Yoda

I would use dynamite. Failing that, Nitro and then go back to living your life.

I could not be bothered to go through the whole thread. You need to clean the whole fuel system and change the oils. Check that the throttle is fully on and that the rudder is not going to fall of. Then someone like me will take you down to Margate or further and then an expert at X channel work will take you across on a separate boat! You will take the journey on your boat and he will rescue you if it goes bottom up.(so to speak) Lots of narrow boats have done this and the limitation is the sea state. Just insure accordingly.

Technically, a bow thruster could be useful on an underloaded 70 footer that is trying to get though a cross wind. Otherwise, I have never needed a bow thruster as I reverse out of a mooring.

Can't give you a name but you can just saw cut a hole, weld studs to the top and then custom make a 'rubber' gasket to fit the portal. Then its just a matter of bolting a plate of steel onto the studs. Keep it simple. Don't forget to filter any fuel left in the tank.

The difference between turbo oil and any other is that it will work at higher temperatures and not coke and also it will scavenge dirt particles better. If you cannot decide which oil to use then look and see if you have a turbo-supercharger. If not an SAE 30 will suffice. if you put turbo oil into a dirty engine, you will need to change the oil and filter after a couple of hours.

They make this amazing noise when you hit them with a 72 footer!

There are technical problems using anything above about 50 Mhz on the canal. Ditch crawling by nature is very difficult to maintain communication so the lower the frequency and by that the increase of wavelength will help continuous communication. Therefore the old CB band is very useful for inter-boat communications. As a qualified amateur, I would use 28 mhz as would Keeping Up. So for reliable boat communications over distance, use a CB band. For close Boat to Boat coms, VHF is the only way to go. This is also a requirement.i

It's a ghostly drain valve. Open it and beware as it will drain the pound in 24 hours.

I have used a medical standard silicone grease but it costs more than £90 a small tube but lasts for 5 years in open weather conditions.