David Schweizer

In response to your original question, it is my view that the price being sought is somewhat over the boat's real market value. The problem is that a boat is still only worth basicly what the shell and engine are worth irrespective of how much money has been recently spent on it, and although a new fitout will enhance it's value a bit, the true cost of the work can never be re covered. Re-plating, assumimng it has been done well, should not be considered a problem, but the cost will never be recovered in a sale, it merely retains the value of a the shell. I am also a bit concerned that having had the sides re-plated, they did not get the skeg bush replaced at the same time, it would have only cost about £50.£100 more at the time when the boat was out of the water. Did no one notice that it was almost worn out? A further problem, as many people have pointed out, is the GRP top, they were popular in the 1960's and 1970's but by 1980 virtually no one was fitting them. They do not have an infinite life, and as they age, are prone to developing leaks which can be difficult to repair, and depending upon the current condition and may need replacing within the next ten to fifteen years. A good surveyor shouold be able to advise. The inside has been re-fitted, although I have to admit to a very basic standard, which is fine, but it does not really enhance the value of the boat by very much. I have completely re-fitted the inside of my boat, at a cost of approaching £5,000 (materials only), and I expect to recover almost none of that when I sell it. What it will hopefully do is make the boat a more attractive proposition to a prospectuive purchaser. What I am trying to say is that despite the present owners spending a lot on the boat, it will not have increased it's value very much, and given that it is by a little known builder, has a GRP top, and is a Cruiser stern, the value is probably some where between £15k and £20k. of course if you absolutely love it that does put a premium on it for you, but other people may not think the same when you decide to sell it. Just one last thing, despite a recent hull survey, do get a full survey done on it before committing anything, a good surveyor should also be able to give you an estimated value. I hope my observations help.

I must have used thousands of Brass screws, all purchased from Screwfix or Tool Station, during the refit of our boat, and have only broken two or three. The ones you have purchased must be of particularly poor quality, I would certainly take them back and complain. I agree with the comment about heavy screwheads on some modern screws. This along with shallow threads became a problem with some from Screwfix for a while and I returned some. However the examples from Tool Station have been consistently good (unlike some of their other Brassware) If you are looking for a supplier of small quantities in difficult to find siizes, and at reasonable prices, you could try these people:- http://www.screwsline.com/

You could always do what I would do and use oversize washers, bolt them together and lock the bolt end in the jaws of an electric drill. Lock the drill into a vice, turn it on and use a file to reduce the diameter. Simples!

When B&Q were marketing wind generators, I took all the details and worked out the cost effectiveness of purchasing one and measured the costs against power from the grid. As Gibbo says, it is impossible to be very accurate because of so many variables, most of these can be averaged, but what cannot be accurately assessed is the progressive rise in Domestic electricity costs from the grid, never the less I had a go. We live in a fairly windy place, (in fact the name of the village is believed to originate from ancient Saxon meaning Windy Place) so I took this into account apportioning 25% more wind speed than the regional average and assumed that this would be available for 75% on the year. However both these assumptions are probably excessivly optimistic. Using these figures I calculated how much power I would generate, and came up with an average number of units per year I would be generating, and therefore not purchasing from the Electricity company. I also estimated that Domestic electricity would rise at an average of 15% per annum. I assumed that I would be able to obtain the maximum grant against the cost of the equipment, which was conditional upon a requirement for the equipment to be installed by an approved contractor, and made no allowances for maintenance costs. I did not include any figures for selling back any power because, based upon figures provided by the manufacturer, my calculations suggested that even at nightime it was unlikely that the turbine would produce any significant surplus. The final outcome of my, probably over optimisic, calculations was that I would recover the cost of the initial outlay within 25 years. However the estimated life expectancy of the equipment was 20 years.!! so it was a non starter on economic grounds, and I did not proceed. Unfortunately I threw the calculations away so I cannot substantiate my conclusions. I also consequently discovered that would probably have been unable to get Planning Consent for the instalation of a Turbine because of the inevitable proximity to other properties. Now, when it comes to Solar panels, I am more interested, we have a huge tall roof which faces exactly south. If the Government were willing to offer me a substantial grant towards some of them, I could be interested, and I know I would be ablle to get Planning Consent for them. But without a grant I doubt that they would be cost effective.

You have to be very generous with the cellulose thinners as it evaporates very quickly. Paint it on repeatedly until the surface starts to soften, then rub vigorously with a cloth soaked in thinners. Please remember to wear thick rubber gloves, otherwise the thinners will remove all the oils from your skin. Alternatively you could try rubbing the laquer off with Astonish on a medium grade Scotchbrite pad. (That's what the traction engine people use). It will also revive the surface of the domes ready for polishing with Brasso.

That depends on how old the appliance is. We have an Ellis Heatmaster boiler on our boat, it was installed in 1981, long before the BSS, and has no plates indicating anything on it. I happen to know that the input rating is 22,000 BThU, because I contacted Ellis Restorations(many years ago) and Mr Ellis provided me with an instruction manual and also confirmed the BThU rating.

I would not suspect, I would be certain that he has the Diesel Bug. I have seen a filter with the diesel bug and it is a thick and black liquid, a bit like an oil filter after 200 hours. I change my fuel filter about every 400 hours and the diesel is always a clear thin red liquid, identical to the fuel I put into the tank

There is an alternative to conventional glow plugs, which is fairly commonplace on tractors. tThis is an electrically operated pre-heating device which screws into the inlet manifold, heating the fuel as it enters the combustion chamber. They can be obtained from most Agricultuiral Merchants, and are apparently quite easy to fit (once you have got the manifold off!) Very useful if you have broken off more than one of the glow plug tips leaving them stuck in the head. Or ebay:- http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/jcb-parts-perkins-ma...=item4149b31c5d

It could just be the cold weather. My BMC 1.5 starts straight away in the summer, but in the winter can need up to a minute with the glow plugs on before starting. That is what they are thre for.

Wake up Chris, I said that an hour ago.

M&P boat builders in Seend ceased trading in August. No one seems to know what is happening, but the other two builders in Seend/Sells Green, Will Trickett Boats, and Rowan Boat Builders have offered to help any customer who feels abandoned. http://www.trickettboats.com/Welcome.html Rowan Narrow Boats Ltd Tel: 01380 828863

I had more or less the same problem with the starter on my BMC 1.5, just a click and no vroom (as you call it), and then suddenly after a bit of fiddling about deciding to start. Eventually it would not start despite plenty of fiddling. Diagnosis :- faulty solenoid on the starter. (but annoying as it was a brand new re-built one) Remedy :- new Starter Motor (under warranty) In your case you will thave to remove the stater and either have it re-built, or get an exchange unit. Just hope that the person who installed your engine did not fit the bottom bolt, they are a bugger to remove where you cannot gain access from below.

Oh and a jouirnalist would show the same level of sympathy/ I think not. Why should we allow the facts to get in the way?

Whilst I appreciate your need to produce an article with some appeal, are you not trying to identify a problem which does not really exist ? Unless you are going to compare your findings with the number of accidents which cause serious injury or death at home, on the road, at work, or indeed any other recreational activity, the findings will be academically irrelevant. There are injuries and deaths in all walks of life, but from my 40 plus years of boating experience, I consider boating to be one of the safer outdoor recreations. Sorry to sound so negative, but there are already too many journalists out there looking for stories of danger in recreational activities, and one more will merely reinforce the doom and gloom brigade. Why not look for an article something like the positive aspects of a boating holiday for children. Oh but that probably won't sell any newspapers will it?

Public Safety perhaps.

The small Fibre glass cruiser which shot backwards out of Braunston Marina straight into my path a few years ago, was grateful for the fender on our stem post. The side of the cruiser bent in quite a bit when we hit him broadsisde, but an inspection revealed no apparent serious damage, but without the fender to absorb some of the impact, I suspect that some damage would have been done. So yes we do really need a front fender, the incident had little to do with poor navigation, something in the boat's control gear apparently jammed creating the lack of control. I know it would not have been my fault if the cruser had been badly damaged, but concern for another boater's safety would not have made me feel any better if any damage caused was not my fault.

So hopefully you will not mind if I disagree. It surely depends on how big your battery bank is, and how much you use between engine running. We have two thumping great 6volt 240 amp deep cycle batteries on our boat and usually use about 30/40 amps overnight, which means that the battery is holding more than 80% charge before re-charging. The 55 amp alternator usually manages to bring the batteries back up to full capacity within two or three hours, depending on how much draw is also on the system with the engine running.

The main reason that insurers ask for an address where the car will normally be kept, is to assess the risk of theft or break in. My son (who has since emigrated) moved from our village, where the rates are amongst the lowest in the country, into central Bath where rates are amongst the highest. Guess where he declared the car was normally kept. It is all a nonsense because the car spent less time parked up than it did elsewhere. It spent most of it's time during the week parked in central Bristol where the rates are very high, and at the weekends, wherever the local Cricket club/Rugby team were playing. Just pick a legitimate address where you can have your Licence and Insurance renewals mailed, and give them that address. If it does get stolen or damaged, it will be whilst you are visiting somewhere else, and that will not be a lie.

There used to be signs on the River Avon in Bath informing boaters that they were required to pay £5 (I think) per night to moor behind the leisure centre in the centre of the City, and that failure to do so could result in a fine. Having said that, no one seemed to buy an overnight ticket, and no on seems to have been fined.

I am obviouslty suffering from a loss of memory. I have just looked a some pictures of Thames Bridges, and the bridge where my confusionn crept in was not at Teddington, but Richmond lock. Thinking about it there could well have been two lights on each arch, but definitely not three in an inverted triangle, and clearly in hindsight, the reason they all looked the same colour was because they were all the same colour One thing remains a mystery is why the lock keeper indicated for me to move to the opposite bank as there were no other boats approaching the bridge, maybe he was gving an exagerated indication that I should use the bridge and not the lock. I had obtained all the relevant guides and booklets from the EA, and had studied them thoroughly, nowhere in the copies I have does it mention a the two/three light system, but what I had not realized is that the Tidal section managed by BW has additional signage. Pity the EA cannot find the space to mention this in their guides. They do not even mention that below Teddington the Thames is managed by a different agency. However what this little discussion has done, is to reinforce the original poster's point that we should be fully aware of all the signals and signage on the Thames before embarking on a cruise along it's length, prior to going onto the tidal Thames, and not assume that BW and The EA work to the same criteria. For that I am very grateful, I shall be better informed next time (if I ever decide to cruise the tidal Thames again).

My daughter learnt to steer our boat at the age of eleven, and she was so small that we had to rig up a platform for her to stand on in order to see over the top of the cabin. She was an outstanding pupil and learnt very quickly, and although I am sure that she could have managed without supervision, she was never left alone, and was trained to duck down into the cabin (taking the platform with her) if an emergency arose requiring me to take over. Ironicly, now that she is old enough to take the boat out without me, she shows no interest at all in boating.

Well it must be a comparatively new arrangemenrt because we passed through Richmond, Twickenham and Teddington and none of them had the system that you are describing. In fact I can remember there only being lights on Teddington bridge, and they were definitely only single lights.

Perhaps the Authorities might consider a more user friendly signal system, like red for closed arch and green for Open arch, insteasd of the current red for closed and orange for open, which look the same in bright sunlight. I had the misfortune of not being able to distinguish between the colours some years ago, and called to the Habour Master for advice. He signalled that I needed to go through arch four on the oppposite side of the river. Despite my valiant attempts to move across the river, I was carried sideways upstream by the incoming tide, and had no alternative but to turn and go through the first arch which presented iot self. Fortunately there was nothing else on the river so there was no risk to my, or any other boat, but better signals could have enabled me to position the boat earlier.

I know all about the diesel bug, having experienced it's effects on another boat many years ago. As for being lucky, perhaps it is more to do with the boat's design. The fuel tanks are below water level on each side of the boat, and use the hull swims as one of the side panels. In that location they are far less prone to significant temperature change and therefore presumably less prone to the formation of condensatuion. The fuel take off pipes also end a couple of inches off the bottom of the tank, which is where any water would rest. Having read a lot about Diesel bug I did dose the tanks last year with Fuel Set , and now add the minimum recommended amount of treatment when re fueling just in case.