grendel

And finally after fettling and polishing

so So from the above chart you can drop to 12.25V and still remain with 50% charge (note under a heavy load it may well drop lower while the load is connected.)

perhaps the answer is to say when this happens, something along the lines of- excuse me, I was just about to leave, could you give me a hand casting off my mooring lines, then they might realise the implications of what their pooch has just done, and consider their actions the next time the pooch decides to water the mooring post.

Well the clips are almost done, some plastic film to remove, and some hand filing to smooth them off still required

nothing better at 4.30am than listening to the rain pattering on the roof and knowing that you dont have to get up yet and go deal with things.

I have noticed that instead of being light at 4am its not getting light now until later- the mornings are drawing in now.

Well the good news is the plastic die works, longevity is not a problem as when it wears out I can print a new one

The dog sees it differently, she always takes you to the pub on a short lead

I also have a bead roller that I am looking at its capabilities for the cable clips, the only issue is it doesnt do a wide enough single channel (or deep enough in the correct width) but investigations are under way to see if I can print a fly press die that will stand up to the use. bear in mind that the majority of the brass sheet I have in stock is 1.2mm thick, its not the easiest of stuff to bend (but will make decent strong brackets. the plastic press tool (top and bottom) and the double radius roll the biggest single radius roll, but is it big enough for a 6mm cable?

so, as I mentioned above i had decided the plastic brackets I had made were going to be replaced with brass ones, so my next issue was how to make 2 decent 90 degree bends 10mm apart, in opposite directions, this requires some special clearances in the bending tool. I tried my small vice bender, no good, bending in the vice with a hammer left rounded corners, so while I was looking around my eyes alighted on my little fly press, so out with some 1" steel bar and a tool was turned on the lathe and the flats of the V milled out (an exhausting process with the mill removing 0.05mm per pass). then it was time to make the bottom die- hang on I thought, the V block has all the features I need for that- so one of my small v blocks was selected and bending began, we are still only partway through the process, as I have yet to find an easy way to do the even smaller clips for the cables. so the basic bends have been formed (the tool took longer than it took to bend the parts) next will be cleaning up, cutting the legs of the brackets to length, drilling the fixing holes and rounding the corners.

herein lies the problem, the dog owner sees the dog taking a Pee on a post, they dont notice the mooring lines, or associate them with someone needing to handle the ropes at some point, they are blissful in their ignorance. I would have maybe pointed out that I have later to handle those ropes your dog is soiling, could you please stop them. at least that way maybe they will think next time little tinkerbell approaches a mooring post with intent to pee.

A few weeks back I reported to the county council that a one year road closure on a national cycleway had occurred, and that the traffic diversion posted was dangerous for cyclists to use as it was a busy road that narrows right down at one point (widening just where cyclists are required to do a right turn, and just where the cars following try and overtake) I recieved a response yesterday that an alternative route had been decided and that temporary divesion signage for the cycle way would be going up soon, the only problem is that one short section (about 100 ft) is through a pedestrianised high street so cyclists would need to dismount, not too much of a problem as its a very busy pedestrian area, and the route proposed is far safer than the posted diversion was, its great when the county council listen, and take action. Why the builders who closed the road to cars cyclae and pedestrians for a year needed to do that I really dont know, they even closed the footpath just past the front doors of several houses leaving them facing a wooden fence about 2 foot from their houses (the pavements are narrow) enclosing another 6 foot of footpath, would have left the access open for pedestrians at least.

water tank is on stbd, and empty, fuel tank to port is full

I wasnt sure who I had waved to at dutch gardens until I was past and saw the name on the boat. It was good to meet up with you later

Yup, back to work so brain not functioning.

I did notice a tractor presumably cutting the footpath alongside the bure down from beccles, they had made it to about halfway to the worlingham moorings when I spotted their random orange flashing light on the bank.

its normally about 3 1/2 hours, from Margate up to the Dartford Crossing will be about an hour (then depending on how long the queue is at the dartford crossing (anything from a few minutes to half an hour is normal) then for Stalham, I would use M11, A11 as that is dual carriage way all the way to Norwich, should be just under 200 miles (its having to drive west from kent to cross the thames that eats up a lot of miles- Margate to dartford is nearly 60 miles) technically I live less than 20 miles from southend, but its a 70 mile drive. my main advice is dont aim to hit the dartford crossing at about 8.30AM or 5PM (as that is the worst time for holdups.)

traffic around Beccles was slow, due to everyone leaving the latitude festival, but I got home in 4 hours so not too bad. I downloaded the camera only to find i had only taken a handful of pictures

Well I beat the rain back to Water Rails home mooring, now I need to pack up and do those last minute tasks before loading the car, I would normally have done these on my overnight mooring, then just loaded the car and departed, but I am in no rush now

Of course since dave had left a new gas bottle, ithe old one waited until half way through cooking breakfast to run out, then took a while to change over as a new regulator was required. I woke to rain, and its been pretty much off and on all morning so far, I looked at the weather forecast to see the best time to head back to base and saw it would start raining around 9am, hmm. I'll make a move once I have finished breakfast then.

I had noticed it was quiet, 2 days running passing beccles ys, and seeing only half a dozen visitors moored up, spaces at the moorings on the waveney, Oulton Broad was busy when I called in Thursday, but that was just the people wanting to watch the powerboat racing.

Despite the fact the weed has obviously been cut, I did have issues coming back along the dyke, what with the weed seriously hampering progress and a flotilla of young canoeists setting off, I was still having times when a burst of reverse to clear the props was called for. Then in beccles itself I had an encounter with one of the rowing club, I saw him coming, steered to the bank, slowed down and stopped, but he didn't give himself room to turn, so clattered an oar against me as he past, he did apologise, I couldn't cross to the other side as more rowing boats were over there. Anyway I carried on past beccles, and moored up at Worlingham.

Yesterday as I approached beccles and the little sailing dinghy racing, I was up and down on the throttle letting them complete tacks etc, and trying to predict where they were heading so I didn't occupy that space, and I witnessed headed the other way (in the 4mph zone) was a small cruiser with quite a bow wave, and a whole load of people on the bank yelling and waving for them to slow down, or kill their wash. At 4mph or less, I was barely making a ripple.

Well as soon as the floaty bits in the water stopped flowing out, I knew the tide was turning, so at a gentle 1800 rpm, I headed up river, all the way to geldeston, where I have currently moored up (just past the boatyard entrance, some white posts have been set into the bank) there are lots of paddleboards ang canoes up this way.