.png.5ff10cca1d0967e44a17e4a2edde2a80.png)
Meantime
-
Posts
4,050 -
Joined
-
Days Won
48
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Articles
Posts posted by Meantime
-
-
4 minutes ago, Smoggy said:
wouldn't go with no.5, if a kid has gone through the ice an adult has no chance
The advice I repeated is generic protocol for dealing with people going through the ice and meant to be easy to remember. (Preach Reach Throw Row Go) I wasn't thinking in particular of recent events, just answering MM's request. Each situation needs to be considered carefully based upon the circumstances.
-
1
-
-
Firstly remember there is a reason they went through the ice. It was thin. Always call for help and then,
1. Preach
Provide encouragement, talk to them and encourage them to stay afloat. Let them know you're there.
2. Reach
If you can reach them without leaving land, then reach out and try and pull them out.
3. Throw
If you cannot reach them, then throw a rope, use a ladder, boot hook anything they can grab hold of without you going on the ice.
4. Row
Find something you can float on to cross the ice to reach them.
5. Go
If all else fails and you are fit enough then you might just have to venture out on the ice, but never stand upright. Spread out flat, spread your weight as much as possible. Combine Go, with reach if possible to keep yourself away from the thinner ice.
-
1
-
5
-
-
19 minutes ago, Smoggy said:
If installed properly and as a replacement using original eber/webasto pipework and exhaust don't panic, it's a paperwork thing that's missing,
I wonder how many reputable boat engineers or yards would install one of those at your request? Which probably means it will be down to the "competent" DIYer to install their self. Meaning the correct instructions are all the more important. If you do, please don't moor next to me.
-
2
-
-
There have been many discussions here and on other places about how cheap some of these imported heaters are with many saying that for the price you could just throw them away and replace them, rather than repair them if they go wrong. Some even on here have really extolled the virtues of these cheap heaters. I had to replace my heater a couple of years ago and decided to go for another heater from Mikuni heating, supplied with all the proper instructions, parts and after sales service, even if it was a lot more expensive. You cannot put a price on life.
Below is a statement issued by Suffolk Trading Standards.
Suffolk Trading Standards Imports Surveillance Team have detained 973 diesel heaters at the Port of Felixstowe over the last two months. All products were found to be unsafe, with listings for all sellers removed on eBay.
Consignments arrived at the Port in October and November and were stopped by the team, with samples sent to a test house for assessment.
Each of the products did not meet the requirements of the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 because they could present the hazards of fire and death due to poor supporting installation information.
Manuals supplied with the products failed to give measurements for installing and did not give the minimum distance the exhaust pipe can be installed from flammable material, or material that could give off poisonous fumes when heated, such as insulation material.
No warning was provided about heat and dangers to the user if installed incorrectly.
Large parts of the manuals were written in poor English and had incorrect words used. The intended meaning was, in some cases, difficult to understand.
Additionally, the products and instructions did not have the name and address of the importer or manufacturer, and did not included the required Declaration of Conformity (DoC). A DoC is a formal declaration by a manufacturer, or the manufacturer's representative, that the product to which it applies meets all relevant requirements of all product safety directives applicable to that product.
If you have purchased a product that you think may be unsafe, stop using it immediately and report it to Trading Standards via Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 0808 223 1133.
-
4
-
-
8 hours ago, jeffbroadslover said:
And he gets paid a fortune for not being able to do his job properly
Credit where credit is due, they do get paid massive amounts of money playing for their clubs, too much in my opinion, however when playing for England they only get £2,000 per match appearance money, which since 2008 has always been donated to charity. Playing for your country is more about the honour, than the money.
I do believe though if the club wages were a lot lower more of the grass roots fans would be able to attend matches again.
-
2
-
-
17 minutes ago, Gracie said:
I have no words
(unusual I know)
I dooon't beeelieeeeve it! said in his best Victor Meldrew voice. Now I'm speechless!
See miracles do happen at this time of year.
I must be honest at this point and confess that it isn't my house. Belongs to someone in Chelmsford who every year puts on a show for the local children. Each year it has just got bigger and bigger, and despite the energy price increases he is still continuing the tradition.
-
1
-
-
8 hours ago, jeffbroadslover said:
I notice that a couple of the bulbs need replacing !!!
Jeff
Well spotted! If you can just highlight which ones I'll change them now.
A new Christmas spot the ball if you like.
-
1
-
-
Finally got around to finishing putting up my lights. What do you think Gracie?
-
2
-
-
8 minutes ago, grendel said:
I think his phone is just allowing a bit of extra headroom.
That's all very well but I'm getting repetitive strain injury scrolling through the messages.
-
Perhaps Ian's messages should all come with a warning!
-
1
-
3
-
-
1 hour ago, SwanR said:
Wasn’t there something a while back that Reedham can’t be left open when unattended even if there are no trains because the operator has to come back across the bridge to leave? Whereas the same isn’t true of Somerleyton so it can be left open.
I believe that is correct. Back in the day apparently the bridge operator would open the bridge over night once trains had finished for the day and then row back across the river, rowing back in the morning before the first train was due to close the bridge. As you can imagine health and safety put paid to that one.
I also believe that Reedham and Somerleyton bridges do act as a pair as far as signaling is concerned. So if Somerleyton bridge is left open then there will be a Red signal before a train reaches Reedham bridge if heading to Lowestoft.
-
2
-
1
-
-
41 minutes ago, Regulo said:
I'm still confused as to why the domestic batteries are in two banks? What advantage does this confer? There must be a reason - I await enlightenment!
I suspect for flexibility. I have 2 x 12V batteries in series to give 24V that power my fridge and heater and coffee machine. I have another 2 x 12V batteries in series that powers the winch for the sliding roof and the invertor that provides 240V. The immersion element is also connected to this bank, however using the immersion really hammers the batteries so I have an isolator between the two banks that allows me to connect the two banks if I want to power the immersion. In normal use the two banks are separate and if I manage to flatten the bank with the invertor connected my fridge is still safe and hence no warm beer.
It's also easier for fault finding. If you have 4 x batteries all in parallel and one of them goes faulty it will drag all four batteries down very quickly. Unless you separate all of them it is hard to determine the culprit.
-
On 05/12/2022 at 12:43, Regulo said:
The Sterling advanced charge regulator is highly recommended by me, but it does involve getting into the alternator.
The newer option is to use an alternator to battery charger which involves no modification of the alternator. It also removes the need for split diodes. An alternator to battery charger input connects to the output of the alternator and then there are two outputs, one is connected to your starter battery and the other is connected to your domestic battery or bank. When you first start the engine the charger will direct all charge to your engine start battery. Once it reaches a certain voltage, it will then divert charge to your domestic bank using an advanced 3 or 4 stage charge profile. It has the ability to drag the input voltage down to make the alternator charge harder and then regulate the output to the domestic bank in a 3 or 4 stage charge pattern to fully charge the domestic bank.
Should you need to charge two domestic banks as in Pauln's case then you would put a split diode on the domestic bank output from the alternator to battery charger and then connect the two domestic banks to the split diode.
-
1
-
-
On 05/12/2022 at 11:28, Vaughan said:
The intelligent regulator fools the alternator into providing a few more amps than it wants to, to complete the final charge of the batteries.
As a battery charges its voltage goes up and as the voltage goes up the alternator starts to reduce the amps it puts out, thus you never really fully charge a battery from an alternator. An intelligent, or advanced regulator drags the voltage from the alternator lower, thus making it provide more current. The regulator then steps the voltage up on the output side, whilst providing enough current to fully or very slightly over charge the battery.
Fully charging or even slightly over charging a battery occasionally helps to prolong the life of the battery. It is my personal opinion that you do not need to do this every time you charge the batteries. Fully or slightly over charging a battery can very easily cause it to boil some water off. If you are using sealed or maintenance free batteries they will still lose water, but you won't be able to refill the lost water.
The advantage of an intelligent or advanced regulator is that you will charge batteries faster and probably about 10% more capacity than just off the alternator.
If using sealed or maintenance free batteries I prefer to use an intelligent 3 or 4 stage charger when on shore power to leave the marina with maximum charge and then just rely on the standard alternator as although you won't fully recharge the batteries, it will be near enough and kinder to the batteries in the long run, as long as they do get a full charge on shore power regularly.
-
1
-
-
15 hours ago, PaulN said:
Not sure why this format is inefficient but would be a major job to change. However I accept any advice, but not sure what you recommend I should be doing.
I suspect Annv is making comment about the way the battery bank is connected to the rest of the boat and it is actually a very easy thing to correct.
If I look at your picture above the two Red Rolls batteries are labelled as bank2. Lets call the bottom battery A and the one above it B. You have two cables connected to battery B, one to the negative and one to the positive terminal. These are then connected to the corresponding terminals on battery A. There are then two thick wires that run off to the right which presumably supply various circuits around the boat. Let's call these the load wires. The correct way to wire the bank of batteries to the load wires is to have either the positive connected to battery A positive and the negative connected to battery B negative or the positive connected to battery B positive and the negative connected to battery A negative. It will be as easy as moving the negative load wire from your battery A negative to your battery B negative.
Every piece of wire no matter how short has a resistance and the more power you draw the more the resistance goes up. Voltage will also always take the path of least resistance. The way your bank is currently configured more power especially under heavy loads will be drawn from battery A and once the load is removed battery B will slowly discharge into battery A until they are both equal again. Connecting the load wires across both batteries ensures equal drain and wear and tear on both batteries.
Looking at bank 1 in your picture above, lets call the top battery D and the one below it battery C. It is simply a matter of moving the positive load wire from battery C to battery D. If you move the negative instead, it looks like there are two wires running off to the rest of the boat, so both would need to be moved. Fractionally easier to move the positive wire in this case.
-
2
-
-
56 minutes ago, DAVIDH said:
Perhaps it's time for the remaining boatyards to get together to prevent their business relocating elsewhere, whether that be overseas or elsewhere in the UK. It will cost money, but sustaining your business model always does.
The toll multiplier for hire boats used to be 3x what a privateer pays. Sometime back the BA reduced it, and now I believe it is down to 2.25 times. It ultimately left less money in the BA's coffers for improving the infrastructure. I wonder where that saving went? It could have been used by the yards in the same way as Blakes used to provide facilities for hirers. Was it used to reduce the price of boating holidays? Or was it used to produce more profit for the yards at the expense of investment in the infrastructure?
-
1
-
-
22 hours ago, Vaughan said:
I have been trying to make the point that, in my opinion, cruising the Broads is in danger of losing its appeal (private and hire) because of the lack of facilities and service, compared to what used to be offered in the "heyday" of the hire boat business.
Is that not true of many different businesses? that adapt and find economies of scale and push the smaller businesses to the brink? but we as customers complain and carry on using the bigger ones that are left, even if the choice of quality and varied produce is much reduced in favour of the corporate brands.
A classic example is with Richardsons who could have retained their yard at Acle and carried on operating out of two centres, or three if you include Horning Pleasurecraft. That alone would have created two extra places for their hire boats and others to use for mooring and facilities. You say that yard owners are not greedy, but they are businessmen. They closed those two yards to make the business more streamlined and profitable overall.
Coming out of the second world war every town, village or district had its own corner shop grocers, bakers, greengrocers and butchers. Mainly independents and now pretty much all closed. Now we have the big four supermarkets. Tescos, Sainsburys, Morrisons and Asda. But look at the list below that have either been put out of business by them or bought by them.
Alldays
Bejam
BP Safeway
Carrefour
Circle K
Fairway
Fine Fare
Gateway Supermarkets
Grandways
Hintons
Irwins
International
Key Markets
Kwik Save
Liptons
Mace
Netto
Presto
Pricerite
Quality Fare
Richway Supermarkets
Safeway
Savacentre
7 - Eleven
Somerfield
Victor Value
Running your own small business should leave you better off than working 40 hrs a week 9 to 5 for some large company. The sad fact is that for many they end up doing 70 or 80 hours and realise they are earning less than if they worked 40 hrs a week for someone else. So they sell up to one of the big boys and retire or diversify. Take Silverline as an example of diversifying for a better lifestyle and probably as much money as before.
Hire yards are no different to supermarkets or package holiday companies. Standing still as a small family business no longer pays.
-
3
-
-
32 minutes ago, annv said:
Sutton stathe would be easier to add more posts than many other moorings with benefits for all. John
Not that easy really. Sutton Green has enough posts and points to service the available spaces on the green itself. To get power to the rest of the mooring, assuming there is spare capacity in the existing feed, would mean digging up the path around the mooring basin and along the path to the second part of the mooring.
I also suggest we wait until we see how much we are going to be fleeced for our tolls next year, before we start suggesting how the BA can spend tens of thousands more!!!!
-
1
-
-
2 hours ago, PaulN said:
I don't consider it's right the these limited facilities should be 'hogged' by continuous cruisers
I know what you mean about the above average usage of scarce mooring and electric point resources. The problem is that if they do continuous cruise and don't stay at a mooring for more than 24hrs then they are not breaking any byelaws and are as entitled as anyone else to use those resources.
Perhaps rather than asking people to provide details of a home mooring as part of the toll application there could be a second tier of toll for those without a home mooring priced accordingly to allow for the extra usage of scarce mooring resources. In a perfect world the extra income could be used to provide additional free moorings, and even one or two areas of 48 or 72 hr moorings.
-
4
-
-
3 minutes ago, RS2021 said:
Probably true, but it's gone from an almost negligible possibility to a very slight possibility. I would still maintain that you are at far greater risk from 'normal' local power outages.
The forecasters at the ESO are very good and will cover various scenarios from the likely to the extremely remote. The problem is - as ScrumpyCheddar points out - is that the media always latch onto the scenario which sounds worst.
And yet the ESO have felt the need to put out 12 Capacity Market Notices in the last 6 years, with 6 of those being in 2022.
-
10 minutes ago, ScrumpyCheddar said:
It’s More BS British media speculation yet again.. I Will believe it when it does until then. Im continuing to carry on lights on heating on and Definitely the News will remain switched off..
I wouldn't be so sure. At this precise moment in time our generation shortfall is 14% being imported from neighboring countries only to keen to benefit from our short sightedness, until they need to keep their own lights on. That's despite coal being bought back online and providing 3% of our consumption.
-
1
-
-
43 minutes ago, Gracie said:
Oh Lordy give me strength
Note to self.....Keep your gob shut Gracie 
x
I'd like to see you try!!
-
2
-
-
Personally, having learnt the hard way, I would pick up the phone and speak directly to the establishment to find out their opening hours and whether you need to make a booking or not.
Name and shame warning coming here, which I don't normally do, but I have already spoken with the establishment and felt particularly let down with no resolution offered and I provide only the facts.
Due to its popularity, I always book in advance if going to The Smokehouse Oulton Broad. As per usual I followed the book a table link from the sidebar on Google Maps which took me through to Open Table as in previous times and I booked a table for three people at 7:30pm for the 5th November. It also requested as before a holding deposit, which I would lose if I failed to show. The booking was made on the Tuesday 1st November.
At 18:03 on the 5th November I received a phone call from The Copper Smokehouse as below.
They informed me that they were ringing to apologise but the booking should not have been accepted by Open Table and they were fully booked and could not provide me with a table. I asked if there were any later or earlier times, but they insisted they were fully booked. I asked about the holding deposit and was told they don't get passed the credit card details and it was a matter between me and Open Table, but I shouldn't be charged. The other number above is for the Turkish restaurant Shish Anotolia who were very accommodating and fitted us in without a problem.
When I checked The Copper Smokehouse's own website it still at that time had links that took you through to Open Table and ironically, we could have used it to book a table later that night, although I'm sure it wouldn't have been honoured. By the next day the bookings had been blocked out till the end of November and now the website has been updated to use ResDiary for their table bookings. Even now there is evidence of a rather messy last minute edit on their website to point to the new table booking service. Open Table still have a listing for The Copper Smokehouse but are not taking any bookings.
Clearly there has been some sort of dispute between the restaurant and the service they were using for table bookings and I got caught up in the middle of it, but feel that the restaurant should have made more of an effort to honour a booking made in good faith, especially as their website still says "Thank you for your reservation at The Copper Smokehouse. We are an independent restaurant and rely on reservations being honoured." It then goes on to say "We ask for 24 hours notice of a cancellation or reduction in numbers and reservations that fail to give this notice or fail to show up, will automatically incur a £20pp fee."
What's good for the goose is good for the gander springs to mind.
Needless to say I shall not be setting foot in there again.
So to finish I wouldn't rely on a pub or restaurant's website, Facebook page or any other table booking service. Always speak directly to the establishment to find out opening hours and to make bookings.
-
1
-
-
2 hours ago, RS2021 said:
You are more likely to suffer a power cut due to a failure on the local distribution network you are connected to (e.g. due to bad weather, or someone digging the road up and hitting a cable) than you are likely to have a power cut due to 'rota disconnection' resulting from a lack of generation. So, if your batteries can cope with regular power cuts you will be OK.
I wouldn't be so sure about that considering we have very little storage capacity for gas in this country and currently gas generation is supplying 60% of our electric, with wind producing just 2% and solar 2% at this precise moment in time. Thanks to delays in building new nuclear plants and the reduction in gas storage to about 9 days the grid is more vulnerable to rolling power cuts than it's been for a long time.
One thing's for sure we need a bright and breezy Winter, not the usual Grey overcast days we get in this country during the Winter.
(unusual I know)
x
Cheap Diesel Heaters
in Broads Chat
Posted
I'm assuming you missed the following bit then. If they don't have the relevant declarations of conformity, how does anyone know how safe they are until they are tested. I wouldn't think your insurance company would want you to be the one testing it on a boat insured by them!!!
"Additionally, the products and instructions did not have the name and address of the importer or manufacturer, and did not included the required Declaration of Conformity (DoC). A DoC is a formal declaration by a manufacturer, or the manufacturer's representative, that the product to which it applies meets all relevant requirements of all product safety directives applicable to that product."