Leaderboard

Don't get me started on those bloody human beings. Always killing something, or each other,or fighting each other, or destroying something or other. Terrible species.

There are seagoing coasters op there. The Trent is great but it does wrankle with me when peeps discount the use of a cheap bit of kit such as a VHF radio. The times I tried to hail narrowboats on the non tidal bit downstream of Nottingham on blind bends etc and no response was just stupidity. A basic course and a hundred quid radio is all it takes. Even if you are too daft to take the course at least buy a radio and listen in and if the crap hits the fan use it in an emergency and no one is going to take you to prison.

Yeah and for those who say VHF isn't needed cos I have a mobile phone well does the skipper of such vessels have your phone number in his saved contacts? for when he is trying to tell boaters to keep clear if he is coming sideways on after losing power? and yes it did happen to us in 2000.

No it was a spelling mistake. I've corrected it for you.

Have you seen the standard of training given by some RYA instructors? Some of it is down right dangerous! Use a 1m length of rope wrapped around the risers and held onto in the bow in the large Trent locks for example! Personally I will use my bow line toed back to the boat instead. Let the boat do the work rather than risk being pulled off the bow of the boat! We have seen Neil at Torksey and Mick at Boston refuse to let boats out before and both times on very good grounds. The lockie at Corpach last month very nearly didn't let a boat out as well as the crew were so incapacitated with booze, at 9am that they couldn't handle their boat. In the end it was decide they were safer off the canal!

It is amazing how many ditch dwellers are experts on the Rivers and know all about VHF (not needing it - or the need for an anchor !!)

Expensive Pedegree batteries can be like expensive pedegree pets, short lived and temperamental. I'd rather have a cheap mongrel battery any day.

Seems I can't spell either. It should have said...........I've heard a swan can beak a man's ar$e

Yes it is my opinion. But then I suppose you have never had a young child bitten on the face by a so called "he's just being playful" dog that was on the loose in a public path. Maybe in those circumstances your response would have been a bit more reasoned. And Athy; you don't do yourself any favours giving a green one for that remark. Especially as you are supposed to be a moderator.

It does do to get upset, the dogs are the responsibility of the dog owner, he should not have animals out of control, they can savage people or pets or wildlife, they should not be uncontrolled. Its dangerous and its illegal. Where was the parent? the parent is the responsible adult, it is their job to keep the child from danger. A male swan in full attack mode is indeed dangerous, but small children should not be allowed to wander about unsupervised, in the country or in the town.

Hello all, had our boat for three weekends now and thought you'd find it interesting, nostalgic to hear how we have been getting on... So, the first decision was whether to put our Springer on a lorry at Cropredy, or navigate home to the middle level. Easy one, £1000 by road or about £200 in fuel, pubs and taxis etc. And after all it's a boat so what better way to learn the ropes. First weekend, alone, straight into a series of single locks. surprised when I got wedged into the entrance, fenders down. there really isn't much tollerance, every inch counts . Out in the countryside, rain lashing down, engine over heats....checked the canal water intake filter...clean...checked the pipe from canal to filter, clean....checked the small connector between pipe and filter....a thimble full of gunge and that was enough to over heat the engine. Would have thought the intake system would be a far bigger diameter, not down to about quarter of an inch!! Burnaston.....rope and a coat hanger around the prop, that's fine until I find that the hatch is bolted down with eight big bolts F.G.S. it's supposed to be quick release right? Tired, missed some armco to moor up to so had to carry on through another six double locks. Why are there pubs right on these locks?? My lock technique as a singleton on a big lock provided the entertainment . Phew, squeezed in a space just before the LONG Burnaston tunnel. A nice older chap passed on some of his experience and then even drove me back to my car, it's a nice community in the world of narrowboats. Paired up with the Mrs, did the tunnel, great adventure, daunting having boats heading towards though. We got our lock technique reasonable and eventually made it to Gayton Marina where the staff were so helpful. Hull blacked (375 30 foot). Rope fender attached to rear, bump strips re welded where needed, boiler fixed, domestic water pump changed, weed hatch modified with a T bar YIPPEE. Fuel leak fixed. I even got to fit some of my new sound proofing material around the engine bay....it's so loud without any! Left the marina and thank god I had help with the 17 locks just ahead. Didn't want to moor in Northampton centre so opted to use the stakes at a quiet stretch of canal, the reeds were a bit difficult though.... No complaints, it's what it's all about isn't it. Just wondering if we will have trouble finding somewhere to moor along the Nene ahead, maybe we have been lucky so far?

Absolutely (again Only a look at the wiring diagram will tell us what's currently there. It's quite possible that they have a split charge relay which will put back the few Ah that the starter batt used in double quick time when the engine is running, so the previous owner wasn't worried about it when on shore power.

You are the sort of person the lockies hate! Think nothing of spending £50-60k on a boat but dont like spending £100 On a course and £70 on a piece of safety equipment.

You said "RIVERS" and therefore all the rivers I mentioned, PLUS the river sections of 2 canals would be "banned" by your (stupid) comments.

If the fridge is a compressor one then plan on 50Ah per day. If its a 3 way fridge running on 12V then plan on about 180 Ah a day and solid tomatoes & milk. Add 12 Ah for 4 to 6 hours of TV (assuming a flat screen) plus say 10 Ah for lights and pump. That comes out at 72 Ah per day. On my solar figures in long bright days in June you will need over 300 Watts of solar and more during dull days and as you move further away from June either way. I think it is possible to mount that amount if you use your cockpit and cabin roof but it will be far more expensive that that generator when you add in the solar controller (MPPT for best output). However that discounts any engine running. Until identified I would expect your alternator to be something like a modest Lucas ACR of 35 to 45 amps out put. It may have been changed for an A127 @ 50 amps (all informed guesses). Lets assume the higher figure. That gives a very rough average out put over 3 to 4 hours of about 25 amps so over 4 hours that equates to about 100 Ah BUT 10% to 40% of that will be lost in the charging process depending upon all sorts of factors. Lets say 20%. That means for 4 hours cruising you put back in about 80 Ah but unless you run for far longer that 4 hours it will only be about 80% fully charged. So 4 hours of engine charging will cover your loads but not fully charge the batteries. During the summer maybe 200 watts of solar will complete the battery charging each day as long as you engine charge earlier in the day. That amount of solar will easily recharge the batteries when you leave the boat and go home for some days. It will also keep them very well charged over the winter. Hopefully this will show why you were advised that engine charging was, perhaps, the best option. Assuming my rough power audit is about right lets look at charging via the generator you linked to and that it will drive a 15 amp charger. Although the charger is likely to be a bit better at getting electricity into the battery than the alternator the way batteries accept charge means that its safest to make similar assumptions to those for the alternator. Over a 4 hour period its likely to put back in an average of 4 x 7.5 amps = less than 30 Ah once you take charging efficiency into account. That is less than half the domestic demand so you will need to run it for far, far longer, maybe 8 to 12 hours for 100% charge. Even if the generator will drive a 20 amp charger the time to 80% charged will be shorter but it will not be much shorter if you want to go to 100%. I hope that you can see that for 100% charge you need a lot of solar, even in the summer, or a combination of engine/generator charging early in the day plus more modest solar. Charging to 80% for a week or so when you are on the boat is unlikely to massively reduce battery life AS LONG AS you charge to 100% about once a week. Unfortunately you can not alter the electro-chemical processes involved in charging to suit your demands. If you want decent battery life you have to modify your demands to suite the way batteries charge and the equipment you have.

It's odd how a subject like this suddenly turns all boat owners into sensible financial managers. If the end result is exactly what you want, it really doesn't matter what it costs. I know a couple who had a 55 footer built new, fitted out, then decided it was too small so they almost immediately had it stretched to 65'. the eventual cost was obviously considerably more than if they had commissioned a 65 footer but they got what they wanted in the end. It's possible, I suppose with a 50 footer you may already have enough engine. We're only 45' though and I think the engine (Bukh DV24) isn't up to pushing (and stopping) another ten feet of boat.

I think its stupid for the sake of an hour or so. Feed from shoreline terminating in a 13 amp socket. Feed from inverter terminating in a 13 amp socket next to the shoreline one. fly lead from boat's mains system terminating in a 13 amp plug. That's it, plug into which ever you want with little danger of electrocution. However you need to get your RCD & MCB in the right place and for maximum protection may need 2. Probably easier to fit s changer over switch.

Actually you can breast up, get the drink out and share it with your neighbour. At least that's what we did.

Oops sorry, Braunston! Mixing it up with the Toyota plant in Derby!!!

No sir. Never make male pins "live" ever.

When the tide came in Marie Rose.!

Yeah, you do. Ive been telling my mrs that for years! " Its practically complete love."

If its learnt to hum, how long before it learns to whistle. Before you know it, it will be auditioning on X Factor.

Talk about cheer the guy up. Not only is he soon sleeping on the sofa, his inverter will soon pack up (hope its still in warranty)

Why did the lobster blush? Cos the Seaweed!

Mike, surely the installation of a " Smartgauge " eliminates any possibility of battery problems?

How did they Cal-culate the speed ? Are you sure the machine was properly Cal-ibrated ?

Phylus in with the details.

Connect the cameras to the web then you can view whilst away from home

There was one a few years back in Brayford pool.

Tight underpants ?

Remind me not to eat the samphire next time I visit Lawling!

It is my view (I have no idea what Dor's opinion may be) that moderators are put under unnecessary constraint if they have to make their posts using their normal site identity. It would be better if they could perform their moderating role under another identity (mod 3 or whatever). This would allow them the freedom to post without hinderance under their normal name and to moderate using the alternative one. I realise that this would not affect you, Athy as you do not recognise any separation between the two roles but to me, it is clear that such a separation is needed if becoming a moderator is not to cramp the mod's style. Oh and yes, I feel I can instruct other members as to which posts they should like (freedom of speech and all that); of course they would have to be demented to take any notice of my instruction. Frank

Ok no I don't feed swans but I do feed Trolls. Does that help. Any progress yet with asking the police you original question? Please make sure to let them know you are a scratch golfer and you dog is a Crufts winner.

I don't have a dog. I do have a door. If i did have a dog, pretty sure he wouldn't be able to open it.

"I am intrigued by Stuart's assertion that the boater was "making full use " of the toilet facilities. Did he have a video camera in the cubicle, or did he base his interpretation on audible clues? I'm not convinced that swans "enjoy" anything. They look very morose most of the time." The above comment is pathetic of the moderator, it detracts from the fact that a cygnet was despatched by dogs out of control of its owner/s. Shame on you...

I do hope that this was reported to the police. There seems to be an ever-growing number of people who not only think it is not a problem if their dogs are out of control, but that there are no consequences for their actions. Such people should not be permitted to keep dogs. If these things go unreported, the problem will only get worse.

Please don't thank them. They'll stay up all night and change everything again. Rog

I think you have that wrong Mike, the fan is to keep air passing over the solids to aid composting, and you’re welcome any time to come and see (smell) if ours smells but finishing of the composting when CCing is a problem though. Not telling what I do with mine.

impellor comes in a little kit. Impellor, 0 rings and the gasket, for the Water Puppy. Jasco part number 6303-0003K. Cleghorn Waring- Jabsco, Iknield way, Letchworth, Herts.

Only once they have unloaded it. It has Bin Laden but now its Un Laden

Yep, always when you have an audience! I was single handing through Berkhamsted towards Hemel on a boiling hot day earlier this year when I reached the Rising Sun lock. It was packed with people sitting outside all around the lock and on the beams. Did my thing in a really efficient manner ( even though I say so myself!) even attracting the comment "you've done this before mate". Strolled round with a puffed up chest asking people sat round the beam to "MIND YOUR BACKS LADIES AND GENTS" Cruised out of the lock,little burst of reverse then to neutral, put eye of my rope over stern cleat and hopped off holding rope then ran up stairs to close lock gates, bloody rope came off the cleat. Collective "ooooh" from crowd as I stood holding limp rope and my boat drifted away from the bank. chest rapidly deflating and cheeks reddening, I watched my boat move to the centre of the channel ( it's kinda wide below that lock) totally out of reach. After about 5 mins pondering with (it felt like) thousands of eyes upon me, I realised I should let some water through the lock to create a flow and hopefully my boat would get pushed to the side. This worked,as my boat headed to the offside I shut the paddles and took a wooded footpath to the offside where I emerged to see my boat nestled on the tow path. Cue the walk of shame back down the footpath and in front of all the drinkers who were unsuccessfully trying to hold in their laughter. I will now only travel through that lock first thing in the morning before the pub opens!!