David Schweizer

That is what I also recall, you were even required to close the top gates, empty the lock and leave the bottom gates open when going uphill. I was told by a retired BW worker who had worked at the former Lock Gate Workshops in Devizes that the reason was because the bottom lock gates were not very sturdy, and as the top gates had a habit of swinging open if the lock was full, there a was a risk of closed bottom gates collapsing under the weight of water coming downhill. The K&A was not very busy in the 1990's and you almost prayed for a boat coming in the opposite direction when locking uphill.

My observations of 1960's working boat practice is based almost exclusively on the Grand Union Canal, where it was normal practice to leave gates open when leaving a lock. The only exception I can recall was one lock on the Chiltern summit, where boats were expected to leave the lock empty if operating late evening because leaking lock walls caused the lock keepers cottage cellar to flood overnight. I cannot recall the name of the lock, but I believe that Alan Fincher's brother worked there in the early 1970's.

I was not suggesting that the owners of Historic boats should not abide by current accepted practice. I was just making an ironic observation.

That is not what I said. As for removing engines, that is an irrelevant hypothesis, the working boats I witnessed in the 1960's all had motors

Those of us who were around when working boats were actually working will recall that it was normal practice for a pair to exit a lock leaving both gates open and paddles up, so they could claim to be operating "traditionally".

You do not state how many hours the engine has been run, but I had the same problem with an BMC 1.5 which had run for somethng like 20k hours. A full rebore, new pistons and rings solved the problem.

Can you transfer more money (assuming you have enough!!) into your current account and hope that they have not tried to take the payment yet. If not a phone call to C&RT seems the most sensible thing to do.

Already tried that, it made no difference.

I knew a George Wain who worked for Willow Wren in the 1960's, but the picture is not of him, are they related?

I am a member of another discussion forum, which uses the same software as CWDF. That forum also has the blue bubbles on the left of the each topic heading, but does not have the green banner at the top, or the "Mark as Solution" tick box at the bottom of the post,.We are normally informed by the Site Staff when there are changes to the forum features, so that is this feature something authorised by the mods, or is it there by default?

That is interesting, I looked for an earlier topic which has not had any replies, and that also came up with "topic" when I right clicked on it. However, there is now another new feature - a "Mark as Solution "tick box at the bottom of the post and a green banner at the top of the topic which asks which answer was the most helpful, along with a wordy explanation. Personally I can do without all these interferences, Is there any way I can get rid of them?

I have recently noticed what seems to be a couple of minor changes to the VNC home page. There are now banners indicating time scales for posts ie: "Past hour", "Today", "Yesterday" etc, along with blue quote bubbles to the left of each topic, which appear to achieve nothing except bring up a banner marked "Post" when right clicked, I only noticed these since I has to reload my account name and password when I inadvertently deleted them from History in Firefox. Are these unannounced recent changes, or have I just not noticed them in the past

All sorted within the space of 23 hours. Good job you weren't in a hurry for them !! 😕

Most people would do the local availability research before going on line asking for help, and grumbling about retailers applying the law regarding posting sharp implements.

Given all the "unsolved" problems you seem to have getting readily available items delivered, may I suggest that you get a bike and be prepared to cycle a reasonable distance to a suplier. Alternatively you could plan your cruising routes to be compatible with your hobby requirements. P.S. have you ever heard of Buses or Taxis?

I made the first gasket from brown paper and never needed to replace it in 18 years. When I first started to service my car in the 1960's, I never payed for gaskets, making them myself. Old habits die hard.

Yes, that is what I used to do, after I discovered that was the method used by the Hireboat companies based in Braunston.

As we are talking about using glues for the construction of model boats, it may be appropropriate to mention that neither Hide Glue or Liquid Hide glue is waterproof, and should not be used on any boat that will be used in water. (or any outdoor application which may be exposed to moisture). For external gluing I would always use a good quality Waterproof PVA, or if you want to be a traditionalist, Cascamite, which is still available from specialist suppliers. (and, yes, I do still have some in my workshop!)

I assume you are refering to liquid hide glue, which is available from people like Titebond, and not traditional hide glue which I use when restoring antique furniture. and needs to be prepared in water using a heated twin glue pot, and has a very short open time.

I understand why you have posted the last sentence but removing it might help yout to get more usefull advice.

Have you checked that the model is no longer available because you have bought it. click on "purchase history" in "my ebay" it can sometimes take a while to update, but you should have received confirmation email

I have half a tin of original creosote which I rescued from my father's shed decades ago. It is free to anyone who can collect it from West Wiltshire.

Yes I also use EMA Plasweld, it works in exactly the way as described above. The only problem is that it does not like joining pre-painted comonents as it can dissolve the paint at the joining edges. I am currently constructing a complicated building which requires some components to be pre-painted and have just purchased some Revel Contacta glue which, apparently, has a slower drying time and can be applied through a fine nozzle, to the surfaces to be joined, avoiding capillary seepage damaging the paint, I hope!

I assume you are referring to Deluxe Materials glues, and you can choose to pay through the nose for a tiny bottle of those glues from a hobbies shop if you wish. I use Titebond which is a professional pva glue, which comes in standard, fast acting, waterproof etc. CA is just another name for cyanocrylate glue ie: Superglue, available in a range of viscosities and speeds, both are readily available from good DIY and Timber Merchants.

I am interested to know what you mean by "specialist glues" I have been restoring and repairing old wooden furniture for most of my life, and am aware of only three types of wood glue, all of which are easily available without needing to travel to Leeds or Halifax. If you need to find a model shop, here are some in Halifax / Leeds:- https://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/county/westyorkshire