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Eastern

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Everything posted by Eastern

  1. Words almost fail me. Why would anyone think that it is acceptable to dump their rubbish in the canal, on the towpath, or in a hedgerow? I assumed that forum members were canal enthusiasts!
  2. Is it half term already? This was the level of debate I used to have in the playground at primary school. Well, my Dad is bigger than yours and I'm taking my ball back and not playing anymore.
  3. But that isn't a rule - nor is it likely to become one.
  4. What a great topic! Here's my two penneth.... If you are a member of society, then you must morally abide by the rules of that society. If you have a boat on BW waters then you need a licence and possibly a BSS. On the roads I assume no one is defending not having a licensed, insured and MOT'd car. What is the difference? The option does not exist to pick which rules you obey and which you do not. As to the point that the boater is too poor to buy a licence...Well, if you see them give them a knock and offer them the money for one (I think cash would be prefered), and wait to see how long it takes them to display the licence. The canals are not a freeloaders paradise, and I for one will report any boats I see without a licence.
  5. Eastern

    Rainwear

    What I wanted to convey in my earlier post is that the style of the drovers coat is great. It's just as a practical piece of wet weather gear that it falls down. I would have thought that preventing water being wicked up the sleeve was a basic requirement, which has been solved on my Daks waxed jacket by using a inner storm cuff. I would buy a pair of cuffs and sew them in to the Drizabone, if I knew where you buy them. Drizabone could easily solve the problem by increasing the size of the turn up on the cuff. I find mine is great for taking the dog for a walk etc, but useless as when steering a narrowboat in medium and heavy rain. Better to get a wax jacket on offer at Lidl next week - £29.99 IIRC! East
  6. Eastern

    Rainwear

    I hope that you are pleased with coat, but I must tell you that I bought one and I am very dissapointed with it. The construction of the sleeves is such that the turn up where the lining is attached is very small. Water runs down the sleeve and wicks up the lining giving you a damp arms. I have tried waxing the lining for a couple of inches up from the bottom of the sleeve, but it still happens. I also bought a sou'wester type hat. This is even worse. It leaks where the 'Drizabone' label is sewn in and the lining of the hat rubs on the shoulders of the coat, thus wicking the water up and onto my head. Again waxing the lining reduces this, but does not eliminate it. I'm afraid it is another brand that has 'style over substance' East
  7. Yes, to search this forum, you go to the top of the page and select 'Search'
  8. Canals should be used to move boats around. Not to be permanently moored on. If, as a private boater, you move around the canals from November this year you will paying double the amount for your (diesel) fuel. The exchequer will have gained a 'windfall' from this increase in taxation, so it seems reasonable that BW should ask for a share of this extra revenue, and use it to off set any additional licence fee. Anyway, boaters are not the only users of canals.
  9. I have to go along with others and say that if money was no object then I would have my dream boat built by Norton Canes Boatbuilders. But if money was a problem.....then I'd still have a boat from NC. Hang on! I've just remembered....NC start my new boat next year...Phew, thats a relief! East
  10. That'll be why most domestic electrical equipment is double insulated and does not have an earth connection?
  11. the quoted 18% loss is for the piston type pump which is the more expensive option over the vane type which has a bigger power loss. Quite correct Gary, but to be fair the piston pump type including a Beta 50hp engine was £3700.00 and the vane motor was £3550.00. Not a big difference, I'm sure you will agree! The BW workboats are rare sight on the system, broken down or otherwise. I wouldn't have thought that hydraulic systems were inherently unreliable, as I see plenty of JCBs etc working away at digging holes and such like. I'm afraid I'm old enough to remember when the earth moving machine all worked on steel cables being wound on and off a drum! But don't lets go there
  12. Hi Duztee, I visited the Hercules Hydrulics stand at the IWA exhibition at Wolverhampton yesterday. They claim that a conventional drive has loses of 10% from the flywheel to prop and that their hydraulic drive has an additional 8% on top, making an 18% loss. Their costs seem on a parr with conventional drive as a gearbox and flexible couplings are not required. The time and engineering expertise reqired to install a conventional drive is much greater (they claim) and there are savings to be made there. Their web address is www.herculeshydraulics.co.uk They seem keen to offer full support to boaters. With regards to your idea of using an hydraulic generator, I would suggest that you investigate the tax implications, because you would want all the fuel used for electrical generation to be taxed at red diesel rate. Regards East
  13. Ah yes Steve, My grandad smoked 90 woodbines a day from the age of 12, and he lived to 103. There's alway and exception to the rule! I think you may find that every boat that has had problems with millscale has not been rusted and gritblasted. Over to the forum
  14. Chris, How can you second guess my motives for posting a reply? If you read my post I did not say that you could not make living on a boat cheaper than living in a house. My motives are to help people who wish to live on a boat to have realistic expectations of what is entailed and what the costs are. If you take like for like lifestyle choices, the appreciation of propery value against depreciation of boat values (for we must compare buying with buying, not buying with renting) and the maintenance costs I would be very surprised if it was cheaper. May I also point out that we have entered the 'silly season', so you may expect stories like the average wage etc to appear in the media.
  15. Hi Rob, I would agree with Dave. Make sure your expectations are reasonable. Many people seem to think that living on a boat is a cheap option compared with housing on land. This is not the case. You may be surprised to hear that you are not the first person to post on this topic, and I would recommend you search the archives. Regards East
  16. The advice from them who know, is do not skimp on the shell. A great fit out in a mediocre shell will never have a decent second hand value, but a good shell with an indifferent fit out can be re-fitted. If I were you, and in your price range, I would look at the Polish production boats. Amber Boats and Aqualine are really well produced boats and well fitted out. You really need to do some hard thinking if you wish to live on a boat away from a mains hook up. Either change to a low energy lifestyle or get an onboard generator, would be my advice. And remember, like a car and unlike property over the medium and longer term, you are buying a depreciating asset. Pip Pip
  17. I've read this topic with interest. IMHO the answer to the problem is to have the shell built by a 'proper' boatbuilder such as Norton Canes Boatbuilders (web site of the same name). Here the shell is built, left outside to rust for 3 months and then gritblasted back to bare metal, before being painted. Sorry, but anything else is a botch. I'm afraid that you only get what you pay for in this life. That's my quota of wise words used up for today
  18. I totally agree with you Arnot. I think some (most?) people don't understand that the 2v cell is the building block for all lead acid batteries. So a 12v battery has 6 x 2v cells connected internally. When one cell fails you have to throw all 6 away! The other point that is not generally understood is that you can only use about 40% of the batterys' capacity, so a 100Ah battery will only give you 40Ah. Of course, if you are a weekend user then a set of cheap lesuire batteries will suffice, but for extended cruising and liveaboard use then seperate 2v cells are the ones to go for. The purchase price of a bank of 2v cells is high, but when you work out the total cost of ownership, they do work out cheaper. I shall be having them on my boat because of their electrical capacity and their long life expectancy. East
  19. Thinking about it further..... If the exhaust pipes were of sufficient lenghth (whatever that might be) then the exhaust gasses would have to compress the gas in the pipe before they could enter any cylinder of an engine. Isn't this unlikely when there is a lower pressure path via the silencer? East
  20. Thanks for all the replies. So if we are agreed that it is a good idea to fit a valve, I think that an automatic one like a flap valve would be best (less chance of a cock up!). Are these available commercially, and where can I get one - or indeed two? East
  21. Has anyone any experience with sharing a silencer between the propulsion engine & a genset? I want to use a hospital silencer for both, but as I don't want to run both engines at the same time, I reckon it must be possible to share the silencer - thus saving space and cost. Both engines would be diesel engines with dry exhausts. Could I just connect the exhausts together with a 'Y' piece. or perhaps a simple flap valve to seperate them? All help appreciated! East
  22. Although they don't sell sofa beds, they do sell chairs, sofas, tables etc. They will fit anywhere. http://www.slotfurniture.com East
  23. You can't have the word 'Sky' and 'free' in the same sentence.
  24. In no way do I want to see a canal with no boats. But we must remember that naturalists, walkers, cyclists and fishermen/women will still use and value the canals. Our plans are unchanged at becoming a livaboard in 2010/11 on a brand new British boat - well, English really. We will be retaining some property in the UK housing market to give us a choice of where to live when our health fails, as we not expecting the value of the boat to be more than 50% of what we will be paying for it. Many years ago I lived as an ex-pat in Germany. When I arrived the people already there were complaining about how the value of the pound had fallen whilst they had been there etc. As a newcomer I thought it was great. The same may be happening to boatowners on the canals.
  25. ChannelGlaze do double glazed Houdini hatches. IIRC they are about £500.00 each, plus VAT!
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