manxmike

Is that David Tennant moving in to your house? Wow, Doctor Who as a tenant, now that's cool!

Living on the Isle of Man I only get a limited amount of time I can spend cruising the canals and spending mile after mile on tickover does tend to reduce the distance I am able to travel. I'm not suggesting I want to go water skiing or break the speed of sound, but it would be nice to be able to make progress. I am fascinated by the boaters who moor up with vast amounts of slack in their ropes and then shout torrents of abuse when you pass them at a speed that doesn't even cause a ripple. Half a dozen of those and most people will say "sod it" and speed up - if you are going to get abuse then you might as well make it worthwhile. Recently I have passed several boats, always moored in the same place, with amazing collections of empty milk containers etc covering every square inch of the boat and spilling onto the towpath. One even had a collection of about six generators - none of them running! Are these the remains of the travellers who took to the canals in the seventies to escape the awfullness of daily life and the rubbish normality generates?

Couldn't agree more - horrendously overpriced, unless all the internal fittings are diamond encrusted solid gold of course. Mike - why do you think Liverpool hulls are the bottom end? I have had experience of two Liverpool boats, both are sound, swim extremely well, handle in a very predictable manner and appear to be well built. Two marine surveyors I have spoken to have both said that they are usually a good selling point as they are well built. My current boat is a 23 year old 43 foot Liverpool boat which cost me a small fraction of the boat me1bee is looking at. Cheers, Mike

I have a Cello TV on my boat, picture quality is excellent. I would go for freesat TV, less cables, easier to mount. Good luck! Mike

Just been in touch with the company I bought the ratchet from and they have the spring in stock too. They have also sent me an exploded diagram of the control unit! Sleeman & Hawken Ltd., Broadmeadow Ind. Estate, Teignmouth, Devon, very helpful, very friendly. Anyone else looking for Lister parts might be well advised to give them a go.

Excellent, well spotted. I've bought the ratchet. Now all I need to find is some sort of instruction sheet or exploded diagram showing how to disassemble the thing. Cheers Mike

Ok, I'll bite, what is a speed wheel?

Would a single action Morse control do the trick? All the units I can find are dual, gearbox and throttle combined.

Hi Bizzard, Dirty great big lever for forward/reverse to a manual gearbox, then single bowden cable for throttle control. The throttle control consists of a quarter radius, toothed on the top of the radius and a lever from the base of the radius which now fails to grip on the teeth. If I could figure out how to upload a picture I could show you! Cheers Mike

Sorted the problem (some time ago now!) had a collar made which has solved the problem nicely. Ray - "Cobweb" is near Nantwich. There is a Chandlery on the Island, it's located on the tongue in Douglas Harbour. Cheers Mike

My boat has a Lister SR2 engine which is great, my problem is the throttle control which keeps slipping back to tickover. There doesn't seem to be any form of adjustment so I think replacement is the way to go. Sadly I don't seem to be able to find a suitable Lister replacement. Is there something else out there that will do the trick? They all seem to be gear change and throttle combined - not much use for the Lister! Alternatively, is there some form of adjustment? Thanks all, Mike

I'm looking for two foot wide fitted sheets, but no-one seems to stock them. To get them made specially is very expensive. Does anyone know a supplier?

Years ago I attended a wedding in a very up-market hotel in the deep south. They had just about everything on optic, what wasn't was bottled behind the bar. At the end was a bottle with a blue/purple liquid in. I asked what it was and was told "Meths". I raised an eyebrow and received the ultimate put-down line ......... "In this establishment, sir, we serve every type of clientele"

I clicked on the link and got a home movie about an American couple's trip to London! Not a canal in sight. I'm sure it must be fascinating to their family, but I imagine even their best friends would be prepared to put the gun law into action - justifiable homicide in my opinion. Ok, search for a bit and it's actually there. Hmmmm, one guy and three women - either heaven or hell. Must be the beard that does it!

Last weekend, sorted the water pump and fitted a water filter, fine tuned and refitted the shower extraction pump, sorted the radio and tv aerials, fitted drawer sliders to the shower/toilet door - now works a treat, Used a spurious section of ply from beside the cooker make a table which folds away. Fairly soon I'm going to sort the fuses and switches - most of which don't do anything (or so it seems), fit new ammeters for leisure and engine batteries, fit a protective cage over the battery isolation switch (running the engine with it switched off doesn't charge the batteries very well! - don't ask), hull is to be re-blacked and new anodes fitted and I've managed to get hold of some Tekaloid (Tractoil) Landrover Bronze Green paint to paint her with (the boat, not the wife). In between times I try to get out on the canal - tricky when you live on the Isle of Man and it costs at least £100 each time I come over to the boat. Ah well, three years (and counting) to retirement. Oh yes, I re-stitched the zips on the cratch cover as well ..............

Has anyone come across a 12 volt vacuum cleaner which could be used from the on-board power? I'm tired of sweeping and brushing!

Ray - I think it must be a non-standard roof fitting as the new stack is just over 6 inches. The angle grinder route is a possibility, but I must admit I still favour the collar idea. It would seem a shame to waste the chimney I've bought, it is a twin walled model and quite good quality.

I have recently bought a new stack for my chimney which is a standard 6 inch. Trouble is it doesn't fit - just! The old stack had been split at the base in an effort to make it fit, the fitting on the cabin roof is about 2mm too wide. I have worked out that I can get my friendly local welder to attach a collar to the base of the stack enlarging the internal diameter to 6 inches plus a tiny bit, but I wondered if anyone else had run into the same problem and how they had coped with it.

It gets even more complicated for me, I do have a tv licence for my home - on the Isle of Man. My boat is in Cheshire, which is actually in a different country! So, I can't help wondering if my home licence covers me. It is issued by the UK authorities and costs the same amount as in the UK even though we get fewer freeview (?) channels than in the UK. On a sort of attached theme, if we have to pay for them with a licence fee how can they be called "freeview"

Where do we stand regarding TV licences on board? I would imagine that whilst moored in the home Marina we would be covered by a blanket licence (if they have one!) but when cruising I am not sure what the legal position is. Do we just rely on the detector vans sinking in the canal if they get too close?

Thanks for the response. Whilst we used Moonbeam 20 years ago, she was probably about 20 years old then! I'll try to find an old photo, it might have the index number on it.