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I own a small carrying fleet myself....

Progress was being made on the far side. I was told this is archaeology rather than full excavation, and that they'd found some interesting Roman stuff. The next mile is completely missing, so I carried the canoe into the Frome and back at the other end. This is the motorway bridge over the Frome. The canal channel will share this bridge on the left with a lower water level. The canal restarts from Pike Lock, which was being restored at the time.

I take it the honeymoon period has ended then.

The prop *Will Not* drag it into neutral. If it is properly installed the whole prop shaft moves forward and backward as the clutch is engaged. The thrust from the prop will then ensure that the clutch stays engaged. There are two serious Thrust bearings in the rear wall of the crankcase and the rear wall of the gearbox to push the boat along. If the box has been incorrectly installed, with a separate thrust bearing and a cardan shaft then trouble is ahead. Some lined cone boxes creep out of gear; usually because the female cones have become worn and misaligned with the lined male cone. You can use a weight, or a wedge to hold it in gear but that is not how Mr Bergius intended it to work. The unlined cone boxes are less prone to creeping out of gear. Indeed they are renowned for needing an extra lap of the harbour whilst someone beat the clutch thrust box with heavy weights to get it out of gear. Any old oiler will do, but they are not essential. If you make the wick trimmings from the oil pots properly (using wool and some fine copper wire, not pipe cleaners, please) they can be adjusted by twisting the wick so the oil can be made to last, and lubricate the rockers well, for about 12 hours which is enough for most modern boating. If not, it takes only seconds to whip the tops off and add a little oil if you are boating Arthur and Ernie style. AND you can do it while going along. N

Bottom left one is clearly a dalek.

Rental, perhaps. Like floating static caravans.

Here’s a pinhole photo I took inside the brewery . I put the camera up high and we left it there for about 5 hours April 11th 2018

What goes ninety nine bomp? Centipede with a wooden leg.

If you are 'into' anagrams you don't want to live in NEWARK

No. Removing letters would eating.

Pobly

Or what you often see in spring -- duck file... 😉

We've already restored it once! 🤣

Focusing on energy use and 2000W is the wrong place. It is where that 2000W is coming from, what resources are used in providing it, what it is used to do and what happens to any byproducts that is the thing. Some one with a life style that is using 4000W all in from solar power for everything, using reused and recycled matter to do it is being a lot greener than some one using 2000W from burning fossil fuels and using lots of single use plastic say. The proportion of sunlight we currently convert, via solar pv, thermal and wind power is a rounding error compared with what is illuminating the planet. Even running our entire planetary civilisation on it will still be tiny. The big challenge for a long term civilisation is getting circular use of matter, not energy.

I think we have come to the conclusion that he is OK, or better. But one has to bear in mind that there are a lot of scammers out there and his initial posts were a bit vague, no website, seemingly dodgy address, several potential red flags. So folk were just being cautious. IMO prising the information out of him and perhaps prompting him to set up a website, is to his long term benefit. And he also showed reasonable patience and didn't behave like a sulky teenager as so many do these days. So all of that is to his credit and helps his reputation. And he got 10 pages of free advertising!

I don't think it is mandatory nowadays. Advisory only.

Nice. Looks like a horizontal piston governor with the oil trap on the rack output rod. Direct starting engine with Ricardo Comet Mk3 venturis. Keep it warm in winter to make starting easier. Has it electric start? No magneto.🙄 Lagging that exhaust would be a good idea. It is an ideal place to automatically rest your hand whilst adjusting and oiling things. Once at least! DAMHIKT. Wonderful engines, but you need to keep a spanner on them. N

All J3's are basically the same. Some are petrol start and some are diesel starting. The cylinder heads and intake pipework/starting valve/petrol combustion chamber are different. The direct diesel start heads have a different shaped combustion chamber ( venturi in Kelvin speak) and are scarcer than petrol start heads. There are two sorts of governor. They are interchangeable. The vertical piston one is made in bronze so is prettier if polished up. There are two sorts of water pump. They are interchangeable. The double acting one is probably better for prolonged high power work, but has a leather plunger. Which you have to make. There are two sorts of gearbox. One with lined male cone clutches and the earlier style with metal to metal clutches. There are lots of different magnetos........... N

Use of the term 'continuous cruising licence' on a government website not only legitimises the incorrect terminology for a boat without a home mooring. It also implies that this is a generally available option. Whereas I think only one Navigation Authority in the country permits boats to be licensed on that basis. All the others require a boat to declare a designated mooring as a condition of a long term licence.

They should be fine. I was given 2 to fit on our Kelvin, but being a J3 I never got round to it….I think they are still on a dusty shelf in my workshop. Lovely motors, a measured triple on tick over.

Ballynahinch houseboat manufacturer trebles production after major investment (msn.com) ABallynahinch company is on course to treble production of its specialist houseboats after investing in a purpose-built production space. Bluefield Houseboats said it will now be able to produce 36 vessels a year from just 12 currently after acquiring developing a 6,000 square feet factory on land just outside the County Down town. The move, backed by Ulster Bank, has also seen the firm create three new jobs and put in place plans to expand headcount further in the future. Only launched in 2016, the company said it is aiming to grow production to 100 houseboats annually by creating an additional 13,000 square feet of space on the same site. The houseboats themselves are largely aimed at the commercial market, but the company said it sees opportunity to create vessels for residential use, as well as supporting marinas to capitalise on tourism potential.

Everyone has an opinion, how we perceive that opinion says a lot about ourselves. If we do not like the opinion then we have a choice to either comment with our own opinion or just let it pass.

Ugglebarmby and Cridling Stubbs always tickled me...

Met a lot of deaf people on the canal, normally doing 10mph past my boat when moored up and they even know sign language too✌️

Perhaps the poll should also include those that have hired boats.