mayalld
-
Posts
12,315 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
91
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Gallery
Blogs
Store
Posts posted by mayalld
-
-
Would soaking somebody with canal water cause injury or damage their property? Possibly, but it could be tricky to prove.
It would probably discolour their white trackie bottoms.
-
But for boaters who pay mooring fee's and lience if its needed, I have mine that BWW provided in a nice plastic cover it should be FREE. Anglers should pay £100
Yup, a cycle permit for use of a cycle ancillary to cruising should be free.
That means getting to and from the boat with provisions and lockwheeling etc.
-
With thanks to the advice received previously we have decided to navigate the 4 Counties clockwise from Middlewich and would ask for your suggestions for good places to stop overnight etc.
As we travel to the UK infrequently now we have asked a few friends and family to visit as we travel around and as they will be working during the day
it would be good to be able to meet up in the evening in pleasant surroundings in a pub/restaurant with good food and .. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
John
PS Anybody interested on our trip on the Canal du Midi let me know.
1) Don't miss out on the Romping Donkey, as it has the most extensive carvery I've ever found, and at 2 for a tenner it is good value.
2) Red Bull - a little bit more expensive, but the food is absolutely top notch.
3) Wheelock, Cheshire Cheese - very cheap bar meals, and a good atmosphere
4) Audlem, Bridge Inn - always preferred it to the Shroppie Fly
5) Avoid the Plume of Feathers at Barlaston. Quite positively the worst pub meal that I have ever had in my life.
And completely off the subject of pubs....
If doing the ring clockwise, don't leave yourself too far to travel on your last full day. The locks between Nantwich and Middlewich can have horrendous queues, and can easily add 4 extra hours to your day.
-
On the GU the last mooring place before Brum is Catherine de Barnes, which is about 6 hours from the top of Farmer's Bridge Locks. There are "secure" moorings at the top of Camp Hill locks but they are "secure" in that they are on pontoons with no towpath access, so you have to stay on your boat!
The Stratford Canal is generally accepted as having the more pleasant approach to the city, although the Lapworth flight is much busier and hence more likely to delay you than the locks at Knowle, Camp Hill or Farmer's Bridge. Mooring on the Stratford is OK anywhere up to Shirley Drawbridge
Hmm, we suffered a late night raid from some miscreants just south of Shirley Drawbridge.
-
I quote Daniel from another thread which got me thinking:
"Also, we reguard to earthing the electrical systems.
- All electrical systems (12vdc/24vdc/240vac/etc) onboard need to be earthed to the hull somwhere. But just once."
Will a Sterling be earthed through the negative input lead anyway or do I need to bond the inverter earth myself?
I think that I read that the Sterling is a two phase system so I would not earth what is the neutral on a single phase system.
Comments?
Nick
The DC negative will not act as earth bonding.
However, the AC earth connection will be connected to the rest of the AC earth, and can share that bonding.
-
mayalld, thanks for that.
So, does it mention water cannon anywhere?
One suspects that the draftsmen hadn't considered that possibility!
Howevr, they are fairly loosley worded, so;
15) No person shall use any pole, boat hook or other instrument in such a manner as to cause injury to any person or damage to any property.
Bye-law 41b would also apply if you used canal water in your cannon
-
Well it's all a bit arguable, but on balance I think if a pole was being thrust into my guts (and thats when the serious incidents occur) I would prefer it to be a flimsy one.
Whereas I'd prefer it to be a blunt one, so that it wouldn't actually pierce the skin.
-
I thought I'd seen that somewhere, but couldn't find any mention in the rules or terms I've got. Where is it?
British Waterways Bye-Law 46
No Person shall throw, shoot or otherwise propel any stone, bullet, shot or other missile from, into or over any vessel or canal
£100 fine for breach.
In addition;
1) It is an offence to have a loaded weapon in a public place (and a canal is a public place)
2) It is an offence to fire a weapon without the permission of the landowner.
-
Didn't quite grasp the logic about pine versus ash. Surely the one which breaks more easily must be the safest.
Nope.
All poles, no matter what they are made of will break if misused as levers.
Ash poles are less prone to such breakage, which gives them greater durability. That isn't actually relevant to the safety argument.
An ash pole will break leaving two blunt-ended ash poles.
A pine pole will break leaving two poles with sharp javelin like ends.
-
I have a .22 rifle on board at all times but nothing to do with bandits (we dont get that kind of excitment) we just have loads of problems with Mink
And they dont like it up em captain sir
It is an offence to discharge any firearm or air weapon on BW waterways.
-
Dear all,
BW (London) has begun its 'Two Tings' campaign, to improve safety on the canals in London. (see leflet here http://www.waterscape.com/images/two_tings...flet_FINAL.pdf)
Apart from the many implications of this campaign, there is one very interesting outcome. BW says a towpath cycle permit is not needed to ride the canals in London.
Of course this is the end of the towpath cycle permit isnt it?
Roger
Yup, it is a pilot for abolishing them nationwide.
Which they are doing because 99% of cyclists ignore the rules, and don't have a permit.
Far better to enforce the permits, and re-introduce a charge.
IIRC, when the charge was abolished in 1994, it stood at £4.50
Given the above inflation rise in boat licences, I'd suggest that a figure of £10 per annum would be reasonable.
Coupled with enforcement, both for lack of permit, and cycling where it is prohibited, it would be a fairer system.
-
Okay, we've been out again over the weekend and have met all sorts, owners of shiny new boats and tatty older boats, novice and regular hirers, and I have no problem with any of them (and we're still relative newcomers ourselves). But, over the last couple of years I've met some folks with rather strange attitudes and I'm wondering if there's a common denominator or if I'm building an unjust mental image of a whole sector of waterways users based on a handful of individuals.
Without wishing to offend Nic, Petro, Howard, Kawaton or other proponents of sharing, are Challengers a separate breed, or is my perception flawed?
Some of them seem to think so!
-
If someone has been patiently sitting on a waiting list and has been budgeting for the advertised mooring fee, how on earth can it be fair for that person to be outbid by someone who comes along with a fatter wallet ?? I can see the rates going up considerably, not +5% or 10%, I can see fees doubling on popular moorings, especially down south where disposable incomes are said to be higher. I defy anyone to explain the fairness in that ??
Les
That is, however how the economy works.
Why should the price of moorings be anything other than the price that they will bring in a free market?
-
Hi Mayalld.
I don't know what you have been reading but all that home-spun technology has not done you any favours if you are getting so little life from your batteries. I think I will stay with my methods (or lack of them) and continue to get my 7/8 years of life.
It isn't that I am getting so little life from them.
The batteries are 3 years old, and are working fine.
I am however mindful that they have a finite life, and may last another 3 years, or may pack up soon. I want to prepare for the necessity of replacing them.
I would point out that;
1) It isn't homesput technology
2) Much of the charging regime is designed to get maximum capacity and that is a trade off on battery life.
-
......... interesting .... ?????? whaddyamean ???
Overengineered, as per IKB
-
Immersion Heater Question;
I mentioned earlier on this thread that mine had stopped working. No problem, I thought. Down to Wikes, bought a new one, screwed it in, wired it up and switched on - Click! fuse switch trips, back on, trips again, and so on... it will not stay on!
Then I take a close look at the old heater. In addition to the regular thermostat there is a second 'thingie' a a small blue device with a tiny red button/cap on top wired inline with the thermostat on the live run into the element. My new one does not have one.
Anyone know what this thingie is and if it is likely to cause the tripping?
My guess would be that your original immersion heater was 1kW (most boat ones are), and the one you bought from Wickes is 3kW (most domestic ones are), and is overloading things.
Most boat 240V systems are rated at a maximum of 16A total, and running a 3kW immersion would take all of that.
Basically, you can't buy an immersion suitable for your boat from Wickes/B&Q/Focus/Any other DIY shed.
-
OK so we check the electrolyte every week, then we find they don't need topping up more often than once every 12 months. Do we then continue to check them every week, and what is an equalisation charge? never heard that one before. I have a ten year old car which I have had for seven years, the battery is the original from new, I've peered into the cells once or twice but it never needed topping up, I have run out of things to do by that time and I feel bored. What am I doing wrong!
Equalisation charge involves putting 15v or so through the battery to recondition it occasionally. It's a trade off, as a battery will only stand so many such charges, but they do win back lost capacity.
As to electrolytes, a lot depends on how hard you drive your batteries. If you have no alternator controller, you probably won't use any electrolyte, but your batteries will never reach more than 75% of full charge.
Alternator controllers make batteries charge to 95%, and do so faster, but they tend to use water.
Finally, car batteries are not a good yardstick, because they are used very differently. They never get fully charged, and are pretty much just used to start the car. They will last much longer than a battery used for domestic purposes.
-
Keeps on coming up this one, how on earth do you lavish care on a battery, what do you do?.
You check the electrolytes weekly or more often, you take care never to discharge them too much, or too fast. You always discharge them a fair bit before recharging them, you carry out regular equalisation charges.
In short, you spend a lot of good drinking time on them.
I use them as I need them, check the electrolyte when I remember, and keep them on float with a cheap charger when I'm on the home mooring.
-
I've just seen this news item Woman rescue from capsized canal boat :
"A 65-YEAR-old woman was rescued by fire crews after her canal boat capsized in Barrowford Locks earlier today (Tuesday).
Fire crews said the woman, from Formby, had been on the boat, Electric Blue, at the time and her husband had been operating the locks on the canal footpath.
The rudder had got caught in the lock doors which caused the boat to capsize as the water emptied from the locks at 5.20pm, fire crews said.
The woman was said to be suffering from shock."
I am thinking that this must have been an unusual set of circumstances to result in sinking the boat. Don't most boats have fenders which protect the rudder?
The rudder blade often protrudes beyond the fender.
So, if the boat was descending a lock, it is entirely possible to get the blade trapped, and as a result be unable to move forward off the cill.
The blade will eventually pull clear, and depending on how the boat falls onto the cill, a roll-over is possible.
Similarly, you can get trapped when ascending a lock, causing the stern to be held down and swamped.
-
I've thought of another one, and I think it's highly relevant.
One may, with a perfectly reasonable individualism say...
"There are rules. I didn't make them, nor was I consulted, they are not my rules and I do not own them. It is for those who make the rules to enforce them and I am under no obligation to do the job others have set before themselves."
Indeed so, and I woulod never claim that anybody has a duty to report an overstayer or licence dodger. That is down to individual choice.
However...
It is also an individual choice to decide to assist the navigation authority.
-
We are looking for an alternative source of hot water now that we no longer have to run the engine for electricity (solar panels take care of that).
The two options seem to be either a Morco/Paloma gas water heater or a small immersion in the calorifier. The immersion would be much much much cheaper to fit (obviously!), but I am wondering if it is possible to run it off our inverter, and if so, how much electricity would it use? My calculations equate to around 4 amps for a 1kw immersion (1000w divided by 240v = 4.17a), so this would be fine if we used it for an hour or even 2. Do you think an hour of running would heat up enough water for two short showers?
Your calculations on current draw are seriously flawed!
Yes, a 1Kw Immersion will draw 4.17 Amps at 240v, but you don't get 4A at 240v by putting 4.17A into the inverter at 12V. You would need about 85A for that.
If you want to draw 85A for an hour, then you need to have a battery capacity of at least 10 times that (discharging a battery for an hour at more than 10% of its Ah rating is likely to damage it), so you would need about 900Ah of battery.
Also, you need to consider how many amps your solar panels put out, and work out how many hours of sunshine you need to replenish the batteries!
An option that you might consider is to use a combined engine/immersion solution.
Start your engine to heat the water, but also run an immersion at the same time.
Not only will the immersion help to heat the water, but it will make the alternator work hard, which makes the engine work hard, and will cause the engine to warm up and the calorifier will heat up more quickly. Oh, and because 50A of the 85 you need for the immersion is coming straight from the alternator, you can manage with only 500Ah of battery bank...
-
According to an David Schweizer (earlier in this thread, and giving the impression he knows what he's talking about), there are a few things that a parish council is obliged to take responsibility for, and others that it has the option to, including "management of public open spaces".
If a canal (or river) is a public open space, then that pretty much covers it doesn't it?
No.
A Parish council could not do that, as a canal is more than "public open space", it is a navigation, and has a navigation authority.
In practical terms, I think a lot would depend on the number of "parishoners" you've got and your track record.I would think, and hope that if one public body takes responsibility for something from another public body, then they would also get the funds allocated to deal with that responsibility.
Parish Councils get their money from a Parish Precept on the Council Tax. If you draw a line around a bit of canal and call it a parish, you aren't going to have that many people living there, and most of those that do won't be paying CT
-
The lady was saying there were no facilities for leaving her boat for 14 days, as she is entitled to as a CCer.
She is misinformed.
As a CCer, she has no particular entitlement of 14 days.
*Every* boater has an entitlement to moor up far a maximum of 14 days;
a) at a location where mooring is not forbidden, or restricted to a shorter period
where mooring is actually possiblec) where mooring will not obstruct the navigation
Nothing in any of that implies any obligation on the navigation authority to provide such mooring spaces.
-
Absolutely, but if other people are upset or concerned about the direction a debate may lead, and an obvious stalemate is reached, it's probably time to move on (and start the debate up again in a fortnight's time).
Hmm, of course those people could just be twitching the net curtains at the noise we are making!
it would be good to be able to meet up in the evening in pleasant surroundings in a pub/restaurant with good food and .. 
where mooring is actually possible
Rifle on the roof
in General Boating
Posted
Hmmm.
The posting style was vaguely amusing for the first couple of posts, but the joke long since shuffled of this mortal coil.