MoominPapa

I did that once. Ended up floating on the ceiling, very unamused. MP.

On this boat, I can tell that the stern gland packing needs tightening or replacing when it starts to leak grease into the boat. The water comes later if I ignore the grease. I'd nip up the pusher a few mil, if I was you. MP.

We did the Llan last June, in the interregnum when live-aboards could move but non live-aboards couldn't stay overnight. The Llan in June with hardly any boats was bliss. MP. ETA. We're hiding from the crowds this June on the Chesterfield. Average number of moving boats per day, about one.

We were there during a hot July. No shade is not good for living in a tin box. MP.

Only bad thing to say about the G&S is that the towpath is all on the same side, the North or West, depending on the current direction. Being a wide canal, that means the moorings with shade are few and far between; the best you can do is find a bit of canal oriented north-south and get some shade in the afternoon. MP.

It's a big old lock. MP.

Those chainsaws are old hat. You really need to work on tree felling using plastic explosives. MP.

I wondered the same thing. On at least one shot it looks like the upper explosives don't go all the way around the circle, so maybe it's a way to introduce some asymmetry and help the towers fall in towards the middle of the group rather than outwards. MP.

What I've not been able to find out is why the new combined cycle gas stations all seem to use fan-forced-draught coolers to reject condenser heat. As many of them are built on the sites of closed coal-fired stations, you'd think it would be cheaper to re-use the hyperbolic towers from the old station, even if new build is now cheaper with fans. MP.

They're eggshell structures which are empty inside. I don't think they'd take kindly to cutting windows or adding internal weight. MP.

The bottom half of the reversing gearbox and the engine mounts don't have to come off, if you're lucky. You do have to remove the reduction box and split the case of the reversing box to remove the top half. That done the whole gearset moves backwards out of the bush in the centre of the crank and lifts out. (Careful, it's heavy). One caveat, to do this you need to remove the forward selector fork, and to do that you need to disconnect both halves of the shaft with the gear lever on it at the reverse selector lever and withdraw the long half out the side of the box. If there's not enough clearance to do that, they whole job gets more difficult. MP.

But the inclusion of Leicester in the rules nobody knew about was a mistake. https://news.leicester.gov.uk/news-articles/2021/may/no-changes-to-covid-19-guidance-for-city/ I'm so glad we got our sovereignty back, and can make our own mistakes now. MP.

The simple answer is that the voltage is proportional to the number of turns in the stator and the rate of change of the magnetic field through them. The rate of change of the magnetic field is proportional to the rotor RPM and the magnetic field intensity, which depends on the current through the rotor. HOWEVER, the current through the stator creates a magnetic field which opposes the field from the rotor and depends on the stator (or alternator output) current. So voltage is proportional to speed and rotor current and inversely proportional to output current. Which explains why alternators need a regulator which controls the rotor current to keep anything like a steady output voltage. I guess you party trick lit one or two mains bulbs, and therefore was at very low current. At full rated output current, a well designed alternator will output about it's rated voltage with the field current achieveable at the rated voltage. MP.

Collecting stories is what it's all about. The Chesterfield is great, we're really enjoying it. MP.

But do note that the "air" in air dusters is not, in fact, air, but a flammable hydrocarbon (probably propane or butane) so discharging large quantities of it in a boat may be a bad idea. I recently discovered this when using an air duster to clean out the burner in the gas grill on the boat. I gave it a good blow-out, then lit it to see if the obstructions were cleared. The resulting fireball removed quite a lot of fore-arm hair, and rattled the doors at the opposite end of the cabin. MP.

Relays above about 30A capacity tend to be called "contactors" for some reason. Albright is the go-to manufacturer and have a complete range. Starting at https://www.albrightinternational.com/product_family/low-voltage-stud/ should get you somewhere. MP.

Above locks and in lock cuts are ok, as long as the boat is not unattended. Above Kegworth, Zouch cut, Loughborough, Barrow cut, above Junction lock, the pontoons in Leicester. Once you get up King's lock you're back on canal and home safe. MP.