dave.e

Is it the railway bridge north of Blisworth?

I have been really upset by this. Britain needs more people like Jo, full of compassion and the energy to make a difference to other people's lives. I feel proud to be British while there are people like her, but ashamed that there is so much hatred being stirred-up. Desperately sorry for her family and friends. Dave Edwards Sophie-Jane No.2

We had a silly season incident last week during our Regents Canal & Thames trip. Between Camden and St Pancras we were passing the inevitable line of moored boats with a narrowboat approaching from the opposite direction on the wrong side of the canal. It had a large wheelhouse and seemed to be moving over, but then the moment they swung back to make a head-on collision, was the same moment I realised there was no-one in the wheelhouse. I made some frantic horn signals and gave plenty of engine revs, just managing to pass them on the wrong side as we narrowly missed each other. The moored boaters ignored us like it was a regular occurence. At the back of the boat, completelty hidden by the wheelhouse, a tug was pushing. Neither the woman standing on the deck (who shrugged and smiled weakly), nor the "pilot" had any view of where they were going. There were several trip boats out that day and we could only imagine all the potential whiplash claims...

Done!

Don't forget to check the current PLA Notices http://www.pla.co.uk/Safety/Regulations-and-Guidance/Notices-to-Mariners/Notices-to-Mariners I think that M15 and U3 are probably the most relevant between Limehouse and Brentford at the moment.

700 cycles doesn't sound great for £290 per battery.

We went down to London and along the Regents Canal to Limehouse in May 2011, and again in May 2013. In just two years, the number of moored boats had increased noticeably and it was difficult to find anywhere for visiting boats to moor. Since then, we are constantly meeting boats on the GU that are heading for London with the aim of living there. It must surely reach the point soon when there is no more room?

Don't worry Kathryn. Jon & Ian at Baxters will do a first-class job. Dave, Sophie-Jane No.2

Yes Mr Quinn (Paul?), we were in Dublin over the weekend. This is the Grand Canal at around 10am on Monday morning. I'm guessing there's not much traffic, and it's a neat solution to speeding past moored boats..... Dave E

If you feel that one set of mooring lines is not enough, use mooring lines across to the other side of the canal for added security.

I've taken all my ropes off to wash them. How do I get my boat back....

It's definitely caused by gassing from a lead acid battery. We had a faulty sealed battery in a bank of three that was less than a year old. It had a cell that became shorted and I had left our mains charger on float. This filled the boat with fumes and turned the copper pipes a silver colour throughout the entire boat, including in the cratch at the oppisote end from the batteries. It also wrecked our CO alarm, so make sure you test that it is still working. I think you need to monitor your batteries very carefully. Dave

The other thing to be aware of is the large yellow buoys. I can't remember which bridge these are near, but they are presumably anchored on chains with enough slack to accomodate the highest tide. When a large vessel passes between them, the water displacement in front of the vessel pushes the buoys apart. After the vessel has gone through, the water is rushing into the void behind it and so the buoys move back (at fairly high speed). We had moved over to the right to let a large vessel overtake and then tried to "tuck in" behind it, but the incoming tide was driving us forward as we battled to get clear of one of the buoys. We now have a slight hint of yellow on our starboard gunwale... I should mention that these buoys are made of steel and are the size of a small car. But don't worry - it's a fantastic trip. We used an Icom IC-M35 radio. It was fine on low power for contacting London VTS while we were leaving Limehouse, but it needed full power at Teddington. Not sure about Brentford. Dave

Tony, I would like to add my condolences. Parents who have lost a child belong to an exclusive "club" - one that nobody wants to be a member of. I hope that you and your family manage to stay positive through the emotional rollercoaster of the grieving process. It is not something that you will ever "get over". It's like carrying a heavy load which doesn't get any lighter, but you get stronger and more able to cope with it. It's over 4 years since our tragedy and for the family it feels like we have normal, happy lives - just a different normal from what we would have hoped for. We should never wrap our children in cotton wool. You are right to say that somethimes things just happen. Regards, Dave Edwards

Waterscape have asked me to share locks from Marston Doles to Claydon and at Hillmorton. Does the forum recommend that we wait for a boat shorter than 15ft to share with our 57ft boat, or should we be looking to trade our boat in for a 3ft4in width boat in the hope that others will follow suit... Dave E Oops, just realised there's already a topic on this.... I'll get my coat.

Travelling up the locks at Stoke Bruerne over the weekend, the skipper of the boat we shared with informed me that we could travel as a pair, while the boats coming down the locks would split to pass either side. I got an earful from a disgruntled skipper on one of the boats coming down the locks, telling me that boats going up are supposed to split. Can anyone enlighten me as to who is right?

I don't think either Elsan disposal points or pumpout machines are connected to the main drains because of the chemicals used, so there must be storage tanks that need emptying periodically. If BW ask you not to use self pumpout at a particular sanitary station, it's probably down to the size of the storage tank.

Thanks to everyone for your replies. My gut feeling was that it may be a blocked injector. If it were a valve not closing due to a flake of coke, I assume that there would be more exhaust smoke. I asked our local boatyard to check the injectors a few weeks ago, but nothing happens very quickly - I think their engine expert is abroad at the moment. I think I would benefit from going on an engine training course. Thanks again for your help. Dave

My wife had a call like this, which she transferred to me since I look after all the computers for her business and for mine. I couldn't resist blinding them with science before telling them to get stuffed.... I seem to get more and more calls from companies insisting that they are responding to enquiries my company has made, even though I am a one-man-band. Okay, I admit that I forget most things my wife asks me to do, but I like to think I know what's going on in my company.

Thanks for the reply Arnot. It's not coughing or producing smoke. It is shaking, so it could be the engine mounts, but I'm confused about why the idle speed has dropped and become erratic.

Can any engine experts offer me some advice please? My boat has a Beta38 that is 9 years old and has run for just under 2,000hrs. It has been serviced by the previous owner and then by me, at shorter intervals than suggested in the manual, but over the past few months it has started running really rough at low revs. At revs above 1100 it runs smoothly and quietly, but below 1100rpm, the engine vibrates badly. The idle speed is now lower than the 900rpm it used to run at, but now varies anything from 850 down to around 700rpm. The way the engine shakes below 1100rpm is almost as if it’s only running on 3 cylinders. The fuel filter has been changed recently, but made no difference. The air filter is less than 12 months old. The water separator has no sign of water or diesel bug, and I use Fuelset additive at 25ml per 100l. Does anyone have any idea what could be the cause? Thanks, Dave Edwards

In a roundabout way, I came to this conclusion in my post, and I absolutely agree that it is essential to bond the neutral to the hull at the inverter. This will protect anyone touching a live wire after the RCD. I also agree with this. The RCD offers no protection whatsoever to anyone touching a live wire BEFORE it passes through the RCD, so it is possible that Nigel's wife did receive a shock if the casing of the inverter had a poor earth connection to the hull at the time that it failed. Otherwise I agree with one of the other posters that the sound and flash caused by an electrical failure can cause a psychological shock that is hard to distinguish from an electrical shock (and I experienced both in my youth...). Dave

Chris, I am confused about which neutral should be bonded to earth/hull. Is it the neutral after the RCD or the neutral straight from the inverter before passing through the RCD. If it's the former then I guess the RCD will trip since the current will flow from the faulty inverter, through the victim and into the hull, then back to the inverter neutral via the RCD. This current in the RDC neutral will not be matched by any current in the RCD live, so it will trip. However, this sounds dangerous to me if you touch the live after the RCD (i.e. when you would expect to be protected) since the return current would go through the the RCD neutral and balance the live current, so it would not trip. If the inverter neutral is earth/hull bonded prior to the RCD, either by design or catastophic failure of the inverter, then no current will flow through either leg of the RCD when someone touches the live out of the inverter prior to the RCD, and they will not be protected. Does this make sense or am I missing something? Thanks, Dave Sorry. I've just read the other thread and realised that my question is just throwing more worms into the can...... I'll get my coat.

Did anyone see the Guardian article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/27/alternativeenergy.energy) about extracting waste heat from a vehicle exhaust? This states that 33% of the energy in fuel is lost in the cooling system, 36% lost out of the exhaust pipe, 4% lost due to friction and a mere 27% ends up as propulsion. Would HMRC accept the 27%.......?