Alec Gatherer

Best wishes David from your Riley buddy. 25+ yrs ago I was diagnosed with cancer; not quite the same as yours but in a similar area (!) and it had spread. Long story short - NHS sorted me out a treat and now comme Butcher's Dog. I look forward to updates (years & years of them in fact).

I had a Dickens of a job with Middlewich Narrowboats grit-blasting my boat's hull. They blasted large areas of the repainted cabin as well as the hull, and took me to court because I wouldn't pay the full amount. I offered to pay the full amount less the cost of repairing the damaged areas; they denied liability! End result; court found in my favour, everyone lost (except the lawyers). Could have done without that.

I'm sure it would be a veneer - 'cat's paw' sycamore (as we call it in the car restoration trade) is far too expensive to make solid doors from. I mean; it doesn't grow on trees!

I would agree with Annick except I would give it a phosphoric acid wash before the Bonda Primer ( I swear by that stuff); Trustan or Milk Stone Cleaner. That will attack the rust in the minute cavities in the steel. You paint it on, leave it for half an hour, then brush another coat on to re- liquidise it and wash off straight away, then cloth dry straight away, then Bonda Primer straight away. Steel will oxidise (i.e. rust) within minutes of being abraded.

I bought one from Lidl (2 yrs ago) and it came with a moulded case and a sat finder (which was about as much use as a one-legged Cossack). Worked great though; now in use in my caravan so that the memsahib can watch her soaps whilst I continue my research into the British brewing industry retail arm.

My experience of marine gearboxes is limited to Lister & TMP; in both these cases the input shaft speed is exactly the same as the output shaft speed, so the word gearbox, though true in its strictest sense, would make its function easier to understand if it were referred to as a forward/neutral/reverse box. The reduction on these boxes, if any, was achieved by using a simple gear reduction drive downstream of the gearbox output shaft. My impression is that given that the speed range required on canals (dead slow to very slow) is easily handled by the engine rev. variation alone; any difficulty in slow travel or gaining top (!) speed might indicate a propellor compatibility problem?

Taxi-ised in this case meaning amongst other things the front nearside door was removed and the resulting hole used for luggage carrying. The driver's seat was boxed in, similar to half-cab omnibuses.

Ah, that's it - the FL1. A taxi-ised version of the post-war Austin 16 as I recall.

I thought that the petrol FX3/FL3 used the 4 cyl 2.2 Austin engine as in the A70/A90 Hampshire/Hereford etc, and some Austin commercials.

The 1500cc B series diesel engine first saw the light of day in the A55 and the subsequent 1622cc A60 (Farina) range of BMC cars; Oxford, Cambridge, (don't think the Wolseley, MG, or Riley were ever offered with diesel engines). I am fairly sure the J2/J4 van was offered with diesel option, both 1500cc and 1622cc. When this evolved into the Sherpa the engine went with it; I think it coincided with the increase to 1800cc but could be wrong. I haven't researched any of this (but will if asked) so treat it as the ramblings of an aged and feeble mechanic. There is some truth in there I hope.

Or of course their own excellent well-stocked shop on Collyhurst Road, about 1 mile north of Manchester city centre.

I have done this on occasions on vehicle petrol engines and it has worked fine. In fact it can be asked for as a stage of engine rebuilding. (Checking and straightening).

I didn't change my settings; my settings changed me.

It said 11.46 when I posted it. Then it said 12.46. I just needed some ranting practice. Where's Rab C. Nesbitt when you need him?

What do we want? The correct time! When do we want it? Now! That's what I call quick response.

When I had a boat (pause for prolonged burst of uncontrollable sobbing) I used a Mikomi 15" LCD telly from Argos @ £90 through an Amperor (£40 from Amperor) and it was very efficient. I still use the same setup in my caravan (after closing time obviously). The telly wasn't advertised as a 12v one, I just noticed that it had a 12v PSU supplied with it.

Is it just me, or does it remind anyone else of a killer whale?