everyone seemed friendly enough and beer was decent. The Brasenose feels a bit 'sterile' inside these days, and there was quite a limited beer selection from what I remember. I'd probably go there in preference if I wanted to eat though.

     

     

  23. The South Oxford

    in General Boating

    Posted

    The Folly was really bad when I was there in July (might have been June) - found plastic disposable pint glasses quite offensive, same for the polystyrene food containers but the worst thing was the food... I was quite sick the next day. It sounded like the staff were really fed up with the chef, who was very uncooperative.

     

    On the other hand, I heard from someone who went there a couple of days ago that you can now get your beer in an actual glass, and the food was quite decent, albeit still in polystyrene containers. I suspect they've replaced the chef.

     

    I personally won't be going back until we're allowed back inside the pub itself, and can have food on actual plates, but it does sound like it might have improved recently.

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