waterbuoy

We deal with tenders in a different sector for a variety of different sized contracts. Experience suggests that the larger the outfit the larger the pro-rata rate as they have significantly more overheads to cover, even if they pay their staff peanuts. We have had cowboys come in cheap as chips, and they have then managed to get the value of the contract raised after realising they were out of their depth. However, this was the EA and all their staff in procurement seem to want an easy life - there can be no guarantee that it will be same on other contracts. The most important bit of advice I can give is don't be tempted to bid low as you may end up working your butt off for 5 months to the benefit of the customer whilst others are all out picking up more lucrative jobs. The job has to make financial sense to you, else it is not worth doing.

Haven't a clue but I think Major Tom found them OK!

Depends very much on how much uv degradation there is, which in turn will depend on how the rope was lying/hanging. We charter out sailing boats and their halyards are predominantly 10 and 12mm polyester or dyneema braid. They are out in the air all year round and agenerally last 10 years or so. However, (1) this is the west coast of Scotland so UV is pretty low, and (2) pulling up a 40kg sail is somewhat different to hanging a person off it! The freezing shouldn't affect them IMHO

The band length varies with the throat of the saw (due to varying wheel size). Measure your throat and take it from there. The only options are 12, 14, 18, 20, 24 or 30" throats, each with a specific band length. The model nmber is not clear on the plate but looks as if it MAY be a 20. Get the tape measure out and check! Similarly, a backup would be to run a pirce of string round the two wheels and then measure that.

I was going to suggest winding more rope on the winch drum but see the Tiger Shark is an enclosed drum. Looking at the Superwinch website your winch is very slow - even when unloaded. 5.7m/min with no load, droppig to just 0.6m/min when fully loaded. Other winches in their range are much quicker. For example, the base entry Talon model - the 9.5 - is 19m/min unloaded and still 1.5m/min with over 4 tonnes on it. Depending on the loads you are pulling it is not always better to go with a higher rated unit - they often achieve the high load rating through low gearing to get the most out of the motors. Some research might indicate that a smaller rated winch is more suitable. For example, their cheap as chips Terra 45 gives a line speed of 1.7m/min with 2 tonnes on it. As with most lifting/pulling equipment the devil is in the detail!

Why not a cordless angle grinder and some batteries? Even the brushless models are cheap as chips these days

But they are worth it - if looked after properly! My D3 has done 273k miles, about 80k of which has been towing a,d another 30-40k working off oad. The wife's D4 has done 135k. By far the most versatile and reliable vehicles we have ever owned

Whilst not wanting to encourage you in any way for the multiple reasons given by others..... If you are going to continue then try to cut the branches flush with the trunk. That way, whoever climbs up the top of the tree is not going to impale themselves on the pegs you are leaving at present.

There is a massive thread on here for smaller chippers The Wee Chipper Club Pretty much all you would want to know about small chippers over 200+ pages!

Based on our experience here in Nicola Land, PR brings as many challenges and problems as it does solutions - lack of a clear majority, coalitions etc.

We have had the same type of shed for over ten years now - situated about 2metres from the sea. The manufacturers caution about raising the timbers above ground level so we built it ion a ring-beam of 9x3" treated timbers which were in turn sat on old sleepers. The edges of the t&g overhand the other timbers by about 25mm so any water can drain off freely. However, like them we are having to replace the roof felt. I'm using steel sheets (total cost around £300) which I dont think is too bad for a 16' by 10' building Will try and get some photos later

Does that not suggest that the Kenny Everett/Cupid Stunt thought was maybe closer to the mark?!

Too add further: You may still require a consent to 'discharge' the water back to the river/stream as, believe it or not, some parts of the EA (and SEPA) consider that water which has been through a turbine to be trade effluent. Another consideration is that at low flows they will not even permit the diversion as you would take the main watercourse below sustainable levels for aquatic ecosystems etc. In the past the threshold used to be related to either Q95 or Q90, is the flow which would be exceeded for 5% or 10% of a typical year (c. 18 and 36 days). This is partly why I had suggested that you try and measure the flow in the coming weeks as some rivers are already getting below Q80.

lino floor tile?

For hydro to be a viable investment it needs to be able to operate as much as possible. Consequently, it is not the 'full flood' flows which are important, but those at the lower end of the flow regime. We are approaching the low flow season (hopefully) so it is a good time to start taking some measurements if it is a serious consideration. How you go about measuring the flow depends on the size of the stream at the potential point of abstraction. In an ideal world I would try and reduce it to a metre or so with an informal structure built out of stone, river bed and polythene sheet etc., and then install what is called a thin plate weir. This can be made of plywood if you don't have any steel sheet etc available. Again, depending on the size of the channel/stream I would usually use a 90 degree notch weir - ie a 90 degree triangular notch cut out of the plate. Flow can then be calculated using the following equation: Q (flow) = 1.38 x h^2.5 where h is the head or height of water above the base of the notch. Due to drawdown over the weir (arising from what is called the velocity head) it is important that the level of the water is measured a short distance upstream of the weir notch, but still in the 'flat topped' section of the channel where flow has backed up from the weir. For example, if you measure the height of the water to be 0.2 metres above the base of the notch then the resultant flow is 1.38 x (0.2^2.5), which is 1.38 x 0.01789 which gives 0.0247 metres cubed per second, equivalent to 24.7 litres per second (which is actually quite a lot of water)

We have a Makita DUC306Z twin-18v top handle which, for the money, I think is pretty hard to beat and a huge step up from their original 18v offerings. We already run Makita 18v tools so had the batteries etc. My colleague is an arborist who has his own small woodland (larch) and spends 2-3 days a week on the saw. This weekend we topped out a large(ish) pruce in my garden - the tree was about 110-120' tall and he cleared/snedded it up to at least 24m/80' using the Makita before cutting out the top with his Husky from the MEWP we had hired in. The Makita did all of the cutting on one set of batteries. Whilst it will obviously not have the grunt of a petrol saw, not that of the 'professional' but eye-wateringly expensive Husky/Stihl offerings, it is perfect for intermittent use (there is also a rear handled version as above). At less than £180 for the bare tool and coming with a 3-year warranty I'm hoping mine lasts 2-3 years before it dies and I then get another to play with! This is the tree we topped out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK1xx1M7xX8

We have a 17.75 Hinowa lightlift on hire at the moment - around £500 for the week and it can be towed behind the land rover as it weighs less then 2.5 tonnes. As others have said, for the really tall trees we used it to gain access to the canopy but still plenty high enough for most: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK1xx1M7xX8

We do a lot of cableway rigging for flow measurement purposes and use George Taylor Lifting for most of our hardware. https://www.gtlifting.co.uk/products/hoisting-material-handling/gt-lightweight-wire-rope-snatch-block-shackle-head-gtsbs/ Their snatch blocks are not too expensive for what they are - we have used our 5 tonne unit weekly for about the past 4 years or so They also do slings but you will get better for less money elsewhere - I will see if I can fine the details of the UK supplier/manufacturer we use as we have yet to break one of their slings - something I cannot say about other suppliers! Edit: Found the details of our supplier for our heavy duty slings https://slingsandstraps.co.uk/ They are not the cheapest but are very good quality

We had an Ifor trailer stolen a few years back. Found it for sale a few weeks later at a car dealers about 80 miles from where we lived. Notified plod who, on finding that we had received insurance payout, advised that it was of no interest to them and that we should contact insurers etc.

GIven that they had to subtitle both Gerrard and Carragher on Sky then I can just about manage four - English, Scouse, Glaswegian and French. Geordie is close but just too far howay.....

Is the top wheel nut missing or just hidden in the recess?

What;s the cable tie for? That looks like a (rather small and possibly deformed) alloy, not a wheel trim

Rest assured that is where it will be going if necessary - we are already 'in dialogue'. However, I have some work for it to do over the next week - we are taking down half a dozen large spruce trees around our house (about 120' high with a dbh of around 3') so I will need the big saw for that. Ashamed to admit that I managed to get somewhat distracted today due to a new arrival at the other end of the scale - a Makita DUC306 cordless top-handle. What a great piece of kit for the money (£170 plus VAT). I spent the afternoon clearing the lower branches from some of the spruce and one very large (I think) Leylandi (taller than the spruce) and only had to change the batteries once.

We have often considered this with the LR Discos, some of which are a commercial spec and the rfl is considerably cheaper. Turned out that the DVLA go with the class as per original V5 document - no-one on the Disco3 or Disco4 forums has managed to get it changed (in either direction).

Thanks both peatff - I have been told that the 066 had different flywheels and ignition modules. I'll remove the cover and check first before exploring further. Thanks for the encouragement though!