Viking23

Re zebra mussels. I might have the odd one in my water intake of my outboard, when I had the impeller changed, last September, there were two blighters near the water pump inside the leg, about the size of large salted peanuts, so they got through the strainer and took shelter in the leg. I wonder if one or two of their brothers or sisters made it further up. !! hence the thought of running the engine in some strong vinegar solution. Rodding out waterways with an old bicycle brake cable was suggested... that should play havoc with them. I don't want to remove the engine, so some back hosing, remove the strainers, and flush out might help. I am having no cooling issues as yet, but to be fair, we haven't been far during the last 18 months. Richard

Don't store them too far away, as when September arrives, you'll be getting them out again lol. Re galvanic corrosion, we have shore power on a grp hull, outboard engine in the water all year round etc and I fitted a galvanic isolator as we are now on permanent shore power for a de-humidifier. I wasn't bothered before when we got the occasional overnight hook up. When I measured the dc voltage across the GI it was a surprising 150 mV not much, but this small voltage can create a current that can eat away at the anodes, to start with... This voltage is now blocked. However, if there is a small ac component on the earth, ( 2-4 volts ac) then the diodes go into conduct mode and this 150 mV will now conduct to earth creating galvanic corrision that you thought the GI would protect you from. When I add other items into the mains circuit, like the fridge, battery charger, or de-humidifier, I always check both the DC voltage and the ac voltage if any. The 150 mV dc is generated from the connection of dissimilar metals, nothing to do with mains. I also do an occasional 9 volt battery test (small little 9 volt batteries as found in smoke alarms etc) on the GI to test the breakdown voltage, ( 2-4 volts dc, so you have to reverse polarity of battery to test other half of diodes) The test can show if the diodes in the GI are still functional. Info can be found on youtube on how to test them. I did not intend to link the aluminium body of the outboard to earth, but the negative of the battery is probably connected for the return from the electric start, or charging circuit, the propex warm air heater works on 12 volts, not sure if the negative of it's supply is wired to chassis or not, but the case of the propex is connected to a copper pipe that is also linked to the cooker, paloma water heater, and a three way gas fridge. For safety, the mains to the fridge is earthed to the chassis of the fridge, which also is connected to the copper gas pipe. We also have a 12 volt dc supply to the fridge, not sure if the fridge is connected to battery return or not. Then there is the battery charger, I think this might be insulated from it's mains earth, but not sure. As you can see, there are a lot of items that might affect the earth currents, I am an electronic engineer with test equipment to check earth continuity, and even I don't know what is connected to earth or not, intentional or otherwise, so this is why I fitted a galvanic isolator. One day I will start disconnecting things and check continuities, but caution, temporarily disconnecting earths can be hazardous, if not potentially fatal. Only qualified people should be doing this. What I don't understand is that the BSS test does no more than look at plugs and sockets, mostly to check that the installation doesn't leave live accessible pins on plugs etc A BSS test does not confirm the safety of a shore power installation, or how to check galvanic corrosion. The inspectors cannot test the earth leakage trips for current and speed of disconnect, they don't check earth continuity, and they can't check circuit breakers for current etc. For the inspectors to do these tests, they would need to have specialist test equipment, regularly calibrated, and also trained on how to use it. As a consequence the cost of BSS test for boats with shore power would probably more than double. Note... I have made reference to voltages of 2-4 volts ac or dc the reason for this, is that some galvanic isolators have two diodes in series but back to back, reverse polarity to the other pair. Some fancy GI's incorpoate a couple of Leds back to back, that illuminate when the earth voltage gets above a certain voltage which indicates a fault. However, to work, leds require a minimum voltage, and a pair of diodes in series conduct before the leds can glow, so the manufacturer puts 4 diodes in series on each side back to back, so if the voltage gets close to 4 volts ac, both leds will illuminate. If only one led illuminates, it means there is a dc component. There are a few " homemade" galvanic isolators, some just incorporate a few diodes, or a bridge rectifier, the problem is, the galvanic isolator might have to pass a current greater than the shore power post can supply, often 50 amps, or more if you connect to a 32 amp socket, even worse, a current just less than the circuit breaker will trip, so it can supply this for a long time, so the diodes will heat up considerably, that's why you see huge heatsinks on GI's usually the case is the heat sink. 99.99% of the time, the diodes do not conduct, so the case of the GI should never feel warm. If it does, disconnect the mains and have it all checked out. Some will say the shore power post should trip in the event of an earth leakage, it should do, if tested and maintained correctly, but if it's seen a few overloads, the contacts may have welded closed and it will never trip. Advice... when connecting to shore power, do a quick test using the button on the post before use, but check that the power is actually disconnected to the boat. Sound complex easy for electrical and electronic engineers to understand, but some still think that the GI's are a black art, another way of getting your money into the manufacturers of GI's bank account, I hope my explaination helps to explain the need for them, but only if tested regularly for leakage and continuity. If a breaker trips on the post or boat unexpectedly when using a GI then it is wise to test the GI in case the GI has passed a huge fault current and may have gone open circuit, thus affecting your safety earth. Otherwise some people test them at the start of the season, maybe more.

So what about over night wild fishing? you often see small green tents, or shelters with an angler horizontal on a camp bed, with his rod sticking out into the river or canal, dangling his maggot. I doubt many will bring their own toilet facilities and take their human waste away. What about the Duke of Edinburgh award schemes, not quite the same challenge if they camp out with toilet and shower facilities, wifi and electricity to hand. Then you have the army guys, who are dropped off in the middle of Dartmoor with no food, water or shelter in the middle of winter ?

What a fantastic circular slide rule, it even has pi 3.1415926...... Wow... nice piece of engineering. Should easily calculate areas of circles, also missing sides in right angled triangles, (pythagorus) etc. and many complex multiplications, batteries not included too, so no running costs. I bet a few people have been known to use the micrometer as a G clamp lol, or a vernier as an adjustable spanner... doh... Internal and external calipers excellent precision engineering tools there, may be used by a tool maker.

Just had one fence panel pop out, luckily we had some 3 mm galvanized wire across it acting as plant supports, otherwise it might have been blown into the next county. Job for Saturday.. Neighbour will help, I don't want piercing with fire thorn spikes, not whilst on chemo... bleeding will never stop. I hate the wind.

Must be a Silver Birch then lol... Wind in Staffordshire currently from the east at 60 mph with gusts. Dry, light cloud. All heading your way. Worst has yet to come. Been like this for at least 4 hours. Our daughter lives in Oxford and has two rabbits, she has battened down the hutches lol...

Sounds like Trigger's broom lol. If a starfish is cut in half, then each half grows the missing half. So with that in mind... if you take a 100 year old boat, seperate the deck from the hull, or slice it down the middle and rebuild the missing half, then which is the original boat? Technically they could both have the original reg .No No toll plaques... buy one, get one free... hmmmm.

Hi Chris, very interesting, I was looking at the current project on their site, wow, I thought craftsmanship on boats had been replaced by resin and glass matting, very refreshing to see what appears to be a brand new boat with great carpentry and attention to detail. When they say they can do the work at a fraction of the cost a new boat, bear in mind that 7/16 and 15/16 are both fractions, as well as 23/16 too lol

I think in years to come that scrap grp will be a valuable resource. We just haven't found a way to deal with it. I recall scrap tyres, they were dumped everywhere, then a major playground equipment manufacturer found that shreading tyres and adding a form of resin created a soft sponge like tarmac that you see around play equipment all over the country, and maybe the world. However, not all tyres could be used due to their composition. It maybe that grp scrap might be the same, if that is the case, then stockpiling it in a hole in the ground could be the way forward. I know what you are thinking... this is land fill, but if you only take GRP then it could all be recovered later. Or fill the old mine shafts or limestone caverns with it. Just a thought before bed time lol...

Sorry I don't like correcting anyone on this forum, but the overide mechanism is part of the brake drum assembly, well it is on my trailer anyway. It works when the vehicle pushes against the trailer, the brakes are locked on, and as the vehicle tries to push the wheels backwards, there is a cam in each drum that overides the mechanism and the brakes release. When you go forward again, the mechanism is supposed to reset and the brakes work in over run mode again. However, constant immersion in water, especially salt water corrodes everything in the drum, and maybe the over ride may not work, or not reset, resulting in reduced braking, or no braking at all. I always stripped each wheel bearing set on each drum after every launch/ recovery I got it down to 1/2 hour each drum. Undo hub, remove wheel and hub as one assembly, extract bearings, clean with solvent, reapply marine waterproof axle grease, re-assemble. No special tools required. The axles are made by Peak, so maybe others could be different. The modern hitch has a device with stored energy, this is activated when the break away cable snaps if the trailer becomes seperated. Of course it is critical that the breakaway cable is fitted and routed correctly and secured to the vehicle but not looped around the 50mm hitch. If the hitch bolts or 50 mm ball shears, then you loose the break away cable before it activates. Hope it helps. Richard

The eco vents or UFO vents, some have a stainless steel cover, they have a fly screen built in, after a few seasons, cobwebs and airborne dust and dead insects eventually reduce the airflow to virtually nothing. The eco vent is easy to service from above, the flyscreen is nothing more than a 1" approx, band of fine fly screen, easy to replace when Aldi sell packs of fly screen lol. Cut a strip, bit of glue... sorted. Or wash the original in washing up liquid and rinse well. The original mesh is very fine mesh indeed, much finer than the Aldi type.

My grandfather bought his driving licence by walking into the post office, like buying a fishing licence today. ( I think it came with a free red flag for the passenger to walk in front lol..,) To the day he died he was still entitled to drive any vehicle. They didn't have artics in those days, so not sure of the MAM he could drive. When I passed my motorbike test in the 70's, I am still entitled to legally ride any size bike. I had a 125 cc bike at the time. My driving test for a car, taken in the 70's entitles me to drive a coach, provided it is not for fair paying passengers, frightening really when you could be driving for the school taking 40 kids to Alton Towers, with no seat belts. I am also entitled to drive 7.5 tonners too. Oh not forgetting mopeds and lawn mowers. I will add though, that there are people driving trailers at speed of 80 mph sometimes in the third lane of the motorway, totally oblivious to the law and regulations. How can they be experienced trailer drivers, they ignore the rules, so probably ignore any advice too. I am still not convinced that the boat was correctly tied down, if it was, it would still be attached to the trailer. Some people use the bow winch to bring the boat onto the trailer and that's it. There are plenty of boats falling off trailers on YouTube, usually from the US, of course there are more of them over there. Did you know, that trailers in the USA have a seperate registration number to the car, and have regular servicing like an mot. In the UK, no trailer or caravan needs to inspected ever again, well until it's involved in a crash. There are also many hand built trailers built with no calculations, from odd pieces of angle iron, tack welded together by someone who may have bought an arc welder from Aldi the week before, then there are even timber ones. Cheap trailers with no brakes with loads often exceeding 750 kg. For home built, braked trailers, it is now illegal to use old axles from cars, they have to have automatic reversing unlocking. Maybe when you see that "Meccano" built trailer on it's way to the tip, you might want to give it more room.

I was in a land rover series 90 once with my friend driving, we had a fletcher 16 on the back with a mercury 140 hp engine, on every corner it was so unstable, it tried to jack knife all the time, my friend was used to it... It was more uncontrollable when it started to sway when you are going in a straight line. Adding to that, the engine centre of gravity is very high too, adding to the rolling effect on corners. There are rarely anti roll bars on trailers. As I said, heavy load well behind the axle causes the wagging tail scenario. What is the answer? Maybe Increase the nose weight by either moving the boat forward, or moving the axle(s) back. Might help, but it will not stop it. Maybe, Drive into corners as if they were covered in ice... Be ready to lower your speed when the first wag starts... It is not a relaxing drive for a driver when the load is unstable, loose your concentration for 1 second and miss that first wag... game over. Fit a stabiliser to the vehicle, often frowned upon, as it can mask unstable loads in say caravans. Only drive a vehicle with stability control that has been upgraded to know when a trailer is attached, not all after market tow bar fitters upgrade the car's software. I never got around to understanding whether it is better to slow down or as Clarkson and Hammond say, accelerate out of it... takes a brave man to do that, if it doesn't work.... What next?

Looks like they tried to recover the boat onto it's own trailer at the scene. You can see the Honda outboard has been ripped from the transom too. There will be some serious damage to the Transom. There will be a lot of damage underneath the boat under the port quarter. I'm sure they can patch it up like new with some antifoul to cover it over, but a cosmetic repair is not a structural repair. As said... to be seen on an auction website near you. If it says in the description... low engine hours, delivery miles only... buyer beware. If this boat was sold as seen in the water after the repair, who would know.

We watch Columbo a lot... even the Police don't recognise he is in the Police Department, what chance does Joe public have. I must admit... blue lights do seem to get you through traffic quicker. I wonder what traffic would do if you had some pink ones lol...?

Well in the spring, de-icer will be half price... stock up lol. Make sure the cap will come off single handed, and know where the nozzle is aiming. Well you might get some ice on the screen and you need to be ready for it.

When we did a tour of an odd winery or two, hic... before the tour, we were under the impression that screw bottle tops were used as they were cheap and only found on cheap wines... How wrong we were... they are used, not so you can save some wine for tomorrow, not in the wineries interest or Gracies for that matter, they use them as they have a better seal and have less problems with "corked wines" no surprise there as there are no corks lol. The other thought was... "cork" was getting difficult to get hold of, and started to become expensive. You also have the "plastic" type cork substitute. Screw caps... also handy to take some wine home for the driver when you have had a good meal out. Back to beer, one of my favourite beers in the summer is Woodforde's Bure Gold, not as strong as Wherry or Nelson's Revenge, but a real thirst quencher. Once Bittern also quite refreshing too.

I once had a car with blue flashing lights pull up behind me, on the M42 I was driving a Vectra Sri, it looked very suspicious, even the uniforms looked real, I'd heard about hijacking etc I thought I'm not hanging around here... I was doing over 140 mph before I finally lost them lol.. Sorry, not a joking time. Seriously it can be a real issue, anyone can import what ever coloured lights they want from the far east, if you use your phone, even when stationary to check with the Police, technically you are comitting an offence of using a mobile phone whilst in charge of a vehicle, stationary or not. Drive to a well lit area, or go directly to the nearest police station or petrol station with security cameras. Be discrete, get their reg no. Do Not get your mobile phone out and obviously snap away... tempting yes, but if they know you have evidence, what steps will they take to recover it? I used to work in Birmingham, one of my routes took me through Winston Green area, it was local knowledge to lock all doors and windows, but also when in a traffic queues to leave a very big gap in front, so if someone tried to smash a window, you could drive forward and snatch their arm off. In the door panel, I keep a can of deicer all year round, just in case... if anything happened... first thing to hand officer. You can't justify having a can of mace, or a sawn off baseball bat lol.

I now use the disabled toilet where possible, I don't have a wheel chair, but I need to be able to wash my hands at various times when using my catheter, I would be devastated if I was being watched during this intimate procedure. I guess the poor guys watching the screen would be too. On a similar topic, To be fair I have not been challenged for using a disabled loo, I know I have to use one, I have a radar key too. I was in Morrison's the other day and I was pleased to see a sign on the disabled toilet, "Not all disabilities are visible" 10/10 for Morrisons. I have enough to put up with without having to explain to strangers. If they asked, I would be calm, polite, straight to the point, they would be left with no doubt as to my eligibility for using the loo, and I would hope they apologised. Maybe they might be more considerate next time. There are a few that take the pi** of course, excuse the pun. It was intended lol Back on topic... There are more cameras in schools, stick a camera in a childrens toilet or changing room and you will be carted off and labelled a Paedophile. If cameras are placed in public areas, even hand wash basins, then signs have to be put up with appropriate warnings. So if these cameras in public places like shops etc film a child, then surely they should be labelled too. Any camera with an internet link, can be hacked from anywhere in the world, most systems still have their start up password. We are being watched virtually 24/7 and did you know, if you accidentally download an iffy app it could have 24/7 access to your cameras on your ipad, phone or PC camera etc it can watch, and/or listen to what you are up to. Apple have this security feature, if set up, that if your ipad is stolen, you can see who is operating it. By GPS, you have the location too. Richard

We have the earlier version of your Honda 15, square top. We started off with just one 75ah leisure battery, and we often discharged it so it couldn't start the engine. Hand pull start worked first pull every time. What we have now are two identical heavy duty leisure batteries, each about 96ah each has it's own isolator switch. So you choose one, or two or both. It works well for us. Just for your reference, we have current shunts and voltmeters for each battery, and we know exactly what the state of charge of each battery is. Our Honda takes approx 100 Amps on starting. When the engine has been left for a month or so, I often pull the start cord to just turn the engine just a bit before electric starting, make sure it can turn lol However sometimes it actually starts with the minimum pull. It's not a bad idea to manually start the engine say a couple of times a year anyway, one day you might have to lol. BSS require the batteries to be secured, ie less than 10 mm in any direction, and make sure the terminals are not exposed, iecwhat if a mooring pin drops in lol. I can say a lot more, but see how you get on. Richard

Safety equipment, we hope we don't need it. We are told to wear life jackets when appropriate, you still hear of the odd drowning some are as a result of a medical complication, and the person banks his head and falls into the river, but many times lives have been saved. Most holiday makers don't think that being on a boat they are going to reenact "Titanic" every time. Mind you there has been quite a lot of ice around this week. Life belts or life buoys, you are more likely to knock your victim unconcious without training, but they are fitted to all hire craft. Fire extinguishers, customers are shown where they are, but are rarely trained in their use, very rare for a fire extinguisher to be deployed, customers don't cruise thinking that at anytime the boat is going to burst into flames. Fire blankets, when used properly can easily put out chip pan fires, or similar. Again no one is trained in their use. So the addition of smoke alarms and CO alarms are fitted as a just in case item, but as already mentioned, the hand over check list will demonstrate to the hirer that they work, why they are there and they always mention fixed ventilation and never block it, they've been doing that for decades. The hirer will also be directed to the skipper's handbook, of what to do if an alarm goes off. To be fair, when new hirers come on board, they are probably more interested to know where to charge their phone or tablet, how to work the dvd player, and where is the corkscrew and bottle opener. I just wonder, when Robin had the smoke coming through the floor on one of his hire craft, would a smoke alarm have registered a fault earlier? Head to the nearest bank, do not pass go, do not collect personal possessions, (as if !! ) etc It was mentioned on that particular posting, that it may not be a good idea to lift floor covers where a fire may be suspected, backdraft and all that, a sudden increase in oxygen to potentially fuel the flames. A point that I might not have considered at a time of stress. Ohhhh smoke... what's going on under here then? ... What would have happened if it took place after retiring. Not all people would have acted in the same way as Robin, I still believe that he may have prevented a total loss, and saved all on board. However, there are many others that would do something totally different, a fireman for example, might just head to shore evacuate, ring emergency services and watch as things develop. A young stag group, might ignore it and carry on, opening the window more to let the smoke out, or raced as if in a competion to lift all the floor panels... I just hope that one was quick enough to grab a fire extinguisher. Heading to shore, getting all crew off the boat must be first priority, if and only if, a person feels confident to investigate the cause ... well thinking about it, not really good advice this... I'm with the fireman lol. It's not your boat, it's insured, why put your life or family at risk. If it was my boat... yeah things would be different, many owners would probably try to do something... goes against common sense but ... Maybe time to get out your chestnuts and start roasting them lol.

There are lots of views on whether videoing without permission is allowed, or ethical. In my opinion, it is one thing to video and record a conversation for your own use, but sharing it with third parties is another thing. If and it is only if at this stage, the video is presented to an employer, and that employer used it as evidence against that employee which may result in people loosing their job then an Unfair dismissal hearing would surely side with the employee. If video evidence cannot be used in court hearings them I doubt it would be acceptible in a an unfair dismissal case, but what do I know. There are people that have studied employment law at a high lever for three years or more, I guess they would know. There are folk that video mishaps for "you've been framed" or YouTube, they are put into the public domain without the person's permission or their knowledge. Some people profit from it too £250 for "You've been framed" lol You don't get to hear of any cases being brought against them. Secret videos of the Royal Family have been published without their knowledge, don't mention the german uniform and that "salute" lol All student type banter at the time in a small private group, should never have become public, choose your friends carefully it would seem. Now with camera drones, what will we be seeing and hearing next? Where's my gun lol... Can't legally shoot them down, but you could radio jam them.

If people are too happy at work, it usually means that have something going on lol that management are not aware of. This is a true story. A friend of mine was a steel fabricator, and there were always short off cuts of large square tubular steel sections ready for the scrap man. The directors applauded this guy for working late most nights, always welding, well in fact he was using the facilities to manufacture wood burners, incinerators and barbeques, he had orders coming out of his ears from most of the staff that worked there lol The directors just never noticed. The higher up in management you were... the less you paid lol (back hander lol) The Works manager knew about it too, he had a couple lol What happened to the fabricator guy? , he set up a fabrication business and is a sole director of that. I still keep in touch with him, must be nearly 40 years ago he was doing this. I think he keeps a close eye on the guys on the shop floor, he knows all the tricks... he invented most of them lol

Hi Robin interesting views there, but you have to cast your mind back to when seat belts were first installed, we all thought that people would drive faster, and take more chances, for a small group, that was probably true, it may have been the case with airbags in cars as well. Seat belts and airbags are well proven to save lives, since they were made compulsory for them to be fitted in cars. How many people died or were seriously injured by not having them prior to the introduction. They were optional for older cars as retro fits, Halfords sold loads of after market belts. We fitted a pair to the rear of our Austin Ambassador in 1983. We never tested them to see if they worked or not, and in fact we never really needed them. So why bother? some others might say, but not me. In the same way, there is a chance that Carbon Monoxide can kill in certain situations, situations that the potential victim has no control over, a bit like driving around a corner in a car and meeting a fast car on the wrong side of the road coming the other way. Richard

You could collect the gas, compress it, store it and use it to make toast in the morning... Forget I said that, if some vans using recyled oil smell of chips, what would the toast smell like...or even taste like? Move the bed to on deck lol