Any advice please

[StephenA]

13 minutes ago, Bee said:

f it burns easily or can spontaneously ignite like oil or white spirit soaked rags don't screw them up and store them, chuck them away.

 

Vitally important to remember if you are using Teak Oil... can cause spontaneous combustion of rags if kept screwed up,

[Alan de Enfield]

59 minutes ago, StephenA said:

 

Vitally important to remember if you are using Teak Oil... can cause spontaneous combustion of rags if kept screwed up,

 

And Linseed oil, (and many other similar compounds)

 

Throw the old rags in the bin, go out, come back and the house has burnt down.

[BEngo]

Mineral (generally engine and gearbox oil, white spirit/turps substitute, diesel et al.) oils on rags do not spontaneously combust.  Vegetable oils (linseed, castor, tung, Danish etc.) can and have taken fire.

 

N

[ditchcrawler]

40 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

And Linseed oil, (and many other similar compounds)

 

Throw the old rags in the bin, go out, come back and the house has burnt down.

A builder friend lost his van that way, he had been oiling a floor that day

[Alan de Enfield]

17 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

A builder friend lost his van that way, he had been oiling a floor that day

 

A friend had been linseed oiling his gun, screwed the rag up and stuck it in the bin, went off to bed and woke up with the fire alarm going off - his waste bin was in flames and much of his kitchen destroyed.

 

Lots of examples out there ..............

 

Officials Warn of Spontaneous Combustion Risk of Linseed Oil and Other Common Household Products - ABC News (go.com)

 

Shannon Priddy’s Gaithersburg, Maryland, house was destroyed in 2014 after she says contractors left rags soaked in wood stain under her deck.

“We had no idea that anything like this could happen,” Priddy, who was not injured in the incident, told ABC News.

 

.

Edited December 2, 2021 by Alan de Enfield

[doratheexplorer]

15 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

THis is what I have had this week 

Once I'd figured out the American dating system... you seem to have had a major upload issue on the afternoon of the 30th.  This isn't a problem for many things but is an issue for 2-way video meetings.  I would have taken a few more readings as sometimes a low result like that is just a temporary glitch.  If not, I'd have had a little wander up and down the towpath to find somewhere a bit better, and moved the boat there.

[Alan de Enfield]

20 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

Once I'd figured out the American dating system... you seem to have had a major upload issue on the afternoon of the 30th.  This isn't a problem for many things but is an issue for 2-way video meetings.  I would have taken a few more readings as sometimes a low result like that is just a temporary glitch.  If not, I'd have had a little wander up and down the towpath to find somewhere a bit better, and moved the boat there.

 

Those figures are a million times better than we are getting at home 'hard-wired' into the BT Exchange. We are the last in the line, 5km from the exchange and the whole system is 'on copper'.

 

I have been recording the problems the last couple of weeks to complain that we are not reaching their guaranteed min of 1Mb.

 

3 Examples from my tests over 3 consecutive days.

 

 The speed seems to be unaffected by the time of day. We get the same at 2:00am, midday or 4:00pm

 

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by Alan de Enfield

[IanD]

22 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:

This is often brought up, but in practice is a non-issue.  There are only a very few dead spots these days and they are easily avoided by checking the online coverage maps and just remembering where they are.  In some areas the signal can be patchy and this is easily dealt with by simply making sure you moor up precisely where the signal is.  I used a speedtest app to check when I come to moor and have been known to drag the boat along ten feet or so just so I can get a good signal where I've moored, often just moving to the other side of a bridge does the trick.  This way I've never had a problem on the following canals and rivers:  G&S, River Severn, River Avon, Stratford, Worcester & Birmingham, Staffs & Worcs, BCN, B&F, Shroppie, Llan, T&M, Cov, Oxford, Thames, Macc, GU, Ashby, River Trent, Fossdyke, Witham, Weaver, Caldon.  It possible that it's a major problem on other canals, but I doubt it. I demand a minimum of 2GB download speed, but I rarely have to go that low these days.

Like anything else, different people with different speed requirements may have different experiences, and results also depend on how often you check for signal. When I'm out on the canals I use OpenCanalMap (as well as the usual guide books), and it's not that uncommon to find stretches of canal where this doesn't work because there's no signal -- sometimes the phone shows 999 access only which means no signal on my network but signal on another network, sometimes there's no mobile signal at all. Unlike Dora who probably only checks signal when moored up, I see dead spots while travelling, in other words a much bigger sample size covering more of the canal I'm on -- though not as many canals as Dora listed above... 😉

 

These dead spots are usually -- but not always -- out in the sticks somewhere where there aren't many boats moored, only very occasionally in towns or popular mooring spots, which explains why Dora might miss them -- and it's correct that if there's no signal where you are you can sometimes make things better by moving, always assuming that there's space to move into. OTOH I've seen dead signal stretches while travelling lasting several minutes, you'd have to move a long way to get out of these if you moored there.

 

The fact remains that cellular coverage is pretty good nowadays, it's rare to end up moored up with no signal even if you pass through dead zones while travelling, which is a good reason not to solely rely on mapping (including Google Maps) that needs an online connection.

 

If you need higher data rates for things like video conferencing for work (needs similar speeds for upload *and* download, typically at least 1.5Mbps) as opposed to just internet access (much slower upload is fine) then you're more likely to run into problems (especially upload speed, because your phone transmits at much lower power than a basestation), but a good MIMO router with external aerials should make this a rare occurrence.

Edited December 3, 2021 by IanD

[TheBiscuits]

20 hours ago, IanD said:

Wow, 0.0212bps is *awfully* slow... 😉

 

(M=mega, m=milli, B=byte, b=bit...)

 

Yeah, but slow internet uses less amps per hour ...

[TheBiscuits]

18 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

I have also owned 5,742,656,870 inland boats

 

I thought @MtB was being greedy with 3 of them!

[TheBiscuits]

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Those figures are a million times better than we are getting at home 'hard-wired' into the BT Exchange.

 

Do you have a good mobile signal at the house?  Get a decent router and external antenna and Robert is your father's brother ...

[mrsmelly]

12 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

I thought @MtB was being greedy with 3 of them!

Eeejut 

[Alan de Enfield]

34 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Do you have a good mobile signal at the house?  Get a decent router and external antenna and Robert is your father's brother ...

 

No. we get 2Mb's to 3Mb's on Three (and they are the best signal in our area).

We have used the mobile ONLY at home for several years as the (land line) signal was so poor, but they told us it was now better so we tried again. They have accepted that the signal is not good enough and are sending OpenReach out to work on the line.

 

The joys of living in the wilderness.

[IanD]

34 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

No. we get 2Mb's to 3Mb's on Three (and they are the best signal in our area).

We have used the mobile ONLY at home for several years as the (land line) signal was so poor, but they told us it was now better so we tried again. They have accepted that the signal is not good enough and are sending OpenReach out to work on the line.

 

The joys of living in the wilderness.

If you're willing to cough up for it, Starlink should give you way better speeds than that -- typical speed in the UK was about 90M/15M down/up in August 2021, and is slowly increasing as more satellites are launched.

 

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2021/07/average-starlink-broadband-speeds-from-around-the-world.html

 

"Customers in the UK have to pay £89 a month for the beta service, plus £54 for shipping and £439 for the kit (dish, router etc.). But for that you can currently expect to receive unlimited usage, fast latency times of 20-40ms, download speeds of between 50-150Mbps and uploads of c.20Mbps."

 

If you go to this website you can see what likely performance is in your location -- and it's fascinating anyway...

 

https://starlink.sx/

 

Whether you think it's worth it depends entirely on how much you value having high-speed internet access and what you use it for -- TV/video catchup/streaming doesn't work at all with the rates you've currently got, and many people see this as essential nowadays.

Edited December 3, 2021 by IanD

[doratheexplorer]

4 hours ago, IanD said:

Like anything else, different people with different speed requirements may have different experiences, and results also depend on how often you check for signal. When I'm out on the canals I use OpenCanalMap (as well as the usual guide books), and it's not that uncommon to find stretches of canal where this doesn't work because there's no signal -- sometimes the phone shows 999 access only which means no signal on my network but signal on another network, sometimes there's no mobile signal at all. Unlike Dora who probably only checks signal when moored up, I see dead spots while travelling, in other words a much bigger sample size covering more of the canal I'm on -- though not as many canals as Dora listed above... 😉

 

These dead spots are usually -- but not always -- out in the sticks somewhere where there aren't many boats moored, only very occasionally in towns or popular mooring spots, which explains why Dora might miss them -- and it's correct that if there's no signal where you are you can sometimes make things better by moving, always assuming that there's space to move into. OTOH I've seen dead signal stretches while travelling lasting several minutes, you'd have to move a long way to get out of these if you moored there.

 

The fact remains that cellular coverage is pretty good nowadays, it's rare to end up moored up with no signal even if you pass through dead zones while travelling, which is a good reason not to solely rely on mapping (including Google Maps) that needs an online connection.

 

If you need higher data rates for things like video conferencing for work (needs similar speeds for upload *and* download, typically at least 1.5Mbps) as opposed to just internet access (much slower upload is fine) then you're more likely to run into problems (especially upload speed, because your phone transmits at much lower power than a basestation), but a good MIMO router with external aerials should make this a rare occurrence.

Blimey, could you possibly make any more assumptions???

 

1.  I'm generally streaming Radio 4 while I cruise, so I'm pretty much always aware if I very rarely enter a truly dead spot.

2.  I live aboard and cruise most of the year.  My typical move every week or so is a couple of hours, so I need good signal at very regular intervals along the canal.  You, on the other hand, don't even own a boat AFAIK.

3.  Dead signal stretches of several minutes are of no consequence to continuous cruisers.  The whole joy of being a continuous cruiser is that you can go where you like.  I just carry on a bit until there's signal.  And then make a note of the bad patch on my map.  For example, I don't ever consider mooring in Braunston (which is also too busy - see below).

4.  I tend to avoid busy popular mooring spots in favour of quiet rural places.  Cc'ers typically do this because the popular spots often have short time restrictions.

 

Amongst liveaboards, internet signal has become a popular topic of conversation (still behind toilets though) and we will often exchange experiences of places with really good signal, and also places to avoid.  The OP will discover this too.

 

The fact remains that I'm one of the few on here who continuously cruises AND works from home AND requires a decent internet signal every day, and I repeat, it's a non-issue.  On the list of ongoing things to keep on top of as a liveaboard, having sufficient internet signal is so far down the list, it barely registers.

 

This is from the post I originally responded to:

 

"there are still quite extensive areas on the canal system that have patchy mobile phone coverage - there are a lot of areas where 4G (let alone 5G) isn't available. "

 

This isn't true anymore in any useful sense.

Edited December 3, 2021 by doratheexplorer

[IanD]

43 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

Blimey, could you possibly make any more assumptions???

 

1.  I'm generally streaming Radio 4 while I cruise, so I'm pretty much always aware if I very rarely enter a truly dead spot.

2.  I live aboard and cruise most of the year.  My typical move every week or so is a couple of hours, so I need good signal at very regular intervals along the canal.  You, on the other hand, don't even own a boat AFAIK.

3.  Dead signal stretches of several minutes are of no consequence to continuous cruisers.  The whole joy of being a continuous cruiser is that you can go where you like.  I just carry on a bit until there's signal.  And then make a note of the bad patch on my map.  For example, I don't ever consider mooring in Braunston (which is also too busy - see below).

4.  I tend to avoid busy popular mooring spots in favour of quiet rural places.  Cc'ers typically do this because the popular spots often have short time restrictions.

 

Amongst liveaboards, internet signal has become a popular topic of conversation (still behind toilets though) and we will often exchange experiences of places with really good signal, and also places to avoid.  The OP will discover this too.

 

The fact remains that I'm one of the few on here who continuously cruises AND works from home AND requires a decent internet signal every day, and I repeat, it's a non-issue.  On the list of ongoing things to keep on top of as a liveaboard, having sufficient internet signal is so far down the list, it barely registers.

 

I wasn't arguing with you or making assumptions or attacking what you said -- my last 2 paragraphs agreed with you, if you read that far.

 

Your experience is obviously correct for you but other people may have different requirements, especially if they need to use video calling daily for work (much higher bitrate needed than streaming Radio 4, 1.5Mb/s continuously in both directions vs. 128kb/s download only with a lot of buffering to cover dropouts) which is essential for some people -- not for you as the highlighted section in your post says, but then not everyone is you. Or me. The difference in data rates and required latency/buffering makes a big difference to coverage.

 

Which is exactly what I said... 😉

Edited December 3, 2021 by IanD

[StephenA]

42 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

This is from the post I originally responded to:

 

"there are still quite extensive areas on the canal system that have patchy mobile phone coverage - there are a lot of areas where 4G (let alone 5G) isn't available. "

 

This isn't true anymore in any useful sense.

 

There are areas of the Shroppie - like round High Onn that have very poor coverage if you are inside the boat..

 

I was simply pointing out that is something they needed to aware of, but apparently you are accusing me of lying.

 

I guess I should just shut up and not offer any advice.... and people wonder why people give on on this forum.

[IanD]

25 minutes ago, StephenA said:

 

There are areas of the Shroppie - like round High Onn that have very poor coverage if you are inside the boat..

 

I was simply pointing out that is something they needed to aware of, but apparently you are accusing me of lying.

 

I guess I should just shut up and not offer any advice.... and people wonder why people give on on this forum.

It's true for Dora's (limited internet) needs, so surely it must be true for everybody? 😉

 

Unfortunately there is an increasing trend on the forum for people to assume that because something works (or doesn't) for them it must also work (or not) for everyone else, even though not everyone is the same. Toilets, stern type, engines, solar panels, heating, stoves, internet access, the list is endless. The end result is shouting matches and people being driven away from the forum.

 

Absolutely nothing wrong when people ask for advice to say "this works for me, maybe it will work for you", that's what the forum is good at, and what the OP asked for. But telling other people who might have different experiences or knowledge or needs "You're wrong, because my experience trumps yours" is what leads to rancorous arguments which go nowhere. "How dare you argue with me, you haven't even got a boat" is just one example of this... 😞

Edited December 3, 2021 by IanD

[doratheexplorer]

29 minutes ago, StephenA said:

 

There are areas of the Shroppie - like round High Onn that have very poor coverage if you are inside the boat..

 

I was simply pointing out that is something they needed to aware of, but apparently you are accusing me of lying.

 

I guess I should just shut up and not offer any advice.... and people wonder why people give on on this forum.

I'd accuse you of overstating.  In my experience, these "extensive areas" you refer to don't exist.  There are some small blackspots on the Shroppie, but much of it has great signal due to the high embankments.  I wouldn't want a new member to be put off their dream because they've got the wrong idea.  I've cruised and worked over many months on the Shroppie and there are hurdles to overcome.  Internet signal comes a long way down the list.  Much more of a problem is finding decent moorings where you can stay for 14 days, get into the edge, and tie up to something secure.

[ditchcrawler]

6 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:

Once I'd figured out the American dating system... you seem to have had a major upload issue on the afternoon of the 30th.  This isn't a problem for many things but is an issue for 2-way video meetings.  I would have taken a few more readings as sometimes a low result like that is just a temporary glitch.  If not, I'd have had a little wander up and down the towpath to find somewhere a bit better, and moved the boat there.

I get by. not the end of the world. At one point I got a better upload by using 3G and not 4G I manage to post here and to my blog most evenings, 95% I would say

[ditchcrawler]

T

 

This was at Shackerstone 

 

[IanD]

1 hour ago, doratheexplorer said:

I'd accuse you of overstating.  In my experience, these "extensive areas" you refer to don't exist.  There are some small blackspots on the Shroppie, but much of it has great signal due to the high embankments.  I wouldn't want a new member to be put off their dream because they've got the wrong idea.  I've cruised and worked over many months on the Shroppie and there are hurdles to overcome.  Internet signal comes a long way down the list.  Much more of a problem is finding decent moorings where you can stay for 14 days, get into the edge, and tie up to something secure.

For you.

 

For somebody working from the boat who video calls for at least a couple of hours every day (which is what I'd have to do if I moved onboard before retiring, and others have posted exactly the same requirement on the forum) it's near the top of the list, because it's how they pay the bills which allows them to live on the boat that needs mooring and tying up...

 

I do agree that there aren't many "extensive areas" with no mobile coverage, but there are a lot more where the mobile data rates are too low for some people like above, even if they're OK for phone calls or your Radio 4 streaming 😉

Edited December 3, 2021 by IanD

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

1 hour ago, StephenA said:

 

There are areas of the Shroppie - like round High Onn that have very poor coverage if you are inside the boat..

 

 

Haven’t visited the Anchor for a couple of years now but there  was never any coverage there. 
Which was nice because no one would sit in the pub using their phone.
It also meant I was forced to exercise by walking to High Offley Church for a clear signal. 
 

[doratheexplorer]

On 03/12/2021 at 16:42, IanD said:

For you.

 

For somebody working from the boat who video calls for at least a couple of hours every day (which is what I'd have to do if I moved onboard before retiring, and others have posted exactly the same requirement on the forum) it's near the top of the list, because it's how they pay the bills which allows them to live on the boat that needs mooring and tying up...

 

I do agree that there aren't many "extensive areas" with no mobile coverage, but there are a lot more where the mobile data rates are too low for some people like above, even if they're OK for phone calls or your Radio 4 streaming 😉

Just in case I wasn't abundantly clear earlier in the thread - I work from home and 2 or more hours of video calls a day is completely normal for me.  You're making those assumptions again.  My point about R4 streaming was when I am cruising - it would buffer if I was going through major dead-spots and that's extremely rare these days.  It's 11am right now and I've already exceeded 2 hours of video calls today.  No problems.  As I've said earlier in the thread, I require 2mbps speed which I find sufficient for those calls (but most of the time I have a fair bit more).  I have very little problem finding that.  Living and working aboard requires a lot of planning and effort, but many aspects require a lot more of those things than ensuring internet speed.  Yet there are some on this thread giving a different impression despite; not living aboard, or not working aboard, or not even owning a boat!  I hope the OP listens to those people who actually have relevant experience of this.

Edited December 9, 2021 by doratheexplorer

[IanD]

40 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

Just in case I wasn't abundantly clear earlier in the thread - I work from home and 2 or more hours of video calls a day is completely normal for me.  You're making those assumptions again.  My point about R4 streaming was when I am cruising - it would buffer if I was going through major dead-spots and that's extremely rare these days.  It's 11am right now and I've already exceeded 2 hours of video calls today.  No problems.  As I've said earlier in the thread, I require 2mbps speed which I find sufficient for those calls (but most of the time I have a fair bit more).  I have very little problem finding that.  Living and working aboard requires a lot of planning and effort, but many aspects require a lot more of those things than ensuring internet speed.  Yet there are some on this thread giving a different impression despite; not living aboard, or not working aboard, or not even owning a boat!  I hope the OP listens to those people who actually have relevant experience of this.

Maybe it would avoid such arguments if you had actually made clear earlier what your internet usage was -- and saying repeatedly how it wasn't really important didn't help make your case convincing... 😉

 

So it's now clear that you don't have a problem with internet access including video calls -- excellent news. Maybe it depends on network (which one do you use?), maybe it depends on router/aerial (ditto), maybe it depends on how free you are to choose where you moor. But don't forget that other people -- meaning, not me -- have reported less positive experiences, so doing a Peter and assuming that your experience must apply to everybody is not necessarily true -- but it's a good pointer to the fact that decent internet access *can* work for boaters, which as I said is good news, so thanks for that 🙂

 

And please, cut out the "you don't even own a boat" ad hominem attacks, leave them to people like phil and smelly and TWC...

Edited December 9, 2021 by IanD