grendel

don't forget that the vehicle you tow with may well have a manufacturers gross train weight limit, and that any extra baggage carried in the vehicle may reduce the weight you can tow as well. Grendel

just remember that an anodised surface is usually just a few microns in thickness, I used to work in aluminium double glazing years back and for industrial purposes the anodising was generally only about 20 microns thick, most is even less. generally getting the right solvent should work as the anodised surface is quite resistant to most things other than abrasion. toothpaste is gentle enough though. Grendel

more likely Bluebottles knees....

Tim, one trick for cleaning up brightwork is to wad up a ball of aluminium foil and use that to polish the item (brings up tarnished and lightly pitted chrome a treat). another very mild abrasive is toothpaste (this is so mild it can be used on Perspex to remove scratches). yet another very mild abrasive is talcum powder (used by draughtsmen to dry ink and restore a matt surface to drawing film). once the item is clean and bright you can protect the finish by lightly polishing with beeswax furniture polish, this will protect it from the oils and moisture from your fingers (this was a great trick of mine to keep rust away from sword blades, which can show signs of rust very quickly after Little Johnny has put their fingers all over the blade at re-enactment shows (also does a very good job on wet days). with any luck it might even make them Uncle Albert proof. Grendel

Timbo, are you sure it was Guides clinking against the mast, it would make more sense if it was sea Scouts.... Grendel

there is a small wad kept in the tin of beeswax polish, never rusted yet.

30mA is the amperage above which a shock can be fatal. Grendel

I too am an exponent of wire wool (it can be bought in several grades) the finest I use when applying wax polish to furniture, but the coarser grades are good for final preparation of said furniture. I also use a tool now seldom used, a cabinet makers scraper, there is a fine art involved with raising the burr on the working edge of a scraper, but once done it removes material in even smaller quantities than sanding and leaves a smooth surface to boot. Grendel

you just ought to see the paperwork involved when someone at work cut their finger on the serrated edge of the sellotape dispenser, they were nearly banned until we solved the problem by putting a warning label on them..... Grendel

I cant be the only one who has reached out and stuck my fingers into the wrong end of a 110V plug that was live from the other end - surely (and for some reason it was live at 240V ) fortunately I was lying under the caravan on a metal sheet at the time (did I say I worked for an electricity company)- actually perhaps that cable should go in the bodged jobs thread - the previous occupant had provided 240V to the caravan - by wiring a 110V socket into the floor, and wiring a cable with 110V plug on one end and a 240V plug on the other, I had crawled under the caravan to see what was needed to plug it in, reached out for the plug and stuck a finger straight down the inside to the pins. ouch. Grendel

are they not under footwear for guitars?

I once made a painful mistake with an old 90v radio battery - fortunately it only had about 20v left when I stuck it across my tongue, boy what a headache that left. I am fairly lucky to be blessed with a high resistance thankfully after several incidences with mains electrickery (remember to turn off and unplug from sockets before getting a knife out and cutting the cable off an appliance). Grendel

ah don't talk to me about bending radii, some of the worst cables I have to work with (do the cable route drawings for) have 1.2m minimum bending radii, and if you think bending a 25mm cable is bad, you ought to try the 300 sq mm high voltage stuff, it has what is laughingly called a bending radius, though it can take a team of 4 just to even get it starting to bend. Grendel

you can find 4 good traditional black 'donut' fenders on the 4 corners of most cars.....

I have a power shower somewhere at home waiting for me to install it, unfortunately I am the other way round, as if a job is worth doing its worth overdoing - that and handy access to 25mm single phase and 3 phase cable, that are usually used to connect a house to the mains and goodness only knows what size cable will be run between a new breaker and the shower unit, all I can say is that it will be capable of carrying the current. Grendel

you can get sticky pads designed especially to fit cable ties through, these help fix the wiring looms once they are cable tied together. you can also get ones that can be screwed to the surface for fixing (google cable tie bases) Grendel

I know when we rewired it, we had to be very careful, that and we bought our electricians bicycles, as you couldnt go from one side across to the other - you had to go round the end. Grendel

I found that I could flip a loop round a post from the boat, then using a skipping rope type motion, flip a second loop around the post, then I could tie up to the cleat on the boat, and repeat the process at the next corner of the boat (then of course disembark and moor securely). Grendel

The Ropery at Chatham dockyard is a red alert if it catches fire with about 26 fire engines called out if its alarms go off, this is mostly due to the hemp dust and fibres from the manufacture of the ropes, these have impregnated everywhere and are highly combustible, also when you consider the building is over a mile long you can understand why it is a no smoking zone. Grendel

or I see some that fold down flat to the deck giving a lower smooth profile. http://www.sailboatstuff.com/images/SD041404LG.jpg Grendel

google tells me you can get recessed deck cleats - http://www.nauticexpo.com/prod/seasmart/boat-mooring-cleats-recessed-33998-405693.html Grendel

quite probably, its not important as I just flick through at lunch times, I can always post links from home Grendel

I have always said the only daft question is the one you dont ask. Grendel

internet explorer, we are not allowed fancy software , plus the internet runs through a specialised firewall, that only allows us 30 minutes of non work related browsing, so that could also be stopping us posting links. Grendel

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/355629/Dart_Charge_Table_for_web.pdf strange I can post links from home - just not from work Grendel