bizzard

What Ian D said is perfectly true as far as proper bona fide proffesionals go, as for the cowboys ? When I had my garage I sometimes had a chap and his wife-girl friend come in for a job on their car demanding it done NOW, ''showing off in front of her'' when I said I'll book you in for tomorrow morning as I'm fully booked today. Still showing off ''If I had the tools I'd do it myself''. I kept a special box of old tools handy for these very blokes, and I'd say You'll find the tools you need to do that job in there and if you shift your car over there your welcome to do the job with those tools yourself at no charge. The bloke starts getting jittery, but I can't do that I have to be at the dentist soon ''lie'' Wife=girlfriend smiling to themselves, they new what a big shots they'd tried to be. In the end they usually booked when I told them.

Most call out fitters don't want you to supply parts,ie Oil and filters or whatever as they normally buy them at trade prices and charge you the retail price as well as the labour charge.

If the filter is very close to the engine block like on some cars the clamps on Ditchcrawlers post might not clear the block in which case the fabric belt type is needed.

Contact ''Wade Diesel'' of Hoddesdon Herts, they are very knowlegable. Phone 01992 444020.

My boats electrics are simple, no massive inverter ect, so I've just chucked out my last hefty 110 amp battery. I know have a bank of 30 amp Yuasa batteries all connected togethe. Gone are the days of humping those big bas---ds about. The beauty of small batteries is that if a cell fails in one thats the only one you need to relace=cheap and light weight.

The two tapers might not be accurately matched so slipping. Remove it and paint the male taper with engineers Blue and swing it back and forth for a minute and check for full contact. If not they could be re- ground together with valve grinding paste, swinging the tiller back and forth for a day or two checking regularly.

T'would need more power goin uphill than downhill.

A bit like my car insurance which is RAC online. I had to print out my own paper copy of the certificate.

I made mine. Champagne bottle with a half blown up balloon inside with a Tee piece araldited into the neck for the pipes.

No need really it's not a spin on filter.

It's usually the large thin O ring at the top of the first 296 filter unit that can give trouble. It's a knack, making sure the filter canister is not bulking onto the metal suround instead of snugly onto the sealing 0 ring in the circular slot. Nip the bolt up to not quite tight and gently turn the canister by hand making sure it's seated on the o ring before fully tightening. If it's not seated properly it will obviousely draw in air when you pump the pump on the engine. Obviousely the large thicker 0 ring goes at the bottom of the filter.

Or throttle cable has bust or come disconnected and will only tick over, fore and aft gears on the control lever still working ok I suppose.

A home for the shells shouldn't be more than 39 steps away.

Until the summer use Capt Tollys creeping crack cure, when dry run beads of it along the top edge of the frame. You'll see it disapearing into any holes, keep feeding it until it stops disappearing.

Also on the Coventry Victor 14hp petrol engine which I once had, but direct drive with no reduction gear.

Ideally oxy acetylene is the best way to go. Small flame trained on one flat only of a nut which will heat and expand it very quickly enabling undoance. Paraffin is still one of the best penetrating oils.

WD40 is not much good as a lubricant, it's really a moisture dispersant and cleaner. Try squirting proper penetrating oil into it or even silicon spray. And try to keep it covered when not in use to stop rain getting into it.

Folk wearing those bloomim head torches walking towards and dazzling you in the dark are a pain.

Michael Green' Beaufort Scale. On the water. On Land. 0= calm= boat moves sideways with tide, Cigarette smoke gets in eyes= less than 1mph. 1=light air= Course Yachtsmen hoist sail then wind instantly drops= wet finger feels cold=1-3 mph. 2=light breeze= Course sailors keep quanting or rowing= public houses close one window=4-6 mph. 3-Gentle breeze= boats careen, difficult making tea under way.= Pubs close another window= 7-10 mph. 4= Moderate breeze= course boats lose mainsheet through block and have to go aground to recover it= Beer froth blows off= 11-16 mph. 5=Fresh breeze=Course sailors look up in book about reefing= Customers in pub garden go inside bar. 17-21 mph. 6=Strong breeze= Course sailors try to double reef and go aground= Elderly customers have difficulty leaving public house. 22-27 mph. 7=Moderate gale=Course sailors rescued by launch= Pub door can't be opened against the wind. 28-33 mph. 8= Fresh gale= Aaaaaaah= Public house sign blows down= 34-40 mph. 9=Strong gale=Course sailors in public house= Course sailors struck by falling sign. 41-47 mph.

What amazes me is there is never ever a mention of the weather in southern Ireland on any TV channel forecast or radio, I know it is not a part of the UK, and yet we get weather news from other parts of the world that are nothing to do with us. S/I is totally ignored.

Boats don't need as strong a antifreeze solution that vehicles do. They don't have a radiator presented to a freezing wind at speed than can freeze the rad before the thermostat opens, even though it was not frozen when first driven off.

I think it was 1993 or 4, the river Stort began to freeze between Christmas and new year, at first it was cat ice but got thicker and thicker until folk were walking along on the river. We played Curling with old batteries cos they had handles on then. The ice did not thaw until late April and even then still lumps of ice about when we tried to move boats.