dmr

Too many variables, is this your own boat that you have owned for ages, maintained well, and taken on rivers before? or a boat that is new to you and an unknown quantity? Do you have experience of boating and rivers? How good is your skipper and does he have real experience of narrowboats on that river? Heard a story recently of a professional pilot who got people into a dangerous situation because he had lots of river experience but zero narrowboat experience. ...............Dave

If you get round to making this home made alternator controller, and assuming it does proper feedback control of voltage and/or current (rather than just a "switch" to turn off the alternator rotor current) then I would be interested in collaborating on your project. ................Dave

We have followed one through and heard some bangs and scrapes. I have heard that a localish company builds or at leasts fits boats that are made for that tunnel and he is expert at driving them through, but dunno who he is. ................Dave

I am surprised at just how accurate some of the chapo DVMs actually are. Deigning something to 1be % accurate is pretty easy. Designing something to be long term 1% accurate across a wide temperature range is a little harder. Deigning something to be 0.1% accurate over a temperature range is really difficult. I would like lithiums but I don't want to be using bench power supplies to charge up individual cells, that's more hassle than putting a bit of water into my Trojans once every 200 hours. It feels to me that Dr Bob is turning himself into a human battery management system, and one day he will be replaced by a microprocessor and a few power transistors. (still its probably better than using a voltmeter and state of charge tables to turn yourself into a human Smartgage) ..........Dave

I once tried to claim on a "lifetime" guarantee for a stainless steel exhaust that failed after about 15 years. I was told that about 8 years is a reasonable lifetime, 15 was just daft, nobody keeps a vehicle for that long. .............Dave

We met a Shire cruisers boat at the summit a couple of weeks ago, and had seen them the previous year, they hire a boat from Shire and do the same trip every year. Sowerby to Summit is probably the best bit of canal in the country (if you Really like Lots of big wide locks) so why go anywhere else . I like the way the power cables go one side of the valley to the other, as long as you have the height then a very big gap between pylons appears fine. ...............Dave

Many years ago I was "caught short" without any tools so purchased a cheapo 3/8 drive socket set from "The Range", it includes a little 1/4 inch reducer as the smaller sockets are 1/4 inch. Its my most used socket set. The 3/8 rachet broke after a few years so I replaced that with a good quality one. I have 1/2 drive impact sockets and torque wrench for any big jobs (cyclinder head, injection pump drive) but 1/2 is a bit heavy for day to day use so only comes out for the big jobs. 90% of jobs are 10, 11 or 13, with a bit of 17 and so 3/8 is just right, 1/4 is a bit on the small side. .............Dave

We learned our boating mostly on the River Kennet. Met a couple last week who got their first boat and just days later tackled the Rochdale up through Manchester. Sometimes in at the deep end is good but don't think I would recommend it. ..............Dave

My son uses "knockoff" lithiums in his various Makita tools. Last week one spontaneously exploded. My daughter was home and after a big struggle just managed to put the fire out. She was just leaving for work so ten minutes later they would have lost the house. These are small 18 volt 3 amp-hour batteries, just think what 100 amp hours could do. Stick to well known brands? ......................Dave

Its still a very different (and lovely) world on the canals, rather than a website for checking out boatbuilders, towards the upper end of the market the builders will check you out (in person) and decide if they want to work with you. .................Dave

I second the above posters, you are going to spend £120k on a brand new custom boat but you ask questions here that show you know little about boating. Most people appear to go through at least three boats before they work out what they really want. Get any boat now and get boating. What you think you want is almost certainly not what you really want. We got almost what we wanted first time, we did loads and loads of research but I still think we were pretty lucky. ....................Dave

Anybody who owns a wooden boat, especially on the canal, has issues. Looks like it might have been quite a nice boat once. There is no road access there for a crane so I assume CRT will just leave it to decompose, and eventually maybe remove some of the remains. Actually that pound could do with some dredging (like quite a few on the Rochdale) so maybe they will remove the boat at the same time, but I am not holding my breath. ...............Dave

Reading Marine have not been trading for a few years now, but I remember that some of their adverts claimed "reassuringly expensive boats" which does not fit well with a Liverpool shell. We did speak to them briefly about doing a new boat for us till we saw the prices! Found a secondhand owner fitout boat that was more to our taste and pockets. .................Dave

I assume that the flexible hose from the regulator on the gas bottle to the first bit of copper is the weakest part of a gas system, rubber hose pushed on to a barbed connector and held with jubilee clips that might be over or under tightened? I also assume the bubble tester does not test this bit of the system. I am aware of one BSS tester who gives a bit of discount for boats fitted with a bubble tester. Would it be possible to have a pressure gauge (not a manometer) permanently fitted inside a boat? .................Dave

Thats a good lock, just below Todmorden but more or less in the countryside with some spectacular views. A good bywash channel for the dog to play in and a field full of geese for the dog to chase. Even better its got a sunken wooden boat (just in the picture and the only sunk boat on the Rochdale) so I can pretend I'm back on the K&A. ...................Dave