BEngo

No problem short term, but the scratches are where it will go when you least want it to. Get a spare, with fitting stuff, and make sure the glass retainer can be got out. N

The Ham Baker paddles on the Napton to Knowle section of the GU slope, but not very much. I would guess at 5-10 degrees. N

I suggest you start by talking to Chris Coburn, Lee Sanitation, if he is still around as he would be in his 80's now, and Wyvern Shipping af Leighton Buzzard. Chris C has been nearly everywhere, including Bude by narrowboat. Boat was Progress. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=http://www.nb-progress.com/news.html&ved=2ahUKEwj_pbHbw9aFAxVsS0EAHRW5CEUQFnoECBMQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0XvMljgRxV60lImZ7581fS Wyvern shipping huilt Ocean Princess a "seagoing" narrowboat. N

But uses a lot more elbow grease. N

I have always found that a decent makers 243 or 244 size battery, at about 96Ah and 760 or so Cold Cranking Amps will do the biz. Shield make a decent battery at a reasonable price, but Tayna and others on line can also supply I suspect the OP's 3 batteries in parallel are/were the entire outfit of his ex lifeboat so also keep the lights on and work any radio until the motor is running. N

Ventilation is when air is drawn down from the surface into the propellor, spoiling its thrust. Cavitation is when the pressure at the front face of the propellor blades is low enough for tiny steam bubbles to form ( boiling ) in spots. When the bubbles collapse there is often damage to the propellor, and a lot of underwater noise. Anti ventilation plates as seen on many converted butties e.g. Renown, stop air drawing down and are a substitute for the motors counter plate. Anti cavitation plates do not exist. Cavitation is dealt with by extra immersion and careful propulsion system design N

If it is treated battening , across the steel bearers, it will be fine. Battens can be quite thin, so you will need to keep the screws thd eight length, and it is quite narrow, so you may need two pieces next to each other where the floor joins are. Don't forget to put in some access holes for getting at ballast, and to allow for some airflow with the floor down. Having a computer fan behind the fridge, drawing from the bilge area and powered from the fridge electronics, can killl two birds with one stone. N

Another source of gas water, though not as common, was the water used as a seal in the old-style rising gasometers. After a period of years in use it was well saturated with gas by-products so could be pumped out and recycled during a planned maintenance period. N

If you have a look at the inline filters ( in liskeard) website. Their search widget can be fed the maker and the engine type and it will tell you what filters you need. Assorted variants of the F2L are there. I have always had a quick response to an order, but otherwise no links. Online filters in Stoke on Trent also have a good rep, but I have not used them. N

It is quite possible to get ( the right formulation of) epoxy to adhere to bitumen. Once you have done that the effectiveness of the paint depends on how well the bitumen sticks to the hull. That is at best the same as if bitumen had been carefully applied to the hull. N

Gas water was also derived from the coke. After it left the ovens the coke was red hot and, in air, would start to burn. So the coke was quenched with water. Some water turned to steam, which, with some coke, might be fed back into the gas producers, but as the coke cooled, there was a lot of water contaminated with products that could be extracted and sold. A Gasworks wasted nothing. N

Ensure you have some suitable brushes and contact cleaner for buffing up the contacts in the multi-pin connectors. Halfords Professional line are good quality spanners, not as good as Facom or Snap On perhaps, but guaranteed for life. I twisted the end off a 3/4F to 1/2 in M adapter and it was replaced without a quibble. N

As well as those with tanks some C&C boats carried their cargo in (presumably glass) carboys. N

It would be a good idea to get the oil circulating before starting, but given the indestructability of the SR it is not vital. The easy way is to lift the decompressors and turn it over on the starter. If no starter, add extra Weetabix to breakfast! N

The Thomas Clayton (Oldbury ) fleet traded in gas works by-products to tar distilleries. Since a good gas works wasted nowt, or less, cargoes ranged from ammonia water to crude tar. All theee were further refined at the tar distilleries. There was one in Banbury, one at the foot of the Crow in Oldbury, adjacent to Claytons base and another at Calf Heath. Crude tar, once refined, gave a range of products from tar varnish ( like varnish but black), through road tar to solid at room temperature bitumen. The Ellesmere Port to Aldridge run was operated for Duckhams, but was shipping lubricating oil for blending rather than diesel. The cargo was in cylindrical tanks installed in ex GU and FMC boats. I think Midland Canal Transport were the carrier. At least one boat capsized during loading or unloading. There are pictures in, IIRC, the excellent Phillip Weaver photo book published by the h/ HNB(O)C. N

Replace the nylon pipe with 8mm (or equivalent imperial) copper tube. Don't overtighten it. Copper tube lasts better. N

The Kelvins used for blowing lighthouse fog horns were standard marine engines, with the gearbox removed. Any way, is not operating a lighthouse fog horn a marine activity? Once upona time, if you visited Kyle St, and asked nicely they would go and dig out your engine records, provided it was a post 1908 built engine. These contain all the order details, including the accessories like prop shafting and fuel tanks, test and set-up records, including the oil jet sizes and fuel consumption, the shipping details for the various items ordered and then a listing of the spare parts sold during the engine's life. I have a copy of the ones for my model J. I think these records are now in Glasgow university archives. Then you could have a factory tour. When I went round they still had the model J2 used for setting governors, the only model R2 ever built and were assembling model S and T engines. N

Being a Kelvin, mine has always been a Marine engine. Originally ordered for a new boat to be called Skylark, to a Brighton address. Tripping between the piers maybe? It was not able to be delivered by the desired date in August 1946, probably because Britain was in the midst of post war shortages. Delivered ex factory in Oct 1946 it went to an East Devon boatyard, but I am unable to decipher the photocopied spider scrawl that tells me exactly where or for which boat. What it did after that, and where it was I have no idea. I bought it, nearly completely disassembled, in 1984, from a chap in Lichfield, who had taken it in partex for a JP2. It has been in Jarrah since 1989. N

We put in the two sets in the entrance stop log at Circus Field 18 months ago, so we could pump out the chamber between and check the gate seals. We rigged a Youngman board across the chamber for supplementary access as the normal lift bridge handrails and lift chains were in the way of llifting the planks in off the bridge.. Three planks were stacked on the Youngman. Each plank was then lifted in by two chaps, one at each end, holding the plank with log grips. Rinse and repeat for the rest. The planks were extracted the same way. Things wot we now know: You must clean the grooves and the bottom sills carefully if you want the planks to sit down properly. You cannot pump out the chamber if there is not a proper seal, no matter how many pumps you deploy. There is only one right order to put the planks in. The planks float so you have to stand on the ends of the uppermost one to hold it and all the others down. Once you have them all down you need to get them all over to the 'dry' side of the groove. Wedges are then needed to hold them in place. The right sort of ash is important to getting a seal. All fines is no good, too many big lumps is no good. I believe the K&A have a deal with the GWR society at Didcot for smokebox char and ashpan rakings. Get the ashing right and the planks will be nearly bone dry. The buggers are a lot heavier when removing them cos they absorb water... Industrial quantities of tea, coffee and bacon sarnies are important enablers. N

Google "seamseal CV" for butyl tape in various widths and butyl sealant in tubes. Is used for caravan panel joins, lorry side and roof panels joins and IME works fine on boat windows. White spirit is excellent at removing old butyl- it just destroys it, so no good for over squish. Tackle that with a sharp wooden wedge, or a sharpened uPVC window wedge. N

Rothens have a weed cutting boat. Google Rothen Group. Based at Mancetter. N

An aluminium window frame, on a mild steel side, with gaps and water is a hard environment for any grade of stainless pop rivet. The set up is a natural to encourage crevice corrosion and dissimilar metal corrosion. Aluminium rivets with steel formers are less of a corrosion risk, but are not perfect. The hard part with any pop rivetted window frame is making it pull back evenly and tight against the sealant and stay tight. Sides are rarely dead flat all the way round a typical window.. If there are big gaps in places to start with, perhaps because the builder put sheet joins through the window holes then closed cell foam tape needs lots of extra layers and butyl tape will squeeze out so needs to be thick ish to start . Check with a straight edge before you start and if it is noticeably not flat a gun grade butyl may be more useful. N .

I think the Redshaws at Braunston had a separate thermostat housing for boats without one. Failing that an industrial size thermostatic mixing valve ( like the ones often fitted on a corifier but bigger) should do the job. N

Yes. SP- Tells you it is a wedge belt (slightly different from a V-belt) A- the section size. 882 - The pitch length in mm. (circumference of the belt at the pitch line). N

Wot Jen said. Also look at radiator makers sites e.g. Stelrad and Myson Radiator heat output is affected by size, number of panels and the finning arrangements. Single rads have 1 or no fins, double rads 0, 1 or 2 fins. Each set of fins increases the ouput a bit. N