Keeping Up

The RS dimmer has a constant current output, which dims by pulse-width modulation (ie by effectively switching on and off very rapidly). As such the dimming capability sounds just what you need, and it seems to say it will cope with up to 36v input. Although I'm not quite sure what you are saying there Nick (it's too late at night and that was a very nice bottle of wine) but if you are saying what I think you are saying, it's no good adding series resistance to a constant current source in a attempt to dim its output - and trying to cut down the 24v input in that way would give some interesting but totally unwanted results. You would of course need to include all the additional components shown in the spec sheet - and probably you would need to include additional protection against the high-voltage spikes which will inevitably be present on your 24v line. Edited to add - I haven't looked at the LEDs that you reference to see if they have any internal electronics which could interact badly with the PWM dimmer.

I've got an old album track by Roy Harper. In it he says he called his dog "some control" so when it bit a policeman's leg and the policeman asked what he thought he was doing, he said "I'm just exercising some control". Mind you, the next verse is set in the courtroom ...

You could of course use a simple resistor and zener diode circuit, it would work and it would certainly be the cheapest way (about 80p if you go to Maplins, probably half that if you look around) but I wouldn't recommend it, mainly because you'd waste more power in the resistor than you'd be using in the LED. To cope with the range of battery voltages from charging to flattish you'd need a 22 ohm 10 watt resistor and a 4.5 volt 5 watt zener (actually 2.5 watt is enough but Maplins range goes straight from 1.3w to 5w). A simple voltage regulator would be almost as cheap but possibly less reliable and would waste just as much power. So I'd go for the same as Graham recommends

I just looked back over our log of the last 25 years, which covers a wide range of canals and rivers over about 20,000 miles . Averaging in each case over the whole year: Taking just miles into account: fastest year 2.4 mph slowest year 1.9 mph average of all 2.2 mph Taking miles and locks into account, and simply adding them together: fastest year 4.0 lmph (lock-miles per hour) slowest year 3.2 lmph average of all 3.6 lmph This shows a clear bias towards the "fastest" years being simply the ones with the most locks, so I don't think it's very accurate. Taking miles and locks into account, but dividing the number of locks by 2 (as Alan Fincher says, and which is the way I have always done it): fastest year 3.0 lmph slowest year 2.7 lmph average of all 2.9 lmph This is by far the most consistent set of results, so I reckon it's the most accurate.

I reckon you just need to make sure that you are always properly clean before you use the shower

We've kept detailed logs for over 30 years now. There are very few canals where you can reach 4mph between locks; neither of the two main contenders in this category (Gloucester & Sharpness, or Bridgewater) are anywhere near your route. Two places near your route where you would be able to reach 4 mph are the Trent & Mersey south of Stoke (if you go north of Stone that is) and along most of the BCN main line. Generally if you plan on 3mph you won't be far out, but always allow some extra time for delays such as spending too long in the pub at lunchtime, or for running aground after spending too long in the pub at lunchtime. The CanalPlan site that Graham and others mention, is absolutely excellent. The default speeds there used to be too fast, but they are now more sensibly set at 2.5mph on narrow canals and 3.25mph on broad canals.

If access for welding is difficult I wonder if it would be acceptable to fit an additional steel floor plate, screwed to the existing one with multiple self-tappers? If it was only a little smaller than the existing one so that the bottles sat on it properly, and you had cleaned the rust from the exiting floor and used plenty of suitable sealant (especially round the edges and round (and down) the screws. I'm just guessing, maybe someone more expert than I could comment.

We named our dog Telford - he's not allowed to post outside the Vitual Pub though - because he had straight hair and Thomas Telford built straight canals (our friend's cocker spaniel was called Brindley and he had curly hair). Why not name yours after a canal engineer too - Brindley, Jessop, Smeaton, or maybe Rennie if you don't mind him sounding like a hangover cure!

I agree

I loved winding in your marina, needing diesel on a windy day. The frightened faces peering out of the portholes in the plastic, as our bows swept past them, was a sight to cheer the heart. But no, we didn't touch any of them.

That's very nice in theory, and is obviously preferable, but probably the majority of back-boiler systems DO have to rely on a circulation pump.

I can't speak for all back boilers, but the majority of them won't put up with being run dry

It always is. I met a similar problem in the early days of computerised telex systems. One particularly popular system had been set up so that if instead of sending the message you had drafted, you wanted to "kill" (ie cancel) the message, all you had to do was to type "KKKK" Unfortunately many of the telex operators were ex radio operators. In radio, the letter K signifies "end of message", as the morse equivalent of the spoken word "over". To make sure it has been received properly, morse code operators were in the habit of sending it several times, and had carried the habit over so that they often ended their messages with "KKKK" and then wondered why the intended recipient did not got the message. The system supervisor thought up a simple solution to the problem. She decided to send everybody a strongly worded instruction that said "Under no circumstances may you end a message with the letters KKKK" I was the engineer called in to try and discover why nobody had received her instruction

I had a standard licence last year, but wanted a Gold one for next year. As I have had a Gold licence in the past, the expiry date is 31st December. I phone BW and told them. They sent me the standard licence renewal form, with instructions on how to renew on line as long as I didn't want a Gold licence. I phoned them and said I want to upgrade to Gold. They said wait until 1st December and the application forms would be on line. They weren't. After another week they still weren't there so I phoned again. They said they'd be on line soon but I could just use last year's one, crossing out the date and leaving the "amount" field blank (I have an annual direct debit in place), and enclosing my standard licence renewal form so they would know who I was. I sent the forms to BW (with the renewal form un-signed and over-stamped GOLD in big letters), together with the proof of insurance that they requested for a Gold licence (even though they accept the standard renewal without it). A few days later they phoned to say that I had forgotten to complete the direct debit mandate. After some discussion I agreed to complete a new mandate. I sent it to them. They phoned a few days later to say I hadn't included the proof of insurance with the direct debit mandate. I said they already had it, they asked if I could send it again. I said I couldn't because they already had it, and I didn't have another. When I had calmed down after they asked if I could get a duplicate copy from my insurer, and after they had got my name wrong twice, they found all the pieces of paper and managed to put them all together. At last I would get my new Gold licence, I thought. On Friday morning I received my new, standard canal licence. I phoned to tell them what I thought of them. We then had an interesting debate where the "person" at the other end said they couldn't calculate how much rebate that would be due to when I surrender my exisiting licence, because it expires on 31st December. Eventually she agreed that the best thing would be for me to surrender my new standard licence (due to start on 1/1/10) and they would calculate the rebate for me. She then asked if I could please complete the 2009 Gold licence application form (as the 2010 ones weren't ready yet) and post it to them with the old licence discs, plus a proof of insurance and my renewal form, not forgetting of course to sign the direct debit mandate. I think I may have melted my phone! (edited for spelling)

I've often wondered about re-wiring the glowplugs so they get heated by the domestic batteries, leaving the starter battery nice and fresh to turn the engine. The 40 amps they take for a short while isn't much and the domestics could manage that even when they're pretty low, especially as they'd be getting recharged straight afterwards, and it would mean I could apply a full 12v to the plugs even when the starter has dragged its battery down to 8.

That's a wonderful video, thanks for that

Using "Pink" paraffin I presume .. OK I've already got my coat But yes that's a good point about the ventilation

Our previous boat had a highly sophisticated multi-media version of this. Whenever someone opened a water tap, the TV sound and vision flickered and then it came back on BBC1 regardless of what channel you had been watching. When this happened as someone was speaking in mid-sentence, the results could be hilarious.