https://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?/discover/754/Canal World - View New Content (Inc. Political)enSat, 08 Aug 2026 03:04:15 +0000Have to say that I've kind of lost faith in Advercs. Back in 2013 when, I got the boat, I was advised to have one installed as the batteries were dead. I'd left a cratch light on overnight and the following morning the domestic batteries were dead. The 'marine engineer' at the boatyard I went to (bear in mind I was totally green about the working of a narrowboat then) told me that the alternator had failed and I needed a new one along with this Adverc rubbish. Six months later the alternator he installed failed and since then I've fitted something like 4 more domestic alternators (about 1 every couple of years, I'm getting quite good at it now) I'd always put it down to poor ventilation in the engine hole causing the alternator to overheat and fail. On the last occasion (about 3 years ago now) I disconnected the Adverc and didn't bother to reconnect it, alternator still currently working fine (tempting fate, I suppose I'll head out when I get back to the boat and it'll fail). I kind of get the feeling that the Adverc did me no good whatsoever.....or it could just be coincidenceFri, 07 Aug 2026 22:52:06 +0000It rained here in Wiltshire last Saturday morning, at about 7am for 30 seconds. I was caught in it! Not enough to wet the ground though....Fri, 07 Aug 2026 22:51:40 +0000Their website is here: https://www.fva.org.uk/ They are interested in steel narrowboats specifically. Between 40ft and 58ft IIRC. I'm faintly surprised they reject Springers. Perfectly good boats in my opinion.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 22:48:17 +0000Another reason to keep the paint tins, even the empty and/or dried up ones, is they form a record of what the boat has been painted with. There is all manner of info on the tins you might need in five or ten years. And you'll definitely need two weeks after throwing them away.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 22:30:36 +0000But what do the shops themselves do assist? The make everything 'self service' which certainly assists the shoplifters no end. They create the problem then expect the Police to solve the problem of their creation. We have always had shoplifters (almost none have ever ended up in prison anyway) but when you increase the opportunity for crime by reducing staff to the barest minimum and make everything Self service, what else did they expect? It is like drive-offs from garages which, with the increasing price of fuel is also reaching epidemic proportions. They could install pay-the-the-pump fuel delivery which would obliterate the problem overnight, but they choose not to, once again they create the problem then expect the Police to solve it for them.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 22:28:55 +0000Please NOOOO!!!!! Lots of posters here appreciate (I suspect) the staid and unchanging design of the forum in general and the user interface in particular. Remember the furore when "Streams" were introduced a few years ago, with no advanced warning or instructions on how to use them? One of the nicest-to-use forums I know of has use has had the exact same, unchanging format for approaching 20 years now. Periodic and entirely unnecessary fiddling with the appearance and changes in the way a forum works are just an irritation in my experience. I think others here might agree with me on this.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 21:05:44 +0000This topic is locked till the moderators come to a decision as to it's future. Going to get my beauty sleep now.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 20:52:39 +0000Not sure if this should be posted in "Silly Signs" or the Joke thread ..................... A council has apologised for putting up a 'Dead End' sign next to a road that leads to a military graveyard. Locals were up in arms about the sign that was placed on the corner of Cemetery Road, which leads to Wimborne Cemetery, the final resting place for 44 fallen soldiers from the two World Wars. Given that there are roadworks and closures in the area, it was originally believed to be the work of a local prankster. However, Dorset Council has now confirmed the sign was placed there intentionally by a worker following concerns raised by residents of a separate road called Blind Lane. The Liberal Democrat-run council has apologised over the 'unfortunate' placement of the temporary sign, saying 'it was placed there with the best intentions'.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 20:38:15 +0000It wasn't a spelling mistake. They used the wrong word and denied it was wrong, even when supplied with evidence. Hence, not interested in learning. Which is fair enough. None of us comes here to learn anything, do we?Fri, 07 Aug 2026 20:31:54 +0000But it will still do its job whichever side the switch is, Shirley?Fri, 07 Aug 2026 20:24:51 +0000Today I discovered that straw bales are as big as my car.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 19:36:58 +0000But surely, the equipment used on a 12v FLA battery system will (must) also work on 14.6 volts when the battery is being chatrged ?Fri, 07 Aug 2026 19:21:58 +0000https://www.strakers.co.uk/property-for-sale/4-bedroom-house-for-sale-in-marsh-road-hilperton-marsh-trowbridge-ba14-6a58f200aa4a6220aa50fea7/Fri, 07 Aug 2026 18:42:33 +0000Or three that you know about, possibly more!Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:31:32 +0000Would it be that easy to stop CaRT repossessing your boat, if you haven’t paid a license for say 3 years? Would CaRT let you buy a licence at £1500, after it’s cost them £1000’s in legal action to get to the repossession final stage and the wheels set in motion to remove your boat from their water?Fri, 07 Aug 2026 16:42:15 +0000From the notices it is clear that reopening is dependent on levels recovering in the long pound, rather than promised for a particular date: Update 5 August 2026, 4:08pm We have made the difficult decision to temporarily close Hatton Lock Flight to navigation from 1pm on Thursday 6 August. To allow boats already on the flight to clear the locks, the last entry into Lock 46 and Lock 37 will be at 11:30am. This closure is necessary to allow the 8-mile pound above the flight to recover from low water levels, caused by an issue with the pump at Camp Hill Locks and reduced feed from the North Stratford Canal. We hope to reopen the flight under the current restrictions on Saturday 8 August, subject to water levels recovering sufficiently. Update 7 August 2026, 12:44pm Following continued monitoring of water levels, Hatton Lock Flight will remain closed to navigation until at least 1pm on Monday 10 August. The closure remains necessary to allow the 8-mile pound above the flight to recover from low water levels. We can report that additional water is now being supplied into the system from Olton Reservoir, which will help to improve conditions. Our teams will continue to monitor water levels closely over the weekend and will review the situation on Monday morning. We expect to be in a position to make a decision regarding reopening the flight by midday on Monday 10 August.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 16:18:17 +0000Final update. Thanks for all the help and advice. It's running. It has an automatic start position on the throttle. LH starter motor Valve timing is marks on pulleys, thus was OK. Pump/injector timing was OK for reference there is a vertical line on the block, almost vertically above the crankshaft. Was hard to find. Starter motor is worn, almost impossible to find parts for it. Running oil into the drain holes in the head drops oil down the valve stems into the cylinders. This provided a bit of extra compression . Spinning the engine for a long time caused the white smoke to start getting black as it tried to run. Significant blowby from pistons as during the attempts to run, white smoke coming from crankcase yhtough drain ports in head. Eventually decompressing the exhaust valve on one cylinder got enough momentum for the other cylinder to fire. Releasing this got both cylinders firing. After running a while it would tick over properly with no more smoke or piston blow by. Very responsive to throttle and picked up well as it was spinning down after actuating cut off lever Diagnosis. Possible water remaining in fuel system despite thorough bleeding. Stuck piston ring(s) causing insufficient compression to start, which freed off after running for a while.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 15:14:18 +0000You could be right, i always get those two mixed up Edited orig.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 13:01:23 +0000You are right thats the best way , trying to do round cuts with a grinder jams the disk in the cut and is overloading the disk and the grinder motor , not great to be honest.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 11:31:23 +0000Nope. 'Twas MtB said that, not me!Fri, 07 Aug 2026 10:48:03 +0000See thisFri, 07 Aug 2026 06:44:35 +0000Ditto. I'm interested in the history of asylums and look forward to reading this.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 06:00:42 +0000No such rule! Transfer time varies from station to station.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 20:16:14 +0000Thank you, that's exactly the way I meant it. You need to read it in context with just the posts that had gone before. I stand by my comment.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 19:47:07 +0000