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Hi Everyone, I recently arrived at my boat after a few weeks away and found an enormous crack across the stove top. Nothing could have dropped on it, and I assumed the cast iron was almost unbreakable. I dare not use it now and I have no alternative heating. Any thoughts - how did it happen - what to do - is this terminal - should I be looking for a new stove - can it be repaired - if so by whom? Thanks! Davo.

only available for boats over 50 feet in length due to the amount of words on sticker.......

If we don't want our waterways being spoilt by rubbish or litter, the answer is to clear it up rather than moan about it. I pick up litter when walking my dog of an morning or an evening because I hate to see it. No amount of moaning or posting photos is ever going to stop people from being careless but if boaters are seen to be clearing up other's rubbish it will do our reputations a power of good. Keith

Hi all, Some of you may remember a few months ago I wanted to clean all the blacking out of our old water tank in order to turn it into a diesel tank. The recommendation was to pour in diesel to dissolve the bitumen then soak it up. It half worked. I now have a tank in which the sides are covered in sticky bitumen diesel stuff that just does not want to dry. Anyway - I came up with another solution to the diesel tank problem so now just want to use the old tank as a storage box. Problem is the black paint is getting everywhere. Does anyone have any good ideas to dry it out. The best idea I can come up with is to get some dry cement powder and throw it at the walls in order to absorb the bitumen. It would make a very very thin layer of cement but that wont be a problem right? Plus I heard of blacking a hull using this method. I can't just finish the job and get the blacking out because unforeseen to me was the fact that the walls are rusty and therefore porous and its going to take a hell of a lot of diesel to clean it all out. Thanks! Doodlebug

Sorry to go Glad to see I'm not the only "Elite" player, I've still got a lot to learn but love zapping the pirates at the resource extraction sites. Not done much trading or mining yet, I've just kitted out a Federal drop ship as a mining vessel but my fav so far is my Vulture build, can't afford the bigger ships yet.

A skyhook! Richard

I'll often use the Probably Knot for temporary stuff. Never use the Absolutely Knot.

editor@narrowboatworld.com Try the above. Your particular style may well appeal to him ( that is if it hasn't already)

In fact, get someone else to do it for you In a different boat yard to the one you are in Preferably three counties away Richard

Of coarse, a few years ago, boats used moored quite a distance away from the next boat because of the Boat Pox! This highly contagious disease was rife, from Hire boats right down to the lowly Constant Cruisers, and was only able to be controlled because the fender makers were instructed to injected a serum into all bow and stern fenders as instructed by the then British Waterways. This almost eliminated this curse! Unfortunately, this boat pox, is still in the minds of some boaters and now and then an outbreak crops up here and there, especially in busy places, like Sutton Stop, Braunston and such like!! Nipper

.......... keep your mouth firmly shut.

No it isn't! Morso Squirrels are noted for their ability to do this. My advice is buy a new stove as replacing the top panel can turn into one helluva project as the bolts holding the stove together will snap off instead of undoing when you try to remove them.

When you direct the jet into it, be extremely careful where you stand.

The OP does use the word"us" so assuming a boat owner he or she is included.Whatever is behind this post its not rude or politics or religion and as long as the thread does not end up with members getting out of their prams and throwing ballast at each other then I feel it should stay.

He didn't call anyone dirty, filthy and stinking though did he? He said that's what people think of boaters when they see this type of mess.

Paul please. In the dark. Children not paying attention in daylight. Perhaps most unlikely someone with bad sight. On way back from pub. Can you give link to friendly narrowboat forum.

So I got a bit more done this weekend. All indoor work as it has been beyond windy and raining constant all weekend! 2x LG 22 inch TV's converted to 12v DC... TV brackets in the helm. Lovely! TV even for those boring night passages! Engine bay lights installed. The colour of light makes everything stand out. Also lots more wiring tidied. Macerator pump now wired in and working. Toilet hoses all connected & double clamped to seacocks that were changed the other week. 2 of the HD IP CCTV cameras have been installed. 1 in the engine room and 1 covering the rear "patio doors". There are another 3 or 4 to add when I get to the area they're in.

Also, if the pin is struck by lightning and melts, the rope will release. Bad form.

As I said before, this is a different kit from the ones usually sold for boat use. Unless the boat is going to stay on a mooting,the external flue will be too tall, I think, although it would be possible to use it cut down, I guess. The lower part only looks single walled - the one I pictured is twin walled, so will externally not get as hot, and hence also be a better bet for passing through roof linings. Unless installing on a massively curved or sloping roof, you do not need any packing between cowl and room, and I would strongly recommend against it. The bottom of the cowl is very flexible, being only thin alloy, and can be reshaped by hand very easily to match most room profiles, but to still have the tube part completely vertical. If you do this the internal flue will fit into it, and be level with it at the top, and the external flue will be vertical, which looks far better than at 90 degrees to the slope of the roof. IMO if you end up cutting any part of the usual kit, or adding any packing, you are doing it wrong.

So the boat sunk. Some of the stuff on the towpath, has possibly been rescued from the canal to stop it from fouling. The guy has not been back to sort it all out yet? Anyway, some kind soul has decided to "plaster" it all over the internet and collect some brownie points. Clever.

All this talk about needing to stop charging comes, I suggest, from people who didn't read the spec I posted. Yes of course a raw cell is like that but when the cells are packaged into a lead-acid-replacement battery, the electronics takes care of all of that. That is why the Mastervolt spec talks about float charge voltage as well as bulk charge voltage, both of which are similar to lead acid figures. And that is part of the reason why such batteries are very expensive.

I find it hard to believe that the mooring spike couldn't have been driven in behind the concrete cappings without needing to cross the towpath, if so then I would have looked for somewhere else to tie. Dave

I have absolutely nothing to add of any technical worth as i m a numpty . But , having been on the receiving end of a great deal of advice on technical matters thru this forum , often from members participating in thread can i just say how great it is to read of such helpfulness & to say that it is in these situations that this forum shows the very best of itself . I will follow the thread , hopefully to a happy conclusion cheers

Hi, Platinum batteries are manufactured Europeand in the Far East rtc and distributed under the "Platinum" brand by http://www.platinumbatteries.co.uk/ based in Trafford Park Manchester I collected one from them and the guy who handed the battery over placed an unbraded battery on the bench looked at the invoice and then selected a "Platinum" battery label from a long row of label dispensers and fixed it to my battery Ray Edit to show more info sent to me by one of the largest UK battery suppliers Dear Sir Apologies for the late reply as I have been away from the office. There are no “real” car, truck, marine and leisure battery manufacturers in the UK There are two assemblers of batteries in the South East but they are mainly manufacturing special types; mainly for vintage and veteran vehicles My estimation is that the batteries sold in the UK come form the following areas 75% Europe (including Turkey) 20% Far East (China, Korea, Indonesia) 3% North and South America 2% Africa and Middle East

It's what a helluvalot of CCers do though, and it's fully compliant with the law and CRT guidelines. I've spent the winter on the K&A doing much the same (although I tend to move once a week) and there is a rump of about 20 boats appearing to do doing the same, I see them so often! And exactly the same on the stretch from Banbury to Oxford. A few dozen fully compliant CCers who are always there. (Spelling ejit.)

I do like the innovative use of space, it's just the ugly wood and decoration.. I'd like to see a more modern take on a back cabin, i might like that.