Bee

This is good advice, especially the bit about only being so many ways to fit out a narrowboat. I have fitted out 3 and also a Dutch tug, I would not bother to fit out anothernarrowboat apart from some very special boats they tend to be similar. I would keep looking till I found one that was about right and then 'redecorate' it, prices are reasonable at the moment and you would probably spend more DIY. Use retirement to actually do stuff, we do, summer on the boat, winter doing other stuff.

Just a bit of info that you may already know, a lot of the 'halte nautiques' in France and probably Belgium are also overnight stopping places for motorhomes with electric, water and sometimes loo disposal, there must be a booklet somewhere with maps.

If it's going to get wet, paint it.

one like this?http://www.marktplaats.nl/a/doe-het-zelf-en-verbouw/motoren/m874349255-kromhout-22-pk-gloeikop.html

Get yourself a collie and a tennis ball, the dog will tear about after the ball and give off more heat than that thing from panting.

Is it petrol? have a look at the spark plug, dry and greyish, piston, rings, valve guides probably ok, horrible oily mess, somethings wrong.

We had our first two on board, its no harder than in a house except that in our case there were two of us and, of course, the roles reverted to the traditional ones, I worked, built the new bigger boat, did the gas, water, loo, kept the batteries charged and all that kind of thing. You will find it hard to do everything but if you wait until you have the 3 bed semi and the reliable income and the nursery decorated with fluffy bunnies you could be old and grey. Friends have had families in terrible boats, yurts, squats, everything, and without exception its all worked out. Good Luck.

I think its harsh to attach any blame to the owner, in fact I think its harsh to try to blame anybody, the boatbuilder, the owner, the bloke who did the gritblasting or the boatyard, this sort of procedure is routine, whoever painted it could have been a bit more observant but if, like me you are wearing goggles over glasses whenever using nasty paint or chemicals its hard to spot much at all, the nitty gritty (sorry) of this is why a 10 year old boat with some history of painting, anodes, galvanic thingy etc has a hole in it.

There was a boat I saw years ago, half a steel joey boat I think that had an inboard diesel driving one prop and the other was driven by an electric motor with milk float gear.

Attaching blame is not the scary thing here, it is how quickly the steel, be it bottom or sides, was holed and that really is alarming. This was not just 'rust' or wear and the boat was seemingly protected by paint, anodes, and some sort of galvanic isolator. What else could have been done to prevent this pitting? Your average car with steel as thin as a hacksaw blade, in winter salt and really tough conditions and a body used as a 12volt return manages to last as long as a boat in fresh water constructed with great thick slabs of steel. That is what I find scary. Does the quality of steel vary enormously?

Damn, you could be right, you'll be telling me they can read micrometers in Wiltshire next.

I would indeed shove the shaft back into the coupling, tighten the bolts and see if it feels reasonably firm, if you have mains electric I would get the trusty electric drill, a couple of new HSS bits, some oil and drill right through the whole lot and put a nice big bolt through it, I did this with a hand drill years ago on a boat and it was a permanent fix. If you take the coupling to a machine shop they can even drill a proper vertical hole in it leaving just the shaft for you to drill. Carry a spare bolt or two and if anyone asks just say its a vertical keyway and accepted engineering practice in Shropshire.

There are a lot of people selling boats who have no idea what they are selling or in fact anything about boats or canals at all, your seller may, in fact, be telling the whole truth as he knows it. That is why a few friends with real (not imagined) knowledge are useful and forums like this are as well. There are many hundreds of boats for sale and an awful lot of heartbreakers. There are also a lot of good cheap boats. buying a boat with problems is fine but only if you know what the problems are - guess how I learnt!

Keep turning a blind eye, nothing to be gained by more rules.

Have just had a look at the Wartsila site and I see what you mean, its a support bearing and a seal and it looks expensive, it also seems to need replacing from time to time. I think that to retain the original set up you could be stuck with a big bill, the only other option is a great big cutless bearing and water in the stern tube, probably wouldn't matter much unless its a U boat that you are restoring.