Jackofalltrades

Off corce spelinng is impotunt wiy du yoo asck? It's them that dun't talk proper like wat I dus that gets my gote.

I agree, it sounds feasible. I'm just not aware that such a thing exists for tiller steering.

There are tiller pilots (autopilots) and hydraulic wheel steering, but power tiller steering?

Crikey! ?

Yes I agree the joystick steering seems not to have been a great idea. Having now read the review that Alan de Enfield posted a link to "it was the constant pressure from the tiller that [the owner] didn’t like on his long weekend on a normal narrowboat" so he opted for an OTT fly-by-wire joystick control system at god-knows-what-cost as a solution. Each to their own ?

Nothing wrong with exceptional wealth. So if someone would like to send me some I'd be happy to prove the point.

?

So an ancient canal network should only have ancient looking boats on it? That's not how humans roll ! If true then I can't help thinking that's a tad excessive! By a factor of about 2.

Is this the boat? https://www.midwayboats.co.uk/boatsforsale-315.html From the outside it looks like a narrowboat designed in and for the 21st century - different, but I quite like it, apart from the hideous bow canvas (cratch cover?) Looking at the interior pics it looks like whoever fitted it out made a good job of it. Personally I think it would be boring if all boats looked the same.

That was so bad it was almost good. But don't forget your coat on your way out ?

You're not the first. Think of it as a symbol of good luck ? https://community.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/f/all-creatures/48452/moorhen-nesting-on-our-boat-for-weeks-and-weeks-and-weeks-will-she-ever-go?pifragment-4285=1

Someone will no doubt correct me if I'm wrong but my concern would be if any of the diodes are damaged in the smashed panel, possibly leading to a short and the other panel(s) continually sending power to it until something melts. I might be over-thinking this though. Are the panels fitted with MC4 connectors? It should be quick & easy to disconnect the damaged series pair and the damaged panel from the good one, surely? Out of interest how did the panel get smashed - accident or deliberate/malicious?

The problem is that if you don't know who the referrer is how do you know a tiny fraction of your money isn't ending up in the hands of one of the many nefarious groups that exist around the world?

I kind of expected things would be a little more high tech at petrol stations! Now I have a vision of a man poking a long stick with gunk on the end into the darkest corners of the underground fuel tanks. Tell me it aint so!

If you look at the link in your post you'll see "ref=....." in the address. The ..... (upto the "?" I think) is a unique reference to an Amazon affiliate i.e. someone making commission on the sale if a purchase is made via that unique address. The address in my link is: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Water-Finding-Detects-harmful-Heating/dp/B00NU6C036 The address in yours is : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Water-Finding-Detects-harmful-Heating/dp/B00NU6C036/ref=asc_df_B00NU6C036/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309859607452&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8412443082455426128&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006876&hvtargid=pla-553546391919&psc=1 The same product and price but someone somewhere gets a bit of commission on the sale. I don't mind this at all as long as it's up front and I know who's getting the kickback. But it could be a spammer that floods social media, discussion forums & website comments with links, in which case I won't click on them (to avoid encouraging the boogers). Ah, your edited post adding a second link includes a second (different) referrer. If you strip out everything before "ref=" the link becomes 'clean'. So: https://www.bes.co.uk/water-gauge-paste-3-oz-tube-19748/?ref=gs&gclid=Cj0KCQjwmcWDBhCOARIsALgJ2Qd1P28SOvmRAqweorSAbheqQxq_ZAWqAMOljNfAj8o_x15CvWNq3RAaAvvMEALw_wcB becomes: https://www.bes.co.uk/water-gauge-paste-3-oz-tube-19748/ Why bother? If you don't know where the commission is going how do you know it's not funding crime or certain groups with guns.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Water-Finding-Detects-harmful-Heating/dp/B00NU6C036 A cheeky referrer link in that URL Alan. Who's that for?

Google "northamptonshire boatyard" ? I hope you don't take this the wrong way but if I had to ask this I'd be thinking, do I have what it takes to fit out a sailaway? But now you'll probably shoot me down in flames and tell me you've previously built a 98' steel motoryacht from the keel up and launched it 18 months after the first weld. In which case I deserve everything you're about to throw at me. Welcome to the forum ? ?

If you'd have said 4 or 6 panels then I'd have said wire each pair in series and then in parallel to an MPPT charge controller such as those from Victron, which have a good reputation and are considered amongst the best out there (we have one on our other boat and will have one on our narrowboat). The advantage of series/parallel is the higher voltage at dawn and dusk means the MPPT will get enough voltage to start charging the batteries a little earlier in the day (and will continue charging a little later in the day). The other advantage of increasing system voltage is a smaller cable size is needed and all else being equal there's a smaller percentage voltage drop from panels to MPPT and as these controllers use some clever trickery to turn increased volts into increased amps every bit of voltage drop saved counts. The downside of wiring panels in series is if a tree branch or whatever partially shades one panel then it will reduce the output from the two-panel series array far more in practice than you'd think. [edited to add: and if you wire all of your panels in series the effect of partial shading will be greatly increased so personally I wouldn't do it. It's OK on a house roof but not on a narrowboat roof). Wiring all panels in parallel increases the shade tolerance of the solar array but removes the benefit of extra voltage earlier and later in the day. But on balance we think each pair of panels wired in series and then parallel is a pretty good 'best of all worlds' compromise. The other thing is, with flexible panels, along with reduced life and lower performance due to increased heat build up, you will also find that you will get less output per panel than rigid panels that are lying flat (and dramatically less output than angled rigid panels). This is because a flexible panel curved to a narrowboat roof will always have at least part of it facing away from the sun. We have rigid panels on our other boat and will have rigid panels on our narrowboat. But I'll concede that flexible panels look better. Each to their own.

Have you calibrated the flux capacitor?

Yes but this is a lightning:

Good call. Unless someone coming the other way did the same. But then a dent is better than a death.

Ah, I hadn't thought of that! Well rumbled (if true).

It doesn't. But that ties in with the last line of my post above. If the used market falters, as I think it will, it will have a knock on effect on the builders. Most are currently snowed under with work and are making hay while the sun shines. Sadly I think some builders will go under when the market cools.

Should the total number of boats on the system be capped? Yes, definitely. After we've launched ours in a few months ? We come from a lumpy water background and currently own another boat but had been thinking of exploring the inland waterways for some time. Covid wasn't & isn't a factor. We looked at numerous used boats but never found the right boat (certainly saw lots of wrong 'uns) and in the end thought, sod it, we'll have a shell built and fit one out ourselves and get everything we want (eventually). We should take delivery in a couple of weeks. Then the fun(?) begins. I suspect that once people are able to jet off on package holidays again the bottom might well fall out of the used boat market. But what do I know.