Stormbringer

Lovely to see people's needs put before money and profit in this age of greed. Hats off to you Sir ! (and another greenie ) Andy

Nice one !! Mrs SB and me saw them sitting proudly together yesterday on their hardstanding and thought they looked great... Good luck with them both Andy

Seems to be the norm...however there should be a clause in the contract which makes the deposit refundable if the cost of any work required exceeds a certain percentage of the purchase price, or if the boat has been mis-represented in the advertising. I have actually managed to get a refund of a deposit as the boat needed a new bottom and the seller was unwilling to drop the price enough to cover the work. It did cost me the price of a survey, but saved me the cost and disruption of having to pay for the work myself had I not had a survey. The broker refunded my deposit in full without any drama. Good luck Andy

used to get this a lot on my old bikes....A quick check would be to open the fuel filler cap slowly straight after the engine cuts out, listening at the same time for a slight hiss as the air outside the tank rushes in to the partial vacuum created by the blocked breather and dropping fuel level. HTH and good luck Andy

Another thumbs up for cruiser sterns. Really easy to get on and off with (or without!) loads of bags and stuff. Nice outdoor space for all sorts of uses - socialising, flopping on the deckchair for a snooze in the sun, can be covered if required and used for storage when not cruising, plenty of elbow room if doing a bit of woodwork or metalwork. Brilliant access to engine, gearbox and stern gear/ weed hatch, batteries and bilge pump. Nice to be able to have a little 'walk about' when putting in long cruising hours.... Nice to have our dog out there when cruising without tripping over him lol And I think they can look really nice too ( not that I'm biased or owt ) All that said - We were, like yourselves, very open minded when we were looking for a boat are very happy with our boat's choice of new owners :lol: Good luck - your new boat will tell you when you've found it

Sorry to remain OT ...But Reading this has brought a tear to my eye - lol Remembering all the fun smokey times I had on my strokers...in this order RD250B, KH250, A mad race bike comprising GT250 bottom end with TZ350 top (swarbrick conversion IIRC) RD250LC, 2 x RD350LCs, RD350 YPVS ex production racer, and finally GT750. All of them beautiful. Never did get to own my dream bike of the time though - a TZ700 converted for the road....basically two TZ350 motors welded together. Bet that sounded sweet and flew... Happy days - I miss the sweet smell of cazzieR and bacon butties on race day... Andy The guy I used to passenger for on his sidecar outfit also used to race a T500 solo to very good effect A cracking bike in its day

Sounds idyllic Steam power is a beatiful thing, especially vintage stuff like you have there As an ex boilerman and engineer, I agree totally with your warming up procedure on the boilers. Looks after the brickwork too due to all the differential expansion rates of the materials (that is if they are not Lancs type - ie brick built boilers.) However - I don't bother too much about my Lockgate. It has survived a few 'cherry red' incidents and to be honest for what it is the burner box seems to be well made.

Interesting post Koukouvagia - cheers for the idea ... I always think my Lockgate suffers from lack of draw when lighting. My usual (and successful I might add ! lol )method is to put a small piece of firelighter on the top ring under the flue take off, along with another bit in the bottom near to the fuel inlet - open fuel valve, light both firelighters, shut lid and then it gets going. Thinking behind this method is to pre-heat the flue gas which in turn heats the flue up quicker, enabling a better draw from the flue. Sounds a bit long winded but works every time for me....It was a bugger to light before I perfected my method though On windy days I don't bother with the top firelighter as the chimney draw is much improved by the wind....strange but true I'm going to have to try your pin out idea now though...makes perfect sense to me. I'm assuming the draw from the burner box prevents any fuel from leaking from the Tee piece then ?? CHeers Andy

Info sent Nick... Good luck. For other interested parties a small bit of info from the manual regarding the cleaning pin Quote The cleaning pin is made of 6 mm dia. stainless steel, which slides in a brass T-piece, through a rubber O-ring, which can be changed in the event of leakage. The cleaning pin is used to keep the fuel supply to the burner free from the products from combustion (soot etc.). Under constant use the cleaning pin should be pushed in and out a few times every 14 days to keep the fuel inlet free from obstruction. It is important that the cleaning pin is not left pushed right in whilst the stove is in use, as in this position the end of the pin extends into the combustion chamber and the end of the pin can be coated in soot and slag thus preventing its withdrawal. There can also occur heat transference through the pin which destroys the rubber O-ring. The O-ring can only be changed when the brass T-piece is removed from the stove. /Quote Cheers Andy

That's cool You've made me want to go out myself now lol Lovely bit of canal ahead too - I remember it from last summer Have a nice trip Andy

Hi Nick I know what you mean - I have had mine cherry red the odd time too.. Haven't melted the O ring yet tho' ! The O ring will, if it has failed, allow fuel to leak out of the stove onto the hearth. I guess the only way of knowing for sure would be to test fire it with a small drip tray in place. I'm afraid I have no idea what the seal comprises of but I'm sure a call to Lockgate would be fruitful. I think I have the manual in pdf form somewhere - if you need a copy you could PM me an email address and I'll forward it on to you... Good luck HTH Andy

Spot on ! Totally agree . The fella is a genuine legend. Not just the TT but loads of Irish roadraces too, and some circuit stuff to keep his hand in lol ! Seriously though - what a great role model for young people, especially compared to footballers and celebrities that are rolled out in front of todays kids as so called role models.(Grrrr) Guy Martin works hard as a diesel mechanic (a dammed good one by all accounts) and spends his money and spare time persuing his hobby. What could be better than that.... And yes....he must be related to Bizzard :lol:

Just a thought if you have no comeback on the seller .... In my job (Caravan Engineer) I occasionally get power supplies and chargers repaired if the customer can't afford (or doesn't want to pay for) a replacement. Takes a bit longer but costs less too !! You could give Dave Brannon at Leisure Electonic Repairs a call and see if he can help. Details on his website HERE No affiliation at all - just a satisfied customer .... HTH Andy

Hiya You could try contacting the seller and asking if they could help - or even if they could email you a copy of the instructions ?? If you need to run your engine - surely a kind fellow boater could give you a jump start ... might just buy you some more time to get your charger sorted out ? Good luck either way Andy

My pal's little Springer has that arrangement - a single big nut. Didn't see a locknut though - but it was dark at the time lol ..... Andy

Liam on Ariel, a forum regular, frequents this area I think... Lots of contact details HERE HTH Andy

Agreed... Live and let live..

Fortunately I've not been burgled BUT..... Perhaps the police could nip up in the helicopter that is always buzzing around here - they seem to be able to afford to crew, fuel and I assume maintain that for hour after hour ?? On a more helpful note - there was a recent discussion on this very forum about a similar topic. IIRC the poster was trying to identify what actual law had been broken and then use that information to get a more 'helpful' approach from the police... Good luck Andy

Probably....

I've had good luck selling stuff on Preloved. Free to list and no other fees at all. OK It's a bit advert heavy but I'd rather the advertisers paid for my listing. I was OK with Ebay until they started forcing you to put that you accept paypal in your ads......one step too far. You can still do cash BUT you can't prevent someone from using paypal, as the option is there. Have a nice weekend .... Andy

Wow - superb allybsc ! - puts my 'little' journey in its place lol :lol: It feels great when you arrive though doesn't it - a great sense of satisfaction Andy

Spot on Assuming you can 'canal' it to where you need to go (as per Starcoaster's post) why not give it a go yourself ? I did exactly that last year - best thing I ever did...what an adventure it was too !! Went from Sawley marina in Nottigham to Preston Brook in Cheshire( basically the whole Trent & Mersey canal) and not only was it great fun, but I also learned so much along the way. A great way to get to know your boat too ! I had steered a friends boat only two or three times before so was really inexperienced... Good luck whatever you decide Andy

Ok - Just to put this one to bed..... Firstly - thanks all for the input and advice - much appreciated. Everybody was very close ! I finally got to look at the solenoid today - and found that the bolt that holds the linkage from the solenoid to the stop arm had been cunningly unscrewing itself with each use of the stop system. This had put a considerable side load on the linkage - enough to cause the overload to trip when operating the solenoid. I tightened the bolt back up and the soleniod fired without tripping the overload straight away. Result! It was slightly out of adjustment too, so I set it all up as per the pdf on ChrisB's website (many thanks for that ChrisB) Gave it few tries and all is well ! Cheers Andy

Same for me - the compass app is great for a few reasons.... As Ark Right says it gives you longitude and latitude ( pretty accurately too I think) and I have used it in conjunction with a note making app (can't remember which one) for saving my favourite mooring points and attaching some comments to the coordinates. Also the magnetic field strength part of the app is facinating - When you go inside the boat the 'alarm' goes off saying 'abnormal magnetic field detected' and the field strength drops considerably.... I have often wondered if that is anything to do with how relaxing being on the boat is ?? Andy