Sea Dog

I've just learned in another thread that WD40 is good for cleaning stove glass! Is there no end to this product's talents? What should WD40 definitely not be used for? Greenie for the most outrageous/amusing answer?

Interesting to hear of boats with no top vents; I'll keep an eye out for their sleek, trip-hazard free cabin tops! We should start a thread on things WD40 doesn't do.

Can that be done? I believe the BSS says you must have a percentage of high and low level vent of a capacity based on a formula, but can you get the high level other than through roof vents? I'm not onboard today, otherwise I'd pop my head out to see if there's any boats around without roof vents. It's an interesting concept as the smooth line would certainly be nice, and it might be common as muck and I've just never noticed, but I'm sure someone on here will know..

Oh-oh, wth am I looking at then? This is the page on the C&RT website where I'm looking after navigating Hone, Boating, Notices and Stoppages, Find A Notice Near You - have I been duped?? It still says the same as above when I go there. Where are you looking Starman?

I've noticed these boats often, though not necassarily for the same reasons as you I reckon they must be built like brick outhouses and be fitted with buldozer engines, so you may well be onto a good thing caring for one of these old warhorses through its retirement. My tips would be to fit an adjustable throttle where the ON/OFF switch was and make sure you have enough money left for some kind of a repaint - even if it's only to signwrite a very big EX in front of CanalBoat Club! Best of luck with your purchase, I hope you get a good 'un. Edited to correct CanalBoat Club.

And the thing about good quality solid brasswork is that you could practically have started with a grinder! Going through those stages of coarseness means you can bring back some pretty neglected brightwork - which it sounds like you did! Finally, a use for all those boot bulling skills! ETA typo

This issue is (also?) caused by poor mixing. The anti freeze concentrate should not be added separately to the water whatever the concentration ratio as it won't mix itself well in the heating system. Maybe alternate small quantities will be ok, but preferably mix it thoroughly at the required strength before it is introduced to the system. NMEA's 25% in UK climate sounds good to me.

Another vote for fire ash on the glass. Moisten paper, dip in fine ash, rub glass, polish of with clean paper. Job done. I also hail from the school of shiny military brasswork. Solvol (of Autosol fame) do a marine polish which is good for deeper cleaning, but I find what the military call Wadpol (aka wadding polish of which Duraglit is one brand) to be quickest and easiest for a regular spruce up clean. I'm not a fan of laquered brass as the effort required to restore once the laquer fails in more than the effort to maintain the bare metal itself imho.

Thanks for that, useful to know. Why don't C&RT tell us that though? How can we plan winter journeys with any measure of confidence that we're not using incorrect data from their site? The stoppages map is currently showing: Coseley Cutting, Old Main Line Canal10 Nov 2014 - 13 Mar 201507:30 am - 05:00 pm Notice Type: Navigation Closure Notice Reason: (Re)Construction Mind you, they also still show this outdated bolleaux (which makes me wonder how often those responsible for the updates visit either the canal or the website!): Suspected Bloom of Blue-Green Algae @ Knighton Reservoir08 Jul 201412:00 am - 01:43 pm Notice Type: Advice Notice Reason: Information

Dragging up an old thread here, I know, but the C&RT stoppages page shows this section closed for 4 months Nov 14 - Mar 15. This is a section I'll probably have to avoid twice in that period, so I was wondering what's happening and how it's going?

I thought this too, but I eventually binned Orange/EE and haven't looked back. They did have poor voice coverage in particular once, but not so now in my experience. For a while I had 3 and the Missus had EE and I never compared badly in a signal comparison, voice or data. We're both on 3 now (there just wasn't a compelling case for paying more to preserve a network choice) and we both find the mobile internet connection to be far more reliable. Iirc, 3 is Hutchinson Telecom who were Orange back in their earlier days.

I'd second NMEA above. You won't get dezincification above the waterline, but you should take precautions against disimilar metal corrosion with anything other than steel. It sounds like you won't, but don't have an outlet or intake below the waterline unless you really, really have to.

Keeping ageing warships and submarines even just as a floating museum piece is inordinately expensive. Frankly, we've seen far better ships and submarines than these two, both historic and contemporary, sent to scrap. I agree with your sentiments, admire your zeal, love your photos and am impressed by the story you relate here, but I'm sad to say that you're flogging a dead horse.

Actually, Very Low Frequency is sufficient to penetrate the ocean but aerial length would still be a damn nuisance. How's about using big capacitors as fenders and keeping them charged to fry the theiving blighters?

Or, appaerntly, half inch them off the side of someone else's boat.

I agree with By'eck and Albion - If you're getting a reading of 14v+ at your battery, something is charging it and that something must be your alternator. If you haven't had any symptoms other than an intermittent fault read-out, I'd guess it'll probably do the same over the coming weeks as it has over the last. Sort it when you get back if needs be, and if it fails in the meantime you're in France and they have alternators too. Go to France and enjoy yourself - if the car starts tomorrow!

Ah, I confess I read your original post as the boat always having had a 'lazy alternator', so I was suggesting you make sure the original installation wasn't sub-optimal before moving on to more expensive solutions. If things have gradually got worse it certainly won't be cos your pulleys are changing size!

Before you go spending a load of money replacing anything else, it may be worth checking the pulley sizes. The alternator will run faster or slower in relation to the engine speed depending upon this gearing ratio. If your alternator is being driven too slowly, say as a result of its own pulley being too large or the one on the engine being too small, it would need more revs to excite it in the first place and deliver less charge than it could.

Hi Mitch, There is something you can do.... once you've fixed the problem you caused by running your shaft whilst the greaser was out of action, don't cause the same problem again by running your shaft next time your greaser is out of action! Restoring lubrication to machinery damaged through being deprived of it isn't usually going to fix it. The increasing squeaking should have been a warning but, hopefully, since that greaser is there to keep the stern seal watertight, the fix might not as expensive as running other moving machinery without proper lubrication can sometimes be. If you get another issue in your drive train, don't run it until you're completely certain it's safe to do so. Not much help this time, I know, but it might stave off another issue later. Fingers crossed the issue's not to hard to correct. Good luck.

Oh nuts - mine's only got the hatch key on it so I already knew it floated (why would you need to take a massive bunch to the pub anyway?). I wonder if it still floats whilst it's smouldering, having been thrown in the stove so I can pretend I'm a proper boater? Maybe I can get it to smoke orange?

Oh bolleaux, and it didn't really burn very well either. Anyone got idea what I should do with my hatch key now or do I need to pretend I'm on holiday?

We used full sized bags of Brazier mostly from Crick Garden Centre by choice last winter, but got some 10kg bags recently from Home Bargains and it looks the same but didn't burn anything like. Just cleaned my chimney today and used the last of it but it's no better, sluggish burn and little heat. As coincidence would have it I've also just picked up some 'emergency' Homefire which seems to be burning rather better, though I can't yet comment on the ash.