XAlan W

There are fan kits for A27`s on Ebay, Don`t know if they are the rotation you require

Heading east from Carcassonne there is Trebes & Homps both right on the canal & both typical French villages, If you take the D610 road from Trebes to Beziers it crosses the canal several times & the smaller roads lead to the canal quite often Most of the villages on the canal have mooring spots so there are quite a few boats athough most will be hire boats

The guy that owned CJ in the late 60`s early 70`s, can`t remember his name, but he lived near the pub below Shebdon embankment on the shoppie, used the same colour grey as he used on his Armstrong AS3, not much use though as I have no knowledge of the actual paint colour. But agree I think that the gray is to dark as it comes over in the photo.

I think that the LR & SL range came before the SR models

Not sure if this info is of any use,In 1958 when I first had my Fmc motor & traveled the lower T&M, ALBERT [unconverted] was tied on the offside above Weston Lock{the wide one]over the years it got lower in the water & more & more in a state of disrepair From about 1964 it settled on the bottom & listed over more& more until the outer gunnel was under water It was still like that in 1971 the last time I passed that way before selling up & leaving the canal. Looking at it then it must have taken a lot of money +time to get it up together again

If you are going to use JB products try WATER WELD doesn`t sag/ droop like the standard JB +its more waterproof

I think you will find that the steerer of the motor did in fact sit on the cabin top on lock free pounds it was easier to look ahead & astern to keep an eye on the butty &snubber [tow line],some even had a piece of wood the same thickness as the cabin slide frame& some 5/6 inches wide to stop the frame from digging in to the back of your legs

When I had my FMC motor They only had a collar on the top of the counter no bearing so you got your feet wet when the tiller was hard over. We used to scrounge the rim liners that were fitted in truck wheels as they were thicker in the centre stayed in place much better than inertube With the onset of tubeless tyres I don`t know if you can still get them

Back in the day the 4cyl was a Consul the 6cy was a Zepher & the deluxe version was a Zepher Zodiac

The morse control levers[&other makes] have a spring loaded fitting inside the box that the cable is attached to.If this is fitted the right way around you can engage gears with out it revving up the engine [You should be able to put the lever into gear without it moving the throttle cable as it compresses the spring] If this cable is fitted the wrong way around & it can be, the engine will rev up as the gear is selected [Not good for the gearbox]If you can see the works of the lever, watch as some one engages a gear & see if it just compresses the spring {or what ever method it has to not move the throttle cable] If its wrong,you turn around the fitting that the outer cable is fixed to

You will probably find your diesel leak to the sump is caused by a crack in the injector leak off pipe usually were they are silver soldered.The small pipe inside the rocker covers. It`s worth looking there first as you may not have to remove th crankcase door + the small union that screws into the injector are also prone to leak They are very easy to get cross threaded Try cork gasket material, in days gone by in my hire fleet days, I had almost 100% success rate using it, with Blue HYLOMAR jointing compound on both side it seems to do the trick [ Don`t go mad tightening them down & leave the goo to go off for 10mins or so]

I think you will find that lumpy water boat engines tend to be run at higher revs for much longer periods than canal engines[ie, south coast Portsmouth area to France Cherburg 60ish miles at approx 2750/3000 revs no shutting down for moored boats/locks + engines in narrow boats tend to be in 1400/2000 rev range] + more revs = more fuel consumed

Reading the posts on this forum as to how the canal system is today I am under the impression that the boaters mindset has changed. In the period that I owned boats & cruised the as was then available system 1953/72 it was a common thing to get jammed in locks that had bulging walls, gates that leaked so badly they couldn`t make a level, getting stemmed up/ stuck on various junk that was in the canal.[i remember trying to get on a bit on BCN main line in the late evening/ dusk & running full tilt into a Austin A35 that just had about 3 inches showing above the water good job it was a Josher motor]The mind set in those days you expected problems, &it was a rare day to not have some sort of a problem, most boats aquired TIRFORS or some sort of winch, pieces of ply wood, [blocking leaks in lock gates] at least 2 kebs 1 with a shaft as long as the long shaft,[for hooking out junk]+ a railway shunters pole,[ hopefully to hook junk off the prop not many weed hatches in those days]You wouldn`t get much joy out of BW in regard to help. It was the accepted practice that it was a challenge So working to get more or keep the exsisting canals open was just something that you did if you were interested in the canal system. IMO the boaters of today are interested in boating/holidays & the canal is a place to do this were as maybe years ago people were more canal [nutters similar to railway restoration groups]

I think you will find the correct name for that boat is JODOR. I did a bit of engine servicing on it in the late 60`s

There is a lake on the left hand side of the T&M[going north] in the Stoke on Trent area, that a model aero club used to fly sea plane models [sat afternoons & Sun mornings IIRC]

www.sealsdirect.co.uk They maybe will have some product to do the job & I have always found them very helpful

The first one I tried to hang in my back cabin was a failure, Charlie Atkins Snr.advised [ start at the top & work around in & out the slots with your ribbon leaving a longish piece at the top, when you reach the bottom leave a loop or tie a bow , continue around until you reach the starting point. Tie another bow & trim the ends, you can then fix with a staple , drawing pin or tack through the top & bottom bows/loops, adjust the fixings to stop the plates banging about{Sorry Blossom ]If more than one, fix bottom loop/bow to top bow of second plate & so on.

. Excellent photo`svery nostalgic to me, as I was born & raised in that area, & worked at Langley Mill boatyard in the 80`s, one small point the photo of your boat in LM lock, caption reads Great Northern Basin. It is the junction of Erewash, Cromford,& Nottinham canals . Great Northern Basin is beyond the swing bridge were you were moored & was actually located on th now defunct Nottingham canal. when the road was rebuilt the original bridge was demolished, the cut filled in & GN basin became a dead end. Hope I`m not sounding to school teacherish Glad you enjoyed your trip to my mind a very underrated & under used canal

Does any one know if the owner of web site WWW. workingboats.org.uk has problems ? the site has not been updated since Jan, most unlike as it was updated most days +I see his boat is for sale on fuzzyduck with a different sellers name Please forgive if this has been explained,but I haven`t noticed any posts

When we first started working the system we had to go to Pooley Hall to load coal, when asked which way I was going to go to reach there .My reply as to the way I intended to go, brought forth the comment [you`ll have a hard road if you go that way] Seemed strange at the time as it was all by water Only later did I learn working boaters usually refered to the cut as the road[ ie good road, locks for you,bad, locks against you, or a difficult stretch, shallow or rubbish filled .

When we first started working the system we had to go to Pooley Hall to load coal, when asked which way I was going to go to reach there .My reply as to the way I intended to go, brought forth the comment [you

Try www.opie oils .co.uk good website even if you don`t find what you are looking for

I was told by my grandfather[ working horse boatman in his younger days] that the Trumpet as he called it & a whip were the auldible warning tools, as most if not all horse boats had no `lecy` so no 12v horns etc & yes they were kept on the boaters person + the one he had[ played with it as a small child ]was very battered brass Bet his Naval whites suffered a bit David as IIRC the Turner could get a bit smokey

Chandelers on the south coast & IOW used to carry some quite snazzy OB mounting brackets to fit on up market GRP boats Pricey though IIRC

When I ran my Hotel boat the gas connectors to the propane cylinders had a dome shaped replaceable rubber washer on the male connector similar to the dome tap washers. Held in place by a small ridge on the end, +it had a hand wheel as well as spanner flats. Over the time period of hoteling they were changed many times & Cannot recall having a leak problem & can only recall changing the washer on one occasion. Is this type of fitting no longer available?