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They both ended up in my workshop. Best preserved engines I ever saw. They sat for 55 years in the same heated facility, meticulously maintaned. One has 560 and the other 580 hours on the meter, and they start and run like new engines. I got them with clear engine oil, fresh radiator fluid, clean airfilters, and almost like they came from the factory only last month. The dieselpumps are still covered in their factory wax coating, and pristine and shiny under it. Only flaw I can find with them is that one of the generators regulate the output at a somewhat higher voltage than nominal, 250V instead of 230. Probably due to a dried up condenser or something in the 55 year old regulator. They also came with a couple of sturdy ASEA 3 phase transformers to 400V of the same vintage, but without control/instrument cabinets. As they used to be part of the UPS system for DECCA Navigators Skagerak-chain of radio beacons, and had the controls integrated in the main cabinets. They were the emergency back up for Violet Slave Årjang, to be precise. I’m going to build new cabinets and dieseltanks for them, preserve them, and keep them in my collection until I get an offer I can’t refuse. Or get old enough to find out that it’s time to downsize. They’re a joy in that state, plain and simple. Museum quality items.

Some people do it frequently. They are called "serial off-fenders"

Sorry its been a while, but I now have a boat Exhire - good conversation with surveyor and doughts put to bed or sorted. Brillient and testing journey from Coventry canal to Yorkshire Calder & Hebble. Started to make it "ours", the real captain! she does know how to "change things inside" Thank you all for your advice, I have loads of questions I will bore you with later

I found the same about ABNB, but bought my boat from GHBS, which went well despite my trepidation from what I had read about them on here. At the end of the day, it is better to buy the boat you really want from wherever it is on sale, rather than restrict yourself to the very few excellent brokers. Only if you are really lucky will the boat you really want will be available from the broker you really want to use.

The Festival d'Orleans on the Loire last September, with one of the boats arriving, and the horses used in the demonstration of how boat horses were ferried across the river. The final photo is of the aqueduct at Maintenant, which carried an uncompleted canal for supplying water to the Palace at Versailles. The canal was designed by Vauban, who is best known for his design of fortifications, and the aqueduct dates from 1684-1688.

? This is a sine of the times ... ? (With apologies to the artist formerly known as Prince!)

Sorry about that, and I can't blame the spell checker. A few more photos of last September in Orleans to compensate. The locks up to the summit of the Canal d'Orleans, a disused lock on the River Cher, and a narrow lock on the Canal de la Sauldre.

You get 24 times as many amps, obviously!

And one can only guess how happy I am to see this thread resurrected with an about-face of news, and those wonderful pics! And, just to gild the lily - we are at Lemonroyd, and the visitor moorings are reserved for Commercial Traffic 22<>24th September. Deep joy

Some rotten boater who leaves his fenders down to get ripped off in locks and you have picked the remains up on your blade. The gland packing is at the opposite end of the shaft bearing, no way it could get out at the back end. If it ever did, boy, would you know, the water would be up to your knees.

Delighted to see the change. It's a real phoenix from the ashes moment. Here's some pics to celebrate with:

Left Wednesday, loaded Thursday morning and arrived back at Ocean Lock, Goole for 18.45. A strong spring tide meant that we saw 10.9 knots opposite Swineshead and for most of the return trip we were above 10 knots – and that wasn't running at full power. The trip is taking about 2hrs 50 mins each way with these decent tides. AC aggregates are already asking for 1000 tons a week at Leeds. We loaded 400 tons in Albert Dock yesterday just to be on the safe side as the depth on the A&C needs testing before 500 ton loads become the norm. This sea-dredged sand appears bulkier that the previous material from Besthorpe, taking up more room in the hold, but it is very dry at the moment. Going up the canal Monday, as you say, leaving 08.00 and tying up above Lemonroyd for the night ready for a wee bit of a shindig upon arrival in Leeds for 10.00 on Tuesday morning. After that it should be business as usual: 8 hours up the canal loaded; 6 hours to return to Goole unloaded. It's hoped that Goole – Hull – Goole can be completed on one complete tide cycle leaving on a falling tide and returning on the incoming tide. If this works in practice then the efficiency and fuel saving will be brilliant. Farndale H (Branford Barge Owners) and Fusedale H (Humber Barges) will be sharing the work in the first instance. Branford Barge Owners have Humber Renown and Fossdale H in reserve should the the tonnage become unmanageable for two vessels.

Thank the Lord you didn’t suggest cooking with electric...

I didnt say anything about needing to consider charge regimes supporting a larger bank. If you have 4*110Ahrs and have a routine of using and charging then increasing the bank to 5 or 6*110Ahr will have zero effect on the charge regimes. You are still going to be putting the 80Ahrs or wotever back in each day and charging with a charge source that is not that different in ratios. You will be spending less time in bulk but charging with more Amps during the reducing tail current period. There are 'rules' about the size of charge sources versus battery capacity but a lot depends on what you do. An example is on our last boat, we had 6*110Ahr 'cheapos' with a 100A victon combi charger. I wanted to go to separates so bought a 30A vicron charger and used the combi as an inverter only. Was 30A big enough as a charger for my 660Ahr bank? Yes of course it was, as I only ever charge when in the marina (dont use a genny) and as we are out and about over 50% of the time it doesnt get used much. It is turned on when we get back to the marina (when we are there) but by the time we get in, the alternator has mainly charged the batteries so I didnt need big amps going in - and we were usually there for more than 24 hrs so 30A would charge anything. Yes, if we had a genny then maybe a bigger charger would have been more efficient....but we didnt. Ignore your charge regimes if considering adding a couple of extra batteries.

I suspect this is the work of the anonymous M spell checker

Note that a 5-battery bank becomes a 10-battery bank if you go for Trojan T105s as they’re 6V batteries. It’s easy to overlook that when you’re budgeting for space and cost.

He said Amps per day, not Amp Hours per day, so I let it slide. If he had said Amps per Hour, then no mercy! ? Jen

The % SoC you can safely discharge down to depends on the lead acid battery type. Most "leisure" batteries are rebadged starter batteries with thin plates, so 50% depth of discharge and limited cycles for longer life of 2-4 years. Trojans are semi traction batteries with thicker plates, so can go down to 25% SoC and can deliver more cycles. Typical life is 10 years Finally you can get traction batteries. Very thick plates and deliver many cycles.The ones I used to work with had a capacity test to 0% every 2 years and used lsst 25 years plus. With AGMs you tend to get what you pay for. My boat was fitted with Lifeline AGMs when I bought it, which have an excellent reputation in the salty marine and critical power industry. They are now in their 13th year, and still have over the 50% of original capacity left. However they are not cheap. When they fail they will be replaced by Trojans, or LifePO4 if off the shelf drop in systems are available at reasonable prices by then.

Part of the learning curve as a new boater is coming to the understanding that a lot of people in the Inland waterways boating business hate boaters! It's difficult to think of another area where business people have such disdain for their customers.

Those daft boaters that boat with their fenders down ?

Hi Thats rope not gland packing. It's been picked up on the prop and has likely been there for a while. Now you have removed you can forget about it.

So I guess you could say he was up-cycling...