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Posts posted by MoominPapa
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If you're plugging a single device into the inverter, swapping neutral and live is not a problem, but if you're feeding a wiring system on a boat with fused UK plugs and a consumer unit with single pole circuit breakers, it really matters that the neutral (ie the power conductor that DOESN'T have fuses, CBs or single pole switches in it) is the one that's earthed. If you neutral-earth bond inside the inverter and keep the reversible shucko socket then it's terrifyingly easy to turn the plug around and negate most of your protection devices. I'd either keep the existing socket and bond in the plug, or swap to a polarised UK socket if you want to bond in the inverter.
MP.
9 minutes ago, MoominPapa said:If you're plugging a single device into the inverter, swapping neutral and live is not a problem, but if you're feeding a wiring system on a boat with fused UK plugs and a consumer unit with single pole circuit breakers, it really matters that the neutral (ie the power conductor that DOESN'T have fuses, CBs or single pole switches in it) is the one that's earthed. If you neutral-earth bond inside the inverter and keep the reversible shucko socket then it's terrifyingly easy to turn the plug around and negate most of your protection devices. I'd either keep the existing socket and bond in the plug, or swap to a polarised UK socket if you want to bond in the inverter.
MP.
As an illustration of what can go wrong: consider a desk lamp with an Edison Screw bulb, plugged into a switched 13A socket. The bulb blows, so you switch the lamp off at the socket and change the bulb. As you're screwing in the the new bulb, you touch the edge of the metal cap of the bulb. That contact on the bulb holder is connected to neutral, and therefore via the earth bond the hull of the boat, and you're fine because both are at the same potential. Now turn the shucko socket around: the output wire of the inverter that's now connected to the hull of the boat is the one that's going to the live wire in the boat wiring, the one that you've disconnected by turning the socket switch off, and which is connected to the inacessible pip on the bottom of the bulb. The other side of the output goes to the neutral wire in the boat wiring and is therefore connected to the screw base of the bulb as you screw it in, even if the socket switch is off. There's 240V between that and the hull of the boat. If you're in contact with the hull you die.
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I got £8 for a single 110Ah start battery from the scrapyard outside Nantwich last month.
MP.
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On 18/03/2024 at 13:33, jeanb said:
I would appreciate some advice on a stopcock and nozzle fitting on the boat end of our fresh water filling hose please.
We have the following system.
There are hoses of various lengths which can be joined if necessary to make a long (or very long) hose. The hoses have female hozelock connectors on both ends. When not in use the hoses are coiled and the ends are joined with a male-male connector which stops crap getting into the hose and dregs of water getting out. The male-male connectors are used to join hoses when more than one is needed. We use a 3/4" BSP hozelock adapter on the water point to attach the hose. At the boat end of the hose we use a device which is permanently made up of these components, in order. A 3/4" BSP hozelock adapter, a standard washing machine valve (3/4" BSP one side, 15mm compression on the other) , about 5cm of copper pipe, a 15mm compression elbow and finally another 10cm length of copper pipe.
The device allows you to turn the water on and off as required, and the elbow allows the discharge end to be hooked into the filler so it stays in place even when the water pressure if very high.
All this uses components which are readily available and cheap and easy to assemble. I'd recommend using brass hozelock fittings. Plastic ones are OK, but they wear faster and need periodic replacement if you're a liveaboard and filling up multiple times a week,
MP.
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The two taps at Gnosall have very different speeds. One being very slow. I can never remember which is which. At the other end of the scale, the water point below Three Locks, GU, capable of launching the hose out of the filler neck or drilling a hole in the bottom of the water tank.
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15 minutes ago, Moke said:
Ahh, but there’s the problem you see. Our car is on the boat so it’s the wrong side of the gate to start with!!
You're outside my experience now. Maybe Heritage Marina could help with that?
MP.
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3 minutes ago, Moke said:
I wonder if we could claim a rebate from the CRT if the repairs take a while
The only problem with that plan is I’d have to find somewhere to offload the car first!
You can get a car off the road at the CRT yard where the tap is. The gate lock isn't a watermate key, but there's enough room to park a car roadside of the gate, and gap big enough to carry cassettes through to the car. Bosely sani is 10 minutes from there by road and easily accessible by car.
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3 hours ago, Moke said:
That’s true. Moored at Congleton with the occasional trip to Kidsgrove for the services and shopping (Tesco & Lidl are closer there)
There's a Morrisons within walking distance of the canal at Buglawton. You could combine a trip to the water point with a visit there. We spent a lot of lockdown 1 around Congleton with Bosley flight closed, doing a car shuffle to get the sh*t suitcases emptied at Bosely services.
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Still shuddering at the story of one of our fellow moorers at Henhull, who left his boat for several years due to reasons, came back and found a rat city inside. The whole thing is totally trashed.
On the cow front, we had a cow fall in between the boat and the bank at the Devil's Graden on the Weaver in the small hours. Being awoken by a very big splash and the boat rocking violently is quite alarming. There's a whole story around getting the cow out again which involves firemen running around with torches also in the small hours which I'll tell you if you really want to know.
MP.
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6 hours ago, stagedamager said:
Langley Mill has been hit badly, the Erewash has burst it's banks, and the feeder from Moorgreen res has topped over at 5ft, flooding the boatyard and all our buildings, and topping the canal which has now flooded onto the road.
Hope the damage is not too bad. At least your living accommodation floats.
MP.
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We're on the floating pontoon VMs in Macclesfield. I know the Macc is unlikely to rise very much, but you can't be too careful.........
MP.
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4 hours ago, haggis said:
Yesterday we saw several hire boats which were caught by the stoppage going past , presumably being driven by folk from the hire bases. It must have been a nightmare for them when the lock closed and they had boats unable to get back to base for the next changeover.
Today, between Aqueduct Marina and Wheelock, we've been past an empty hire boat or two at pretty much every road bridge with access to the canal. It looks like the hirers were told to get within luggage-carrying distance of a road and collected with their stuff. I imagine that there are not that many hire boats out at this time of the year, so the boats themselves can be collected as the companies have available staff.
MP.
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Came down Stanthorne this morning. The queue was what I'd describe as normal. Three boats in front of us when we arrived, and three more had arrived behind by the time we were going into the lock. The repair looks pretty tidy and durable.
MP.
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We're in the house. The heating had been on sporadically but not really doing much. Yesterday was a miserable wet day in Ireland so we used that as an excuse to try out the new batch of firewood that was delivered last week. The stove was lit with four logs at tea time and that was all we burned all evening.
MP.
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1 hour ago, Mike Todd said:
But it is quite a hike from Nantwich station to the canal . . . done it a few times!
Me too, mainly between the canal and Aldi. It's further on the way back with loaded shopping bags.
MP.
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2 hours ago, agg221 said:
It's still a pleasant stretch, which is why we are based near Market Drayton. Still has nice, quiet market towns. However, public transport is near non-existent and taxis to get to it are also near non-existent. We needed to get the car from Stretton to Market Drayton and had to pre-book a taxi 24hrs in advance. There are no buses to or from Market Drayton except for the one to Shrewsbury and I don't believe the other towns are much better.
We re-joined our boat at Norbury a couple of years back by public transport. Train to Stafford, then bus to Gnosall and walk the last couple of miles up the towpath, as I remember. Nantwich has a railway station.
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Floating Pennywort? Last time we were that way, is was worst at the top of the flight and got better pretty quick as you went East. That's a couple of years back though.
MP.
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1 hour ago, MtB said:
A ban on two-strokes would see the end of all the remaining wonderful historic Bolinders, Kromhouts and Seffles on our waterways.
I suspect any ban would begin by stopping the manufacture of new two-strokes, as I think has happened in the bike market.
I'd guess the ban, if it came to pass, would be on petrol two stoke outboards with total loss oiling systems which, by design, dump their lubricating oil into the water. The owners of historic semi-diesels would continue to be free to deposit their used oil on the boat roof and the face of the steerer.
MP.
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On 15/06/2023 at 13:55, David Mack said:
If a boat caught fire as a result of something wrong with the boat, such as an electrical fault, 3rd party insurance would not pay out for damage to that boat, but it would pay out for damage to any other property, such as other craft or pontoons damaged as a result of the fire.
You'd think so, but actually: no. I discovered this when a boat in a marina where we moored sank due to gas locker floor corrosion and added a layer of diesel to the surface of the water which dissolved our new blacking. The boat's insurance didn't pay out because the owner had broken the contract by not maintaining the boat in canal-worthy condition, and that included not covering third-party liabilities. I even went as far as reading the law: The Road Traffic Act contains a clause enforcing the condition that a motor insurance policy's third party provisions cannot be nullified by the insured's negligence; the British Waterways Act, which otherwise borrows identical language, is missing that clause. In our case the options were to sue a fellow moorer whose boat had just sunk, claim on our own insurance, or stand the costs ourselves.
MP.
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1 hour ago, rusty69 said:
I doubt a theoretical deposit is worth the paper it's written on.
I suppose if you still have your original agreement, it could be taken up on a case by case appeal.
For me, I don't have the agreement and a larger bottle is no use to me. So I have to find an alternative solution.
I'll take a small bet that Calor is saving a fortune in tax because all those deposits are a big negative contributor to the balance sheet. The fact that most will never be redeemed because the bottles get passed on or abandoned or lost is irrelevant.
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12 hours ago, nicknorman said:firstly there are an increasing number of angry people on the canals
There are an increasing number of angry people everywhere in the UK. I've been noticing it for a while but it's more obvious when you go elsewhere and then come back. If they were all angry about the same things that could be a positive, but unfortunately they're mostly angry with each other.
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1 hour ago, PaulJ said:
I've just been told its the big automatic floodgate (just before you reach the lock as you are heading toward Northampton) stuck in the up position. Seems its jammed while it was being tested/inspected.
Which would definetely prevent passage 😀
Also heard a rumour it *may* be sorted mid week as they hope to be able to lower it and repair it then.
To clarify for those who've not been there. These gates rise from the bed of the channel, so the up position is closed. They're down when stowed on the river bottom to allow navigation.
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45 minutes ago, MtB said:
There is one I lock encounter occasionally where there are two of these confounded reduction gearboxes in series on the gates. Top of Crofton possibly. Over 100 turns open to shut.
Try the River Nene. Dozens of turns to get the gate paddles up and down. If you want to close a guillotine that's emptying a lock, best of luck. Hint: the emergency stop button on the control panel is not the one you want. DAMHIK.
MP
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1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:So many people think if you lift the pawl and take the windless off the paddle will fall, It wont, you will need to wind it down and it could be as hard as winding it up.
Which is why the tabs CRT fit to lock gear to stop the pawl being flipped over into a stable disengaged position annoy me so much. They're safety sops to users who can't be bothered to ensure the pawl is down before winding the paddle up, but cause a much bigger but less obvious safety problem when someone needs two hands to wind a paddle down NOW against water pressure to save a boat.
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Could a mitigation for tiller injuries be as simple is reducing the arc through which the tiller can swing? In almost all NB designs the rudder can swing until the lifting eye on the top rear of the rudder hits the side of the counter, and that's close to 90 degrees. It's actually a far wider swing than is useful for steering: the maximum sideways force is generated when the the rudder is about 45 degrees (or maybe a bit more) from straight ahead. Moving the rudder further than that is pointless or even self defeating.
If stops could added to the rudder mechanism, maybe in the top bearing, to control the rudder movement over a controlled arc rather that the arc that just happens to be allowed by the geometry of the rudder/lifting-eye/counter then it could be engineered to be less likely to toss a steerer over the side whilst still allowing enough movement for efficient steering.
MP.
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Xantrex Prosine 1000i Inverter neutral-earth bond
in Boat Equipment
Posted
That looks like a travel adaptor between shucko and UK plugs. I wouldn't use that, but if you have to, do the bonding in the UK plug that you're putting into it, connecting the neutral and earth pins. Much better would be to Ebay a rewirable Shucko plug and connect that straight to the cable, bonding the earth contact in the plug to the neutral wire. Note that which output of the inverter you bond is irrelevant, the brown and blue wires can go either way round in the plug. (that's providing the inverter output is floating, which it is in this case). What important is that in the cable going to the boat the blue wire and the green and yellow wire are the ones connected, NOT the brown wire and the green and yellow wire.
Making this simple to avoid confusion. Get a shucko plug and attach it to the cable going to the boat. Brown wire goes to either of the pins in the plug, blue wire goes to the other pin. green/yellow goes to the earth contact of the plug. An earth bond wire connects the earth contact and whichever pin has the BLUE wire in it.
MP.