dom

I presume this is a net effect of Duncan Baker's meeting. I'm sure it was Henry Cator who first mentioned the organisation in question. He's obviously pro dredging and suggested they could provide insight into where issues lie.

I'm less than convinced on this, as there seems to be no real evidence being posted anywhere by anyone. The main reason I'm a bit cynical is that people are claiming to have issues with typical Broads cruisers (generally 2'6" or so draft). If this were true, seagoing boats such as a typical Broom (which obviously tend to come through around low water to avoid the bridges) with average draft around 3' would be grounding hard. Sailing yachts, typically 3' 6" wouldn't stand a hope in hell of getting up with a foot less water than needed. I'm of the opinion that trying to tackle the BA with the dredging issue isn't going to achieve much, other than a short bit of forced dredging - but if it is genuinely happening and people think it's expedient to highlight, someone wants to get a typical yacht (not a blue water model) and to film a passage on a neap low - ideally from shore or another boat if at all possible.

Annual expenditure of about £2 billion though. They could probably spend more than BA's annual budget and put it down as a miscellaneous expense. I think they're proabbly perfectly able to tackle the issue, but it's the old adage - the squeakiest wheel gets the oil.

It's particularly frustrating that it was a direct question "what assessment his Department has made" and the response didn't in any way answer it. It's a perfect example of what's wrong with modern "democracy".

I'd not seen this until now: https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2024-01-15.9499.h The thing I'd really like to know is - if dredging to alleviate flooding would cause major saltwater incursion, why was this not a problem in the past? Why can we not simply stick to the dredging regime used historically? Robbie Moore has obviously been briefed, quite possibly by BA, and the answer clearly infers dredging beyond the historic norm. It would be interesting to know if Brandon Lewis has followed up at all. The other question I have is why BA are apparently so commercially inept as to overlook the financial benefit dredging could yield for them. They're not responsible for the cost of doing it for drainage purposes. They could therefore offer up their services. If they tendered for the work at, or fractionally below the commercial baseline rate, they could get the monkey off their back, generate revenue and possibly even expand their current resources. If I were Dr.P, I'd be making clear we'd done everything necessary to maintain navigation, but are happy to assist with drainage with appropriate finding from EA or elsewhere.

I suspect if their fleet don't start going under Ludham Bridge more easily in the near future, they may become much more vocal. At the moment, they run the risk of losing bookings, either altogether, or to less affected competing yards if they start complaining that some of their fleet is limited to 10 or so miles of river.

When you consider how few times an average boater is likely to make use of each mile in the course of a year, it really is pretty shockingly expensive. I'm currently waiting to see how my life pans out before deciding what boat to buy and where, but the more time passes, the more attractive a yacht on a swinging harbour mooring somewhere becomes.

I was really doing the opposite and pointing out the error in the Broad Society's logic. I've spent quite a bit of time on various canals, so well aware of the fact they have dramatically more infrastructure to look after (and that includes things like Elsan points, as well as locks). If you use Broads Society's own chart data, it shows that you get 2.4 miles of canal per pound of toll from CRT. For the Broads, it's just 0.43 miles per pound.

Sounds like you're fairly well set. Only other things I can think are to take a scraper/sanding material in case there's loose material on the previous coat which didn't come off with the perssure washer and to consider how to tackle the bits under where she's propped up.

https://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/news/frequently-asked-questions-navigation-charges-2023 If they start charging earlier, it'll be a change to advertised policy. The more pertinent question is probably when will they start charging at Reedham?

April Fool's day

The fact the Broads Society have locked comments on both the Facebook post and the blog post itself really speaks volumes to me. It's notable that they've been deathly silent until relatively recently and suddenly very noisy as toll payment season approaches. The blog post itself is interesting, but seems fairly biased, inferring that BA tolls are good value versus CRT ones - but conveniently overlooking that 200% more toll with CRT gives access to virtually the whole country and a vast network approaching 3k miles, rather than 125 or so on the Broads. They could very easily have put a £/mile column on the chart, but have obviously not done so, as it'd look very bad for the Broads. Personally, I can't help but think that Broads Society are largely on the National Park side and that a lot of the "science" which they're spreading does just support the BA narrative - which is possibly slightly odd given the apparent views of their patron.

I presume the letter from Bill Dixon shared on BRAG around 12th December was the definitive response? Puts the blame squarely on a lack of government funding and tries to get Duncan Baker on side to plead for more money. I'm sure they've had £1.3m since.

To be fair, I think most people recognise the difference between those at the top of the organisation and those on the ground doing good work. There was a bit of slagging off of rangers happened on BRAG's Facebook group recently. I was amongst the people complaining to the admins about it and even they had the good grace to kick the person concerned out and to make a public apology.

Now explain the difference between a sextant and an octant I have quite a lot of WW2 training documentation which I inhereted from my grandfather (plus some other v.rare stuff like German language propaganda flyers dropped whilst on raids). Unfortunately, it's all in storage at the moment, but I suspect there's probably some navigation training in amongst it. The thing I always find hard to comprehend is that airmen underwent extensive and lengthy training on these things, often running into months - only to then be lost, sometimes even on their first raid. Pilots used to get shipped over to Canada, learnt to fly, got shipped back again (often in convoys which got attacked and sunk), then spent weeks in training at conversion units before they flew their first ops. I don't think it was much easier for navigators - or the rest of the crew. It makes me really sad that younger people who are aware of and appreciate all this are becoming increasingly uncommon.

I suspect the info about running better on 24v probably comes from more basic chilled coolboxes. You can probably tell - if the compressor's running harder on 24v, I should think you could probably hear a pitch change when you connect 240v. The BD35F compressor speed can be changed, but it's controlled by a fixed or variable resistor between the thermostat and control unit.

Do you know if the fridge has a Secop BD35F compressor? If so, I think it has two input voltage bands within which it operates. It cuts off if voltage exceeds the overvoltage threshold, or if the battery hits the low voltage cutoff. Within the bands, the output voltage to the compressor should remain pretty constant. I think you can adjust the various voltages with a hard-wired resistor, but I last dealt with Waeco getting on for 10 years ago and mostly in caravans, so may have that wrong. I think the EPS100 was probably made the way it is so it can serve both fixed 24v and dual 12/24v units. We used to sell a very similar unit with a cigar socket for running coolboxes.

A traditional battery charger is basically just a PSU and would work in the way you describe. Modern multi-stage smart chargers work completely differently though and it's undesirable for them to "see" a fluctuating load. If they do, they'll keep running through a bulk charge cycle, which can damage the battery in the medium to long term. Isolating the fridge and running it directly from its own transformer avoids the issue.

Could be as simple as a reverse polarity AC supply having been connnected. It's not unheard of for mains supply posts to be wired up reversed, which often goes unnoticed, but can cause an issue with some electronic devices. Equally, it's on a boat, so also possible it was just moisture in the wrong place.

Pretty sure it's a bubble sextant or octant for navigation in aviation. I only know that from visiting endless WW2 museums. Quite how you use it is another matter altogether. I have a vague recollection that a tutor on a Day Skipper course I did years ago briefly discussed celestial navigation, but not much of it sunk in at the time, and what little did has long gone.

Haines had an open day over the weekend and I noticed in the pictures posted on Facebook that Enya appeared to be complete. NYA have just posted a video of her arriving at Brundall in preparation for first hires in April. https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=925267475861474

I was thinking earlier about what are the "best" UK aviation destinations I've seen so far. Duxford is definitely the shiniest and best presented by a mile - but also a pretty expensive day out, and especially for shows. Shuttleworth (Old Warden) is I think probably the classiest. If you go to the Summer Evening Air Show and happen to strike it lucky and get a proper summer evening, it's magical - especially if winds are low and they manage to get the Edwardian stuff up in the air. It also has a nice flight line in relation to the crowd position. The only thing I've not done is visit the Flying Proms they have there. I suspect the Dambuster's March played live to the accompaniment of a Lancaster flypast might well result in a few tears. The De Havilland museum was another favourite of mine - partly because I come from generations of woodworkers and they have several Mosquitos and partly because my grandfather flew a Vampire just a few years after the RAF got their first jets. One of the last conversations I had with him was about how amazing it felt to fly. If you go on a nice day in summer and they have enough volunteers, you can also sit in the cockpits of some of the planes which other museums wouldn't even let you touch. It's all very shabby and chaotic, but set in the original design and development location for the Mosquito, so fascinating nonetheless.

I've surprised myself with my latest couple of subscriptions. I'm much more into modest traditional boating rather than extravagent excess, but I guess coming from a boating family, the nautical side was enough to draw me in. The fact they focus content on the boat and crew, completely avoiding the people doing the chartering probably also helps. There's loads more content on their channel - https://www.youtube.com/@motoryachtloon One of the other interesting things is that a couple of the crew also put content out independently of the yacht, including the head chef. Some of the end of charter sections are pretty staggering. They usually get a tip which is shared out equally and tends to work out at something like $4k or so per crew member.

I've always been more into the bomber side of things due to my grandfather. Because of that, I've tended not to go to Duxford airshows, despite the fact it's just down the road from here (and also ridiculously expensive). Every year, they'd do a Balbo formation with Spitfires and Hurricances. I think the last one got up to 20 aircraft. Just as I decided that I needed to go see the next one, the show where it happened moved away from Duxford. I'm a bit gutted I missed it, as I think the likelihood of seeing another formation of that size is now fairly slim.

I'm a Battle of Britain Memorial Flight member. Every year, there's a member's day and a big scrum for tickets. Just before Covid, I managed to get a ticket. The main point of the day is to see a special flying display. Typically, I managed to pick a year when it chucked it down with rain, so the entire flight of planes was grounded. To make up for some of the disappointment, they positioned the Lanc in front of the hanger and did a full power engine run with all 4 Merlins. The sound of a Lanc always makes every hair stand on end for me, but close up at ground level, it's incredible and not something I'll forget in a hurry. I did also manage to see the two Lancasters flying together a couple of times when the Canadians brought theirs over, which was pretty special too.