Ratkatcher

Wouldn't the calculation including the effect of drop of water level in the pound be overly complicated by the size of the pound itself? In a flight of locks the pound may be less than 50 metres and the fall probably visible, on a lock where the pound is miles long (e.g. Wheaton Aston on the shroppie) the drop wouldn't be visible to the nakes eye and would take some interesting formula to calculate the lessening of volume - and rate of flow through the paddle opening Other than that, I'd suggest that the fill/ empty time might be 70% ish longer to fill with one paddle as although initial flow through a single paddle hole may be individually greater than the average between 2 open the corresponding reduction of flow as the lock approached equilibrium with the level outside the lock might be slightly less than said average. But then, I'm neither mathemetician or engineer so it is only guesswork.

then divide by 1000 for KWh Of course the above is only an approximation...

Yet another alternative to throw into the pool... ReactOS -Windows that is not a Microsoft offering but designed to run all of your windows applications (maybe) It may be worth watching and waiting until it reaches realease 1.x before seriously considering it, but possibly loading the 'live' CD image could be worth playing with to see if it runs your favourites.. (thinking MtB and FP here ) Maybe I'll plug another hard drive into my PC and give it a play with...

Absolutely right MJG - If it works for you (or should that be 'one'? ) then it fulfils a role. (for what it's worth I have a pump out trad )

Aaaarrrrgggghhhhh!!!! Both my chocolate fireguard and ecofan do their job perfectly - not sure though what will happen when I discover how to light the stove

I was in the process of reading the same article when you posted - and most of the way through the comments section (which makes fun reading! ), weighing them against my own observations and wondering if I should add my own comment... but refrained The article is good reading and fairly well balanced, a pleasant change to the norm. I think choice of OS will always revolve around just what the user needs to do with it, MtB would find linux as useful as a chocolate fireguard as there is nothing available for it that can emulate a FP website as easily as FP, others may find that everything they do can be done on Android or IOS tablets... Linux will do everyday tasks as well as any other OS, like every other OS it will come unstuck if a particular application is not written for it and is required by the user. Linux is not 'better' than the other options, just another choice (and modern distributions are about as mature in desktop use/ presentation as the others) given to any of us.

The picture was taken before I changed the alternator (I was using it as an illustration of the meter itself), current at 14.7v is much lower - I'll take a pic next time on the boat, but memory says an amp or so after several hours cruising (say over 5... ) if the fridge has been running overnight etc. Last weekend, with only led lights and radio (and the water pump) being used when stationary 'charged' low current was much sooner. It isn't a Smartguage or NASA etc. but helpful nonetheless. (It does battery state, allegedly, but not in a way that this one can understand! )

I use a cheapie Chinese meter that provides both voltage and current (charge/ discharge) readings (as well as a lot of functions that I don't use) together on screen. I has a shunt on the battery negative and is connected to the display by 4 wires. I'll never claim it is the dog's danglies but it does provide an indication of battery voltage (I used the calibration settings to make the display read the voltage measured across the battery a little more accurate) and current going into / out of the domestic bank. Currently on a 100A shunt but I do have a larger one just in case... It did provide evidence that the alternator was not up to scratch, which probably paid for itself in that alone, earlier this year -then provided reassurance that the new alternator was doing its stuff

The Shroppie yesterday lunchtime - heading toward Brewood. ETA: I'd swept the snow from the roof earlier - not having the urge to walk across it to climb up the lock ladder at Wheaton Aston - cowardly, I know

Have you ever looked at Net Objects Fusion, Mike? It too is a very straighforward and easy to use program that has a wide range of templates to simplify web design even further. I will admit that I tried to create a small site that 'looked like' a Front Page offering with NOF and was impressed with the result, but it was only for fun. NOF, like Front Page, automatically generates menu navigation from website structure and allows drag and drop editing of the structure (very visually) currently on version 15 and costs £101 although a free version is available ( Link: http://netobjects.com/ ) to play around with. NOF, like FP is garbage under WINE so wouldn't be a contender to drag you over to linux - sadly.

A self-driving boat for a pound? I'll have a dozen gross, Peter (ducks under table to hide... )

Reading the 'Fall Creators Update' mentioned above makes me wonder if any of the folk installing it know of a 'new' feature in this update labelled 'Network Protection' - from MS Technet Website: Network protection – prevents users from using any application to access dangerous domains that may host phishing scams, exploits, or other malicious content Maybe I am being too cynical in thinking 'or any other network Microsoft wouldn't like you to visit' as the filtering is done automatically (I'll have to download it to see the end result) and not selected by the user - nor is it mentioned if this service can be disabled. For anyone feeling like going back to Win 7 pro, licenses can be bought from Software Geeks for not a lot of dosh as they 'recycle' licenses no longer in use from the EU quite legally - which I am certain that MS hates as it was an EU Ruling forcing their hand I can also provide a link to downloading a W7 pro .iso image (completely unmolested) as originally available on the Digital River website until MS decided that it was way too useful to users!

There are a number of very mature Linux distributions out there that are an excellent desktop environment for any user that doesn't actually NEED Windows only applications - otherwise you wouldn't be using it yourself, would you? I use Opensuse - have done since the days when very little could be done without resorting to console commands - the last few years releases could be used by just about anyone who could boot a Windows machine... I appreciate your comment about 'develpoment environment' but it wouldn't serve to encourage anyone to get their feet wet with the alternatives to Microsoft (and to a smaller extent Apple) operating systems. Suggestion of another USB boot fun system - Puppy Linux - tiny and fast, even faster when installed.

I had a bunch of Muscovy's in a previous existance, They are very successful breeders and make the cutest yelllow & black ducklings. The males also 'gang up' on the females when they are fertile and will quite happily pile on until the hen is in danger of drowning! I remember one year having to cull 22 young (just mature) males... An unhappy afternoon spent breaking necks (and they have thick necks) and removing about a kilo of breast meat from each before discarding the remainder onto a large bonfire. Those were the days

Fuel used for propulsion costs pretty much whatever the pump price in your locality is (as you are supposed to declare in advance the split between domestic and propulsion use when purchasing diesel) which if you are in the South East may be more expensive than 'up North' How long is your day? I'm not an authority on these matters but by reading lots of posts here it would seem that most engines use between 1 & 2 litres per hour (or at the speed I prefer to travel when cruising slightly less than a litre per hour) but I don't know if that would mean 2-4 l/hr with twin engines. I'm sure others with far greater knowledge than me will be along soon to assist. Enjoy your cruising, sounds like a nice boat

I have indulged in having 2 dogs... They do not jump up on strangers (but love to sit on or next to those they are familiar with) but are a bit excitable in new places so may yap to display their exuberance (which is why I tend to sit outside of those establishments that welcome dogs) and only as puppies in training have disgraced themselves by leaving any sort of calling card on floors / carpets etc. (and yes, when out I pick up after them - then dispose of the bags in a bin, not hang them on trees / bushes for others to admire) An intereresting concept - children being an indulgence of their owners - if not for that indulgence I, for one. wouldn't be making any comments on this forum or anywhere else -but then no-one else would either

It's not the porridge or sleeping in my bed that bothers me, only the blond haired brat destroying the furniture

The mooriings are through a farm gate secured with a BW Padlock (which seem to proliferate among non-boaters too as they can be bought on fleabay) which is easily climbable. Or even through the farmers field behind. No - the bottle of JD was still ok, now at home with me.. It was just a bit of a heads up for others in the area, just in case. At least if they come back the best they will get away with is a couple of packs of instant porridge and a bag of pasta...

I had a call yesterday from one of the nice folk who has a mooring in the same CRT moorings as our boat to tell me that most of the boats moored had been broken into on (probably) Wednesday - including ours. The door had been forced, damaging the Chubb lock and minor damage to the hatch cover. Four other boats (as far as I know) had doors / padlock shackles damaged in the break-ins. Strangest yet was that nothing had been taken from the boats as far as I can determine! Was it just a mindless act of vandalism or a foiled theft attempt? Very fortunate in my opinion, we had vacated the boat in a rush when we arrived at the moorings, needing to get one of the dogs to a vet before closing time, and left some 'sellable' equipment on the boat with the intention of coming back a few days later to collect them. Having a dog seriously ill just from an insect bite stopped that idea from happening. The boat has now been cleared of 'valuables' and in the very near future I'll be going back to prepare her for Winter - as well as enjoy a few days cruising before everything freezes over Just a 'watch out' for anyone else in the near vicinity.

I found this 'consultation' interesting (and chuckled a few times) in its choice of stock answers with text boxes to make one's own comments. The questions appeared biased toward revenue raising by any means, despite the option to choose 'unfair' etc. Naturally with myself being biased I made the comment that those already paying C&RT for a home mooring should pay less somewhere along the line... I did resist the temptation to comment how unfair it is that my home mooring is over 100 miles from my house as the rates rise disproportionately the closer they get to where I live. It does seem to me that the liveaboard CC'ers in particular are going to end up paying more for the convenience of living in or near our Capital (or other major cities) and that everyone else will get a piece of that increase as a result. (I'm sure this comment will get the usual defamatory comments from the few) so we all may as well brace ourselves in readiness. I don't honestly understand the comments about the 'gentrification' of the waterways, they seem to me to allude to only the rich being able to share the waterways - I'm not rich, not even particularly wealthy, but I do fully understand that if I want to own a boat and keep it on the water it is going to cost me - and I won't be able to dictate to C&RT that their rates are unfair when the annual price hike happens. Nobody forced me to buy a boat so I have to live with the cost or get off the water!