musicman

Happy Anniversary. We've have many good things on our boat that we purchased mail order from Puffer and we called in at least twice when we were passing. Great stock . . . . great staff!

I have a 45 foot trad stern boat - just topped up with diesel at the end of a lovely cruise up the Chesterfield Canal. It took 64 litres and according to my boat log that has been over 39 cruising hours. It is a BMC 1.8, which I realise is a little more thirsty than a modern diesel. Hope this helps.

I added Smartguage last year - prob ably the simplest piece of kit on the boat and certainly will provide a very accurate picture of the battery condition. I simply can't imagine how I managed without it!

Read this on-line this morning - http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/aug/05/canal-holidays-london-narrowboat?intcmp=122 Seems that boating in the Capital is far removed from where we are in South Yorkshire!! First there was "Glamping", could this be the start of a new trend to coincide with the Olympics? Could start a whole new thing in executive pastimes - "Glambarging"

We're on our way back to West Stockwith having had a fabulous cruise up the Chesterfield. The only lock that really proved difficult was East Retford - when decending there was more water pouring out of the bottom gates than we could get into the lock through the top paddles. Hence it filled to about a foot below the top level and that prevented us from opening the top gate. Thankfully, a helpful group of young people were on hand to lend some muscle and we managed to rock the top gate open after a few minutes of struggling. Lots of the reed was being cut by a rather hi-tech machine in the Forest Locks area - it runs on land or water and the tracks double up as paddles in the water to provide propulsion. Very impressive to see him scatting about piling up the reed on the bank!

I'm impressed. The worst one was Maud Bridge - took me nearly five minutes of rocking and cajoulling before it finally shifted.

I did the Stainforth to Keadby section yesterday single handed. There are six manual swing bridges on the section between Thorne and the skew bridge at Keady and two of them where really stiff. I know that I would not win any "strongest man in Britain" awards, but I really struggled to get them open. Both appeared to be stuck at the far end with too much weight rubbing on the pad. I couldn't put downward pressure on my end whilst at the same time trying to get them to turn so ended up walking across to the other side and lifting the bridge by its railings and once I got it moving, jumping back across quickly to finish the job with the proper swing arm. My guess is that this situation has come about through lack of maintenance - any other examples of stiff swing bridges where it would be advisable to have someone like Geoff Capes as a passenger?

You only need to remove the positive cables from your batteries in order to use the multimeter to read their separate voltages. BUT, you must be extremely careful that when you are removing the positive (red) connectors, that you don't allow either end of the cable to touch the metal of the boat. This is dangerous stuff as the battery will short and potentially could do some very nasty things. Take an old sock with you and once you have disconnected one terminal, wrap it up well in the sock to isolate it whilst you uncouple the other end and remove the cable altogether. Now you can take a voltage reading from the isolated battery as described above. If it's below 12v, then you can assume it is completely discharged. If so, best to remove the battery from the boat and get it properly charged up on a quality mains battery charger. PS I had loss of distilled water in a couple of cells last year - to my astonishment, once I had filled the cell, and re-charged the battery fully, the battery went on to perform as normal. It just depends if any damage has been done to the plates inside the battery. Good luck. Philip

. . . and the lift pump is VERY helpful after you have changed filters etc and need to bleed the system to get the engine going again. For the sake of a few quid, I would say, change it and fit a new one.

We're thinking of doing the Chesterfield in early August. Just wondered if it would be worth fitting one of those protect the prop type blades on the drive shaft to help keep the weed off the prop. LAst time we went up to the boat club, quite a few members said that it had become a standard item on their boats. Philip

Excellent price - could not beat it unless you decided to solder your own panels from scratch. As to the company - never heard of them. Philip

Welcome to the Stainforth and Keadby. Some really nice sections of northern waters for you to enjoy. Give us a wave as you pass Bramwith Lock Philip

Visited yesterday afternoon - braving the wind and showers. We thought this was a good event - plenty of exhibitors to talk to and a good, friendly crowd. It seemed reasonably busy for Day 1, although, I dare say we have known it busier still in previous years. I only hope that the number of visitors turned into something positive for the many businesses that were represented although, from our perspective, it seemed that there were many more gongoozlers than there were buyers Definitely worth the round trip though. Had a lovely day out.

This is a great addition to the forum - a space for people with BMC's to rant . . . and rave about their engines. Now all we need is a mechanical expert to identify herself/himself so that we can get the advice we all will need from time to time. Philip

We have a BMC 1.8 installed - PRM Delta gearbox. It's given trouble free service for over fifteen years - I like the fact that I can find my way around easily, change the oil, check and tension alternator belt etc. Somehow, there's something comforting about the fact that this design has been around for ages and stood the test of time. Starts well, a little smoke on starting, a little bit of oil leaking, a little bit of smoke whilst idling in locks - but a friend none-the-less! Philip

Not had a problem - we've been moored there for ten years (very nearly) on the footpath side. Kids are more usually round the corner on the aqueduct rather than round the lock area.

Yep. I was still dozing in and out of consciousness though, so would like to hear it in full now I am awake! Was I right in hearing that a land owner had reported massive flooding of his land from a leak and that BW had done nothing about it? Philip

I think it depends what you are covering the battons with. As we had plywood under the gunwhale - two foot spaces were OK, but we put tongue and grove in a herring bone pattern on the upper part and needed battons at 18 inches apart. Philip

Once set off for Torksey from Keadby on a gloriously sunny afternoon. The river was calm and, for once, I thought that the journey south would be a pleasure. Half an hour in and the skies to the southwest darkened and the hailstorm (this was July!) and the thunder and the lightening commenced. By West Stockwith I was wet through and had had enough. Then I did the most stupid thing - I decided to call today's journey off and head into West Stockwith basin - not accounting for the strong current on that bend and the problem I would have manaouvring my narrowboat into the lock. NEVER again!!

Last time this happened to me, it was a poor electrical connection. I've since learnt how important it is to solder these and not rely just on crimped connectors. Philip

Interested in another topic on the forum this morning and it got me thinking - So, go on then, Who first coined the term "lock" to describe the device that we all use when we're on the canals? Philip

Just out of interest, is there a pressure relief valve on a BMC1.8? If so, where is it and how easy is it to check? Philip

Hi We've just done our 45 foot boat. Brushed on the first coat (in order to get the blacking into those nasty indentations) but rollered it on (much easier) after that. We put on four coats and used about 14 litres, but bought a twenty litre can because it was cheaper than the smaller ones. We've kept the remainder to do the touching up. Philip