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We had a nice day yesterday, surviving Harecastle and escaping onto the Macc. Not too hot today which was good for the Boseley 12. Arriving, we found the locks in our favour and several boats coming down. But blimey, some of the pounds were very low and required water running down to get us between locks. Phew, finally made it to the top after much bumping and crashing on the bottom, and moored for the night. Dinner and a glass of wine ensued. At about 9:30pm Jeff suddenly said it would be a good idea to walk back down the flight to see how the low pounds were faring left to their own devices. Which is not really like Jeff, especially as he had been for a run earlier.We duly set off and noted that some pounds were fine, others quite low and a couple extremely low with large swathes of mud flats exposed on the offside. The worst was at lock 6. And then we heard the pitiful bleat. A large lamb/ young sheep was buried half way up its body in the slimy black gloop, a few feet from the bank. It was starting to get dark so we couldn’t leave it. We crossed a couple of fences and a field to get round to the offside and said sheep, which made a few pathetic struggling attempts to move that only submerged it further. I could get within a few feet of it on firm ground and even managed to grab the scruff of its neck but there was no way I was going to budge it without getting at least one leg in.So shoes off, socks off, jeans off. And then I had to put my leg into the slimy black gloop. It went down 1/2 way between knee and hip. Yuk! But I managed to get more purchase on the sheep and in fact grab it under the forelegs to pull it round facing the bank. It was a heavy brute and laden down with black mud!You can just imagine the papers, “Nicholas Norman aged 61 was found in a public place mud wrestling with a young sheep, his trousers long since removed. He is charged with gross indecency ...” you get the picture.Anyway, grabbing its nether regions I managed to hook it mostly out whereupon it got all tangled up in the reeds. Jeff, who up to this point had been hanging on to my other arm to prevent me going right in, helped to clear the reeds and finally with a huge bound of energy it was out. It scampered up the bank and with only a briefly-bleated “thank you”, and without offering me free use of any of its orifices, ran off across the field to its mates, who probably wondered what had happened to their sibling/cousin and where this black sheep had come from.photo or it didn’t happen. Well not being millennials, our first thought was not to video the whole thing, rather it was to rescue the sheep. But Jeff did take an “after” photo. Hmmmm, so now I have to walk up 6 locks to get back to the boat, in my underpants. Fortunately it was by now pretty dark so what could possibly go wrong!? Washed most of the black gloop off my legs and hands at the waterpoint, then into the shower.Funny that Jeff had an unusual urge to go walkies, he must be on some psychic wavelength with the sheeps!It does raise the point that very low pounds and canals are dangerous especially to animals. Most animals have a sense of danger near water, but are not clever enough to distinguish between firm ground and soft mud / silt 3’ deep. Anyway, washing machine will be on today!

You haven't quite grasped how a photograph works DC, have you!

True why spoil it with facts that can be substantiated

Maybe it's the hot weather. I've had 3 boats with Enfield drives, so I thought I'd give this thread a butcher's. Just got to post 9 and I seem to understand …… OP has an Outdrive and the gear selector lever is tight We then hear "There are no cables on it or the engine …" So why ask if it's an internal issue if all you've got externally is a stiff lever which should have a cable? When asked if he's using just the lever on the gearbox OP says "Yes that’s the setup and the two cables go to the control box as you said one to the engine and the other to the drive the cables are all free it’s the short lever that’s stiff ….." Eh? what cables? You've just said there are no cables to on it or the engine (sic) Where have these cables suddenly come from? Were they there when you started writing? Is there a phantom cable fitter stalking you? Having been advised (Superbly) to employ an Enfield drive expert, the closing comment is "it really can’t be that hard ". I agree, it can't, especially when compared to the thread. Going to go and lie down in a cold beer, now that I've removed my cables ……. which aren't fitted.

Pretty much any engine a new boat builder will offer you will be fine for rivers. You seem particularly concerned with rivers and I'm wondering why. Bear in mind the Thames and the Trent are about as different as football and cricket but the same engine will be fine for both. The far bigger issue is preventing the engine from failing when giving it some beans on a fast flowing section of river. This is 100% down to standards of installation and maintenance, not the make and model of engine. The two big reasons for 'engine-under-stress' failures are overheating and fuel supply blockage. Inadequate cooling skin tanks and/or circulation cause overheating when you unexpectedly need the power, and on the Thames tideway and rough bits of the Trent the waves rock the boat about and stir up the residual crud in the fuel tank which gets drawn into the fuel filter and blocks it, making the engine stop. Neither problem is down to 'wrong engine' choice.

Just my simple observation but from talking to people coming on the cut over the past 10 years or so, many have little interest in the history of the canals than those who fought British Waterways and the incumbent governments for their survival. I often chat to boaters at Sutton Stop, both leisure boat owners and hire boaters and most have no idea why our canals are there. There are exceptions of course.

I find doing this PLUS knocking out of gear just before your bow draws level reduces the draw on the moored boat to almost zero, whilst barely reducing your speed padt them at all. Highly recommended.

I find the the trick is to carry on at cruising speed, then cut the engine to tick-over at the appropriate distance - a boat length or so. This hardly makes any difference to the actual speed, but the reduced noise of the engine creates the illusion of slowing down - so you don't get shouted at. Then a gentle gradual touch on the throttle to cruising speed once past further adds to the illusion you are not in a hurry.

I don't think so, there was more rain down here than up north. And they put restrictions on opening hours before a compete closure.

If we are going back to the wide beam 'BETELGEUSE' - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/houseboat-/302799746879?oid=302791044812 The claim to it being a Manchester Ship Canal Barge might be true, but I fancy as a maintenance boat. It's an interesting vessel, and looks very comfy within. I especially like the ceiling (we'd call it the floor) wide planks - lovely! Not so sure about concrete as ballast though. The Regents had a variety of wide craft in use, though I think the Lee Navigation took the smaller Thames styled barges, and they may have carried sail.

Japanese 35 hp ish or a tad more and not painted yellow will suffice.

Is that just playing with balls? If so then I can confirm if I play with my balls it usually makes me happy.

Thank you all. As Tony says, it is a DV36, so I shall label it Stop Solenoid

Ive met him, his name is Richard Cranium.

All proper marine engines are energise to stop. That way an electrical failure does not cause an engine shut down in the middle of the oggin. N

@Nunovyrbizz, this is excellent! Thank you so much.

Looks like a Bosch rotary injection pump to me and probably on a Bukh DV36. Its the stop solenoid wire and if I am right about the engine it is energise to stop rather than the more usual energise to run.

Anyway, this is the Wharf (Worf) thread, not the Borg thread.

You must be really boreg

Engine hole 1 year after the major cleanup....

So a Barrus Shire then. A fine engine no doubt but would not be my first choice. At least its not the horribly expensive mariniser. Engines said to be struggling can also be down to the propeller not properly matching the engine power, gearbox reduction ratio and hull.

I pulled a very sheepish and naked (apart from a very short vest) drunk man out of the Trent at Newark a couple of weeks ago.? The embankment walls near the Barge are about 6ft above the river and he was struggling to get out. His friends helpfully threw his clothes in too after him which promptly sank so having failed to pull him onto the boat ,I towed him with a rope to the nearest ladder. The lady sitting quietly in her narrowboat next to the escape ladder got a bit of a shock as he emerged out the river past her bows..? I did donate him a towel..

Well, you probably do not want one that is too small but most engines that come as "standard" these days are probably over powered. I am perfectly happy with a nominal 36 hp engine of a 54 ft boat on the Thames when in flood and would be happy enough with it in a 58ft boat. Perhaps of more importance is YOUR experience, capabilities of reading the flow & eddies, and knowing when it is safer to tie up and wait. Some hull makers still seem to fit undersized skin tanks that are fine on canals but a soon as you get on rivers and open it up a bit the engine overheats. Once you know the power of the selected engine work out the skin tank size required (about 1 sq ft on one side per four hp) and ensure the hull builder makes one of that size. Any talk they may try to feed you about over cooling is rubbish and should be a warning of their technical competence. The engine thermostat makes sure you can not over cool. One particular mariniser has a reputation for parts being very expensive and they tend to sell boat builders complete instillation package that in my view contains components that are not ideal on canals so check the price of genuine spares BEFORE you commit to a particular engine. Service spares for any engine can usually be had cheaper from automotive sources than the mariniser.

Couldn't resist 0.4mm is a very fine difference - CaRT must have some laboratory grade equipment out in the field.....

I think there were actually Nine, this was Seven

The 'need' to travel at night is exactly the same as the 'need' to travel in the day. No-one needs to travel in a narrowboat these days. We all do it for pleasure.

Another advantage to a cruiser stern - no fancy upsweep at the arsend. The scuppers on our boat seem to be in exactly the right places!

Have you tried turning it on? ?

Apparently not He just got tired of running it I guess... https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-together/discussions/welcome-hobby-talk/caravan-motorhome-chat/satellite-for-caravans/ In the meantime this site may be helpful: https://www.sky4caravans.co.uk/about/

Of course a stop at the Anchor at High Offley is nigh on compulsory.

I suspect their batteries are utterly and totally shot and ARE fully charged in half an hour of engine running. It's probably that or sit in the dark. I also suspect they are fully aware of the rules and tested you out intitially with a couple of 8.30 stops, then as you didn't object felt free to run even later. They also quite possibly cannot afford several hundred quid for new batteries so have little choice, or better things to spend several hundred quid on if they had. Like you I would have just move way however, for just the same reasons. Boaters like this are just part of the environment we choose to inhabit. No point in stressing about it. Commend yourself for your tolerant attitude.

Yes please do keep us updated, very few projects on here nowadays. I do love the Highbridge boats

Crikey, didn't realise it was almost a year ago that I bought the boat, how time flies! Prompted by a thread encouraging the use of this section, here's the boat's journey so far. Point 1) " Do something about the paint and blacking, hopefully stripping it off to reveal a pristine, undamaged gelcoat underneath" Well we all knew that wasn't ever going to go to plan... Ah, the perks of a GRP boat- easy road transport (by an insured haulier, not me) I then started to crack on removing the old blacking, carefully using the blade from an old plane to scrape it off. It had become brittle from the UV (I assume) so scraped off quite easily, nevertheless it wasn't exactly pleasant, especially with no functioning shower on the boat or in the yard. It was upon washing my hands at the end of the day that I discovered that swarfega does absolute wonders for removing the blacking, so the following day (much to the amusement of other yard users) i slathered the hull in Swarfega, left it for a couple of hours and pressure washed it off. This did largely remove all of the remaining blacking. It became clear that she has had a fair few coats of paint in her lifetime, so getting it back to gelcoat was going to be an impossible task. Instead, the hull was primed with Tekaloid and painted. At this point i feel the need to add that the colour choice was somewhat accidental, I intended for it to be in the classic Highbridge colours of brown and cream, instead it's closer to sickly yellow and safety orange, but i stuck with it. I don't think it turned out too bad really ! Shame it rained on my gunwhale paint though. Next time i'll move on to updating you all on the outdrive work. Thanks for reading!