decade decayed

Those who know me, even a little would probably put 'pedant' as one of my attributes if asked. Hence I remember all the fuss ten years ago from a certain quarter of society who insisted that the end of 1999 was not the end of the millenium, century, or indeed decade, due to something about counting from one or zero, and all that. They were largely ignored, and obviously their parties at the end of 2000 were less than notable.

I like things to be correct & clear - good communication is essential, and being precise within a complex if poetic language is worth the effort, in my opinion - even if I get things wrong as much as most (so no marking out of ten at the bottom, please). This was something heartily discussed by myself (engineer, of sorts) and father (metallurgist) with my stepmother who, despite being an ex teacher, was vehement that the details don't matter any more - computers will sort it all out for us. Ouch.

Anwyway, yes. Decades. If we want the decade to end in 2009, it will, and no number of awkward sods will change that. I do worry about apostrophes more than I should (but they're useful, they convey added meaning, sometimes critically so), and as someone pointed out recently, people use quotation (not quote, I like to think, although again now used interchangeably) marks for emphasis rather than their correct use. I find myself being annoyed, when such emotions are largely futile. Anyway, a decade is just ten years, it can start and finish whenever we bloody well want it too, for our own purposes. A certain war criminal turned 'peace envoy' insisted on a decade of premiership, without it fitting neatly into the right dates.

The last ten years have been eventful, but I probably know myself a little better at the end than at the start though. Getting Tortoise has been a major step, and yes, suits me well. John o'Farrell was on Woman's Hour this morning, and described that as his own reaction to a mid-life crisis he was going the wrong way and thinking about getting a canal boat and growing the appropriate facial hair (as opposed to getting a sports car and a partner half his age, being the context). It wasn't the put down it may have sounded like (since I'm digressing today, John Humphrys was decidedly snooty to comedian Dave Spikey when he took as his Mastermind specialist subject the Leeds & Liverpool Canal), as he was very positive about the life and the community. I'm a bit like that; I bought a boat in my thirties, after all, and it's been great.

I look forward to spending new year's eve in the best possible company, looking to the sky (let's hope it's not cloudy) and forward to new adventures.

Thanks to everyone who's been part of Tortoise's progress, in all ways.

cheers, all.

this posted edited after belated proofreading. We're all human. ;-)

Stove, actually

Last Wednesday, just before the snow really kicked in we took the opportunity for a moderately eventful (I really must fix my fuel gauge - again) trip up to Uxbridge, to collect the new flue I'd ordered, and that playing trumpets on boats could be considered to be unlucky). The Slogh Arm had a thin coat of ice, although a channel had already been neatly cut that morning, presumably by a boat coming in for craning out. Pushing the speed an little made the wash crack the ice at the sides of us in a neatly artistic pattern - fun, admittedly. We made it back before dark, and couldn't resist firing up the stove - it's only been about a year since it first came into my possession.

Since then it's been fixed & cemented in to the adapter collar made specially for me by Jon of Windy Smithy (bolted to the top with ten M6 bolts - it's not going anywhere, and there's a tub's worth of fire cement under the top around the flue passages, sealing it in nicely)), and I'm having great fun getting to know it.



World's worst photo, but here's it in action this afternoon - there's potatoes (and an onion - I'm strange like that) baking in the oven, beans simmering on top, and the red cup contains apple juice, very nice hot with Zubrowka vodka. ;-) The big brown kettle is has hot water - it's not great for condensation to keep it simmering away, but comforting, I must admit.

Thoughts so far; it's a lovely little stove. Lighting takes a bit of practice; best done from below (via the grate hatch) with the top plate closed, to avoid filling the cabin with smoke. ;-) Once it's burning well the draw up the flue makes it OK to open the top, and since there's no window and I do like to watch a fire, that's a blessing. So far I've only been burning scrap wood, which of course needs regular attention, I have some coal on board but am yet to try it.

One interesting (bearing in mind online suggestions that new BSC requirements would make a traditional boatman's stove illegal) point is that after hours of use, the tile surround (4" away from the stove) is barely above room temperature. Unsurprising as the sides seem to be lined with rockwool, the heat mainly radiates from the stove top itself, ideal for cooking, of course. Tortoise heats up nicely, albeit slowly (no immediate radiant heat from the fire, it only really starts heating the boat once the stove itself is hot) - being slightly bigger than a trad back cabin, but I'm not sure how well it could heat a bigger space.

I'm looking forward to doing as much cooking on the stove as possible - more sensible in winter than summer, but I don't see myself limited to stews and the like - if it's hot enough for frying, most things I make at home should be acheivable, including bread & cakes. I've never really lusted after the massive edifice of an aga or similar, but this is just right. Thanks again to Geoff & Laura, without whom... - well, without whom I'd still be idly wondering what boatman's stoves are like. ;-)

a bicycle-powered house

There's only a couple of days to go before it disappears off the iPlayer (here), but last Thurs the current BBC 'popular science' strand did a whole show on a day's 'experiment' to power a house from a bank of 100 cyclists. Well worth a watch if you can - it may well be preaching to the converted to those reading this, but amusing nevertheless. If you thought pedalling for a band was bad enough, try coping with an electric oven...

It may be an exaggeration to say I consulted on the show, but I certainly helped with ideas with the guys who did it when they were planning it a few months ago. If you don't actually get to see the show, there's a few pictures of the event here

You can even buy one of the generators from the show, or of course build one from the info on my site instead...

a stroll to the river

I've just had the week at a training centre, where a tutor just about managed to make a boring subject nearly interesting. The site has had a few ownership changes over the years, and it's difficult to know who owns what now - especially the hundreds of empty, abandoned dorm rooms (the buildings unlocked, making for a spooky walk through) and the rather cute lodge cottage on the way in.

They also - or at least used to - own the land on the other side of the road, down to the river (Avon). Lunchtime walks were pretty essential for sanity, so to get to the river, I had to climb over this gate...

...then around the overgrown tennis courts, where I found this sign...

...and then down to the riverbank, where there's a nice bench and a couple of chairs, and this view:


Worth the effort, I thought. There was a lock a little further up the river, but I didn't have the time to get there. Fairly fast flowing at the moment, but certainly navigable. I was intending to come down here by boat for the course in autumn 2008, postponed to now. One day...

Lyons Tea Three Bridges advert

(click pic for bigger version)
I went back to Ealing Library to retake a pic of this ad, as previously blogged. I'm not sure all three were regular ways to get tea from Brentford to Greenford, but you can admittedly get there by all three methods...

Bonus pic, also from the exhibition - the Brentford Dock area in it's industrial mode - the Brent/GU mouth is to the right of this picture, Thames Lock is centre top. Sorry about the reflections in this one:


There's a great aerial view of Brentford by the pool table in the Brewery Tap - I really must grab a copy of that one day, as well.

regulatory authorities

My last ever post on Canalworld Forums, I recall, was suggesting that if electrical kit sold for car use (in the context of radio, tv etc) was used on a boat there'd be no need to worry about overvoltage when the engine was running, in response to the original question. This was responded to by one of the resident gadget-obsessed trolls 'experts' that I should 'bugger off and get myself an education'. At this point I quietly considered my bachelor's & master's degrees in electronic engineering, and twenty years as a broadcast engineer, and decided the education I should get myself is not not bother with that particular website*.

Anyway, this is vaguely relevant as I've been building regulators, to prevent equipment being damaged by a battery charging voltage. Not for me, of course a friend on a liveaboard installed lots of nice LED lights (more or less MR16s in a custom flush mount fitting, hence designed fr a regulated 12v supply rather than a constant current supply) two years ago, and they've largely failed, due to being exposed to nigh volages from a constantly running charger. A temporary solution was a 7812 regulator meant it was safe to fit replacements, which to be fair ran happily (and brightly) on the resulting 11.5v, as said IC does introduce a significant voltage drop, well over a volt. For a tiny load it's hardly worth buying in a switch mode regulator, but a quick search found me this article about the LM2940 type regulator (that only drops 0.5v) on the very useful Renewable Energy UK site. They're only rated for a 1A current, If I needed more I guess I could do something with MOSFETs instead - if I needed to... ;-)



Needing only two components per circuit, I twisted & soldered the legs together, and mounted them straight into 3A terminal block, then bolted the whole lot to be bit of aluminium (heatsink tags handily connected to ground, needing no pesky insulation kits). Heat generation is pretty minimal, but will be monitored. The volt drop is pretty impressive - with a 12.3v battery it still managed 11.96v - the 7812 would have been barely over 11v.

I've built myself one too, just in case, but I haven't needed it yet. Even domestic kit that happens to have a 12v power supply is often fine on a boat - if supplied with an unregulated power supply, it'll be faced with voltages of up to 17v off full load. I'm happy to look inside kit and see if the power goes straight into am internal regulator IC anyway, but of course there are times when it's better to be safe than sorry. ;-)

* I must admit that many people are there are perfectly respectable individuals (and may even know what they're talking about - Tony Brooks posts there, after all), but surely it's a function of true wisdom that there is always more to be learned, so those who think they know everything are stupid indeed. Another favourite incident was where I advised that a new 12v spur should be fused if run straight from the battery - I was then told off for perpetuating the 'myth that fuses stop fires'. If only I'd suggested that he short out all his fuses on his undoubtedly immaculate boat, then say, short out the cabling at his water pump (probably the other end of the boat to the batteries), and then see what happened, just to prove himself right. I could continue...

more anniversaries

Some time ago I mentioned the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Brentford Dock river/railway interchange (now covered in flats, of course). It's inevitably therefore the 150th anniversary of the connecting branch line from Southall to Brentford. Southall Railway Centre put together a small display of pictures and articles about the line; for a while it was in Brentford's Musical Museum - but they charge entrance, and I'd already seen their wurlitzers & musical boxes - but now, until the end of the month, it's in the more accessible Ealing Library. This line of course runs pretty closely with the grand union down to Brentford, cross at Brunel's 'Three Bridges' construction pictured above. They have a better picture, a Lyons Tea advert showing all three modes of transport with Lyons branded loads, but the little digital I had with me failed to get a sharp version of that one.

Also of interest was the viaduct that carries the 'Hounslow and Metropolitan Railway' - now the Picadilly - lines over the canal & Brentford branch - they had both an early picture (there's a lot more trees etc now) and a diagram from an engineering magazine:

lovely Marlec people

My first foray into buying a boat involved a 44' wooden topped monstrosity on the Lee. The unofficial survey verdict was '5mm pitting on a 4mm hull' and I was happy to not buy it. The vendor was in dire financial straights and didn't have the fuel to get back to the other side of London after the survey; he gratefully accepted the folding cash in my pocket for his old Rutland 500 wind gen, sitting unused and in an unknown state.

It's hung on the wall in my back room since (unstandably, High Line, being a residential mooring with boats breasted up, aren't keen on the wind gen vibrations being passed through the hull to adjoining boats).

It's a little 18W generator, long since upgraded and replaced, but worth sorting, hopefully to be loaned to a deserving home.

The internal rectifiers are covered by a nose cone, or rather weren't, as it was missing. I called up Marlec, who not only emailed me copies of the manuals, but are putting a replacement nose cone - a long obselete spare part - for me in the post, for nothing. What a lovely gesture - thank you, Angela.

Pics - Slough Festival

Tortoise (undecorated) tucked in behind Herbie (very much more decorated) after they'd saved me a slot for the Slough festival. You can see how far out from the bank Herbie had to moor - what you can't is how much closer in a v-bottom boat can get. ;-)


Phil's boat Becky was just behind me, so I got to watch him being interviewed for livingaboard.tv, although their website cunningly doesn't actually explain how anyone might actually get to see the results.

(ha - I've just spotted Herbie in the background - they didn't want to interview us as we weren't liveaboards, but obviously Neil was determined to get in somehow...)

I also had a nice poke around Ricksmanworth Waterways Trust's 1936 boar Roger's boatman's cabin, although without a fisheye lens the pictures aren't worth posting. It's a fascinating space, though. I must admit I'm vicariously enjoying Sarah's blogging about Chertsey's. I suspect it's all psychological, as a boatman's cabin makes the interior of Tortoise seem postively palacial... ;-)

Pictures - GU trip

Don't know about anyone else, but I'm getting bored of just text, so to make amends:


This type of springer (pretty sure it's a springer) is the closest I've seen to a distant relation for Tortoise (see 2006 for earlier photos) - square transom with hull tumblehome etc...


Possibly the tallest cratch I've seen around, but I don't see why not, no taller than a pram hood on the stern...


I love the various colours on this boat, and also that it dares to be just a little bit different. So many boats - GRP or not - all look the same. It also occurs to me that a little plastic cruiser could well be fun to see how well it would run on electricity, assuming it could carry the weight of batteries required. Assuming enough charging opportunites could be found/created (friendly pubs and a long extension lead?), could well be a pretty green - and beautifully quiet - cruising option.


We crossed locks with Chiswick on the Leafcutter John/Lisa Knapp tour. Didn't manage to see any of the gigs, but they sounded interesting - apparently LJ had been using underwater mics to record th sound of the boat to use in the performances.


Logs, acquired in Uxbridge on the way home. They look great (don't they?) but being freshly cut were merrily leaking sap all over the roof, so are now languishing just off the towpath until next winter...