nebulae

The holes in the bottom of my boat were repaired by localised welding. Worked all the time I had the boat. Less drastic than plating the bottom and a lot cheaper

Cant say whether there were any special circumstances which caused the problem,as I had only just bought the boat. The anodes were O.K. I was told that it may have been a piece of carbon grit rolled into the plate? The bottom was badly pitted all over. Has anybody ever had a boat sink because the bottom plate has rusted through? Maybe we worry to much?

I had a boat grit blasted underneath,many years ago. The boat was 10 years old, The grit blasting went through the bottom in one place. I think the bottom was 6mm from memory.

I think this engine has a cam belt and a separate belt driven balancer shaft.The 2.5 certainly has. Also a rubber bonded crank pully? The 2.8 is About 125 hp,so water skiing behind the boat could be a viable option.

Have had several cruiser stern boats because of availability and cost at the time. Have hired semi trad. Seats on the semi trad uncomfortable due to tumblehome. Hated cruiser stern. Got a trad stern. Loved it. I can see that a cruiser stern works with a canopy, Never had a canopy on any of my boats so cant comment. I suppose depends on your cruising area whether you can cruise with the canopy up.

We had indirect cooling with a 42hp Isuzu. We had indirect raw water cooling ,as the Isuzu replaced an air cooled Lister,so we had no skin tanks. Over10years,we had no problems. With raw water cooling the exhaust was very quiet. The Isuzu with indirect raw water cooling was normaly supplied for sea and river boats and had a P.R.M 120 as standard. We were advised to upgrade to a P.R.M. 150 for canal use and I think this was good advice. This engine gave 1.6 litres per hour overall. The ocasional thrash on deep open water was most impressive pushing up a bow wave. However,the max speed on G.P.S. was just under 6 knots.(On a 50ft boat). At this speed,the engine/boat combination had nothing more to give and the fuel consumpion went through the roof.

Are you intending to use tyres on wheels,ie floating? Quite heavy and awkward to tie a rope to. Never had a problem on the Shroppy finding somewhere to moor that needed anything bigger than my mini tyres. Some bank edges would need at least 60/70mm to keep the boat away from the concrete.

Last time I was on the G&S I seem to remember that the bridge which opperates the next unmanned bridge (Sandford) is the only one appart from Llanthony which has V.H.F.

My experience is that lockies do not always respond to V.H.F. In one case,the locky told me he could hear me,but had not done the course,so he could only listen. They do seem to phone the next lock,if you are going through,so they will be expecting you. Not had much luck speaking to the locky at Gloucester until within sight and that is with a fixed set.

Boat was getting old and so were we. At age 70,gave up active boating. One accident on the Autherley Flight and a very close shave on the Wigan Flight. Do miss the boat though. Still enjoy walking the towpath. Visitted the Wey and Arun recentley.

Its a few years since we have been that way. We stopped at a large timber yard some where near Stanley Ferry and bought a piece of wood for a couple of quid. Did the job.

Have I misunderstood .If I plant my farm with trees,I will gain carbon credits.I can then offset these against my Range Rover and be carbon neutral? Who drempt this idea up?

As HMRC is running on very reduced numbers nowadays,I wonder who is going to check. So far as I am aware,red diesel will continue to be available to farmers and the construction industry. Other than honeypot sites,the likelyhood of being checked is, I suspect, zero. HMRC has never been keen to check,which is why we have the present system.

Am I correct in remembering that Claymore was started by Sue Clay,whose father was a director of the Ship Canal. This would be about 40 years ago?

Am I right in thinking that Flo Gas and Budget Gas are both owned by Calor .My local Budget Gas supplierhas just supplied me with gas in a Calor bottle because the distribution centre had run out of Budget Gas bottles.