Sade

Hehehe thanks peeps! Keep up the Latin lessons! x Managed to find a gearbox for the Kingfisher engine, just got to wait a couple of weeks to get it fitted and hopefully move somewhere more sensible.....we're at Wide Water on the K&A and although its a beautiful spot (and right next to where Dean is working) its pretty horrendous on the towpath and quite a long walk to the van......we will not be beaten!

Hi guys and gals! So sorry for the massive delay.....we officially moved on 28th December but have had one disaster after another.....on top of the lovely weather! Just a quick list of our wonderful adventure so far..... Moved on and after 2 days the diesel generator decided to pop open and spill diesel all over the back cabin. Then our gas bottles were leaking so only lasting us a couple of days. I got gangplank fear and couldn't get off the boat and then I started getting ill with a bug. Then Dean got stuck in Pewsey in the van during one of the floods and I was stuck waiting for him while he got towed back.....plus only had about £2 in my pocket LOL! The weather obviously hasn't helped but Dean managed to fix the generator. Then our propulsion problems started and we're in the middle of trying to sort out the gearbox etc which isn't easy with this old de-engineered kingfisher! Other than that, we're settling in and getting used to life afloat. I'm loving all the nature and being so close to the weather ....we've met some lovely people and they've all been great, helpful and kind...... I'll look forward to updating with some photos etc in due course, just wanted to tell you that we're still alive and hope that the weather isn't having too ill effects on you all........batten down the hatches xxx

I'm sure I've seen somewhere that you only need clips at the bottom of the glass....we have 1 in each corner on ours....bit confused....should there be 4 or 2 in total to hold the glass in place?

I really hope someone can help you out hun.....for now, I'd just grab anything, get everyone wrapped up in jumpers, fleeces whatever you can find and keep everyone hydrated with boiled water - dehydration can be a massive problem when your already sick

So sorry for the bug striking. I can only suggest using a biological washing powder mixed into a sort of paste and scrubbed into the affected areas. the enzymes will break down any smells and hopefully stop any damage to the mattress / duvets. Rinsing may be a problem but if you've got a large bucket or something? I do this if my dog is sick on the carpet....it eliminates any smells and stops rotting but not sure how well it will work on your stuff. Worth a try? Get well soon guys x

Thank you so much for this....I will show it to Dean later We are moored on K&A

Yeah our surveyor was very thorough and couldn't have known about the leak - we've only noticed since the recent rain. It will all work out once we're moved on

Thanks Keith....we don't have cables (?) they are metal rods with a rod selector (is this what you mean?) So basically we pull the gear stick back for reverse (clunk), then to the next groove for neutral (clunk) and then forward again for....forward (clunk) but the forward gear groove seems quite worn away so it slips out of gear if you don't hold it in forward. All your comments much appreciated though....will keep trying

Yes Mike, it should be tempered glass like an oven door ....normal glass would just break with any heat. We got ours cut from a Morso supplier (Dinghams in Salisbury) .....we will live and learn with this I guess

Thanks Allan.....it doesn't help that we're not on the boat at the moment so we can't try different things as we're having to drive down to the boat to move her and then come home again. I'm sure once we're on we'll suss it out (hopefully) Cheers

Thanks Keith.....will give this a go. We're not really sure but just seemed odd that the glass was cracked after the little "explosion" so we just put two and two together. It wasn't cracked before that sooooooo......

We've only had the boat a couple of months and only had a chance to drive her on a few weekends to move her. We didn't seem to have this problem the first couple of times out and seems to be a new problem. The leaves sound like a possibility and as we are new to this a definite learning curve. Our engine is in the back cabin so we can see the prop shaft spinning but seems to lose speed at tickover - we also don't know what type of gearbox it is at the moment (prob something we should know!) - we've got all the paperwork on the boat so will check that out. Speaking to Dean, he says that the oil has been over filled in the gear box so would that have this effect? Previous owner seems to have over filled it but would this level need to be reduced to help propulsion? We know we're going slow as we've had a few comments from other boaters about "not being in rush" hahahaha! thanks for all your replies, it's really appreciated

Another question sorry peeps! We are having problems with the Kingfisher engine and seems like the tickover propulsion is almost nothing, we're not moving anywhere fast (in tickover terms). We thought that the prop was gunged up but on checking it was clear. We seem to be going nowhere fast and have to really push the revs up to get her going .....are we missing something? Not sure if the gear box needs adjusting but the push / pull gear stick just isn't clicking into place on forward so we are like the slow pokes on the canal! Any suggestions? sorry to be a pain in the neck

Yeah maybe a pigeon box come to think of it.....anyway, it's leaking but only in one corner and shouldnt' be too hard to fix up. Quite funny how you look at a boat and all seems perfect until you buy it and use it...then all the little problems start hahahahaa....we are not worried just want to get moved on now so we can deal with them as they happen

Hi guys, not been on for ages, sorry.....so much going on with the house etc and had a week of problems with a gas leak next door....all sorted but it's put us back a bit. My question is about our Morso Squirrel (with back boiler). We used it the first weekend that we stayed on the boat and the back boiler expansion tank over blew and ended up having to fill up again with water. We think there was an air lock and that caused some pressure which managed to crack the glass in the front of the stove. We didn't notice it until the next visit and have removed the glass and taken the door off. Now we have new glass and realise that we didn't need to top up the expansion tank because that's why we ended up with water all over the back cabin floor! So now we have new glass, Dean has sheared the old screws off and ready to drill new holes for the screws and new rope etc but we obviously don't want the same thing to happen. I've seen a post on here about building the stove fire slowly so that the heat rises at a slow rate and stops any sudden overheating but I can't find that post. Is there a way of building a stove fire that needs to be built up slow? We don't want the glass to crack again.... £35 a time lol! Cheers for any help, we've looked on youtube but I can't find anything really relevant unless I'm looking for the wrong things ?

Absolutely love the hijacking.....it's all relevant for us newbies! We're still not moved on as the house is taking longer than anticipated but trudging down the cut every weekend is an eye opener ....plus our stove is out of action so it's bloody freezing on the boat but all good and still enjoying the experience. as suspected, partially moving on at this time of year is proving more than useful in the grand learning curve and just making us determined to do things right. Every step is helping us to get everything done properly....we've even discovered a leak above the stove (through the butterfly type hatch above it) not sure of the right terminology but anyway, whatever it is, it's leaking! Maybe we can utilize this as an easy source of water hahahaha! Glad you got the license business sorted.

Good protection from stormy weather though

Well we took our niece up to see the boat on Tuesday (she's 15) and her words were "it's awesome!" so that in itself has made everything worthwhile.....it did make me laugh when we let her stand at the tiller and she thought that was the front of the boat....when she realised that you steer with the whole 60ft of steel in front of you she was pretty impressed! We'll make a boater out of her yet....lol x

Sounds like the adventures have already begun! Just to let you know that you're not alone, we still haven't moved on properly yet but had to move ours yesterday and the wind was a nightmare. Then when we thought we'd found a spot to moor up we seemed to get stuck in the bank so I went to the front to try and take some weight off the back but we still couldn't move and heard some horrible clunking from the prop EEEK!!! It took us almost 4 hours to move about a mile and a half and Dean saying that he can't control the boat or it's not responding properly, so next time we go he will check the weed hatch and we'll go from there.....scary, tiring, stressful and FUN!!!!! Hahahahahaha!!! xxx

Thanks Martin, I guess that's what I'll do........I thought the idea was to fill up the toilet, not fill the boat up with toilets! hahahahaa!

Thanks hun, well, we still haven't moved onto her properly yet so we've just been going up as often as possible.....took the carpet up on Tues and going on saturday to do a bit of (internal) painting and lay new carpet. We also cruised a bit further on Tues so gives us a couple of weeks to get everything done before moving again - all really exciting (and hard work) but just want to move out of the house now as it doesn't feel like "home" anymore hehehehe! Enjoy!

Arrghhh! I stupidly bought a Porta Potti 165 replacement waste tank thinking it was the same as the new Porta Potti QUBE 165 tank and they are NOT the same. I cannot find a spare waste tank for the QUBE 165 anywhere on the internet......what does everyone else do? Or is this model just too new for spares at the moment? I think the spare cassette I've bought will fit the old thetford (possibly) but I really wanted a spare for the new one and keep the old toilet for emergencies in winter. Please help!!! I'm gonna cry (Thank you )

Congratulations!!

Any ideas on filling up diesel on the other side of the K&A? Past Devizes heading to Pewsey and sure someone mentioned that there is nowhere to purchase diesel....although we did pass Tipton coal boat but haven't seen him since - can we just phone him and ask him to pop along with some diesel?

As long as it does go "whoooossshhh" we should be fine There's always one! hehehe!