Scholar Gypsy

Here's a bit of detail on the various backup systems - lots of ways to close the barrier.... (EA site here). This video illustrates the point George94 makes rather well, although oddly it doesn't mention the deep Tube lines. Just as important are the unusual gates at Royal Docks and Tilbury and a large number of other locations downstream of the barrier (see here and here).

When I was last on the Ely Ouse there was a sign saying "No trolling, £1,000 fine". i think they meant this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolling_(fishing)

See recent PLA announcement on high fluvial flows, and their earlier safety bulletin. Mainly designed for rowers, but worth thinking about ...

In addition to the points above (which I think will mean leaving Limehouse earlier than usual) watch out for more flotsam & jetsam in the river...

There are a good number of boats to look at on the brokerages at Whilton. Braunston, Crick and Calcutt (all in the Northampton-ish area - easily accessible from the M1). I am not sure you will find much further south, I am afraid, though Harefield are advertising about ten at present in Waterways World

... and if you won't fit, you could always go around via Kings Lynn and the Wash, to Wisbech ...

Thank you. The existing copper pipes go through similar holes to the calorifier, and are well clamped so no movement, and still fine after 20 years. This new circuit is not safety-critical, so I think I will see what happens before I try grommets. Given the cost of a Bowman tubestack, this is turning into a somewhat expensive project, but never mind. I might switch to using a plate heat exchanger (as in smileypete's thread) but tapping that into the primary circuit is not entirely straightforward.

More details of the fuel merchant Junior mentions above.... New Era Oils on the Lea, just south of the A12 crossing. Quayside dispenser. Open 8-5 (Mon-Fri) and 8-12 on Saturday. 020 8534 1665. Not FAME free. See map

Thank you, I will send you a PM.

You are right - when I did that section last summer there was a sign saying "HS2 crossing here". Much of this is down to the landscaping - and I should say that I would much prefer a railway to the endless drone of a motorway. IWA have just issued a major response to the consultation I think.

Not many marinas close to Oxford - you could try Enslow (Rock of Gibraltar), or College Cruisers in the middle of Oxford, or some of the adjacent marinas on the Thames (eg Pinkhill, Medley Boat Station), but you are into Gold licence territory there of course. Cropredy is, as others have said, a good location. Spovereign Narrowboats in Banbury is walkable from the train station. Twyford Wharf narrowboats (Kings Sutton) have a few moorings, I think. I agree it is a lovely canal.

Here you go: 201 postings on the earlier thread. Ditchford Lock. I went over the Nene near there on the train today : rather wet.

Thanks - I remember that thread now. It minimizes even further the risk of leaks causing the engine to fail. I installed some years ago a TMV on the output from my calorifier, to produce warm water for sink & shower and hot water for the galley - as you also mention in that thread. It works a treat. I even remembered to add a valve so that I can drain the "warm" pipes in the winter.

Thanks to all for the advice. Bowmans were helpful and put me in touch with Lancing Marine their UK distributors and who do have the part concerned. This is turning into a rather expensive project.... I have done a quick google search for second hand parts, but I have not come up with anything very promising (tubestack gets some interesting hits in Google ...)

Rather odd! They are just photos, stored on the backup company that I use (mypcbackup.com). McAfee has no problem with the links...

Does this help ? Photo (from 2003 trip). Rest of the album for that day here (Farmer's Bridge to Autherley, with a stop at Dudley).

Thank you for this. I do indeed have a keel cooled engine. The bypass circuit (before the thermostat) is currently used to heat the calorifier. (see the two hoses going down in this picture - the large pipes at the top connect to the skin tank) I don't want to use that for heating for two reasons: i) the risk of engine overcooling ie the thermostat taking even longer to open ii) the risk of leaks, damage etc in the radiator circuit which would turn a mild inconvenience (water all over the floor) into a safety critical incident (engine stopping). I am (very belatedly) reproducing the system we had in the previous engine room (which had a BMC 1.5) and worked well.

Understood! My new radiator circuit will not be pressurised, the header tank is just that. So if I ever did get to use a backboiler then the pump would either pump water through the heat exchanger I am installing (drying towels in the summer), or through the back boiler (heating the boat in the winter), with various valves added to switch between the two modes.

Many thanks all. To answer the questions posed: the rads are not connected to a back boiler (yet) I have a small 12v pump (a cheaper version of the Bolin pump that I had in the previous engine room). It will normally only operate when the (electric) fuel pump is running. I would circulate through two new end caps - the photo shows one each of the blank and open ends. I need to work out whether the cool return pipe from the rads goes to the hot (front, input) end of the heat exchanger, or the slightly less hot (stern, output) end. It probably doesn't matter much in this case - I need to revise my thermodynamics.... I assume that the original stack (with no guts) was used simply to save money on a few metres of copper pipes. Putting in a replacement might reduce the flow in the primary circuit a bit, but I am assuming that it will still work fine -- after all pretty much all the flow has to go through the four holes around the cirumference near each end. This is precisely the set up we had with the previous (BMC) engine room.

The "evidence" is a bit unclear. The C&RT leaflet says in one place: "All boaters should contact the appropriate lock office to book their use of the lock at least 24 hours in advance. ... and then later on in the Limehouse section "24 hours pre-booking required for out-of-hours locking in both summer and winter. All bookings must be confirmed with the lock keeper. " However I would agree with the views of several people that it is courteous and sensible to book in advance. I would not enjoy, for example, finding out as I was passing under Tower Bridge that there was a problem with the hydraulics at Limehouse ....

Thanks - I hadn't got round to looking at their website. Interestingly it looks as though they still supply two versions of many models, one for raw water cooling, and one for keel cooling (without the tube stack). So now I just need to check with them that they are the same size as 20 years ago, and that there is no reason to add the stack. Their site says: "Some old assemblies are not listed due to the fact that castings are no longer available. However provided that the castings are in good condition tube stacks are available for units up to 40 years old, please check with our sales department for more information"ld assemblies are not listed due to the fact that castings are no longer available. However provided that the castings are in good condition tube stacks are available for units up to 40 years old, please check with our sales department for more information.Some old assemblies are not listed due to the fact that castings are no longer available. However provided that the castings are in good condition tube stacks are available for units up to 40 years old, please check with our sales department for more information.Some old assemblies are not listed due to the fact that castings are no longer available. However provided that the castings are in good condition tube stacks are available for units up to 40 years old, please check with our sales department for more information.

So this weekend's task, at last, was to fit some radiators. All went well to start with: fitting them inside the boat, installing vent and drain taps as appropriate drilling holes through bulkheads (though my elderly Black and Decker was smoking rather a lot while drilling a 16mm hole through steel) connecting up the pump installing the header tank ... and then I took the heat exchanger on the top of the engine to bits. This is I think a pretty standard bowman with blanked off end caps. I was expecting to find a tube with lots of smaller pipes inside, around which the main cooling circuit flows on its way to the skin tank, with the radiator circuit going through the small tubes, via the end caps. Instead I found an empty tube with no guts inside. I would be grateful for any advice on where to source a tube with the pipes inside. Some photos below, the dimensions of the tube are 2 inches diameter x 18 & a bit inches length; and the length of the casting into which it fits is 16.5 inches. The blank caps are Bowman 3419, and the ones I plan to use Bowman 2679 - (but not the very old one from the similar system in the previous engine room. That was a BMC, this is a Mitsubishi K4E, installed 1994.) Many thanks .

Thanks - nice video. I was amused that they needed all three radar sets to complete this maneuver. .. I am not clear which way the tide was running at the time - and suspect they have tried to moor while facing downstream ??

SPCC are organising that cruise on Sat 31 May this year - with the added extra of a trip up the Deptford Creek... Details here.