dmr

It would be a little sad to redo the face as it will loose its oldness and character. If you only run to 1000 then its fine as it is. First locate a tacho (or good photo of one) and check if its angular range is adequate for your needs (that is, that the 250 to 1000 angle on your meter is no greater than the 0 to max angular range of the tacho). The electronics/Arduino approach is really not a big deal as long as you know someone who knows a bit about this. I speak here as someone who has actually done this, though in my case I converted to a brass pressure gauge to be an electric oil pressure gauge. I built the electronics from scratch but if I did it again I would use an Arduino. Maybe somebody on the forum would do the software side of things for you. Can you solder and do very basic electronics???? If the tacho is fully adjustable and has adequate angular range then you could use it as-is without any electronics building, but its zero will be at the zero position (not the 250) of your meter face which should not be a problem. .................Dave

I assume you are going to fit the "guts" out of a modern electronic tacho into your housing? That's pretty easy as long as you have enough depth. The angular range of a typical tacho is probably less than the range of your fascia so you might struggle to get to 1000, and starting at 250 will not help. There must be a fair few electronics types on this forum who are currently at a loose end, maybe you could bribe one with beer. One approach is to take the electronics out of the tacho and just use the meter movement (which is very linear) and then build your own electronics, and the easiest (🙂) approach is to do it mostly in software with an Arduino or similar. ................Dave

If you've got a set of cheapos near the end of their life then almost any water is probably fine. If you've got a brand new set of tractions then probably not wise. And have you seen the mess that rainwater sometimes leaves on a car windscreen? ...................Dave

There was a very good comment in that newspaper article from a local boater, something like "we don't mind walkers but object to runners panting and spitting and not keeping their distance". From my own observations this is very true. ..................Dave

You are not going to like the new Marmite peanut butter then. ...................Dave

Yup, considering the govment advice, and the police interpretation of that advice, changes by the day, the possibility of making a sensible informative drama about it several days in advance is hopeless. Maybe they should do something about the difficulties in recruiting crop-harvesters though? and thats another thing.....all the pubs/restaurants/shops are shut and the govment are paying these people to stay at home doing nowt whilst the farmers are saying food will be wasted because they can't recruit Eastern European pickers. Can't we get all these urban barstaff out into the healthy open countryside doing something productive? .................Dave

But the Archers mission to educate the nation is failing miserably, they are still locked into a world of stolen tractors, pub rebrandings and minor explosions, the virus has passed them by. .....................Dave

Experimenting with home made Gluten Free bread. ................Dave Nah, we got some cheese, so a one hour shopping trip, a one hour exercise and a one hour dog walk, but all joined together. 😀 ..................Dave

Just walked over the hill to the Co-Op to get some eggs to make bread. No queue, but then again no eggs and not much of anything. Waste of a six mile walk. Dog tired and happy. 😀 .................Dave

😀 Interesting post, and that's a good phrase. It would be interesting to estimate how many lives will be lot by suspending the BSS, or how many might be lost to the virus by continuing examinations. In fact it would be lovely to estimate how many lives the BSS has saved since its inception. As a previous owner of many old vehicles (with resulting extensive MOT welding repairs) I noted the statistic (probably untrue) that no serious accident had ever been attributed to a corrosion structural failure of a car or van. All of the BSS is good, but have those rules about the design of the diesel fill point (for example) prevented any significant accidents? .................Dave

Do all navigation authorities require a BSS? I think the answer is no (not sure) so it must be within CRTs power to have decided that they require one. I don't think the BSS itself is enshrined in any law. And do not CRT to some extent "own" BSS? Anyway, Ive got a slight sore throat and a very marginal cough. I strongly suspect its not the virus but I can't invite the BSS man onto the boat knowing that he is likely to visit other boats afterwards. that would be reckless and quite possibly criminal. .................Dave

They are self employed so the govment pays them 😀 But if they have set themselves up as little one man companies and pay themselves with dividends then they are stuffed. (a lot of people who do work related to the construction industry have been pushed to take this route but I don't know if many BSS people have done this) ...............Dave

Yes, but CRT require us to have a BSS, so its up to them to state that an up to date BSS is not required just now, especially if one is trying to renew a licence (or book a passage 😀 ). ................Dave

The last but one government advice was that going for a drive is fine, dunno if they have changed this in the most recent increase in lockdown. I confess we have sometimes been driving a few miles to walk the dog in the hills, its just so much safer than using the local park or towpath which can both be quite busy at times. The only important thing is to not go to the same place as everybody else 😀. We do try to combine the drive to the hills with an essential shop. Went via Pets at Home today to collect a lot of per-ordered dog food. The isolation procedures at the shop were well thought out and very strict, but noticed that the shop next door was almost business as usual. (Pets at Home, doors closed, met at door, one of us allowed in to pay with card then sent out, man with protective gloves dragged box of food half way to car, then moved away for me to collect it.) ...................Dave

I remember a school science lesson where the pupils took turns to suck on a mercury manometer to test their lung power, that could have gone really wrong, especially as the smart-arse ones did a rhythmic sucking to excite the resonance of the manometer. Here is a 100mBar jobbie: https://www.bes.co.uk/pressure-gauge-0-100-mbar-8837?gclid=CjwKCAjwguzzBRBiEiwAgU0FT9aOzPF3IlsmwFmy_qZHx95DDsQ7cP92xEb97f8-DpRJPGHPHT27bhoCoBMQAvD_BwE dunno how it works, could be a bourdon with suitable gears but I do wonder if it uses very thin walled tube. Could always get a proper transducer and do it with electronics, will have loads of spare cash to waste now the pubs are shut 😀 ...............Dave