Troyboy

15th August 1985 moored at Rose Narrowboats in our 18' 6'' Norman cruiser when a brown spaniel type dog jumped on the boat at pinched a huge piece of cake. Got a photo of the offender somewhere . Other than that nothing stolen.

I think a 5/16 AF spanner will fit . That was the size on my pump.

My narrowboat is almost 40 years old and I have owned it since April 1986. In my ownership I have always painted the base plate every two years . I am a member of a boat club that has a slipway with a trolley that enables me to walk under the boat one end and crawl under it the other . During my ownership I have had to have two surveys for insurance purposes using two different surveyors and both commented on the advantages of painting the base plate . The most recent survey carried out in July this year concluded ' Troys ' hull below the waterline showed little general wastage and no indications of significant galvanic or electrolytic pitting within the sample areas inspected. For a vessel of her age this is considered exceptional and almost certainly due to the use of good quality original materials ,good initial preparation of the steelwork and regular maintenance over the years . I always use Sealex B130 Bitumen however this year I noticed it is much thinner and easier to apply than previous years . I am convinced that the reason base plates are not blacked is the majority of boatyards cannot get the boats high enough to be able to work underneath . In another thread I mentioned my most recent surveyor told me he surveyed a Braidbar narrowboat that had pits on the unpainted base plate of 5 or 6 mm . I should perhaps add my boat is moored in the crystal clear waters of the River Nene , the steel shell was built by Peter Nichols and the boat is 12 volt only so no mains supply with the problems that can generate .

I know absolutely nothing about Braidbar narrowboats but I recently had my boat surveyed for insurance purposes . Whilst discussing with the surveyor the merits of blacking the base plate he commented that he had surveyed a Braidbar boat that had huge pits on the base plate , 5 -6 mm I believe he said ,needless to say that base plate hadn't been blacked . As Alan has mentioned those pits could be have caused by other factors but the surveyor mentioned the boat had cost over £100,000 when new . I forget how old he said the boat was but it was certainly less than 12 years.

I wonder if they will put it behind the counter for a year ?

To answer your question I would say when you have the money start looking . If you see a boat you like and you have the money you can start negotiating but without the funds you are wasting your own and the sellers time. Some idea of what your budget will be would help as many on this Forum like searching out suitable boats for others .

I think the idea is you make a donation into their Paypal account. There seems to be any number of these boating vloggers on Youtube many making their living from the number of views /subscribers they get . A similar thing is happening with the vanlife community linked I suspect to the idea of cheap living . There seems to be several unanswered questions around the surveys on this boat.

It's a while since Harborough marine built shells so as someone suggested earlier it looks as if he fitted out old shells before his latest venture. Looks suitably 'London' with all the white paint .

I've got a 1.5 diesel in my narrowboat with the engine number 15 JH U/ D 6807. From the parts book for the J2 Commercial vehicle that these engines were fitted to the first prefix indicates the cubic capacity, with the letter J indicating a commercial vehicle. The U indicates Centre gear change gearbox [ an A would indicate automatic. ] The D indicates diesel. The H after the J I can only comment that it was used for variations of engine type , I don't know what H type was . Not much help to you . I hate to be the one to correct Tony but I think the drill you need to reamer out the carbon in the glow plug hole is 11/64. Lovely old engines and so simple to work on . The canister oil filter is the same as early MGB's so plenty available . Similarly rocker cover gaskets same as MGB.

Are you sure it wasn't you that noticed the difference ?

I would go for heating them up after a good clean and soak in Plus gas or similar .

I've owned my BMC 1.5 diesel engined narrowboat for 34 years and never had an air filter on it . Any spiders that climb in face a quick demise once it starts up .

I had external box section cooling pipes fitted to my narrowboat at Foxes Marina , March as it was prone to overheating when used on the River Nene, fine on canals . The best modification I ever made .My boat is being surveyed later this month if the surveyor suggests I revert back to skin tank cooling I'm afraid I might have to disagree with him . My engine is the old faithful BMC 1.5

Nice to see an 8 year old thread revived , advice just as relevant today .

I can confidently state that cleaning the rust from the water tank on my boat was the worst job I have taken on . You say 'we' so hopefully the other person is smaller than you so they can be the one to get in the tank . They need gloves . hat , goggles and mask and will emerge rust coloured and after about three showers should revert to their original skin / hair colour with most orifices dust free. I used a wire brush in a drill to get the worst rust off and used Vactan rust converter and then Bitumen paint suitable for water tanks. On mine the pipe from the tank needed cleaning as well as that had built up a layer of rust . I wish you well.

I think these You tube people get paid for the number of people who view their Vlog or whatever they are called, that is why they all ask you to click the thumbs up button and also subscribe . I don't think it costs anything to subscribe , I believe it is patrons who pay something to support these people. There seems to be a plethora of people with you tube channels particularly relating to boat living and van living , not many mention going off to work although some do.

34 years ago by the day [Saturday] we collected our narrowboat from Norbury Junction . We previously owned a small 18ft 6 inch Norman fibreglass cruiser so a bit different steering a 45 ft narrowboat. Set off at 9am and purchased diesel at Wheaton Aston 69p a gallon . Then spent a leisurely week bringing the boat back to Peterborough and then to Foxes Marina at March where we had the interior totally refitted . We still have the same boat although have had a couple of slight layout changes over the years. I have maintained a sort of diary since that first day and during this lock down have been reading some of the entries. One interesting note was Tuesday 26th July 1988 when at Braunston I had a conversation with the legendary Ron Hough who was painting roses on a narrowboat . I enquired as to cost and he stated he charged £65 a day and could paint a large castle scene in 4 hours. Happy days.

Yes, but the amount would be so small I suspect not to be an issue . I've certainly had no problem and never found any water in my water separator .

The easiest and cheapest way is to drill a hole through the cap and threaded upstand and then fit a padlock with a long shank.through the hole you have drilled. I done that on my boat . One thing to remember is place a magnet near where you are drilling to collect the swarf. A small amount is bound to get in the diesel tank but will sink to the bottom and in the unlikely event of being picked up will be caught in the fuel filter. Obviously a really determined thief with a cordless grinder will soon cut the lock off . Screwfix or Ebay should be able to provide a suitable padlock .

Another recommendation for Vactan from me.

I always use Sealex B130 Bitumen which is a gelled thixotropic bituminous coating for steel. It is really thick to apply not like the cheap watery stuff . I'm not sure where the cheapest place to purchase it is but in the past I bought some from Marine Megastore Ltd , Morpeth and also from Paco Systems who are in Devon . Also bought some Vactan at the same time as any rust spots I wire brush and then apply Vactan before the Sealex B130.

There are a few members of this Forum that will not agree with Recommendation 5 regarding painting the baseplate . Overall that seems a reasonable survey , the base plate on my boat when built was thinner than that boats 10mm minus the 1.8mm pits . I would ensure the base plate is cleaned and the pits treated with Vactan and then coated with Sealex 'B' bitumastic. . How old is the boat ?