Mike the Boilerman

Mope, no idea yet but given the heat output at full chat is 5kw, probably quite a lot. This is my primary doubt about it too. Heat output and therefore fuel consumption falls as the batteries go into absorption, so I'm hoping as the thing runs (silently) for hours and hours punching in that last 10% of charge, the heat output will fall commensurately. Didn't you do a power consumption audit before fitting it?!!

That's puzzling then. I still recommend his fenders.

Almost certainly Chris Shenton. He made me a nice bow fender with a tyre over it for REGINALD far an unfeasibly small sum of money. I'll PM you his number.

My Whispergen CPH unit has a lot of potential as a viable alternative. It runs on diesel, makes about the same amount of noise as a Ebersplutter so can be run without causing a nuisance any time of day or night, and heats the boat and charges the batteries at the same time. It has a few shortcomings and rough edges but I haven't had the stove alight since commissioning it.

I saw a large rectangular basin dug out on the southern Stratford too a couple of months ago, which looks for all the world as though originally intended for moorings. No pontoons, boats or anything in it though. Just an empty basin. This one is actually connected to the cut yet unused. I'll seef I can find it on googlemaps later...

You ring them and tell them. As I explained in post 80, they accept your word without question, amend their records accordingly and thank you for your help in keeping their information up to date. That's been my personal experience on several occasions anyway. Have you found otherwise?

Hmmm. I've had such a letter on several occasions and the letter courteously states why they have written and invites me to tell them if their data is wrong. Given they know their systems are flawed what more do you expect them to do? Spend £15m they don't have on a new data gathering you consider fit for purpose? I get the feeling you think they should not being enforcing anything as their current data system is less than perfect. Is that your view? Each time I've made a call to their offices to explain how their records are wrong, the person I've spoken to has amended my records without question and thanks me for my call. I find this 100% acceptable.

This is most curious. I can understand you feeling threatened given a strict interpretation of the T&C, but have CRT proceeded to actually threatening you? I feel threatened when I drive past a speed camera van at 28mph, but no-one seems to think those are a problem except people who speed. Are you feeling threatened because you would like to feel free to do some CMing 100 miles from your home mooring, relying on strict interpretation of the law perhaps?

"How to stop being unmoored by yobs" I find myself wondering if it is really 'yobs'. There are plenty of intolerant middle class people out there who resent boats and boaters mooring near their houses, running their noisy engines and burning their stinky stoves. I wouldn't be at all surprised if one of these types decided 'direct action' was better than moaning repeatedly and ineffectively at CRT about the boats.

Are there any examples of this actually happening? Seems to me that the 'rule' has been introduced to the licence T&Cs to give CRT a bit more of a case against people who take a ghost mooring or claim an unverifiable mooring and then proceed to CM in one area claiming they don't need to CC.

Never mind how many cylinders, I'd like to know why there is a torpedo complete with propeller mounted below those exhaust pipes.

I don't really get why you say this. In my personal experience having a big bank in order to go say a week between recharges, just results in a goosed set of batteries very quickly.

Well actually yes, because a feeble weld there quickly fractures from stress caused by the hammer blow shocks as the stake is whacked into the ground.

Ok I'll own up, yes guilty as charged!

Stick the wet vac straight into the top connection of the skin tank. Saves getting your nice clean bilge covered in antifreeze.