man1nvan

Just thought I would update The tips were good, I got the water consumption down to something reasonable so thanks for the advice. Then the muncher pump packed up. I managed to fix it but I ended up taking the whole shooting match out and replacing it with a cassette, no more anxiety about whether it is going to flush or not ?

thanks . boat is in the yard at the moment ..... tank full :-( i can try it as soon as i can get pumped out

Haha. Fat boat, no weed hatch and mounted in the middle. How much wronger could it be. Anyway have welded in a nice high bulkhead now so when it eventually pops at least we don't sink

A bit of googling and that is just how they are. Have spent the rest of the afternoon welding in a bulkhead hopefully will finish tomorrow. I did want to remove the prop to clean the tube properly but I am a bit nervous about breaking the seal, if it ain't broke etc If you did pull the prop assembly out it looks like a bit of a game to get it back in again though

Having cut an access hatch to get at my bowthruster (it must have been fitted before the deck!) I am a bit concerned at what is in there. Having removed the motor, the flange it bolts to appears to be held on to the tube with plastic and not much else. Is this normal? The view from the top shows the only bolts involved in the process I was expecting to find that the flange was welded to the pipe! On top of this there is no bulkhead behind the tube either. One solution is to weld the tube closed but I would like to keep the thruster since it is already there Advice welcome

With the sliding roof and slanty windows that looks more like a dartline to me I used to have one and that was advertised as a H+L I think quite often if people have a 70s narrowboat and they don't know what it is, the default answer is Hancock and Lane, springers and harboroughs are easy to identify but many of the other makes from that era can look very similar

Two minutes later panel off it is like bozlite said there is a dial behind which adjusts fill level, now turned right down and if that doesnt fix it i can put a valve in line. A lot easier than ripping the darn'd thing out Thanks all

Ahh remember you are responding to a long term cassette user where the target is obligatory :-) right I am off to spanner the bog wish me luck! Unfortunately I only have 1 big button so the panel is coming off....

Thanks both will give it a try seems a shame to rip it out, it must have been an expensive item new

Ok Our new boat has a Tecma macerator bog. We have always had cassette type before. On about two flushes a day it is emptying the fresh water tank into the black water tank and we have to pump it out then refill fresh water ever 6 days. It seems to use a collossal amount of water. Is there something wrong here, can you adjust the amount of water it uses? Or is this just what they are like? The fresh water tank is a similar size to our old boat and a tankfull would normally last us 3 weeks of normal use.

Thumbs up for Bailey's coach enamel from me. Me and mrs did the whole boat last summer on the shropshire underneath the M54. Great finish with just a Harris brush and some sandpaper. It does dry fast though so you have to be well prepared before you start. But that means you can paint a coat on, and by the time you have cleared up and had some breakfst the paint is dry enough foy you to set off on your travels again!

You do need to see the boat out of the water definitely! if you know enough about steel you could satisfy yourself of the hull condition. If not get a survey. Imho a fair few surveyors are certifiably insane but most of them will let you know if the boat is going to sink or not in the near future, which is always handy to know. And whilst it is out you can touch up your blacking and go back in safe in the knowledge that blacking is something to worry about waaaayyy off in the future

Funny one really I always epoxy everything under the waterline. I have just spent the morning rotoblasting and epoxying the baseplate of our new second hand widebeam. Given that it is 10 years old and doesn't appear to have ever been blacked "down there" I am quite surprised at how shallow the pits are. Most of the corrosion is galvanic (electricity corrosion) which isn't surprising as it seems to have been fitted with every type of gizmo available (still not sure if a full size freezer is actually necessary) my first narrowboat (a lovely old dartline) had no worse pitting despite being 25 at the time. But the most sophisticated gizmo on that boat was a gas hob. I suppose the answer is paint it unless you want to spend a Sunday in the year 2028 waving a grinder around near to your face whilst laying on your back in a puddle.

That is the way everything above the waterline will get done

Ahh yes . the best google search is always the simplest....ta .