Bee

Had a similar problem a few years ago. There is a variety of bee that finds holes, lays its eggs inside and then mortars up the hole. Yup, that was the little drain from the washbasin in the loo. Must have read the boats name .

The gawd awful smell and maybe a wisp of steam sounds to me like a leak (probably inaccessible) and the rubbery / rotten eggs smell of antifreeze / rubber hoses and all that horrible stuff. I would start there. As for header or expansion tanks that would indeed be unusual. Take a look at the engine and follow all the pipes, if a couple disappear into the boat itself then follow them, they probably go into the calorifier and that will probably explain some of what is happening. I don't suppose you are overfilling the engine header tank are you?

If you like the shape and so on then that is fine, I would not expect any trouble with what you get. The important thing (For me) would be that everything below the waterline is painted with a good epoxy paint - more than 1 coat - and not just bitumen, once bitumen is applied you are pretty much stuck with having to use bitumen for ever unless you remove it (What fun) and it is inferior to modern paint.

Logically its either not being cooled sufficiently or its generating too much heat. The black oil sounds like burnt clutch plates but to the best of my knowledge these boxes are either fully in gear or not, being halfway in or out is difficult to achieve. The only thing I can think of is to try and narrow down the cause, try and check oil and water flow through the cooler by holding hoses and pipes, disconnect operating cable and operate the lever by hand and see if the prop shaft is spinning at the speed you'd expect. Apart from that it sounds like something inside the box might have failed. Sorry, not a lot of help I'm afraid. Good luck

Firstly, is this an all steel boat or does it have a wood or fibreglass top? If its wood or f/glass then it is probably leaking from the joint. If it is all steel then it is most likely to be condensation , outside possibility of rust holes and some likelihood of leaky windows. Condensation is an absolute sod, I would peek behind the cladding to see if there is any insulation at all (!) If it is soggy fibreglass wool it is doing nothing except keeping everything cold and wet. There are many opinions on insulating materials but whatever is used it must cover all the steel - no gaps - and be a couple of inches thick. Same with under the gunwhale., Good luck with it, most of us have wrestled with these problems and in the end the thickest normally wins - thats the insulation - not the boat owner.

On Bee it is dead easy to come alongside the LH wall, coming alongside the RH wall is a different kettle of fish, it takes time and careful handling or it ends up in the middle of the lock. David Macks comment about contrary winds is also something to bear in mind. Its a bit stressful for us as we get shoved into the bit of free water at the back of the commercial locks after the big stuff has filled most of the lock and pratting around whilst everybody else waits for you is embarrassing. This is when you realise that the most important person on the boat is not the person twiddling the wheel - it is the person with the rope trying to catch a bollard before the boat bounces off the wall / runs into the back end of something really big.

Hmmm. Not a very thorough survey. Presumably no thickness readings? Can't really proceed without those, thickness is important. Evidence of overplating? If there are areas of doubling then the chances are that more will soon be needed. Is the boat elderly? More than 20 - 30 years and it will need a good inspection, boats also rust from inside out so a poke around under the floor is a good idea. Repairs are a fact of life, there are plenty of commercials still trading in France built in the 1960's but repairs have been done when needed, steel boats are repairable so long as its worth while. EDIT Ah, there are thickness readings, It has lots of metal left.

The one time we ran out of water the water wouldn't reach the taps, got it working by sucking a tap, mouth full of grit and water - been fine ever since. Does your pump now keep running or does it eventually shut off/

My advice (Not always great!) is to start looking at boats and see what you might be able to buy - this part is free! Carry on looking till you find something that looks possible and then ask for advice about that boat - this is when reality about corrosion, leaks (above and below the waterline) and cost of repairs and costs of moorings and suchlike will hit. Boats really are expensive to live on. In my time I have lived on boats for years but I would not do it now, however I would consider living in a van. Sooner or later most of us end up in a house of some sort, a period of cheap living is pretty much essential to do that, if you can save while you are young that is really important, if you can come out of uni debt free then that is vital, the chips are stacked against you though these days. Good luck!

Grrrrr! Bikes! Terrible things to store or carry, I had a bike that was salvaged from the cut and eventually went back to the same place. You can't lie them flat cos the pedals stick out, They catch ropes and branches, they ruin your back trying to lift them off the roof and they sink if they fall in (That is actually a good thing) However if you do have a decent tug deck then they can be carried successfully and they are useful occasionally (But less so than you would think)

That is truly awful and is far too common in the world of narrow boat 'design' and building. Far too much emphasis on show and gadgets and seldom enough thought about the fact that it is a boat and not a twee little cottage. A plague on these people. David Mack a few posts ago is probably right. If it dries out it will very likely be OK. Floors tend to be cool and cool equals dry (ish) but luckily mould and rot seldom flourish unless there is a wet bilge. In my opinion (often wrong) floors are often put down with their edges touching the hull sides. This causes problems with condensation and delamination. There should be a good gap between the steel sides and the floor edge, it won't show because the side panelling will cover it. I worry when I see laminate, lino or vinyl or tiles on a floor as the floor is not a fit and forget item, it should have easy access to the underneath but this is time consuming to build so it almost never gets done. carpet and rugs are far more boat friendly than a beautiful looking house type floor as you will need to get access to the nasty bit underneath sooner or later.

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In my opinion, your 1st problem is what paint to use, if this boat has had bituminous paint slapped on then its not particularly good stuff, its banned in many countries because its toxic but its protection doesn't last very long, it dissolves when faced with diesel on the water and lots of other solvents it really is only OK above the water line, unfortunately the modern epoxy paints don't work too well if applied over bituminous paint either so there is a good case for removing as much as you can along the water line by hand, twisted wire cup brushes on grinders are apparently successful but I haven't tried, when the surface is as good as you can get it then a 'Surface Tolerant' epoxy like Jotun 90 (?) is the way to go. It is laborious, dirty, time consuming and just plain horrible but cheaper than blasting. As for the underneath it may never have been painted so perhaps just pressure wash and do the best you can. Jotun might even do a primer that covers bituminous paints these days but I don't know.

Hooray!! That means mine will probably work again when I fix it - all the same systems so fingers crossed.

Wheel steering is fine but a tiller is better. Most GRP boats steer from the middle or the front half of the boat. This is in my opinion, much more difficult and that is why most boats steer from the back end. Our boat , a little harbour tug, steers from the front and it can be awkward despite owning it for many years. GRP boats are OK in warm weather but not well suited for perishing cold. Steel narrowboats are more user friendly but they corrode, Grp boats are possibly a little weaker but I really would not worry about that at all..... You pays your money.... etc.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134903136622? I think this is the one you need, check first though!

Somewhere there might have been a split pin holding bigger thingy that fell out and then another even bigger thingy fell out and then the gearbox cable fell off and everybody laughed except the captain.

I would love to hear the results of your efforts. Our Beta 43 did this the day before we came back from France so the first job when we get back to the boat is to fix it. I think its the pump at fault, can`t get into the innards of it and as you say its a little sod to get off, I`ve got a new pump and also an electric pump so something should work.