ranworthbreeze

Hi Jonzo, The hooks used are piling hooks, some people do use mooring chains passed through the gaps in the piling, the hooks are great because they are quick release so if needs be you can short the ropes out once you are aboard. Yes you can moor up on the towpath side of the canal, however these days you can really struggle to find a mooring within a village due to long term moorings even on the towpath side. Our last canal trip we were struggling on average to make 2 mph due to slowing down for moored boats and shallow waters. Regards Alan

Hi Mark, In one of our local hire shops they have hanging in the sales area the remnants of the protective clothing used when the operator of the chainsaw suffered from kickback. Trees out in the sticks tend not to nails or other pieces of metal grown into them unlike trees in peoples gardens. Tan would let me use one either, can't say I blame her. Regards Alan

Yesterday was a good day, plenty of sunshine and hot, so on my way home, I had to call into Morrisons to do the weekly shop, on my own for once (Tan has had a bad back since Saturday so can hardly move, she only turned her head to look at something in the garden during our 11. o'clock drink). I put the roof down on the short journey to the supermarket, but raised it before going into shop. Shopping done back to the car, so dropped the roof and then put the shopping into the now smaller boot, it all went in including the beer, it is funny how more beer goes into the trolley when shopping unaided, funny when shopping on your own you begin to feel you have gone deaf. So home and pulled into the drive, first job it to put the roof back up, pressed the button and nothing happened, so I unloaded the car to get all the bags into the kitchen, cold and freezer stuff sorted, it was time to back to the car to find out the reason why the button was not working. put the windows up and activated the down button on the roof and the windows went down, this is the normal operation so the issue was the same button would not work in the up position. Michael came to see what I was doing. The first job was to get the switch assembly out of the dashboard, not easy but managed it. I unfastened the lead from the assembly and took this into the kitchen to strip it apart, loads of little plastic parts later I removed the PCB and took it back into the car in order to raise the roof, roof sorted back to the switch assembly. The problem was just on the roof switch one switch out of six this plastic activator had a lug broken off so the raise roof switch itself would not operate. As I said don't you hate plastic. I ordered a used assembly off of Ebay for £49.99 plus delivery costs, hopefully here on Monday, I hate to think how must this would have cost in the shop or main dealer, plenty of sucking air through the teeth. Luckily it has been raining all day today so no sunshine missed Regards Alan

At one time a failed electrician would go into plumbing. These days you could train monkeys to do it Regards Alan

My fist shock was when I bought my first meter (an Avo model 8) when I was about 12, my uncle took me to a swap shop, to test the meter the owner could only find some cotton covered wire which I used to measure mains voltage. A mistake I never made again I am glad to say. Regards Alan

Hello Dennismate, Have a look at this topic:-http://forum.norfolkbroadsnetwork.com/topic/10922-save-our-broads-bins/ It gives details earlier this year, so it should be fairly current, as Iain says you can use the boatyards bins if you get desperate. I hope you have a good week, sadly we are not aboard until November. Regards Alan

Hi Jim, I assume your fan is 12 volts DC, dependent on type these can be expensive. To give you an idea most extractor fans the 4 inch type can be from £50 to well over £100, it might be worthwhile looking at the larger style PC fans (these are 12 volt DC). Regards Alan

Hi Jim, I guess wellies are still part of your boat kit if you are still moored at the Ferry Marina, getting to the boat could be a trial at times, we moved to Tingdene in 2007. Regards Alan

Hi Robin, I always thought of you as a bright spark I don't know what was worse having shocks (had a few of those over the years) or having your hands being burnt and shocked by a welding rod when holding something for a colleague. Now that really hurt. Regards Alan

Hi Jim, This seems to be standard practice, we have one fitted in both of Ranworth Breeze's bathrooms. Fit them as high as possible and make sure they are the correct double wound shaver outlets. Regards Alan

There are times when Plastering is not a trade but a disease, Way back in the day we did loads of work in the sticks using Pyro, we had plasters putting their batons on metal clad consumer units or cutting the tails off right up to the walls. Needless to say the air was blue from us and the owners. Regards Alan

Hi Vaughan, Is this the picture you wanted? Regards Alan

Hi Iain, I used to like the practical in the workshops where you had to wire a surface installation on boards, it used to be a pain because of the tight bends in the cables in order to keep them on the boards. Sadly a few pranks where often done whilst people were away from their boards, such as undoing a lamp or switch and cutting off the connection cable and then just tightening onto the insulation etc. I always liked working on three phase and diesel generators and spent many hours on commissioning up to 5 hours on full load and then an hour on overload, all to charge batteries in the exchanges back in the day. Regards Alan

Hi Grace, You do know that the screen should be towards you Only kidding, you would be my first call for any advice on technical issues Regards Alan

Hi Robin, If boatyards are wiring these sockets up incorrectly they are guilty of using bad practices and any of their professional installers should be ashamed of themselves. Regards Alan

Hi Iain, Agreed on the MK, but I still always fit them, an option in the past used to be Crabtree, I have seen far many of the cheaper sockets with signs of overheating around the outside of the live connection. With regards to leave it to the professional, that is down to how forgetful the professional is, seen yet again far too many lapses in concentration, fitting the wrong breaker, getting the cable the wrong side of the connection resulting in arcing, burnt out connectors etc. Regards Alan

Hi Jonzo, I think Dave went to the meet by car. Regards Alan

Hi Eric, It may be better for your friend to try syndicate ownership (maybe one of the syndicates that offers four weeks per year) this will give them an halfway house between rental and full ownership. Tan and I have never regretted our syndicate ownership (now into our 16th year) but we only have two weeks per year maybe after retirement we may purchase another share. Regards Alan

Hi Doug, That repair is going to be difficult to match in because of the bleaching to the surface of the Mahogany, the repair will also have to take into account that diagonal split in the timber which may involve a wider section to be made, not ideal at all and may end up being a larger section than you envisioned. Regards Alan

Hi Grendel, If a boat has a oven and an hob, I regard a Microwave as surplus to requirements, admitted we have only hired on the canals, but we get the yard to remove it, that extra space is great for storing the cereals or anything else for that matter. Regards Alan

Hi Alex, We sited ours in the galley which to me seemed the most logical area to cover, no false alarms, I test it at the Season Start and every time we are on the boat. Like everything on board that uses batteries is replaced at the Season Start in late February. Regards Alan

When we are on the boat and cruising we normally have the canopy fully down or the sides rolled up or zipped out if it is raining. With the canopy up it acts almost like a sail makes mooring difficult. We do have a CO alarm but this is the choice of our syndicate, we also have procedures such as not having aft cabin windows open when starting the engine or in motion. We also have plenty of ventilation when using the oven or hob. I do not know what warning notices are on hire boats on the Broads, but on the canals there are notices on the doors regarding the vents that they should not be blocked, also on narrow boats they have many roof vents. I guess many of us would be temped to block up those those draughts especially that are found on the sliding canopy boats. All I can say is put up with the fresh air. Regards Alan

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/one_of_the_oldest_boats_on_the_broads_is_back_on_the_water_after_major_repairs_1_4654678 Regards Alan

I am surprised that no one has mentioned sweets. So hear goes I will start it off, who can remember the boiled sweets that were in the shape of fishes that came in two different lengths (4 and 6 inches long) you sucked the smaller one until it would sit sideways in your mouth. These used to be a treat from the local market. Regards Alan

Hi Poppy, I never touch the stuff other than using for cleaning circuit boards or machine parts. Tan however has been known to imbibe the odd glass or three Regards Alan