Bod

One simple thing to test in these situations, that has not been mentioned yet. Is the drive belt correctly tensioned, and not worn out? Bod

When we contacted Debdale, once they knew the size of the boat, the quote was clear, but with the caveats of the hull condition, being good enough to withstand the process. The first operation being a powerful pressure wash, that should uncover any suspect areas, then it's your choice to go ahead or return to water. Straight forward to deal with. Bod

Debdale. Just beyond Foxton locks. Had ours, grit blasted, zinc sprayed, epoxyed, comes with guarantee! Bod

Is it the place that the tap(water type) was fitted on the early car heaters? Turn on in the late autumn, off in late spring. Bod

Local Locksmith. Bod.

If you are asking about the hole with the screw fitted in, then that is directly under the rocker cover gasket, and should have a machined flush blanking plug. What can be seen through the hole? It will have been made for an internal passage which could not be cast in directly, but had to be drilled in as part of the machining processes in manufacturing. Bod

Read and understand this part of the Smartgauge website. http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/cable_type.html It is regarding selecting the correct size wire to avoid Voltage-drop. In the lenght of individual cables in your short boat the drop may not be too great, but will need to be accounted for. The length of the boat may be 36 feet, but some cable runs out and back to the battery, could be in the region of 90 feet, all the up's and downs, turns to left and right all add lenght. Volt-drop is basically the internal resistance to the volts passing through. A cable carrying 240 volts loosing 5 volts over it's distance, is not a problem. The same cable carrying 12 volts, loosing 5 volts is a major problem. The cable needs up sizing to reduce the lose to 0.05 of a volt. To size for volt-drop normally means the cable is well over specc'd for current capacity. The author of the above web-site is an acknowledged expert in this field. Bod.

Is this what you removed? It could be what the White wire does in the alternator causing your fault. Bod

British waterways act 1983 section 7. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/1983/2/pdfs/ukla_19830002_en.pdf If this section was used more often than the infamous Section 8, then many more boats would be of concern. Bod

I may be preaching to the already converted, but narrowboats exist in a world of their own, many normal world things don't appear in the narrowboat world. 1. The current BSc will become invalid once any major work starts. Will need redoing at the end of the works. 2. Boat electrics are all negative cable return, No "earth/body work" returns. Voltage drop is far more of a problem than current carrying capacity, due to cable lenght. 3. All water systems are pump pressured, no gravity system works, even sewage has to be lifted, either by pump or muscle power! 4. Spirit levels are useless on boats, Right-angles are as rare at hens teeth. 5. The ability to work on engines will be helpful, be aware boat engines are sometimes based on very old car designs, but marinised by different companies. Each installation is unique. 6. Gas work needs doing to BSc standards, by either a "competent" person or a GasSafe engineer qualified to work on LPG systems and boat systems. The average boiler installer is NOT suitably qualified. 7. It will take at least 3 times longer and cost 4 times more than expected. Bod.

Question more for the experts. Seeing the quantity of sludge, will the new oil soften the remaining sludge? To the point of frequent changes, cleaning the internals of the box? Bod.

C&RT Trustee's I expect, it is they who appoint the management to run the system. Bod

Read and understand exactly what your insurance covers. 3rd party only, will recover the boat, the rest will be up to you. Comprehensive Liveaboard, will cover the repair/replacement of most things. (often only to the value of the boat) Mementoes' photos, paperwork may be beyond recovery. Good luck. Bod

Back in the day, I worked with motorcycles. One customer had a 400cc Yamaha RD400, which had been run on Bel-Ray 2 stroke oil from new. The baffles from the exhausts were a light fawn colour, bone dry, needless to say the performance was stunning for an otherwise standard machine. All other 2 strokes had black oily cacked up exhausts, no matter if Castrol 2T or other makes of oil had been used. Bod.

Why are you looking for 79' boats? This is an unusual length and will seriously limit any travel. Bod