Chris M

I went through this area last weekend. We set off from Curdworth on saturday morning, stayed by the NIA over night and finished up at Shirley draw bridge on the Stratford on sunday evening. By the time we got to the Aston fligth we'd been stoned from bridges twice. Cuckoo wharf was packed out with BW work boats. There were at least 30 people loitering between the bottom and the middle of the farmers bridge flight which wern't a problem but scared the crap out of the girlfriend. We were woken at 1.30AM by boats that had been set adrift bouncing off of our boat. Then on sunday we had stones dropped from Brandwood tunnel followed by another stoning from back gardens. All in all my experience of Birmingham was really not that great, I certainly won't be going back in a hurry. <rant mode off>

I've just read elsewhere that he's moving the site to another server for whatever reason. I hope it's back online soon

Well I'd at least push for a 25% license discount for mooring on a disconnected waterway and get it back dated 18 months. license fees and conditions clicky Alternatively, pay nothing. It's not like they can crane you out or tow you away! It might get the maintenance done quicker then you can get on with enjoying the canals that you've paid to access!

I'm assuming you are replacing a conventional engine and hurth gearbox setup. Bear in mind that the hurth box reverses the direction of the propshaft when in forward gear (pos A). Turning an engine around and driving the propshaft direct with a belt and pulleys will not require a prop change!

Correct, running in reverse for long periods is bad. The ZF marine website has the duty ratings for each direction - Clicky The ZF 10 is the new name for the old Hurth 100. Correct, the 2 means 2:1ish reduction. They normally have a plate that has A=X.XX and B=X.XX 'A' being the forward reduction ratio and 'B' being reverse reduction ratio. The R indicates right handed. I can't recall whether this means righthanded prop or right handed engine rotation but it is the most common. Some old Petters for example were left handed.

If you're still stuck next weekend I'll be heading through that way.

I used the Coventry branch of 'Timbmet Silverman' last year. They appear to have dropped the silverman name and I can't find reference to the Coventry branch on the new website so maybe they aren't there anymore, however they deliver for free if you spend a reasonable amount of money with them. Timbmet clicky

You'll need to use a belt and pulleys to gear down the motors by about 2 to 1, then of course you also need some kind of thrust bearing for the propshaft.

All of the gears are constantly meshed to each other so the diagnosis of 'two gear wheels just touching' is unlikely to be the case. The gearbox oil thins as it warms, it only warms when under load which I think would explain the timing of your problem. The hurth boxes can be fairly noisy when unloaded, more so when the oil is thinner. They are quite simple devices, the only thing that can really go wrong with them is the bearings and worn clutch plates, maybe time for a refurb?

Weltonfield marina a mere 4 miles away, 70p

"I would echo the previous post - Graham Reeves was a delight to deal with when we had our boat built back in 2000." I'd like to echo that too! I got my shell from Reeves in 2005 having visited several other shell builders, Liverpool Boats included. At the time his prices included a stainless steel water tank. He chucked in steel front and side doors and fender eyes etc all of which Liverpool boats wanted extra for. In the end it cost 10's of pounds more than Liverpool boats not thousands! Make sure you are exact in specifying the shell as they are prone to mistakes. The boat before mine had the wrong shape window apatures and on mine one of the side hatchs was a foot out but to be fair were rectified quickly and the shell delivered on time. I also had a pinhole in the diesel tank but Graham came out to my mooring and fixed it. I would certainly use them again. While you are in the area make a poinit of visiting Colecraft too, they are only up the road.

Is the shell painted? If it's only primed I wouldn't expect the windows to be sealed.

...such as a cycle computer. The upmarket ones have a feature called 'cadence' which is the RPM of your pedals. They can be picked up for around 25 to 30 pounds with this feature. You might even find that one of the really cheap £6 ones could do the job if you set the wheel circumference to a proportional figure the speed reading could actually be made to read RPM.

They crossed the private land I mentioned above to cut down a tree. Once in a blue moon that happens but there are cases where it's required to cross other peoples land. They might one day turn up unannounced and lay a pipe or cable through the plot!

I share an end of garden mooring with 4 other boats. The bankside belongs to BW. To access the mooring I must cross private land. 2 years ago the private land changed hands and whilst the solicitors were dealing with the land registry somewhere along the lines BW got involved and started billing £600 per annum for rental of the 'end of garden'. The agreement is for 85 meters by 3ish meters. This year the charge went up by the rate of inflation. How much land are they trying to charge for? does our rate compare ??