Bee

With most boat engines these days being conversions from Japanese small digger / big mower / industrial engines they are quite happy on 'normal' oil and so long as its clean and the right viscosity etc they should be fine.

Dunno but I think there may be some sort of blanking plug on the front of the engine at the top in the dome shaped thingy that could be the stat housing, seem to remember fitting a sender in one a while back, that meant the warning light still worked but there was also a 'proper' temp gauge as well.

The more boats I see the more convinced I become that corrosion in its myriad forms is wildly variable. So many things change. This year my own boat had lost quite a lot of paint along a 6 inch band at the waterline and below, no idea why, the underneath still had good paint cover, 3 years ago it was the other way round, same paint, same conditions, DIY job both times so quite careful. I think the waterline seems to 'rust' but the base plate tends to pit - I have seen some awful bottoms in my time and also some quite nice ones - sorry, where was I? Ah yes, rust, it seems that the best course of action is to find a good dock or slip that is reasonably affordable and then get the boat out every 3 years and try really hard to maintain the best paint cover possible - I use epoxy but maybe cheaper paint is just as effective with frequent docking?

If you look at old metal structures, footbridges and the like and especially barges that have metal stiffeners and finishing strips riveted along the edges of gunwhales they eventually take the shape of many Loch Ness Monsters - a series of humps where the rust has forced the metal up, its a so and so of a job to repair this as the metal is always wasted away underneath, I have never noticed this happening on cheap and cheerful narrowboats where the rubbing strakes are probably only tack welded along the lower edge so maybe water doesn't penetrate underneath? However, if a length of half round rubbing strake was under the water I would be a bit wary of what was happening there, maybe even welding along the lower edge.

I would imagine (and I really have no particular knowledge here) that the rolled sections are just about impossible nowadays, knees etc. but it might just be worth dropping a line to the Ironbridge Gorge museum, a few times a year they fire up the iron rolling mill there and roll iron strips and flat sections for demonstrations. I was told that blacksmiths are a market for this stuff, who knows, amongst the piles of rollers and lord knows what there might be something useful

Paint the bottom. Put on as many coats as you can. Check Keelblacks tech advice re overcoating intervals, too short and the first coats will not be dry enough, leave it too long and it will be too dry (might not apply to Keelblack but it applies to Epoxy and other stuff) Get those paper suits from Screwfix/Toolstation. Don't paint your hair. Don't worry about the rubbing strakes unless they are underwater. I, and many others, only use the good stuff below the water line, above the waterline I just bung on bitumastic from Screfix (actually Toolstation may be cheaper) Don't use foam rollers, the stickiness pulls out bits of foam. Don't paint the dog / partner / kids - paint is too dear to waste. Repeat in a few years.

There's lots of ways to heat a boat but anything that relies on electricity falls at the first hurdle, if you go away for the weekend and come back in the dark, with sleet coming at you horizontally and the butane frozen and then you find that the batteries are only half charged you really will be so glad that you can light the fire, warm the boat up, light the paraffin lamps and candles and do some toast on the fire.

The last post says it all really, a gravity system really is the way to go and you will soon get used to pipes taking slightly 'diagonal' runs. On a freezing dreary February day you will really bless the day you did it.

Having been up and down the River Somme a few times I wonder how many bits of ordnance I have boated over, always careful when prodding around with the long shaft in some of these canals. Incidentally if anyone ever gets the chance to visit the canal / River Somme then I can recommend it as a beautiful and peaceful river, the word Somme (I think) has the same origins as somus - sleepy, peaceful.

If I were you I wouldn't worry about anything. In fact I wouldn't tell anybody you've had it done, just get the new bit painted to match and if you can't quite fit on your old mooring just shove a few boats around till you fit and hide all the tape measures you can find. Edit. Too late, you're going to write about it! now you'll have to fork out for a more expensive licence!

Yeah, it happens, not to me , of course, I've never made a wrong decision - apart from a car or two, and a wooden boat. Oh, then there was that marriage. You only find out how to fix things by having things to fix and rusty old boats give you plenty to fix, after a few boats I reckon most of us could do a pretty good survey.

Your local Pirtek or industrial hydraulic place will have everything you need, just take as many of the bits and pieces as you can along with you, plonk the lot on the counter and burst into tears - they will help.

How were all those holes drilled or punched? My poor old Black and Decker wouldn't last long doing that sort of work and whenever I have had to do anything remotely like that I could never get the holes lined up. If riveted boats were being built way back in the 1800's or even before and riveted boilers back in the mists of time it must have been a days work to drill a few holes.

I think all non essential road traffic should be banned or taxed at £1 a mile, especially people who are doing a 200 mile round trip to visit the mother in law this Sunday. Grrrr.

I was on 'Aster' last weekend, Aster is a wooden Peniche that is being fitted with a lot of new wood, and believe me there is an awful lot of wood in a 39m x 5m boat, its drive system was interesting, prop shaft goes straight out of the sternpost, that is followed by a universal joint then the shaft is fixed to the barn door of a rudder then the prop is stuck on the end, I've no idea what sort of angles can be achieved when you steer the thing but it could be done on a butty I s'pose (I don't want to be the one to try it though!) Oh, it also had a bow rudder as well at one time, must have been a handful to steer.

Can't go far wrong with Colecraft. Avoid overstyled boats where the builder has tried too hard and exaggerated the shapes and avoid tubby blunt boats. One day you will need to sell it and odd looking boats don't appeal to so many people.

Yeah, its a bit like the poxy CRT dictating to the entire world that if they want to plonk a boat on the GU that it has to comply with the BSS.

Probably better to ask on the DBA (Dutch barge association) site.