Jen-in-Wellies

The story behind Letsby Avenue.

Any window can be opened. You just need the right opener.

A quick google suggests that a fully charged lead acid battery won't freeze until the temperature gets to levels that you just don't see outside Siberia, Northern Canada, or the Antarctic. -50, to -70C or so for a near fully charged battery. A flat battery can freeze in a British winter though, which is another reason to keep them charged. Jen

I've got a mixture of 3/8 and 1/2" socket drivers, with adaptors between the different sizes, including down to 1/4" for teeny tiny sockets. If I was just buying one set, then I'd probably go for 1/2" drive. which will do everything on a boat. My batteries live under the rear deck, unheated, all year round. No insulation, including some excursions to minus silly temperatures in bad winters, where the canal was frozen a foot thick. No problems. Lead acid batteries are fine like this. Insulating them will only slow down their cooling, not prevent it. Jen

Also, it may depend on having a normal house size height to work properly. Twenty, or thirty feet high, not the six or so feet in a typical boat installation. No idea if this is the case, but more details would be good. Jen

I have a Midland SwinChandlers 4.5" flue on my Squirrel stove. This is number three in twelve years of use in a live aboard boat, so around five years use per flue before the tin worm eats through them. No idea if the Morso one is better in terms of life, or draw, as I've not used one. If there is an offset between the stove outlet and the collar and you want to use a straight flue, with no welded angles, then you may need to use a 4", or smaller pipe to fit through at an angle. Jen

Maybe not!

Trimming bits of Lithium off with tin snips might. Trimming bits of Lithium off with lead snips perhaps. Trimming bits of Tin off with lead snips possibly. Trimming bits of Lead off with lithium snips could. Trimming bits of Tin off with lithium snips arguably.

Weigh both batteries. Place them either side of the fulcrum at distances calculated from their respective weights. Result - Your LiFePO4 batteries are now balanced. You can find cheap Chinese fulcrums on Ebay, but they are liable to catch fire as they are not designed to cope with the extra rolling and pitching they are subjected to when installed on a boat. Jen

What @ditchcrawler said. The "dry" in dry dock is the water being removed so the boat sits on a cradle to allow work on the bits of the hull that are usually wet. Some have a roof, some are open to the sky. Having your boat in a dry dock could make working on the windows harder as they may only be reachable up a step ladder. You would be better with a covered wet dock, Often the sort of thing used for painting. Jen My boat in a covered dry dock, showing how relatively inaccessible the windows become.

Excellent news. 😀

Suitable for boats up to 4.5m long it says. My boat would need four of them.

You also need to consider if you are going to build it to the RCD directive, with all its associated paperwork or not. If you don't, then you can't legally sell it for five years. Your circumstances may change in that time and not having the option to sell could be an issue. Jen

Just received this email from CaRT: Notice Alert Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigations Location: Sheffield & South Yorkshire navigation - closed Friday 8 November 2019 08:00 until further notice Type: Navigation Closure Reason: Information Original message: Due to the severe weather conditions the Sheffield & South Yorkshire navigation is currently closed to navigation. We are monitoring water levels and will update this notice when the situation changes. You can view this notice and its map online here: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notice/16553/sheffield-and-south-yorkshire-navigation-closed You can find all notices at the url below: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices

Nah, far too modern for Northern. This is their Rotherham train replacement boat service. Excellent green credentials, oar powered by their unfortunate passengers, so extra profit for the owners. Unfortunately, it is broken and being repaired, so the service is cancelled.