bizzard

There's normally more petrol in my cig lighter than there is in my car.

There's no need to go all the way to Rome old chap, the Pope won't know much about rust, he might know a bit about Angel grinders though. Personally, if there's any rust left after buzzing with a cup brush in an angle grinder I'd Jenolite, Vactan the rust, then Zinc phosphate primer then yer under coat and top coats. If you want the rusty bits smooth and flush, then car body filler after the Jenolite or Vactan. Sand down smooth and then under and top coats.

Luxton & District ?

I think I'd be inclined to get white road diesel fuel 'DERV' from a garage in cans for a while, at least until boatyards which have a high turn over of fuel are found. Many boat yards may have a very small turnover of fuel and most of it has probably been in their tank all winter. I never fill up at any marina or boatyard during or well into the spring. I have 3, 4 gallon Jerry cans and buy it from Tescos or Sainsburys and get me clubcard points. That filter needs more investigation.

There's a very nice scenic spot just above Little Hallingbury marina by Tednambury lock here on the Stort which is a very popular place to tie up, many boats just come out from the marina, just around the corner to spend the day there. The river at that spot is almost twice as wide as it was a few years ago. Folk banging in stakes too close to the water's edgehave chipped it all away, you can see all the stake marks. It has now almost become a winding hole. The towpath which is only an unmade track has gradually moved over with the erosion, naturally as folk walk around.

Some of you may know that the vast majority of the river Storts banks are not piled or camp-shedded as are many rivers banks.. Last summer we had one of those enormous ex Olympic games trip boats operating up here. The thing had bow and stern thrusters. It was wheel steered and was often out of control. When this happened and it drifted into the bank, usually in the same spots, they would thrust it off, which eroded and left big hollows in the bank. In one particular place at the tail end of our lock where it would wait while a boat was coming down its stern thruster damaged the bank so bad that it had to be reinforced and back filled for about 20 feet. I think the thing ran at a loss and has not come back this year. Our boat yard had two wide beams with bow thrusters, and the same thing was happening here. They were told not to use them to shove off with. There's no need to rev the nuts off an engine to maneuver near the bank or for casting off. The props thrust would not usually direct powerful jets of water at the bank when shoving off to go forwards, the rudder would normally be directing water outwards. Anyone with any sense would shove off with their foot or push off and jump on or use the pole for fear of the prop clouting something being so close to the bank.

Folk shoving off by using bow thrusters blast and erode banks.

Providing the dipstick tube doesn't have a severe or cranky bends a dipstick can easily be made. First of all, change the oil and fill with the amount of oil stated in the engines manual, Smooth and round off both ends of a length of 1/8'' welding rod, If the tube has a curve gently curve the rod roughly the same. Poke the rod down the tube until it hits bottom, withdraw it, this is just to get an idea where the oil level is, The level will probably be way up the stick 3'' or more. Next slip a stop collar onto the rod. A Mecanno axle collar, small gear or pulley wheel is ideal. Poke the rod down the tube again until it hits bottom and withdraw it to about half of that 3'' depth,''you'll have to gauge that with your particular engine yourself'', and slip the collar down to touch against the tubes top and tighten the collars securing screw or grub screw. Withdraw rod and wipe, re-dip withdraw and cut a shallowish MAX mark with a Junior hacksaw. Another lower mark can be cut at about 1 pint or quart lower down. A suitable ''O'' ring can be slipped up under the stop collar if need be to prevent any oil spitting. Withdraw again and cut off the waste amount of rod, leaving enough to fashion a handle. To fashion a handle at the top, bend to a simple ''L'' shape, or a circular finger loop can be bent up by bending the rod end around a bit of pipe. By threading the top of the rod a fancy knob could be screwed on for a deluxe handle. There you have it. One home made dipstick. ETA If your tube is too skinny for an 1/8'' rod use 1/16'' instead.

Hello.

I'd hook em out of there and put them somewhere else where it's cooler. Mine are under my bed in sealed top cases with vent tubes leading overboard via my air cooled engines outlet cooling duct. Or the batteries could be half immersed in a water tank, like an aquarium, the water in it could be kept cool by circulating it with a little continuously running pump, a windscreen washer pump for example. The water supply could be from and back to the water tank or filtered from the river or canal. Gold fish could be added to keep an eye on the battery. Don't forget to feed them.

Trying to fight the wind by keeping it bottled up is hopeless, you have to let go sooner or later, a big dose of bi-carb with jumping up and down usually releases it.

When I was a lad it was ''One hundred and four feet, eleven inches and twenty seven thirty twoths of an inch.

The Eco-fan can easily be tested on your gas stove. Just put an old pan, sheet of tin or something over the gas flames so the flames are not in direct contact with the fan, and stand the fan on that and turn the gas down low.

June Whitfield is very nice, she has a brother called David, who used to sing, He sang on the telly in the 1960's, his favorite song that he kept singing was ''Carramea Mine'' It was awful.

Sprinkle a few bits of broken up fire brick upon the grate before laying the fire, broken up just big enough so they won't fall through. This wheeze is practiced by firemen on full size railway steam locos and other steam boilers to keep the clinker broken up and mobile.

I recommend Mr Fortunata.

As others have said try and remove the lever thingy and straighten or bend it so the screw hits the stop, but! then the max rev stop screw might not hit its stop properly. If the idle screw misses the thingy on its outside face you could drill a little hole in the lever thingy in line with the screw and with a little nut and bolt ''say 2 or 4BA bolt a little L bracket to it to widen the point of contact. If the screw slips behind the lever thingy the L bracket could be bolted on facing that way ''inwards''. The wee L bracket could be cut from a bit of say 1x1 cm steel angle or bent up in a vice from a bit of say 2 or 3mm strip. This of course could be welded onto the lever thingy as it would only need a couple of quick buzzes of a Mig welder and wouldn't get too hot. The Nyloc nut wouldn't be very satisfactory because of the domey shape. An ordinary nut might be better being flatter faced, loctited on.

Those anodes might not last 8 years though Mike, they looked half depleted.

But it might not pass.

Fatal error massage, 11.30am.

Never sit cross legged to eat off the floor like they tend to do in far Eastern countries, or you'll end up with bandy legs. To eat comfortably off the floor holes can be made in the floor to poke your legs through into the bilge to enable you to sit down. The holes should be cut with an angled blade in a jigsaw, this will produce a chamfer all around the cut which will make the discs you've cut out into ''bungs'' and should fit snugly back into their respective holes after everyone has finished dinner.. Number each bung and hole to save wasting time puzzling out which bung fits which hole. A finger sized hole drilled in each bung will make them easy to manipulate. Mind the splinters.

Erm, maybe, but I can't type at 186,000 miles per second, the speed of these lights. I'm more comfortable with the speed of ''Dark'' which my experiments with the electric dark bulb have bean quite successful but not perfected yet.

Perhaps you've rubbed off the little amber dots that make the LED's emit the warm light. Belay that. Cool whites wouldn't have amber dots. I shall investigate by covering and uncovering my LED's with different coloured toffee wrappings from my box of Quality street.

Mmm. A very interesting observation too, the kind of observation which I enjoy. Thanks.