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Roger Crown

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Everything posted by Roger Crown

  1. Our boat has epoxy blacking, when surveyed for pre purchase only the surface crud was removed with a wire brush in a battery drill prior to ultrasound. There was no damage to the hull coating. I'd be sure to ascertain the method any potential surveyor proposed to adopt. Roger
  2. I have now had some email correspondence with Mr Lewis Kneale the Customer Operations Supervisor based at Sharpness Docks. I have been assured that at no point would a member of the public be put in danger. Apparently the new procedure was adopted on Monday morning, with the docks team being fully briefed at that time. It appears something may have got lost in the translation, CRT's stance is apparently very different from the version myself and the Pilot heard on Wednesday morning. For clarity I am posting below the current procedure as laid out by CRT The current procedure we have in place is; 1. Message on Pierhead answerphone where it is clearly stated vessels will not be allowed onto the canal without a licence. These can be purchased via web/phone.ect. 2. Vessels when booking will be asked for their licence number, where the team at sharpness will record the number along with the boat name, and index number (if present) 3. If however a boat comes down on a tide, without a licence they would be allowed into the port, and would be allowed into the lock, this is where they would be asked to purchase a licence through the following methods, call the Gloucester office, call the Boat Licencing Team or log onto the online system. If for any reason we needed to clear the lock we would safely moor them on CRT’s berth to allow the customer time to purchase the licence. 4. At this point if a boat refused to purchase a licence, in which they would require a valid boat safety certificate (unless exempt) and insurance to purchase, they would be asked to return to another port, when safely practicable to do so. In a subsequent email Mr Kneale made the following comment. As with any new procedure that is being put into place there is changeover period, in which there is a certain amount of familiarisation. I apologise for the misunderstanding but once again want to stress that no vessels, now or ever would be put at risk due to these new regulations. They have been conceived to prevent incidents occurring due to unsafe vessels entering the canal. I have also pointed out to Mr Kneale this evening that the information on the CRT website does not concur with the above Roger
  3. ???? there was a method, not available now . How can you plan for that ? Am I missing something here ?
  4. I agree completely Daniel, that would be a logical thing to do, just a shame the actions put in place time and time again are not thought through. Please read the OP carefully. If we had not had a licence, then up until our transit we would have been able to buy a short term licence at Sharpness Roger
  5. Arriving yesterday morning at Sharpness from Portishead with the aid of one of the Gloucester Pilots we were greeted by the Lockie who announced that if we didn't have a CRT licence he can no longer provide a short term licence because they are no longer allowed to handle money and everything must be done on-line. He further stated that boats would be turned around and sent back down the estuary. Our pilot was a bit taken aback by the news and confirmed that the Pilots would be adding the stipulation of a CRT licence to their pre voyage conditions. This new procedure instigated by someone sitting in an office has the potential to endanger life, particularly for narrowboat crew. It is not illegal to travel from Bristol/Portishead without a pilot and every year many craft do go it alone. Ideally the transit needs to be arranged so that the wind direction is with the tide, the pilots certainly wouldn't entertain transit with wind against tide. If boats are turned at Sharpness on the whim of CRT then the consequences could be extremely dangerous. A well planned trip up stream could turn out to be disastrous when forced to go downstream with the wind now being against the ebbing tide. We could quite easily have been sent back, our new (to us) boat had been off CRT waters for a while and not licensed with them, fortunately we renewed online before leaving Bristol because we wanted a full licence knowing, or thinking we knew that Sharpness could only supply a short term licence. Just to add, the CRT lockies were not happy with the situation. Roger Edited to note a copy sent to Richard Parry
  6. Hi Kate I know of two,companies who cover contents GJW and Collidge and Partners, I am currently with GJW and used Collidge previously Roger edited to give more info
  7. Jak post 4 has hit the nail on the head, make sure you get the vendors permission to give him/her a call or two over the next few weeks. Our boat owners (1st or 3rd time owners, makes no difference) can always come straight back to us if they wish, but there is nothing better than current owners feed back and advice.
  8. Thanks for the replies everyone Roger
  9. Hi all I've no experience of epoxy hull coatings. I understand that grit blasting the hull prior to 1st application is a must. I can see first hand (boat out on hard standing 1st time in 5 years) the benefits of the coating system. My question is, what is the procedure to prepare and re-coat the hull to give the same protection for the next cycle. Does new epoxy stick to old? etc Thanks Roger
  10. Hi, I have recently done this mod on a friends boat. The engine control panel is mounted externally on a Semi-Trad stern. I mounted the Arduino in a cupboard behind the the panel and fitted the display in a small enclosure fitted to the side of the cupboard so it easily readable but out of the weather. I used standard cables, the total distance from the VDO is less then half a metre. Roger
  11. Sounds like you have had a lucky escape, glad everything seems ok. That said it may be best to get it all checked over again when you have sorted it, no disrespect intended, (I have no idea of your skills) but your engineer guy could be invaluable to your future care free cruising. Roger
  12. Hi A temp gauge is really useful to monitor the engine in different circumstances, in other words to show when problems may be there when cruising say on a narrow canal at lowish revs and then giving a bit of throttle on a deep wide canal. I'm guessing you had a quick overheat situation which caused your panel to show a warning light and buzzer to sound. In that case a gauge is of little use as it all happens so quickly, you would have to be watching the gauge very closely to see the rise in temp before the alarms went off, Answer to the initial question is no, it's not difficult to fit one. Saw you around a bit while we have been on the G&S Roger N.B. Fizzical Attraction
  13. Bruce has removed his and had a Webasto installed
  14. It could be short cycling through the calorifier loop, depends how it is plumbed. Roger
  15. Hi Julian Think I have to agree the unit needs returning to the service agent, they will be able to diagnose better. Hardly likely to be a "shoddy job " as you infer. They are unlikely to fit a dodgy air motor. Ebers are a bit of an enigma at times, if you are comfortable dismantling the unit yourself then it could just be a bad connection as suggested in your opening post. Quote "Ebers are a bit of an enigma at times" wow leaving myself wide open here lol, now where are those moderators :-) Roger
  16. External influences to failed air blower motor is usually too high an intake air temperature, due to the heater not drawing it's air supply externally. Although this is usually a problem over a good period of time. How many hours has the unit done?
  17. Hi Richard I have used a company from near Stockport, fridge engineer and does work with 12 volt units (not all do) CITY SERVICE 0161 476 0161. Good service and reasonable prices. Roger
  18. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  19. HI, there is loads of info on the net, this is a good start http://arduinotronics.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/reading-current-shunt-with-arduino.html
  20. Liverpool now has free electricity to its bollards, apparently too expensive to renew the metering system, well it did have last October LLangollen basin now has free electricity all year round, well it did have yesterday. Roger
  21. Oh no no, if going down that route then it has to be a BMV. Coat
  22. With all due respect Tony, most share boat people just want to enjoy their time on board for the short few weeks they get. Your instructions are straight forward and simple but some people will find them confusing and daunting. Not everyone has a leaning towards the technical. A simple device where one presses a button that shows that they should start charging at a certain level and stop at another level could not be simpler and almost stress free for all users.
  23. Surely on a share boat the simplest solution would be a Smartgauge, all crews can see easily if they need to charge or not. Plus the voltage indication on each bank gives a basic notion as to if the alternator/s are working. It's also a bit scary if a syndicate cant afford £180 to help maintain their boat.
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