BEngo

Newbury to Oxford is a fairly easy run. The Kennet locks can be a bit heavy, and the stretch through Reading above County lock can be "interesting" if the river is running. That said it is summer, and dry atm. If you are doing it in August most of the River Thames locks will be manned, and there should be other boats about. The locks that are not manned will mainly be power operated. You can just about do Blake's Lock to Isis Lock on a single one day licence ( which is actually a bit longer than just one day, expiring at midnight on the day after you buy it), provided you get to Blake's early and go long. Life will be a lot easier if you have, or can find, some crew. That way you dont have to stop for s brew or food. Go for it. N

The Cowburn and Cowpar motor boat "Swan" will do this quite happily when the Gardner semi is at a particular speed. As a composite motor only the bottoms are affected, but I am assured that the caulking does not much like it. I suspect that a twisting motion will be harder to achieve and to sustain with a Bolinder, because the speed governing off load is so slack. N

You can get the bangs evenly spaced in a 2 cylinder four stroke. AKA a 360 deg twin. The engine is likely to want to jump up and down a lot though. N

CLM (Compagnie Lilloise Moteurs) were a subsidiary of Peugeot and the French licensees of the Junkers patent opposed piston two stroke. Most commonly found in the JUMO range of aero engines. N

The breaker is fine for what you are doing. It is just that 1000 V is a lot more than will ever be needed. It certainly is not dangerous. The breaker was clearly designed to handle substantial DC currents- it will break successfully with a current of up to 6000 Amps passing as the result of a fault condition in the circuit. The breaker was probably also designed for use with large series connected solar arrays in mind. Hence it has a high voltage rating. Nothing to worry about though. N

Female metal connector is water supply. Beware the thread may be NPT not BSP. Black things are cable glands. Electrical connectors. Depends which version you have, I think. Mine is a 4 terminal version and the two sides are independent. I would expect yours to be either 1 and 3 or 3 and 5 in the positive line to the pump As it is now the right pair will show continuity on a multi meter. N

They are for cleaning the gaps between your teeth. N

The Paloma uses pressure difference across an (effectively variable) orifice to move a diaphragm. The variable bit is adjusted by the temperature knob and seems to involve a cold bypass rather than a real variable orifice. The diaphragm controls the gas. If there is insufficient pressure difference, the diaphragm "knows" there will not be enough water flow so the heat exchanger/hot water is going to get too hot. The gas valve then cuts off. So, from a standing start with the gas lit, the water pipes pressurised and the water pump on and all taps shut: Open tap. Pressure at outlet falls. Maximum pressure across diaphragm. Gas valve opens, water heats. As the accumulator empties, pump runs. If the inlet pressure falls too low (because the pump has not cut in soon enough, or cannot keep up, ) there cannot be enough pressure across diaphragm. Gas valve shuts. If the pump keeps the inlet pressure up all is well. If not hot water happens in stits and farts depending on the various pressure settings. Tap closed. Outlet pressure rises. Differential pressure across diaphragm falls. Gas valve closes. Pump runs to cut off pressure. I think the later versions work much the same way, but have extra CO and oxygen detectors which can also shut things down. .. .... . The pump motor gives not a monkey's about it's switching points. Supply electricity, it runs and pumps. Switch off, it stops. The supply/no supply decision is entirely up to the pressure switch. The cheapo ones built into the pump typically only have adjustment to the cut out ( switch off) pressure. The variation between cut in and cut out is fixed by the pump switch construction. So if the cut in pressure is not enough to keep the gas on, turning up the cut off pressure will usually raise the cut in pressure too, and 'cure' the problem. Except that the pump now has to work harder and the 'all taps shut' pressure is higher, risking joint failure and leaks, more wear and tear on the motor and greater power usage.. A stand alone pressure switch will enable the cut in and cut out pressures to be set individually. Often, the problem can then be cured without raising the cut off pressure to risky levels. N

The surveyor is right. Shot blast will remove all the pre existing rust then the epoxy will prevent it recurring, except where it gets mechanical damage from locks, bridges, shopping trolleys etc. The pic looks a bit like our baseplate, but wider. We were blasted in 2010 and it has been pressure washed, wire brushed, rust at damage sorted and over coated with epoxy every 4 or 5 years since. There is no recurrence of old rust. You don't say what the boat was blacked with. It should have been an epoxy. If it was anything else (bitumen, fancy vinyl,) the effect is most likely to be cosmetic and I would expect the epoxy to eventually fail gradually after about 10 years. N

You may think you know how tiring it will be. I am certain you are underestimating it. All boats take at least twice, and usually 3 times, as long as the owner expects, cost three and often four times as much as the owner expected and never ever go to plan on a day to day basis. I occasionally get the thought that I would like to do another boat; you know, one without the errors and compromises that got into the other two. Fortunately my wife has trained me, so that when this happens I go and lie in a darkened room till the idea goes away. N

The BSS looks at this, but it is a non sense check. The burners are designed so their heat output is controlled by varying the gas pressure to the burner jet, using the control knob or oven thermostat. The burner itself will, by its design, burn cleanly across the range of pressures the control knob/thermostat delivers. It may produce extra CO at some settings, but the BSS check cannot look for this. It is also wory remarking that a typical ribbon burner found in gas ovens will burn with a yellow tipped flame. This is the case regardless of the inlet pressure, within the design operating range. It follows that if the system gas pressure at the cooker inlet is low because the pipe is undersized (or the regulator is duff) the burners will still burn cleanly. It may take longer to fry your egg though. N

If you fit a Square D pressure switch, (or similar) not only will it last longer than the built in switch but you can set both the cut in and the cut out pressures to suit your system. N

There are huge advantages in a traditional engine 'ole, if set up correctly. Home from home for the foldy bike. Excellent entry point when it is lagging down as you can leave your wet kit hanging up to dry without traipsing wet into the living space. Room for the batteries, accessibly sited. Handy 'stuff store' for oils grease, paint spare ropes etc. Cracking drying room at the end of the dhoby. With a suitable engine can give your shreddies that hot oil backed by diesel aroma. Easy access to the engine! N

Having done the connection checks rusty suggests, put your multimeter across the main starter motor terminals. You should see battery voltage. Then turn the key to start/push the start button. If the voltage does not fall to about 9 or 10 V, suspect the starter motor internals. If it does, and the motor is not turning, bypass any battery isolator switches and try again. The isolation switches with a red plastic key are renowned for being carp. They may be in either the positive run or the negative. N

Not quite sure of the exact belt tooth form and description, but have you had a look at the HPC gears C23 catalogue?. Lots of toothed belts there. I assume that what you want will have one of the standard tooth pitches and profiles. 280 divides by 55 to give a very nearly 5mm tooth pitch, which is a standard pitch. HPC offer the BT5/275, which has a *pitch* length of 275, (which will be near an outside length of 280,) and 55 teeth, various widths available, inc 10mm. Or the reduced backlash timing belt. AT5/280. 56 teeth on that one and available 10mm wide. N