Non diving market research.

[barnaby_s]

As far as I am concerned metric all the way

[MarkA]

I suspect that sheet sizes in particular will never change - 8x4 sheet (2440x1220) is standard for virtually all sheet materials in construction including plywood (finished and construction), MDF, cement board etc. Unless there is a major reason to change it (which might impact on the production machinery) then it will stay in that format (or smaller sizes cut from that).

Not unless our colonial cousins change the 8x4 pick-up truck bed to some other size.

[taz]

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In my trade we order 3mtrs of 1/2" copper pipe.

taz

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[taz]

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I'm of an age when I remember going to school with a sixpence and getting 1/2 a New Penny change (and it was New as well).

I was taught both Imperial and Metric so now I measure up to an inch in millimetres and then I use inches
up to about a foot. At a Metre I'm happy to use a Yard but I prefer to swim 25mtr lengths and run the 100 Metres.

My grandad used to convert old money to new and then back again so he knew how much his Pint cost.

taz

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[nigel hewitt]

I like to think I'm totally metricated these days...
although I an still of the generation that did metric in science classes and down the school corridor to the workshops and metal work/woodwork was all in imperial.
But I still do distances in miles and I weigh myself in stones and pounds although I have no idea what a stone is if I picked it up while I know my kilograms.

I certainly don't buy clothes in imperial but I don't mind having the other numbers about.

[Spindrift]

If all else fails - a helpful, clear and simple flow chart of when to use which...

[Ian@1904]

The flow chart is remarkably accurate. For me travel distance is usually miles, my weight in stones, most other stuff is metric.

Years ago when I was an engineer in a factory the Technical Director could only work in imperial. So we took the metric weight/ /length of steel bar converted to imperial, he did his calculations and we then converted back to metric. Fortunately it seemed to work every time. Tolerance levels were always to within a gnat's cock.

[taz]

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I come from a mining village.
You might not of heard of a mine but it's where they dug a hole deep into the ground and removed black rock.
The black rock burnt really well and was used for heating, transport, power generation and such like.

Any way I digress....

This one mine set up a partnership with French mine. French mines being in France and France being
in Mainland Europe used to measure in Metric millimetres. The mine in my village being in Yorkshire, Gods
County and in England used to measure in Imperial inches.

They did a combined project where they designed and built a state of the ark coal cutting machine that moved itself forward
and remove the coal, fully automated.

They spent millions and arranged the huge unveiling at the pit top with dignitaries and representatives of both Countries.

The idea was to marry the two halves together, the cutter head being made in the UK and the gearbox drive gear in France.

The idea was to put the two halves together and the main dignitary was going to insert the first bolt.

I'm not sure if you get where this is going but the best designers in the UK and French mining industry invested millions
in this project.

It was only when they came to bolt the two halves together that they found measurements in Imperial and Metric have
a slight discrepancy and although it was a perfect match the holes were out by a fraction.

The sight of a grubby arsed fitter with an Occy-Acetylene cutting torch making the multi million pound thing meet in the
middle was memorable

taz

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[rth]

I converted to full S.I. at age 16 as part of my Physics A level. At university in 1971 Chemistry department was also fully metric but the Biochemistry department only partly changed and every time calories were mentioned the best they could do was don't forget to multiply by 4.184 to convert to joules and concentration in Mol/L. I still use miles for distance in UK and nautical miles at sea but everything else is metric.

[F.P.]

>>Snip<< I still use miles for distance in UK and nautical miles at sea but everything else is metric.

Ahh, Nautical Miles... So much easier off of a paper chart. As divers we should all be able to understand Nm's.

And of course they correspond to the mathematical Radians; now ask NASA how easy they found using Nautical Miles (directly related to Radians) instead of kilometres - seem to remember there was NASA space vehicle that went astray cause of the confusion between nautical miles and KM's.