David Schweizer
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Posts posted by David Schweizer
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3 hours ago, Mikexx said:
I could have mentioned it's a 1500.
Does the dipstick look like the one in my earlier post?
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1 hour ago, Bee said:
Wonder where the dipstick came from? I think the answer is the next time you change the oil measure what goes in, that then will be 'full' on the stick, cut a bit off the stick until it no longer hits the bottom of the sump and make a mark at the level of the oil. Never over fill it, bad things happen.
If it has the same type of dipstick that I had on the BMC 1.5 in Helvetia, cutting a bit off the end will just mean that it descends lower and still hits the bottom. It had no depth stop instead, the top section of the dipstick was split and the two sections bowed out to create an interference fit. I restricted the depth that the stick could descdend by putting a small cable tie on the stick and adjusting it to a point where the dip stick end remained clear of the sump bottom. It also had the effect of preventing rattle and created an oil seal stopping any oil from spraying out of the sump.
The stick was the same as this generic 1980's BMC Stick. but minus the plastic depth stop, whicg-h is where I fitted the cable tie.
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I remember a younger Hugh McKnight when he used to sit on the bank below Uxbridge Lock bridge, opposite our mooring , photographing boats. I remember him taking this iconic photo or Roger and Raymond being steered by Rose Bray and Ernie Kendall. They always turned obligingly towards the photographer.
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3 hours ago, frangar said:
Maybe if they invested in their own reservoirs rather than screwing the ecosystem for everyone but farmers never do like to spend their own money…
Many Australian farmers do exactly that. The family farm where my son keeps his sheep and cattle have a series of small reservoirs, (known a dams) which run down the hillside each feeding the one immediately below it. They also collect rainwater off all the barn roofs, which is fed into large tanks, and they have a borehole. They are competely self sufficient in water, in a country which is a lot hotter and drier than the UK.
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12 hours ago, MtB said:
WHAT an evasive site!
I can't work out who they are, where they are or who to sue if they fail to deliver.
Well I found their details quite easily. They are Husband and wife, Andy and Katrina, who live on a boat at Trent Lock on the river Trent in Long Eaton. Apart from the absence of a surname, they provide the same amount of contact detail and information as this website does:- https://www.miketheboilerman.com/
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1 hour ago, MtB said:
I'd be fascinated to hear how you know so much about my business terms of payment!
Because you are wrong. I only accept payment by debit or credit card, and have for a decade or more.
I had no idea of what your business terms are until you revealed them here. In my post the "like yourself" statement refered to your status as an independant tradesman. If I had meant to suggest that you still only take cheques or cash, I would have said "A lot of indepedant tradesmen, still only take cheques or cash, like yourself"
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1 hour ago, Jerra said:
We have been taking cards at agricultural shows since the days of put the card in the machine and impress it onto paper and haven't had any problems. I am not up on the technology but I have a suspicion the machine a bit like emergency calls uses the one with best reception. However if all else fails cash is still available.
I was talking about mobile electronic card readers, which started to appear in the UK about ten years ago. The old press and print system, which I remember, worked mechanicly. The impressesd slips were processed in much the same way as cheques, and still had to be signed and mailed to, or payed into, the bank by hand. They also required the vendor to have a small machine process them.
Mobile card readers have appeared in much greater abundance since the Covid pandemioc started and, ironically, have made a much bigger contribution to the Bank's plans to discontinue cheques than any their efforts to persuade the general public.
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10 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:
I think its ice cream and coffee
I can't see Ivor Batchelor doing that when he was Harecastle Tunnel Keeper! 😁
1 hour ago, Jerra said:Most I know right down in size to the folk in the craft tent these days accept cards and in fact prefer them.
And what happens when their card reader won't work because of poor Internet connection? which has happened to me on more than one occassion. Good job I still carry a bit of cash at Outdoor events.
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1 hour ago, Jerra said:
A business could take that attitude as well but it still cost in fees.
But MtB specifically referred to "People with only personal accounts" as not understanding how banking works.
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57 minutes ago, MtB said:
Business account, almost certainly.
People with only personal accounts have this weird idea that banking services cost nothing to supply!
Which "People" are they? People with Business Accounts are not the only ones who understand banking practice.
I take the view that my bank is holding a significant amount of my money in my current A/C for which I get no interest, and that the interest they make from that, more than adequately covers the few payment transactions I make directly from the account.
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2 hours ago, Athy said:
Likewise. You know where you are with cheques.
1 hour ago, MtB said:Yes, in the last century
A lot of indepedant tradesmen, like yourself, still only take cheques or cash.
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I used two coats of Finnigans Smoothrite. (Now called Hammerite Smooth) It survived well.
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Small local shops are usually more than happy to exchange a few bags of coins for notes. As a student, my daughter worked in the Village shop and they were always glad of more coins for change, as many of the older regular customers seemed to insist on paying with notes.
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This thread has encouraged me to dig out my father's other Brass garden sprayer. which is almost identical to this one. It needs a new pump washer, but otherwise looks intact.
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2 minutes ago, tree monkey said:
Yeah I appreciate that is a specialist bit of kit
he had some very sharp knifes, saws and an interesting axe as well
One of these, I suspect :-
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1 hour ago, LadyG said:
I have a notion that it has a leather washer which could be replaced if it's not working, not much else to go wrong.
A wide variety of sizes available from these people :- https://www.base-camp.co.uk/Cups .htm
They also stock possibly the best selection of Oil lamp and Paraffin Stove spares and parts in the UK.
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On 29/07/2022 at 20:46, Dav and Pen said:
I seem to remember that when we brought Tadworth there was a shear Bolt which was supposed to break instead of the metalastic joint but it’s a long while ago now.
We had that arrangement on Pisces, the shear pin was made from a length of 3/8" mild steel rod. We had a box of them in the engine room, and it was my job to replace it when it sheared. It took less than five minutes to drive the old one out an drive a new one in, a lot cheaper than fancy flexible couplings.
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4 minutes ago, howardang said:
It's a brass garden syringe, used for watering plants and spraying insecticide etc.
Search for vintage garden syringe on YouTube and there is an image of an identical one.
Howard
Yes , a garden syringe. my father had one
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I have always assumed that the undewater profile of a boat can effect the amount of disturbance it cause when passing other boats. Helvetia, although deep draughted had very long graceful swims, and caused almost no wash at normal speeds. I always slowed when passing moored craft and rarely got shouted at.
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5 minutes ago, Loddon said:
Surely the whole point of a turnover bridge was that it could be used without disconnecting the line from the oss 🤔
Not always, at some bridges the horse had to be unhitched before the boat passed under the bridge. The bridge which MtB showed is a turnover bridge which, I believe, is known as a "Snake Bridge" and are more common on Northern Canals.
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This is also a turnover bridge, at Uxbridge Lock, on the GU. The towpath above the bridge is on the right hand side, in front of the lock cottage. Our mooring was accessed through the tall chain link gate, visible immediately adjacent to the bridge parapet.
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1 hour ago, nicknorman said:
....... It’s the same when you want to walk into a shop. The people in front have taken 1 step into a large shop, then stop to look at their shopping list, their phone, or just gawp around, totally oblivious to the people behind who are blocked from trying to get into the shop behind them.
The ones that get me are those who get the supermarket till, and after slowly loading their shopping into numerous bags, suddenly realise that they have to pay, and spend an inordinate amount of time searching for their credit card, or even worse, want to pay in cash, and spend ages sorting out all their coins so that they can tender the correct amount. All whilst the queue grows behind them.
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9 minutes ago, Dav and Pen said:
When we lived in Braunston in the 70s Tommy Johnson the lock keeper lived in that house and I always thought it was possibly a lengthmans house as it would have been built after the route was altered.
Possibly, but it is of quite generous proportions for a lengthman's house.
1 hour ago, Captain Pegg said:In the 1881 and 1891 censuses the original toll office by the narrows is listed as the Oxford Canal Company offices and is occupied by Thomas E Cope and family. However Mr Cope is listed as a "Wharfinger on the Oxford Canal" and not as a toll collector.
His son Harold Frances Cope later became a toll collector at Calcutt top lock and interestingly not at Wiggerham's, which by 1939 appears to have been occupied by Alfred Neal a non-canal worker but also Harry Cope's brother-in-law.
A lot more info on Wiggerham's here:- https://static1.squarespace.com/static/564a5d6be4b0da3c3b0864c4/t/565f77eee4b052d551489625/1449097198382/Wigrams+History.pdf
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2 hours ago, David Mack said:
But all three arms at the junction are on the Oxford Canal. The junction with the Grand Junction was at what is now the entrance to Braunston Marina. The Stop House here may have served as a toll office for the GJC.
Did the stretch between the stop house and the new junction, remain with the Oxford canal, after it was realigned in the 1830's? All the later maps show it as part of the Grand Junction. The stop house was almost certainly the toll office, before the re alignment, but what other purpose would the new, building on the junction serve? perhaps trade was so heavy that two toll offices were required, There also appear to be stable buildings at the junction which could have accomodated exchange horses.
Oil level within sump
in BMC
Posted · Edited by David Schweizer
The other issue is that there were aparently more than one design of sump, with some being much deeper than others. Mine was a standard one which did not need an extra long dipstick. Not the best of photos, but it gives some idea of the proportions.
With regard to your dipstick, your description would suggest that it is either the wrong one, or it has already been substantially shortened. This photo illustrates how high it should sit: