Jess--

Could it be something simple like your old boat had a 2:1 reduction and this boat has a 3:1

no fancy equipment needed... just a nearby bridge.

the telephone number mentioned in the listing brings up a polish language advert which when translated reads...... Google Translate THE LORD TO HELP THE FAMILY BUSINESS Accept . It offers accommodation and meals . ENGLISH NOT REQUIRED . It is located in the center of Birmingham . Greedy and greedy for money , PLEASE DO NOT CALL . TEL 074 ** *** *** CV please send to : a******@gmx.com Bing Translate TO HELP IN THE FAMILY BUSINESS TO THIS DIRECTORY. OFFERS ACCOMMODATION AND MEALS. ENGLISH IS NOT REQUIRED. WE ARE LOCATED IN THE CENTRE OF BIRMINGHAM. GREEDY AND THEY GOT GREEDY FOR MONEY PLEASE DO NOT CALL. TEL 074 ** *** *** CV PLEASE SEND TO: a*******@gmx.com I wonder if this advert is the source of the Polish Boat Builders

had the same happen on a car, everything worked perfectly until the key was turned and then it was totally dead (even the lcd clock went off) as soon as the key was turned back everything was back to life. get you home fix was for one person to hold the key over while someone else hit the battery terminal. proper fix was a file on the battery terminal and connection, perfect after that.

Thanks for the recommendations. My thoughts with the plastic sheet were so that there was something a little stronger than just the panel if I ever needed to lift it off.

can anyone recommend a good supplier of solar panels for a small installation. I am looking at fitting 100w of solar purely to keep the batteries topped up while the boat is not in use, I am under no illusions about what I can expect from solar at this scale and I doubt if it would even keep my fridge running long term. what I am looking for is 100w semi flexible that I can fix to a sheet of plastic (that will in turn be fixed to the roof of the boat with a flexible adhesive), and a suitable controller, the system is unlikely to be expanded so the controller doesn't need to be massively over specced. Budget is around the £250 mark for supply only, I can handle the fitting.

I think the argument is that PV is more useful on the boat since the power is used electrically with any excess dumped into heating water, whereas with collectors once the water is as hot as you want it any further energy is useless. not a lot of point in having a load of piping hot water if you can't power a pump to use it.

The info graham gave is accurate, the system can also be requested by the mobile device to give a very fast rough position, when the signal strengths of known phone transmitters and known wi-fi stations are combined you can get a fairly accurate position within about 5 seconds compared with a first fix time of around a minute for true gps devices. Most phones will use this for their initial position and then correct the position as the gps system starts to get a position (this is why when you firs open a maps app on your phone the position shown can be a few 100 yards out but then jump to the accurate position), in general this combination is known as A-GPS or Assisted GPS. This is also how tablets like the iPad Mini (wi-fi only version) can get a position when they do not contain any gps hardware or 3g hardware, they are triangulating based on wi-fi signals.

yup

I did something similar for heating a small swimming pool, additional steps were to embed the radiator in polystyrene sheet with a sheet of perspex in front. doing that gave a massive increase to the amount of heat it provided as it wasn't losing any heat to wind final stage was to add a small solar powered pump (meant for a water feature) as a circulation pump. ended up having to cover part of it during the height of summer as it was getting the water temp too high in the pool

I always thought the most dangerous part was the jesus nut (so called because that's the first thing said when it fails)

I just have the lock screen set with an image that includes emergency contact details, no need to unlock the phone, nothing that can be pressed by small children etc

possibly a silly thought... inverter efficiency drops as the output voltage goes up so a 110v inverter (made for the american market) would probably be more efficient than a 240v inverter for the UK market. Most modern tv's will run from 90v - 250v to allow the same model to be used in multiple countries. it may be a cheaper option to get a small 110v inverter (dedicated for tv use) and a tv set that can run from 110v.

if you have a canon camera look into CHDK (Canon Hack Development Kit), it's temporary replacement firmware for your camera that allows much more than the original. I have used it on my old canon 340 (point n shoot digital) to allow timelapse photography (taking a picture every X seconds) and low light stuff (exposure times of over a minute on a digital camera)

landing any sort of drone on a moving boat will be down to the skill of the pilot, you won't be able to rely on any of the auto-land features since you are trying to hit a moving target. there tend to be 2 variants of the auto landing systems... 1. Return to the takeoff position and land (guided by gps), this would be disastrous since your boat will not be there any more 2. Land in the exact spot they are hovering in (position held by gps / gyros / accelerometers), hope your boat is still under it by the time it descends

Police these days talk about RTC (Road Traffic Collisions) where they used to talk of RTA (Road Traffic Accident) this changing in wording is deliberate and when questioned about it the police will point out that that there is always something or someone to blame for causing the collision whereas an "accident" would imply that there was nothing that could have been done to prevent it

12v computer type fans sucking air out from one end of the bilge (with only a hole at the opposite end of the bilge allowing air in), should dry it out fairly quickly

I used to absolutely hammer along the towpath but in all my years I never managed to hit anything, mainly because I was watching where I was going and slowing down if there was anything ahead. The only accident I ever had was when approaching the wooden footbridge (from bottom lock) at braunston and I had a brake cable snap (I stayed dry but the bike took a swim in the marina entrance just to the left of the bridge)

I have used buffalo board on a platform that spends 12-14 hours a day getting soaked with salt water and having people walk / jump on it every 4 minutes (so fairly harsh usage), in 6 years it's faded a little with the sun but its showing no signs of weakening. hexagrip was used by one of my competitors (almost identical layout & conditions) failed within 2 years, I don't know the reasons behind the failure.