Helga

Interesting. We started up the Curly Wyrley today from Horseley Fields Junction. Haven't seen another moving boat! The start of the canal was good but plenty of rubbish on the bottom through the residential areas before clearing about a kilometre prior to the M6 bridge. Hopefully we'll make Sainsbury's at Birchill Junction tomorrow and then head up towards Pelsall Junction and then Angelsey Basin. I've had to clear the prop a couple of times and we are also going slowly in an effort to keep the stern high.

From the TLC voltage drop calculator website assuming the distance from the controller to the batteries is 2 metres and the panel output is 400W max. Required Cable Size 6 mm Voltage Drop 0.487 Volts. Percentage Drop 4.1% Current Load 33.3 Amps Max Cable Load* 34.0 Amps

We put cheap supermarket cola down the toilet to remove the uric acid and other 'crud' (leave it overnight and then flush). It has more phosphoric acid than the Leesan cleaner or citric juice. Also use it on the hand basin to remove stains around the plug hole. To keep the tank smelling sweet we use Tesco super value bio liquid laundry.

I assume hire boats are a commercial operation and therefore the hire base will be aable to legally fill their boats with red diesel? If so; then will the hire companies bother to have a separate wite diesel tank installed and at what price will they have to charge for the diesel to recover the capital cost? Or will there just be fewer outlets on the waterways selling white diesel. But at the end of the day isn't this decision about tax revenue. The UK government currently doesn't seem to want to collect it so why is the EU pursuing the issue? I assume it's about "harmonising" the European tax system?

For those people who believe the is no restriction on the amount of data you can download with Three's AYCE data plans please read about Three's 'Trafficsense' program (http://support.three.co.uk/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBISAPI.DLL?Command=New,Kb=Mobile,Ts=Mobile,T=Article,varset_cat=signal,varset_subcat=3804,Case=obj%284046%29. Three monitors data traffic and don't 'block' your data flow. They 'manage' it if demand is too great. IMHO it means means they throttle it! Once your data useage has triggers 'managing' then; in my experience; you're usually 'throttled' for about 28 days before you get normal data speed back. The more people that take up the AYCE data offers then the more congested the network will become. This will result in more 'managing' of the access by Three's Trafficsense software.

"The One Plan" (SIM Only) appears to be a good deal at £15 per month on a 12 month contract and £18 on a monthly contract (2000 minutes, 5000 text & AYCED). One note of caution. Whilst you can tether a smartphone on the plan and have AYCED, if you use too much data you find instead of the "tap running at pressure it drips". You still have AYCED....... but it's painfully slow because the connection is throttled!

We have a Samsung Galaxy S and I drilled a hole in the back of the phone case to access the external aerial socket. A pigtail lead plugs into it and connects to an Australia outback mobile phone aerial mounted on the roof of the boat. Without the external aerial there is one bar on the phone signal strength icon. There are all five bars when connected to the external aerial. The only issue I had fitting the system was obtaining the pigtail lead. The supplier was in Australia!

I have a 2000MV and I believe you will find the 4.2kw is the total heat output from the Refleks. When I spoke to Lockgate I was informed the water heating part of the unit could produce a maximum of 1.7kw

My understanding is the person/company who is the principal builder is responsible for the CIN. If you purchased a sailway then the hull manufacturer probably provided a Declaration of Conformity for the hull. The person/company who fitted out the hull (ie, completed the boat) is responsible for the CIN.

It's interesting that the people who have installed the system on their boats (Nick & myself) think it's really great. Yet many of those who don't have serious reservations! I find fault finding very easy. A small LED illuminates on the circuit that has a fault. Press two buttons and the digital fuse is reset. The system can control almost any 12v device (using a relay if necessary). Yes.... there is an element of it being a "boys toy". It's the flexibility to reconfigure the system by modifying the software configuration file I really enjoy. No wiring to physically change.... just press a few buttons on the laptop! The boatyard manager is going to have to prise the usb dongle from my cold, dead hand :-) Oh, and if I need to add any new devices into the boat all I need do is run the wire to the nearest Empirbus node rather than the DC switchboard (There isn't one on our boat) Don't get me started on the remote key fob or text communication via the GSM module.

Oh... and yours appears to be an argumentum ad hominem