BEngo

Our moorings have one resident who is 100, one who is over 90 and several who have passed 80. It is possible, provided of course you can arrange to live that long. You also need to be agile and capable of doing, or getting done, any heavy lifting your lifestyle needs- gas, coal pump-out etc. Doctors etc. are no more difficult at 80 than at 79, so get them, and social things sorted early. At least if you eventually HAVE to move onto the bank there is not much downsizing required! N

Our hull is 26 years old and has done a moderate amount of boating in that time. It was bitumen blacked for the first 21 years of its life and was then blasted and epoxied. It has no significant loss of metal through corrosion, though the wear edge of the 10mm baseplate at the start of the swim is about halfway to the point where something ought to be done. If I carry on boating like we have over the last 4 years then it will need 'shoeing' by about 2020 and will be dire by about 2025. YMMMV! N

Plenty of CRT precedent for lifts round. When lock 12 on the Aylesbury Arm collapsed there were three CRT organised and paid for lifts: One from the town basin, and two from and to Circus Field. N

My Squirrel has the flue into the rear entry and the top entry blanking plate just sits there- no rope, no gunge, though there is usually a kettle on top of it when the fire is lit. I have had no problems, and no noises from the fire angel CO detector, and I doubt that the OP will have any trouble. I would however qualify that by suggesting a trial run and sealing the plate if there is any smoke emerges from it, especially when lighting up. It might then be a good idea to oil the blanking plate, or temporarily cover it with cling film before sealing without fully tightening the securing arrangement so that the silicone sets with some give to make a future seal but does not glue the plate in. Otherwise next time you will have to dig out silicone AND hard fire rope. N

I have never use a multi-tool and scraper for paint removal, but an electric carving chisel is brilliant at paint removal. You won't of course have as useful a thing left after the paint job though. Bosch do one - they call it an electric scraper, Available for about £25 on e-bay, or for real money www.axminster.co.uk/arbortech-pch350-power-chisel, or, if you already have an SDS drill with hammer and rotation stop, put a wide cranked chisel in that. N

Saxton Blades do all types. I think their prices are reasonable. I have no connections with them. www.saxtonblades.co.uk/?gclid=CNrIlIev7sICFUrjwgod5jkA1w N

When we went past early this month the level in the puddle looked to be above that of the canal, by about a foot. I wonder what happens to the grey water and, if it goes into the puddle, how long it will be before things become unpleasant? N

I don't know how eco-mode works on a Victron, but would have thought that the inverter might have to energise its 240 V output to see if there was any current drawn and if so conclude there was demand for power. There are various ways of checking if someone has switched something on but the fancier they get, and the less power they use the more they cost. Whilst the inverter is supplying power there is no quiescent current, because the inverter is working, and by definition is not quiescent. That does not mean it's suddenly become 100% efficient though as the same sort of losses as the standing-by inverter has will still be happening, plus a few extra load dependent ones. The size of them depends on how the inverter works and how well it is designed. The losses are (or should be!) a much smaller proportion of the whole consumption at the designed output though. The difference between clever inverters and basic ones is that the basic ones sit there with everything ready to go and full voltage at the terminals all the time while the clever ones shut down the output and have some method of checking for demand then getting up to speed rapidly. N

Does it have the necessary for BSS flame supervision devices fitted? If it does then it will be OK, provided your ventilation and gas pipe size are adequate for it's gas input rating- see the plate on the cooker for rating and the BSS guide for vent needs. Pipe size is more difficult and you really need the BS or Calor guide to sort it out. Half-inch pipe is almost certainly big enough and 3/8 is probably a bit small, maybe, but not deffo too small. Flavel probably are worried about damp, inadequate ventilation and poor installation pracctices on boats so are covering their rear. N

I do! Every time the boat is docked. It gets the layer of lime scale off and allows me to check the blades for cracks, particularly ones starting at the edges where it's been bashed by assorted shopping trolleys and other cr@p. N

Possibly sticking valves or rockers which have refused to go down and then the push rod has bent. Check that the valve stems are clear of carbon, the rockers are free and the valve gear oil feed is working. I would also have the head off to check that the cylinder/piston is OK- a stuck valve may well have been hit by the piston. N

Careen the boat ( Lean it over a bit with a weight on a plank or a tight rope from the roof centre point/handrail) then attack the water line with a pressure washer. Even the really cheapy DIY shed ones are good enough to get most or all the weed off a two-packed waterline. Undamaged two-pack, properly applied, is pressure washer proof to at least 200 bar. Failing a pressure washer than a scraper and long-handled scrubber are nearly as effective. Obviously you need to do one side at a time and turn-round in between sides!! N

It's tied as rolling hitch round the standing part ( ooo-er matron ) and quite useful for anything you need to adjust easily but stay secure afterward. Can be handy on breasting straps for a newly formed pair! N

Wot Tim said. The transfer of the EA waterways now ( with probably very little money) would be a stupid idea when CART are patently struggling to manage what they have with the money they can get. N

The idea is that the charger input current (a and voltage drops) is perfectly shared between the batteries as the load output current/connection voltage drops is under the recommended arrangement.. If the battery was always either only being charged or only supplying the load then you could use the opposite diagonal to the load connections and get the same result. However, most modern chargers also service the load simultaneously. Servicing the load is the most important thing to avoid (some part of) the battery being discharged or more slowly charged than it could be. Connect the charger inputs to where the load goes out and this will happen automatically and the battery will have the remaining charger capacity, evenly distributed across the component batteries IYSWIM. N

Send Paul at IF a scan request for the EVs and he will usually fairly quickly send you a scan. I'm sure he would appreciate a donation too. The manual service has recently been re-vamped to stop some P-takers and those who were using it to troll other museums. There is an explanatory post titled "The Future" on the IF Discussion Forum. N

As others have said first check you don't have a fancy pumps that controls flow without needing an accumulator. For maximum benefit, the cold water accumulator pressure, with taps open, pump off, and no water flow should be set to the cut-in pressure of the water pump. According to the OP's this is about 15 psi, so the 21 psi he has set is too high. To check the cut-in pressure, put some air in the accumulator- say 10 psi, with the pump off and all taps open, no water flowing. Switch the pump on and taps off, and wait until the pump stops. Set one tap to run slowly and wait until the pump cuts in. Immediately switch the pump and the tap off, (This may take a few goes to get dead right, but practise is cheap!) Then measure the air pressure in the accumulator. This is the cut in pressure. Open all the taps and wait till water stops flowing. Adjust the accumulator air pressure to the cut in pressure. The hot water accumulator is only there to take up expansion as the water is heated, so anywhere between say 15 and 20 psi is OK. N

I have just relicenced and have received a set of (rectangular) discs! N

DIY Wet- dock and covered slipway bookings with Aylesbury Canal Society at Circus Field can now be arranged through http://www.aylesburycanal.org.uk.

Google "1 gang IP44 switch." Loads of them out there. Mainly designed for 240V outside use on garden lights etc. but will be quite happy with 12 or 24 V and the current of a Whale gulper. Buy a decent brand. They last ;longer and stay waterproof. N

What has probably happened is that the loose wire has caused the motor to shut down in the middle of a cooling session and then to try to re-start shortly afterward, but with pressure still in the upstream section of the coolant circuit. This means the motor is overloaded ( it expects to start-up only when the upstream pressure has dissipated through the normal operating process) and the protection circuit has cut in, setting off the five flashes. I would expect it to be OK later on, once you have re-crimped the bad connection. Might be worth checking the rest- bad crimps can be like London buses. N

If using concrete you should use hydraulic cement, not Portland cement. Hydraulic cement sets under water. N

The bible is Machinery's Screw Threads, but everything you need to know can be found in a set of Zeus Tables available from Model Engineering Suppliers such as Axminster, Chronos or from your local engineer's merchant or MSC Industrial. My set cost 50p but I think they are nearer a fiver now. Otherwise Google is your pal. It helps to know what thread type you are dealing with: Whitworth, BSF, UNF, UNC,Cycle or BA, ISO Metric would be examples . N

The worst was the very heavy train that came through about 0500 every day. It had clearly been accelerating since the top of Hatton Bank and it made the whole world shake, boat, water everything. Never learned to sleep through it. I always thought it to be headed for Didcot power station so maybe it's stopped running now. N