davel

Actually Stuart could you bring a spade just in case.

Quoted from Ribble Link thread We are aiming to be in Galgate midweek, anyone in the area is welcome to visit, just rattle on the window. On our last trip to Kent I 'acquired' samples of six batches of Dad's home brew cider of varying vintage if anybody would like to try some. Of course the kettle is available if you don't fancy living dangerously!

Yep, really enjoyed it. But I'm no where near as handsome as Richard Cheers Dave Edit for messing up smiley

Yes, once we were out of Tarleton Lock I set a pace which I thought was fairly reasonable but soon realised I was losing the boat we were in the lock with and catching the pair in front. Then started speeding up, so Ange could get the bow wave shots, and easing off. I never actually had the throttle (quite) fully open.

On the final bit of the Douglas before going round the Asland (or Astland lamp, it actually has 2 signs on it facing in different directions each with a different spelling) it looks even wider than in the photo's. Thankyou for your encouragement and advice. Fortunately our prop did not come out of the water at any time. Yep I really enjoyed it. But I was not as relaxed when the gates opened at Tarleton after the BW guy had told me to give it plenty to overcome the river flow. I came out of the lock like a rat out of a trap leaving a cloud of blue smoke in the lock. In fairness it was an incredibly calm day, even when the wind picked up as we came into the open bit around the Asland lamp the boat hardly rocked at all. When we were working up the locks Ange and Mum said they were glad it was so calm and Dad and I both said we wished it was a little bit rougher. Hmmmm - note to self; be careful what you wish for, we still have to make the return journey in September. I would definitely recommend the trip and like I kept saying to Ange if it was dangerous they would not let any narrowboats out there. Dave

Walking back from the pub tonight Ange and I counted 25 toads (+2 turds and a bit of plastic) on or beside the towpath. What's going on? Is it toad season?

Comparing the spec of the panels from thousand suns and midsummer, the thousand suns ones have a max output of 20.2v and 4.48a whilst the midsummer ones have a max of 17.5v and 5.71 amps. Although as John (Barge sara) says they are cheaper per watt would I be correct in saying that the higher amps would be better for battery charging or would it not make much difference?

Does anyone know the owner of the narrowboat Hawker moored near Chorley, the door was open yesterday and still is this morning so it might have been broken into over the weekend athough I cannot see any obvious damage. I think it is for sale but could not see the notice on it for a number. Edited to add I've just found it on apollo duck and contacted the owner

I am officially a Numpty, I should have checked more carefully --- --- the Black cable goes to the thicker post and the Orange goes from the smaller post to the block. As I said I am a Numpty and as such I have not a clue what I will measure, but thinking about it I guess that I was completing the circuit with the ignition off but why no reading with ignition on?

Sorry not boat related, well only in as much as it gets us to and from the boat, but our Vauxhall Corsa seems to have the battery leads the wrong way round. The red (orange) lead goes to the neagative post and the Black lead to positive. It always starts but does need a bit of cranking. This morning I went to check to see if there was a charge getting to the glow plugs. First I checked the battery to see roughly what condition it was then checked from positive to Engine block -- nothing, then Matt noticed that the negative terminal had a positive symbol on it, so I tried from new proper positive to block and got a reading. Then I checked the heater plugs and they were on all the time and went off when the ignition was turned to the heater position. Has some Numpty wired it up wrong or am I a numpty and missing something?

I phoned up Shoreline, who were actually very helpful, and after describing the symptoms they concluded that it was the electronic unit, so 1 day and £100 later the fridge is working. The compressor has been running constantly for an hour or so and ice cubes are just starting to freeze. Is this a bit too long for freezing to start and a sign that it might need re gassing or am I being impatient?

But you thought about it. It's the thought that counts!

I removed the leccy unit to see if there was anything obviously wrong and it was all very clean under there. It was fairly cool on the boat when I first tried it, we hadn't had the Squirrel fired up for a few days, so I would not have thought it was warm enough to overload it, and the compressor cannot have been running long enough to overheat, but I'll borrow some blocks from Ange's mum and try again. It was at the brokers for 3 -6 months and we have had her for 18 months. I'm going to phone Shoreline later to see if they have any advice to offer but on previous threads someone said they were not very helpful so I don't hold out much hope. The next stage would be to get it to a refrigeration engineer and see what they think. The compressor doesn't run long enough to check the voltage. I tried it again just now and it only came on for a second or two. I had wondered about the spelling and was going to ask about it to bump the thread if there were no responses From reading the other threads about failed fridge some expressed the opinion that this might damage the frdge but yes if all else failed this would be the last resort. Many thanks for all your suggestions Cheers Dave

The shoreline fridge on Iona has never worked. I've not bothered investigating before as it did not seem worth it with batteries that are so knackered they probably would not manage to run it. But now we have new (secondhand) batteries, cheers Vince, and with summer just around the corner I would like to keep my beers cooler than canal temperature. Fixed the fault that was tripping the breaker on the fridge circuit, connected the wires to the fridge and checked voltage (12.8v) switched on, a couple of seconds later compressor comes on. YAY. 10 seconds later goes off. BOO. Quick search on the forum, got a link to a Danfoss technical page where it says about connecting l.e.d. between + and D. Into Maplins for l.e.d. Back on the boat, connect l.e.d. which, after compressor starts up and goes off again, flashes 5 times which Danfoss says "Thermal cut-out of electronic unit (if the refrigeration system has been too heavily loaded , or if the ambient temperaure is high , the electronic unit will run too hot)". Methinks it cannot be running too hot being as how it only ran for 10 - 15 seconds. So has the electronic unit developed a fault or could it be something else? Waddya think.

This morning after more creaking and banging in the night from the ice, Iona has more of a list on. I have to admit I am a little perturbed, how far over are we likely to lean? How much further will the water level drop? How far over can a narrowboat lean before it capsizes? I've seen photos of boats sitting on the mud in breached pounds, is there always a fairly gentle slope to the canal bed? The front rope is now very tight and the back almost as tight, should I leave the ropes as they are and hope they are strong enough to hold us more upright as the water level drops or loosen them and go with the flow? I have 2' rule which swings freely hanging on a nail which is 1 3/4" (or 600mm and 45mm) off vertical. Cleverer people than I will be able to work out how many degrees that makes. Cheers Dave Leaning

Great write up and fantastic photos Janet. Like everyone else I'm jealous of your kingfisher photo. What Camera(s) lenses do you have.

About 10mm of ice here. Photo posted on the other snow thread

Canal froze overnight and then a brief snowfall about an hour ago.

A bit busier now

Just a very light dusting at Adlington.

We came off the line at Haigh plantation and walked through the Northern part to get back to the boat, missing the the part you referred to. Perhaps tomorrow we'll ecksplore that bit and see if we can find any remains.