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...

low voltage links for me

just wanted to stash these away where even I won't lose them...

discussion about running a 12v house - boats already do, of course... (cwf people may recognise the intolerance people who know a very little have for each other in the comments)

USB phone charging (and other thoughts) and USB gadget roundup (have been looking into a standard 5v charging/connection system for phones, mp3 players etc, especially if based around solar/wind up sources)

stuff & nonsense

A work meeting on Friday introduced me to the idea of 'Project Rainbow', which seems dedicated to pointing out the bleedin' obvious which had gone un-pointed. In front of three senior managers, it took a lot of sitting on hands for me to avoid asking which of them were Bungle, Zippy and Geoffrey.

In other news, far less connected to gainful employment, I get to do sound for Jeremy Hardy, singing on Thursday. Regular Radio 4 listeners will understand what a personal best, if not career peak, this is for me. ;-)

fired up

Well, not quite, although I was a couple of weeks ago when I wrote, and then spared any poor passing readers, a largely pointless rant about a cyclist - in London, this is - who told me that traffic lights didn't apply to cyclists, they're for cars. Suffice to say i still haven't entirely calmed down from this comment, speaking as possibly the last cyclist in London who does pay some heed to the highway code. Not only does this behaviour lose us respect (and therefore rights) from other road users, but it completely ignores the safety of pedestrians, who's right to cross a road without being run down is pretty fundamental in my book.

Perhaps you got the rant after all.

Anyway, work progresses on the boatman's stove; Jon at Windy Smithy (.co.uk) has made me a nice adapter plate to bolt to the top plate of the stove, to fit a flue to. Meanwhile I've been working on the surround; according to the BSC inspector masterboard (as sold - and already bought from - by one local chandlers) isn't considered to be up to the job, or at least won't be in the future, and asbestolux - aka Supalux, it actually says on the board - is better. I remember trying to research this some time ago, and going round in circles a little, so for my own peace of mind rather than the regulations I've got some supalux and put that over the existing masterboard, whoich will then be tiled over that. I've a feeling anything bigger than 4" tiles will look daft i the space, so sill be doing some serious tile shopping soon.

All this is in the context of seeing a completely burnt out boat recently, and reading the safety report on Lindy Lou, who's well fed stove set the rest of the boat alight, casuing one death. I suspect most boat fires are down to 3rd party action when no-one's aboard, but even so, one to be careful of.

live from Slough Canal Festival

It's Saturday afternoon, I've wandered around everything there is to be seen and now I'm back on my boat just enjoying being on the water. There's a few boats here - I'm moored next to Herbie (Neil & Kath even saved me a space, for last night, although they weren't really expecting me until this morning), and the Batchworth trip boat are down here offering trips to the winding hole and back for a pound a go (although a trip to the Slough basin is £4).

This is my first time here, and it's nice enough, a village fete really. BW came down to cut the weeds along the edge, and have been cutting the weed from the bottom of the canal too - but none of it was cleared, so progress was even slower than was to be expected - around six weed hatch clearances in the mile from the moorings to hear, and another four this morning when I turned the boat around first thing. Hopefully it'll be a little clearer on the way back tomorrow, but it certainly isn't a great advert for BW.

I'd got back to Iver yesterday afternoon, after a lovely few days with some unexpected but very welcome company from Kings Langley back to Uxbridge. I always try not to name & shame (despite passing the working boat who tore past me and nearly had me in whilst retying the rubbish barge at Bulls Bridge on the way home from Little Venice), which makes it diffiult to relate the otherwise humourous tale of a boat who's name suggests a bit fo a devil-may-care nature, and yet they had planned each day of their cruise by spreadsheet. We should also report that the pub adjacent to Widewater Lock is possibly the worst canalside pub ever, so don't aim for it as an overnight stop (although the moorings weren't bad). Good weather always helps, and of course it was my first time heading south on the lower Grand Union - I've been up twice, but both times come back down the Oxford & then Thames.

Just opposite Uxbridge Boat Centre a voice called out to ask if I wanted any logs - they were cutting down a couple of small trees in a garden, so I'm the proud owner of a pile of cut wood on the front of the boat, freshly cut from a live tree, so it could be quite a while until they're worth burning. They look good, mind.

Again, pictures to follow when I manage to connect memory card & laptop...

Lock Gates

A contentious issue, I may as well post something about 'keeping it simple' on 12v electrics on the CWF...

I wherever possible, close lock gates behind me when leaving a lock, obviously unless a boat is ready to come in to the lock. Old working boats didn't, and the trip boat I shared a few locks with today didn't either, and many other boaters these days don't.

I must admit, largely being single handed, being able to go straight in to a lock, or indeed leave one without closing the gate behind me, would save the time & hassle of moving the boat, tying up again and going to open/close the gate. Obviously if they've been left open in the wrong direction, they have to be closed, but the lock needs to be 'turned around' anyway? I guess with leaky gates as common as they are it's best to close both, but as the trip boat guys said, in that case the lock ends up half full, set for neither end.

It's a question of convention & respect, which is which I try to do the right thing. But I'm also happy to apply a bit of logic to the situation. Either way, we probably end up doing about the same amount of work?