SteveS

This plan was obviously submitted by Strathclyde fire and rescue (you know.. the lot that wouldn't go down a mine shaft because they hadn't been trained to use the safety equipment they were issued with! The woman died after 7 hours and the mountain rescue team had to go and get the body....using the same equipment the fire brigade had!) Thinking about it, it would take Strathclyde about that long to get to the Thames!

many.....many years ago we were half an hour out from returning the hire boat to Anglo Welsh just above Trefor on the Llangollen. The kids were playing around and the eldest, nine, fell in. Much panicking from his mum, and my son, having just learned to swim, desparatley trying to remember how. I had to shout his name three times before he looked at me: when he did I shouted "stand up"!

Adding to what Alan has said. You can bypass all the switches etc by connecting the two heavy cables together momentarily. To do this you need a steady hand and a pair of heavy insulated pliers. open the pliers to touch both terminals; you should get a connection to the starter. Be prepared... the pliers may well give a spark and of course your motor will 'kick'. If that works and your batteries are getting seriously low, start your engine and check for faults later. From your initial post I would be checking the starter relay (solenoid) low amp wiring. If you have successfully started your engine using the above method then that confirms the low amp circuitry as the fault. If the heavy wiring sounds a bit too intimidating; run a wire directly to the small wire on top of the solenoid from the battery positive and that should throw the switch. Good luck. Steve P.S Did you hear the one about the Dyslexic, agnostic insomniac? He sat up all night wondering if there was a dog!

OK, I see what you mean...but it would be a heck of a sight cheaper if you fired the starter circuit with 12v and put a heavy duty solenoid between the batteries to give 24 v and a lightweight solenoid to disconnect the parallel feed from one battery during start up.(This could all be done off the starter switch) It would mean all the complexity is in one location. however I do agree 24v is lot better over a long distance and would be a pressing argument if you have a heavy draw at the other end.Steve

No, sorry John I was responding to Ditchcrawler. What you said is correct.

not if you feed the 12v out in parallel. or have I missed something?

A little of topic, but to MTB; why wouldn't you put your batteries in series for the 24v and feed the batteries through diodes (fused) with 12v? That way you have the whole boat run on 12v except for the starter circuit.

Having just become a proud grand dad for the first time, I just thought a quick comment on the baby on board sticker thing. Apparantly they were invented after an older couple were involved in a car crash and the emergency crews missed the baby in the back because they didn't expect to be looking for one. So whilst I too am not impressed with 'little princess' stickers etc. I think I might be putting a sticker in the back window for a couple of years and I will just have to suffer the derision of my fellow human beings.

Brilliant! The compass is a few points off to the west and as for the scale being inaccurate.....well that's what my wife keeps telling me!

Sarni? That's a Butty where I come from!

OK, Here we go...... Your UK licence was issued after 2001. therefor you have a full UK car licence and a full moped licence. It is the category P. This category is NOT valid until you have completed a CBT. Oddly enough you only have to do it once and the CBT certificate, despite its printed expiry date, stays valid for life! Having completed CBT you have a full category P licence and you may carry a passenger so long as the machine is fitted with seat and footrests. A modern moped is restricted to a top speed of 28 MPH (God / Allah / Darwin help you) . If you are going to buy one then make sure you can get spares. £400 is going to be a living nightmare! Tell you what; just send me the £400 and I will send you nothing in return. Believe me it will be cheaper in the long run. My suggestion is to buy a 2 stroke for around £1000 that has been well looked after. They are restricted but a lot more powerful than the 4 strokes I would suggest an Aprilia sr50 (because I sell Aprilia) and when they are derestricted will happily carry 2 up. But beware if you have derestricted it, it is now a 50 cc motorcycle which falls into category A. So my credentials; Been riding for 43 years, teaching people to ride for 31 years and selling the things for 30 years. Hope this helps. P.S. a car driver needs to recognise, understand and compensate for the vulnerability that they are exposed to when riding a motorcycle. Its as simple as that, and yes riding restricted mopeds terrifies me only slightly more than riding a pedal cycle on the road. Steve

Actually the owner is a Mr Jackson, bit of a show off, better known as 'two sheds'!

There is a relatively new mastic on the market called CT1. I can vouch that it is amazing stuff! You can use it under water. I have covered a wet locker drain that was causing trouble until I could get the boat out to weld it (2 months it lasted before taken off) For your problem I would use a piece of 1/4 ply to make a sandwich, once the CT1 has gone off (16 hours) the repair will stay water tight. Look at U tube, just type CT1 and you will get the promo video... it really does do everything it says. I can tell you where to get it in North Wirral but any where else you will need to get in touch with the manufacturers.

This is about contracts. The OP's insurer has a contract with the OP not with the boat yard and probably will not pay anyone else. If the OP chooses to use the money to pay the boatyard that is his decision. The OP has entered into a contract with the boatyard so therefore the boatyard has a lien on the boat against the OP. There is no contract between the repairer and the insurance Co. Usually the only time the insurance pays the repairer direct is when a contract exists between them. Ie. The insurance instructs the repairer not the insured. The repairer can still exercise a lien after the goods have left the yard but it is much harder to enforce. Especially if the OP is living on board. Not good news for the OP but that is the law. Hope this clears this up. P.S. unless the matter was raised before the start of the work the repairer would expect to be paid on completion

What sort of vibration do you have? I recently swapped my propshaft and stern tube, after which there was a whole new range of vibration. It was due to there being no thrust bearing in the drive train. This meant that the prop was winding into the engine and when the engine mounts had had enough they would push backwards.This would cause a horrible shuddering effect. Proprietary thrust bearing systems (remote drive) were quoting around £800!!!. I made one for £40.

I fitted an electronic isolator valve that shuts the water off from a switch next to the water pump isolator switch both located in the galley. Cost about £30.00. It also switches off automatically when the pump isn't working. Works great, but don't forget to place a manual valve before it for icy conditions and servicing. I also ran a manual bypass circuit in case the solenoid system turned out to a bad idea. So far It has not been needed.

At 70 ft lbs you will have necked those bolts and they will almost certainly back off / fail again. You need to buy new ones in readiness for the inevitable. If you had to overtighten to that degree to achieve clampdown, then almost certainly Mike the B is correct and you need to shim the gap. 8mm ms bolts tighten at 15 - 18 ft lbs. Hope you get to the bottom of your problem. Steve

Wheel I never!

So did you ever get the damn thing started? how can you go 7 pages and then leave me in suspense! What was it? how did you start it? Come on put me out of my misery! Steve

Hi this sounds like the best bled system ever! Have you checked that, after running out of diesel and possibly sucking a load of rubbish into the system, you arn't trying to start the engine on diesel contaminated water? Water whilst depressurised will lie low and allow fuel to slide past but when it's put under pressure it will block the pipe/ filter very effectively. (discovered on Audi car and Aprilia and Ducati motorcycles) I am a rookie on diesel engines but why has no one suggested using easy start or equivalent. Finally you could get some freinds to push you down the canal; when you get to approximatly 4 mph, dump it in gear! (used to work on Birkenhead ambulances in the 70's) Good luck P.S. the battery hints are the best, you need as much reserve as possible. I've just remembered another tip. If you can gain access put your jump battery positive directly on to the starter motor or it's solenoid. That way the battery leads don't have to carry as much load and you will get more cranking power.

Once the gates are open then I would have thought that so long as three boats together didn't exceed 144 ft then a four way swap was quite easy. The 4x 70 ft always eluded my imagination.

Paul C is correct at Hurleston. Sit in the lock and wait. Both boats move gently forwards. I let the passing of the other boat suck my bow off the bank to line up on the lock I'm entering. If it's windy I will hold the boat with rope against the side. There are no weirs that affect you at Hurleston most of the water goes into the reservoir before the top lock. The side wash on the rest of the Llangollen can be a 'B'! Slight deviation but similar topic; I have been told it is possible to swap four 70 footers (two up two down) in a staircase. I can't see it personally but has any one seen it happen? Steve