Denis R

Flippin' 'enry Gibbo, I've got the 'old' design and maybe it's fitted in a shaded area, but if the display was any brighter I'd be needing my RayBans to read it!

Supporting Ernie, over the weekend we were all positively looking out for some brave soul to come along and be the first to break up the ice. The moorers around me were of the opinion that the first boat through had done them a favour.... Nobody mentioned damage to their blacking.

*lol* Good one Carl! My "dug-out canoe" is a Peter Nicholls, and when I spoke to him about building it for me back in 2005, I think he thought it would be a great crack.... a bit of a 'hobby job'. "my God, I've not built one of those for years - I've still got the set of drawings up in my loft at home somewhere. That would be fun." Having spent a few years in the fabrication industry many moons ago, it was great to talk to him about steel grades, welding rod specs, edge preparations and other sundry 'anorak' stuff. But at the end of the day, set alongside one of his Cat A blue water boats, it's still only a tin can in a ditch....

Bike with me attached - interesting experience - 6:30am, misty, deep lock channel, nobody about to help.... Mobile phone Ash pan from the stove Sundry wine glasses and bottles Favourite tea mug Several screwdrivers, etc. Recovered with sea searcher: Bike - managed to get out eventually and run back to boat for magnet.... A complete fire surround Intake petals from a Bolinder Sundry bolts, washers, etc A blimmin' big nut - about 3" AF Lost forever - neighbour's propellor....

I like that idea - I'll have a rake through the manual and see if I can find a way to program it so it doesn't start the engine between 8pm and 8am I forgot that seemingly minor aside about the absorbtion phase..... Without it the missing bit of the explanation should have been: "Then just renew your battery bank every 12-18 months." Have to say that before fitting the SmartGauge, based on the before/after charging regime, I must have been habitually discharging the batteries way below 50%, which probably accounts for the first bank only lasting 2 years. Edited: finger trouble.

Having wasted a fair wad in the past on alternator controllers I didn't need, take my advice, check the voltage of your alternator. If it's 14.4Volts, go and lie down in a darkened room until the feeling for a 'battery management system' wears off. Then fix yourself up with a SmartGauge - shows you what the pretty lights show, only in figures - turn your engine on when it shows 50%, turn it off when it shows 100%. Job done.

Faint heart never won fair maiden....

My neighbour has two cats, one of whom we've nicknamed Splosh for the number of times it falls in. The other is a little more careful, but occasionally goes in too. They don't seem any worse for wear. Try it, the cat might like life aboard and if it doesn't, you've got a back-up plan in place.

There you go kiki, just like I said, we're a car repair forum too In the unlikely event that it's not the motor and you're getting no heat from the engine into the heater matrix on the Clio it is usually: Stuck thermostat - is the engine running normally, overheating or staying cold....? Low coolant level - check this first then if it's OK..... Air lock - there should be a bleed screw in one of the heater hoses Blocked heater matrix - quite a favourite on Clios

Is it too much hassle to fix the heater? Sometimes it's more effort to treat the symptoms than the cause. We're nothing if not technical here, so you could treat us like a car forum and give us a chance to sort the heater itself?

It would be even nicer to think that their parents/carers/other campers ushered them away before they became worried that someone was committing murder or could ask any of the "what are they doing, mummy?" type questions. Come to think of it, at the same time, instead of disrupting them completely at the height of their passion, you could have suggested to them that they at least chew the pillow 'til they're finished

You could try painting a sort of Plimsoll Line on the front of the boat, with markings for tank full, tank empty and then guestimate from that? You could refer to the thread on water usage in locks for more about the hydrodynamics. There, how about that for a classic idea? ....and I'm not drunk, although I suggest you might (still) need to be to get through that thread in one piece.

It could be argued that the embarrassed ones were probably on the other side of the campsite, and the 30 or so who had gathered were perhaps more eagerly awaiting the final crescendo than they were admitting?

And what are they going to do about this how's yer father then?

Yeah, and at the same time they can stop nibbling the b****y algae off the side of my boat in the middle of the night. Can't they keep regular eating hours like normal people?

Hmm. My 7 month old grandson sleeps like a log only a few feet from the RB211 sound-alike that's our Webasto. Outside, the exhaust sound is more faint than the roar from the M1 over a mile away....

Anybody here got their boat financed through RoyScot Larch? I've just checked my November statement and they've put the interest rate up to 10%. So, as the base rate has been falling, they've been steadily increasing their rates from around 8.5% up to 10%.... This doesn't affect repayments, it just extends the term. Now rates have hit a 50 year low I'll be expecting to see a substantial drop next month, but somehow I don't think it's going to happen. This feels like a case of clawing back from whom they can as much as they can - the soft targets that don't make the headlines. I suspect their Park Home customers are similarly afflicted.

Thanks guys - wrong data input to the search engine it seems. Interesting read Peter, thanks. Lots of what's alluded to in the article seems to be present in my installation. The high pressure hoses are as near as damn it horizontal, there's no upward slope to speak of from the bottles to the regulator and the regulator outlet is at the bottom. I 'll have a look and see if the regulator can be mounted any higher. I could go along with the plasticiser theory, the smell's got that rubbery aromatic aroma to it....

This is going to sound a bit like a Carry On film "Matron, we've a blockage in the back passage" maintenance issue but.... I'm getting a funny smell from the gas locker, a sort of sweet sickly smell with a whiff of rubber in it; plus a similar smelling light coating of something on the regulator. If I touch any of the components it leaves the smell on the hands and everything has a very slight, what I could only describe as clamminess to it. I'm not getting what I'd recognise as a smell of gas per se and the gas bottles are lasting as long as they ever have. I did have to replace the regulator a few months back, which failed open and blew a sheet of flame up my arms when I turned on the hob. Joy. The old regulator too had the sickly sweet smell and what appeared to be traces of a liquid in it which didn't evaporate quickly. The installation is 2 x 3,9Kg bottles, tails with NRVs, regulator and shut off valve in a low locker 'cos of the tug style bow. Anybody got any ideas as searching gas, smell and sticky didn't bring enlightenment....

Kev, it appears that BW have ideas to address this via the mooted 'Roving Mooring Permit'. From my understanding of its intention, it would permit precisely the behaviour you describe. In my area there is a fair sized community that seems to move only along the Blisworth to Braunston stretch, who could be usefully accommodated by this, but currently appear to be able to do so on a Continuous Cruising licence.

If you've got a proper tank thermostat rather than just the internal cut-out stat of the heater it makes a considerable difference. I don't use an immersion, don't have the maths, but find I've still got piping hot water a day after switching off the boiler and/or engine so think the insulation is pretty good. My two-penny worth, fit a timer if you've no tank stat or your insulation is iffy.