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larryjc

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About larryjc

  • Birthday 16/02/1953

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  • Website URL
    http://sowethereyet.blogspot.co.uk/

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Martock Somerset when not on the boat
  • Interests
    Sailing, skiing, appallingly bad golf
  • Occupation
    Author
  • Boat Name
    Jacaranda
  • Boat Location
    oop north

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  1. I guess I'm lucky with a pram over the hatch and only the stern gland to worry about. However, previous owners weren't so careful and there has clearly been quite a lot of water in there in the past. Which I why I have some fertran, bilge paint, wire brushes etc all ready for me to make the effort to paint it all out as soon as I can find the motivation!!!
  2. Or do what I do and keep it dry!!
  3. This really winds me up. A CO alarm can only be used for the internal safety of those on board. I was repeatedly told by the examiner of my boat this year that the BSS is there to prevent my boat causing issues to others like catching fire, so like others have said here, this seems yet another example of nanny state mission creep. BUT the one thing that can really ruin your day and of those around you is if the boat blows up because of an internal gas leak. I come from the yachting world and have never sailed a boat in recent years without a gas alarm. They are cheap and easy to fit. I normally put the sensor as low as possible and near the cooker. When I mentioned this to the examiner he had no idea what I was talking about. The reality is that all the incredibly detailed BSS gas safety precautions can't stop a leak happening if it wants to. The only way to find out is to light a match (not a good idea) or fit an alarm. Heres a simple one: https://www.force4.co.uk/pilot-single-sensor-gas-alarm-12v.html?sqr=gas alarm& I'm not trying to widen the debate or suggest that BSS should adopt these merely using it to illustrate, to my mind, why the BSS is losing its way.
  4. Did Hillmorton a few weeks ago and the female lockie at the bottom lock was so interested in her gardening that once we were in the lock we were given a stiff ignoring. The other two locks were manned but they only helped crewed boats and ignored one poor chap who was on his own.
  5. Yes but mine are in parallel as I don't want shadows on one stopping both working so the voltage is only about 36.
  6. I did this when I fitted my tracer - all I use is a standard battery isolations switch - fitted in the plus line - like this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Techniks-BS01HD-Battery-Isolator-Switch/dp/B009CRM34I/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1531917286&sr=1-1&keywords=battery+isolation+switch
  7. Mines even easier - I have a great big hinged hatch over the tank in the bow and just lift it up and look in!
  8. Got exactly the same problem with the hatch over my water tank I thought about getting fancy replacement hinges but saw another solution on another boat. I'm going to angle grind off the bits that take the hinge itself and replace with a bought in hinge that I will bolt on on - drilling and tapping a thread in the metal either side. As the metal is quite thick there will be plenty of depth to take a thread. Midland chandlers do a selection of hinges. https://www.midlandchandlers.co.uk/store/category/midland chandlers/cabin and deck/cabin fittings/hinges.aspx
  9. Ditto - hence the narrowboat!!!!!!
  10. That will have been with Lieutenant, later Commodore and even later SW Police Commisioner Tony Hogg I suspect. Good bloke. I flew the Wasp but not at sea thankfully surprisingly I also flew one last summer with my co author who owns an airworthy example. A great machine to muck around in on a sunny day, night deck landings off Iceland maybe not so much!!
  11. Not advertising honestly! I have a book about the Wasp helicopter coming out in the Autumn and there is a section on the Cod Wars with a remarkably similar ramming photo in it that I got from the Flight Commander of Andromeda. I personally missed out on that fun and games although had some 'fun' a few years later.
  12. But that's my point, there are far more sea going yachts than inland waterway craft in this country and to use your metaphor - they have no referee at all - and yet they don't seem to have a problem with that!
  13. This whole subject makes me wonder where this world is going to. Yes yachts are built to the RCD nowadays but are never required to be inspected again. There again, I expect nearly everyone who owns a yacht goes out and buys a gas sensor alarm and fits it if one isn't there already - yet the BSS does not require one. My BSS examiner wasn't even aware that they were available. They do however require a different size of drain pipe from a gas locker depending on the size of the gas bottles, which is daft as the size of the drain should be proportional to size of the leak (although god knows how you would measure that!!) and that has nothing to do with how big the bottle or pipework is. So we have the situation of inland craft having to pass a 4 yearly MOT and yachts, which are generally much more expensive, operate in a far more demanding environment and are packed into marinas where millions of pounds of other far more inflammable vessels are moored, do not require any sort of checks at all. And then there are the wrecks you see moored on the towpath with a valid licence that can barely float, which presumalby have passed inspection.
  14. Plenty of K&A locks have gate paddles in the top gates and no deflector plates to stop the water coming in almost a third of the way into the lock if you open them too fast. I'm amazed more boats haven't been sunk. Note in this photo we've barely opened them.
  15. Only a slight drift - but what about when you see 'no mooring' signs on the towpath side. I can think of several palces where we've seen them. The ones in Rugby are pucka CRT ones so are presumably there for a reason but further on just before Hawsbury there is a stretch and I 've seen quite a few in other places Aynho on the Oxford springs to mind.
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