dmr

This is a bit pedantic of me,but you can get a little lead that has the iPad connector at one end and a USB socket at the other. I think Apple call it a camera lead. It supports some USB devices but not nearly as many as a PC. I doubt if it would take a 3g dongle. I second the idea of a mifi or router, using a SIM card in the iPad could be a real pain if the signal is weak, .............Dave

You have forgotten to include a review of a brand new boat, but you only need to write this article once because you can review the same boat every month. 57 foot reverse layout semi-trad with beta engine, light oak interior and those funny black work surfaces. .............Dave

This forum, and the cut in general, appears to have a disproportionately high number of electronic engineers, so you should have a good audience. ................Dave

My GP is boater friendly and we have worked something similar for a few years now (I am a CCer) I approach a local pharmacy and get fax number and postal address. I then phone these details to my GP who fax's the prescription (plus confirmation by post later). Prescription is then waiting for collection just a couple of hours later, It really works this well. The new electronic system just makes this routine and available to everybody, though initial experience is that it now takes 2 days rather than 2 hours, bit I am told this is just teething troubles. ..........Dave

Integral water tanks are now seriously out of fashion, all new boaters want plastic or stainless steel. However I suspect it is just fashion and nothing else. I have heard of several stainless tanks splitting but have never heard of a serious failure of an integral tank. I confess we neglected ours: we owned the boat for 7 years before we looked inside, and I confess I paid somebody else to do this. (I thought it was young mans work but the man involved turned out to be only a few years younger than me!). The blacking was in good condition but was penetrated in a couple of places leading to significant pitting of the steel, but still only about 1.5mm in a 10mm base plate. The answer (I hope) is modern epoxies, forget about blacking the tank every year, .... take it back to bare metal (bad job), do it in a modern epoxy (reactive resins?) then next time round its probably somebody else's problem!!!!! I really don't like the idea of flexible liners. ..............Dave

I've used DesignSpark for mine. Its a free download and I believe its related to RS components (must Never say RadioSpares!) Its really a pcb layout thing but is also quite good for simple wiring diagrams and not too difficult to learn, an evening should be enough to get going. .............Dave

Slow is indeed good, but at Osney the water itself is moving so quick there is not much option. At Abingdon I am always unpleasantly surprised at just how much the flow takes the back over towards the weir! I think either Goring or Whitchurch (or both) have the locklanding on piles so in heavy flow there can be a crossflow under the landing itself. ........Davel

Heading downstream from Dukes cut to Reading, Osney, Abingdon (if service berth and mooring are in use) Goring and Whichurch all involve stopping on the flow, or at least keeping some power on for steerage until the very last moment if there is significant flow. Benson has a lock cut but can need a fair bit of power to get into it (its on a bend and the flow takes the back) and so reverse is needed to slow down before the lock. There are probably a couple more but these are the ones I would worry about if going downstream on yellows. ..............Dave

Have you seen this............. http://www.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=386285 ..............Dave

I was thinking more about stopping on the Thames lock landings where obviously turning and heading upstream is just not an option, and as far as I know a significant amount of reverse is the only way to do it. .............Dave.

I keep reading this downstream idea on this forum. If a river is flowing hard it is MUCH safer to be going upstream. If you do not have enough power to make some headway going upstream then you will certainly not have enough power to stop (in reverse) when going downstream, and anything that goes wrong will go wrong much more quickly! .............Dave

I think the two jobs are different and many volunteer lock keepers might not want to be salesmen. Remember how pissed off the AA patrols got when they were told to be "financial product" salesmen a few years ago???? However I do think that any lock keepers who are willing should be given the training and paperwork needed to sign up donators. ...........Dave

Not sure who or what "Inspired people" is. A chugging company or a recruitment agency? My understanding is the initially CaRT used a chugging company and were not happy with the cost or results, and so now employ their own chuggers directly. I have watched these chuggers at work at a few locations (including the top or Farmers) and they do look ok. I personally do not approve of chugging but the CaRT ones appear a lot less forceful or "in yer face" as the city centre types. As Matty observed, they appear to leave boaters alone (maybe told we are not worth it?) though are always happy to chat to us if approached. I chatted to a couple of the Chuggers in Bham last year and they did have an impressive success rate, so maybe the more relaxed approach is working. ...............Dave

I guess you could have a brothel boat on the Thames offering quickies whilst waiting in the queue on the lock landing. .............Dave

Thats not a bad idea, there are lots of ex hire boats available with lots of bedrooms. I think the problem is that CaRT will classify you as a "High Risk" trader and so require you to have some sort of formal qualification. ..............Dave

There might be something for hire/hotel boats (if they need it) but I really am not aware of anything for roving traders. The thing is there is no towpath as such on the Thames (or the Nene etc) and so almost all potential trading sites are owned by a council or a private landowner, and so EA could not really give permission for bankside trading. There are a couple of Roving Traders on the Thames who I believe do not get any "trouble" from EA. To the OP there is already a very successful doggie trading boat (Golden Boyz) though this should not stop you, there are already multiple sweety boats, craft boats, fender boats and cheese boats. ..............Dave

Please tell me more because I have never heard of this. It IS possible for a trader to have a Gold Licence (we did it a couple of years ago). This covers Trading on CaRT waters and Cruising on the Thames, but does NOT cover trading on the Thames or other EA waters. To answer the OP, there are not separate CC and Trading Licences, you have just one Licence, tell CaRT what you want to do and get the correct single licence. ..........Dave To explain a bit better, a boat has either a standard leisure licence or a trading licence, and in either case you may also declare that you do not have a home mooring. .............Dave

If you like the Apple, and are not familiar with windows then you may find the switch to windows traumatic. First choice would be to fix the Apple If you go the windows route I would try to get a shop to supply a PC with 7 rather than 8. The Android Tablet is not such a bad idea, or what about the larger iPad? If you get the iPad it will most likely already know all your personal settings from the macbook. Unless your computer use is keyboard intensive (writing/programming/spreadsheets) then a tablet should work well. .............Dave

With bigger batteries there will be less cells to check/fill and physically bigger cells do generally make a better battery. But big batteries are heavier to lift which can be a problem, but all in all I reckon Petes economic advice is the biggest factor.. .............Dave

I am maybe having an electronic geek moment here but I suspect the 500mW is the maximum dissipation allowed before it blows up, not what it uses in normal service. I think its quiescent current is a couple of milliamps. The sensor and other components may use a bit too. If the op really wants to save power then cleaning the tops of the batteries very day may be a better bet than switching off the water meter!!!! ..............Dave

I watched Firefly go down Kintbury Lock a couple of days ago and so can independently conirm that said engine is still in the boat, looking and sounding wonderful. ...........Dave

There is.... it stunningly combines the major limitations of a narrowboat with the major limitation of a widebeam. ............Dave

I reckon somebody was daydreaming or not paying attention to the required journey and took the West channel rather than the East.They realised their mistake and made a quick turn but it was much too late, its very easy to do, we did something very similar going down Dukes cut a few years ago but it was less embarrassing because nobody saw it happen and all we did was to get a bit tangled in an overhanging tree. ..........Dave

That sounds like hard work, have you just tried driving into a lock a bit too fast? If this shaking really is needed then it sounds like stratification (I have not yet decided if this is a real issue or not). It is said that a good equalisation charge will resolve this by making lots bubbling. When my Elecsols failed (after only a few months) the nice gentleman at Elecsol said they just needed shaking! ..............Dave

1 Keeping the water level correct. 2 Avoiding over discharge. 3 Achieving 100% charge on a regular basis (can be very challenging especially for off-grid liveaboards). 4 Equalisation when required (including knowing when it is required!). 5 Keeping terminals clean and tight. Sounds easy, almost trivial, but many posts on this forum suggest that it is beyond many boaters! I'm an engineer and it took me a couple of years to get competent at it! ..........Dave