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Yes; yes and yes again Nut; sound advice. And yes, cuthound - I worked out how to stop the engine. I foolishly thought that the sign on the ignition (where the key goes) that said "Stop" would do it but after getting over that naive impulse, I found the correct button to press. I don’t think there was any link to me doing that and someone in the next boat simultaneously being ejected 50’ in the air but you never know. sniffy

Hi all, i found our boat boat had a bad case of the bug. i searched around and found a company called Bio Clean Jetting Limited who offered a fixed price job. They have just finished and I am well impressed with their work. They did three passes and fuel is a lovely cherry colour now, all for £300 inc VAT. No other costs. They offer this as a standard all in price. No connection, just well chuffed.

This is a link to an animated map showing the development of our waterways from 1600-1835. There is also a short article to go with the map. https://www.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/transport/onlineatlas/waterways.html

When I worked on flight sims back in the early 70’s some wag fitted a button to the side of a rack with a big label “Do not press”. It was wired to a latching relay powering a siren and rotating blue beacon. Guess how many times a day the relay had to be reset...

I see this topic has descended into silliness - which is exactly how it’s meant to be. However, I have BIG NEWS....! I worked out how to start the engine...! And it started....!! Next stop - the electrics. I'm so chuffed. sniffy

first thing to do OP is get your self a decent bottle of malt sit on the bow and enjoy the sunset and then worry about everything in the morning and raise a toast to the old girl and she will never let you down . good luck this forum is full of very knowledgeable people who will love to help just provide all the details and photos and you will be in good hands

Good grief, They are cheap enough. Replace after five years or if it has been activated.

If @tree monkey's boat sinks, or blows up, we will know. Jen

Pot every futon

The German waterway authority has digitised its collection of photos. They can be accessed at http://medienarchiv.baw.de. They mainly show work on structures, but there are boats as well.

Consequences consequences you started your boat engine and the impact echoed round the world. School children went on strike against global warming hearing the dulcet tones of your diesel. ( but still got taken home in mumsies wange wover coz thats a hybrid init) . a future Genius missed maths, couldnt compute Pi, and therefore became a nail technician , rather than designing plasma drives, the world heated up and the wasps dies. All because you started your new boat without the proper manual.. there are consequences....its all baby boomers fault you have ruined the world for us in the future..risk it must be eliminated

Just think of the arguments you could cause by untying the boat and leaving ... whoever tied up to it would be very insistent there was a mooring ring there yesterday, and would be utterly baffled it wasn't there the day after!

Are you sure it's not Feb/March? Month 1 for the personal tax year is usually April, but I don't know about the specific rule on the pensions, as they won't affect me for decades yet. (I'm a young codger - I have the grumpy old man thing down pat, but not the years to excuse it!)

I love the bathroom. Steampunk engineering at its finest.

Probably thermo couple as others have said, but likely dust as others have said. Buy a can of Air duster, its brilliant for blasting such as this, I used some to clear my hard to get to oven jets and it worked in seconds. Its cheap as chips on ebay in a purple can by essential electrics or look in poundworld I found some there at a quid a can, a no brainer to try it first

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh but with Br---t if it ever happens then it will make a big difference when the country goes bankrupt innitt ?

B&Q own brand paint is awful stuff. I used the black gloss on some window frames a year or so back and a week later it still wasn't dry. It's horrible. It really is worth going to a proper paint shop, spending twice as much and getting something decent.

I can't remember the exact figure for the Thames. but i think a typical modern narrow boat costs about £35 for a one day licence (effectively you get two days, just enough to do the Oxford-Reading transit in spring or summer), or £60 for a week. Of course, for that you get to be on a Very Posh River, and the scenery is quite magnificent. As Athy says, what he was told could be very second hand and unreliable, but £50 for a short transit through the Middle Level does seem very steep. If anything in such a flat area can really be described as steep.

For those that don't know the secret to climbing a rope ladder is to climb it from the side, i.e. with one rope between your legs and using the front and back of the ladder for your feet. Then it doesn't swing away from you.

... and is the liquid used in E-Ciggys

Big red buttons with do not press written on it are of course meant to be pressed Don't worry I've fitted it to BSPs boat

I bought two electric kettles from Curry's, one for me one for a friend. ''Essentials'' £4.99p each''. Both worked about three times and then packed up. took em to bits and found the auto shut off bi-metal strips were flattened out, bent them up a bit with a finger nail and both have worked beutifully for over a year now,

But will you be able to resist the temptation to press them? ?

There are no name mechanical hour counters on Ebay, that are much cheaper than, but identical to the Durite ones in all respects that I can see, other than the lack of the Durite name on the front (I have closely compared one to the other). They may even be made in the same factory in China on the same production line for all I know. Fitted a cheapy Ebay one to a friends boat. Hasn't failed yet, but early days. If the engine hours are too long to get the new one to match the old, then just add the date changed and approximate engine hours to the boats cruising log. The one I fitted was to replace a dud LCD in the rev counter. I wired it to the "ignition" switch. Jen

You can fix that with a left handed thribble washer, but no you’ve got to go your own way. I told you boat technology reached its zenith in 1937 with the fitting of electrical lighting to grand union boats. introducing things that involve plasma, bluetooth, apps, automation composting toilets and lithium batteries and the like confuse boats and they reject it. Thats why forums like this get questions like why dont my 24 volt batteries not charge on 12, and why do i need to run my engine 24/7 to keep my nasal hair trimmer charged, and why do my work collegies not visit me now i have a vegan combusting toilet Boats are simple things that if left alone will simply Rust in peace , but at least then you can fix them with an old screwdriver and a bit of fence wire.

Many use the Durite 2" mechanical hour counters with more success than those LCD ones in revcounters but how to connect it is open to discussion. Personally I would connect to the ign. on terminal with the instruments or the D+ wire at the back of the charge warning lamp. The former will register hours with the engine off but the ignition on and the latter MIGHT do the same but probably not. It may make the alternator a little more reluctant to energise so need a bit of a rev.

There was another post recently on failed hours counters. Had the same thing on my Vetus hour meter. Tacho still works fine, but no hours. In the end I bought a Durite hour meter which wasn't a lot of money. Ran it continuously until the hours displayed agreed with what the Vetus one should have been saying. It is mounted just inside the boat so stays dry and still works fine five or six years later. Wired into the 'ignition' circuit so it only counts hours when ignition turned on, which should mean the engine is running. Before the Vetus counter gave up completely (it worked occasionally if it had been dry for a while) it differed by less than 1%. ETA: Mine is an LCD version. One wire from services supply to energise the display, the other as mentioned above from the ignition circuit.

From my post above : You can still get a repair or refund after six months, but the seller has the right to deduct some money for the use you've had from the product. You'll have to prove that it was faulty when you got it. Not easy to prove if you have left it in its box for 12 months

I am now tempted to label some of the buttons thus

Just a note on W&T's post above, the cross members are perfectly fine as they end on a strong point, i.e. that ridge in the hull skin and anyway the boat is not going to be crossing the Atlantic but as a general point beware of ending cross members or longitudinal stringers on a piece of flat hull skin, it tends to concentrate stresses which is not really what you want. Its not supercritical on the Grand Union but if you do get enthusiastic and build something that goes to sea and 'slams' into waves and troughs it could just start a crack. Good luck.

Check that the cable travel is actually pulling/pushing the gearbox lever at the gearbox fully in both directions. In fact, disconnect the cable at the gearbox, put the box fully into forward, put the stick also into forward and see if the cable will reconnect without moving either lever. What you are describing is most likely not a gearbox fault but a cable fault. If the cable is pulled for forward, it is possible it is stretched and about to snap, do you have a spare cable? I suspect you are going to need one very soon.

Wide beams will stack quite well, better than narrow boats.

Thanks this is great and confirms what we were thinking - thanks to all of you for your posts and comments we will see how we get on and let you all know - happy boating!

Quite right. In my teens I knew everything about anything.In my twenties I knew just about everything.In my thirties I started to doubt my knowledge.In my forties I realised that I knew very little really. At my age (not telling,but I remember the Romans leaving Britain) I now accept that I know BUGGER ALL!

Baildon on its way to be turned back into a full length butty.

I'm sure that is not what you intended - but - would that suggest that a boat has to return to its home mooring every night ? What happens when I am 'out' on a 3-month cruise ? I am away from my mooring (or other place on a trailer in my yard) and the mooring is still 'sitting there' empty and available.

hello everyone I need a bellhousing for my BMC2.2 any ideas ? Thank you for your help Richard C