Victor on our equipment - Dangerous

Published: Sunday, 17 January 2016

Dangerous

I am often amazed at not only boaters, but marina operators and hire companies too that use garden hose to supply water to boats, yet it is well known that the bits of plastic that break off from the inner lining of the hose is considered to cause cancer!

Yes, those bits of black plastic floating about in your kettle is doing you no good whatsoever, and could even be killing you!

We use the flat blue hose on a reel, marked 'For food use', as it has no dangerous lining, and my advice is if you are using garden hose to fill your boat's water tank, get rid of it, that is if you are concerned about your health and that of any others that may share your boat.

Convenient

And now for just about the handiest item we have on our boat—a numbered keypad lock on the door.

Surely I don't need to remind you who have had problems with misplacing keys about the hassle it brings, something we never experience, just a few clicks and we are in, and no keys to lose!

It was fitted by Simon Piper who built the boat, but it would be easy to fit and be much safer than the normal hasp and lock that can easily be broken, and well favoured by burglars, as some of you will well know.  We purchased it from that very handy ironmongers at Rugeley on the Trent & Mersey.

Getting on line

I will end this little venture into our equipment by telling you of our method of obtaining Wi-Fi, a method that very rarely fails.

It is a dongle provided by Three, and allows up to five separate items to be connected at the same time wirelesly, and it works.  Hung in the window it shows the strength of reception, so it is easy to ascertain which side of the boat is best.  On our last trip down the Oxford and back, we obtained a signal every day, without fail, allowing me to keep you informed.  We even use it at our mooring at Sawley as its new Wi-Fi service just does not reach us.

So that is it my friends, a resume of the equipment, purchased, used and occasionally discarded. I hope you have found it useful. And remember our esteemed editor is always pleased to receive your own comments on any equipment—good, bad or indifferent...

Victor Swift