BEngo

Get hold of a decent Tirfor, some serious mooring stakes (3/4 diameter 3 ft long) and a big 'ammer to put them in with. N

In short, No. The Waterways Museums have the drawings for the GU boats, but they are not build plans with offsets and lines nor have they steel (or iron) cutting profiles. I think the drawings may now reside at Ellesmere port, but Laurence Hogg may be able to supply. IIRC Hancock and Lane used to market a kit, where most of the steel was cut and shaped. There was some trimming to do. I don't think they sold many and even fewer were completed. That was for one of their production hulls. Since you want to build butties the number of potential suppliers out there is small- not many boat builders have made a butty and those who have I expect drew the stern end up as they went along with extensive references to a handy example from Yarwoods or Harland and Wolff. Most boat builders buy steel in sheets and cut it to their own profiles to make their own shell. Many use plywood or hardboard templates for a plasma cutter, some may have CAD files at their stockist and get their plate profiled but I don't know of one. Maybe a trip round the boatbuilders whose work you like, with an offer to buy copies of their templates for a one-off or to buy some ready cut items for the bow and stern. I doubt that many will be interested because even with the steel cut it takes a lot of experience to turn it into boat that looks well. The builder does not know anything of your skills and experience but does know that finished appearance is one of the key things that sells his boats. What builder would want a potentially badly finished copy of his work out spoiling his market? I can think of a few boatbuilders who might help you with a build, for a fee. That way they will get some control over the standard and won't have to do the long boring weld runs, which most hate. Good Luck N

OK, I'm 60 ft, vintage engine , 2'6 draft most of the way and 19T all up. The question is not pure mass but mass at reach. A 45 T crane will lift Jarrah, but only close to the riggers. With a slightly larger crane you could lift, jib out to the safe limit, lower, move crane. Repeat until bored. How close is the boat to where it needs to end up, how good is the crane standing between the two places? N

Set full throttle(starting position). Slacken the injector pipe union on the fuel pump and crank the engine (decompressed) till fuel comes out in spurts. Tighten it up Repeat the exercise at the injector end. Crank the engine decompressed until you hear the injector 'creak' Try to start. If OK, Check for leaks at the fuel pump, put the plate back. If it won't start but the injector is creaking it's not fuel. N

Stove screws of all sorts failing is so common as to barely merit comment I'm afraid. Drill and re-tap is the best solution. Use copper grease on the new fastener so it will come undone next time. I don't know your stove, but is it actually a stud screwed into the stove? Some, particularly Heron stoves, have resistance brazed studs and these could be re-brazed but most people drill for a stud or nut and bolt. You can tell if you have a brazed stud by the coppery colour under where the resistance brazed stud was. N

This is very badly designed. Not only is the pump fighting the natural circulation of the boiler but, in the event that it boils, hot water is likely to be violently ejected from the header tank. Potentially dangerous in itself but also increasing the likelihood that the whole thing will boil dry. The bottom of the header tank should be connected to the bottom pipe before the pump, not to the top one and there should be a vent/expansion line from the top pipe to the top of the header tank. This can be quite small- 3/8 is fine- and it could replace the air vent. Are there any non-return valves in the system? Some radiator valves will only work one way and prevent flow the other. Have a careful look at them to ensure that any flow arrows point toward a pipe going the base of the stove (into the rads at the top, out of the rads at the bottom.) Have a good look at the back of the stove and at any isolation valves either side of the pump. You have shown both pipes going into the base of the rads. It should work like that all other things being OK but will be more effective if the flow pipes are connected to the tops of the rads and the return to the opposite end at the bottom. Is this a typical boat with the bows in the air and the pipes parallel to the floor? If so what sort of pump is it? With the bows up, the pipes to the back actually slope down hill and make the pump's task of assisting natural convection more difficult. Is the pump connected correctly so that it is going round the right way? Most DC motors will happily run either way, depending on the polarity of the connections. This one may be running the wrong way. N N

I am entirely happy with the forum as is but my 'other' things would be: A button for donations/contributions to the forum cost An improved search function. N

If the counter plate is in the water it's got too much ballast towards the back. If the bow is up in the air as well it will probably swim like a bucket and there will be a load of unnecessary drag from the counter going forward at an angle. You need to see the boat in the water to confirm your suspicions and then to find out how it's ballasted and where the ballast is. The line might just be the result of serious pull-down when going along. For example my counter is on the water standing still, but in parts of Milton Keynes I can easily get the fenders wet. Koukouvagia reports he can rinse his boots when Owl is bracket open. It may be possible to move the ballast forwards and level the boat more. Some bow-up trim when static is needed or the roof will drain forwards when the stern lifts ( in filling narrow locks for example. The pull-down effect of moving forward will make the static bow-up trim a little greater. The effect on gas-locker drains is also important. Too much lowering of the bow might put these underwater, which would mean a need for modification to pass a BSS and ensuring that the newly flooded areas didn't go rusty and start to leak. Once you have the boat in the right attitude then it is time to get the right draft. I think, like you, that the counter should be just under water when standing still. Out of the water means water-slap noises all-night if there any waves. You might need to add ballast or remove it to achieve the right draft. N

Has nobody got a screwdriver and a spanner?? The dark nights are coming quickly. N

Since it is at Braunston talk to either of First: Johnathon Hewitt (Johnno) at UCC or Second: Justin at Braunston Boats on the other side. The water leak won't be part of a standard service but could be included if you tell the service mechanic. The price is likely to be uncertain until the cause is known. N

The economics don't stack up. It's not about speed, or fuel burn; it's about ton-miles per man-hour. For UK sized craft and loads, the truck and the train have it sewn up except in some special cases where the extra costs can be buried by handouts/grants- London gravel for example. Your proposal involves double- or treble- handling. These are a recipe for economic and customer service disaster. The costs of an exchange point are large and they have to be spread over the traffic that uses it. This means that a slow start will either mean even more expensive transport or a big loss for the business. Finally, unless you are thinking of using mainly the rivers, the additional traffic will cause water-supply problems on many routes in normally dry years. N

As an emergency brake either a strong bucket or a 56 Lb weight on a long stout bit of rope with a float on the other end. Chuck the bucket/weight overboard and either brake the rope with your gloved hands or if the cleats are OK take a single turn round a cleat and surge the rope. A GRP boat doen't have much momentum compared with a typical steel boat will soon stop from a sensible canal pace. N

The reason you have a survey is so you don't buy a lemon, without knowing about it. If the survey says its a lemon and you walk away then you have still to pay for the survey. In this case you have a Survey report (verbal or otherwise) and the boat is obviously a lemon. You still get to pay for the survey and should in turn expect whatever outputs you agreed with the Surveyor at the start. You might be able to sell these to the vendor. If you are expecting a written report and don't have it yet I bet that is very carefully worded. We have no information on why the boat sank, nor if the surveyor said it was fit to go back in the water. These are things you don't get involved in. IF the surveyor was at the root of the boat sinking then the owner needs to sort that out with the surveyor. I doubt that any surveyor would say that the boat was definitely fit to return to the water- maybe a firmly negative "I wouldn't if I were you" or only "I know no reason why not" if he was confident. In the meanwhile go find another boat, if this has not put you off boats entirely. Any boat is a hole in the water which swallows money. N

No reason why you shouldn't. It's just that some things are only any good if you buy the mains version. My wife has long thick hair and sometimes it needs to be machine dried if the weather or time available is not right for it to be air-dried. That means we have a 240V hairdryer and a generator to drive it. An inverter would be an equally valid solution. A 12 V hairdryer wouldn't be. N

The connector end arrangement is some version of BA15, but whether its is BA15d or another I can't tell without seeing where the other pin is. Are they level, or offset? I think I can see they are two-contact lamps. Have a look at the Wikipedia entry for Bayonet Mount for the varieties and you should be able to define these. The top lamp looks like a 21 Watt and the bottom like a 5 Watt. The LED's need to provide an equivalent output I lumens and Bedazzled will help you there. N

Still only about 360 Watts- about half of a small domestic hairdyer on low. Does seem to have a slightly better fan than others I agree with the general view of 12 V hairdryers- Better to save your money and buy a chocolate teapot. At least you could eat that. N

I can't add anything on what the problem might be, but whatever it is, your contract is with the insurance company, not the fitter. As a result you need to start by getting in touch with them and tell them about the problems you are having. They should then sort it out. They have much more leverage with the fitter and any business he works for. I would expect they will want to start by having the work done looked at independently. N

You could have a brown UPVC one if you wanted the wood look. UPVC will probably have to be double glazed because that's the way the plastic sections are. That means lots heavier than your present set-up. Can you ballast the bow back down or remove weight from the stern? The sealed-unit seals will be vulnerable to damage from boating (knocks and vibration) so expect misting to set in early. The curve of the roof and the back are no problem, provided you get it made by a good company- I have a UPVC window with a curved top and have seen curved bow windows in UPVC so a curved base is doable. The glass will have to be flat (or eye-wateringly expensive) so lots of panes at the stern. The company will need an accurate template of the curve- scribe bits of hardboard/ thin ply. Not sure about the roof. If you have a clear roof it's going to be like steering in an oven on a sunny day- but good for tomatoes I suppose. A solid roof might need to be in sections so you can put it up without a crane. You will need some pretty rigid bits to keep the side in place. Side entries will also need thought. Doors are heavy and expensive and mainly designed for houses. Curtains or side-sheets will be much the same as you have. I reckon the hardest part will be finding someone who WANTS to do it and will take the necessary interest to get something that is as good and as neat as your present setup. Good luck. N

!. It's called a Teleflex cable. Loads of leads for suppliers on Google. There is no need to buy them at their most expensive, from chandlers, as they get used on other things than boats. You need to order the right diameter and length, both inner and outer but you can adjust length a bit with the nuts at either end. Adjusting the length will not affect the throw. The throw is controlled by whatever it is attached to. If you push one end in the other comes out exactly the same distance. In the case of a trad push-pull gear change with a cable direct from the handle to the box the throw at the box end will be exactly the same as the movement of the handle. If there are things like levers and vertical shafts involved the distances will not be the same and will depend on what else is involved. N N

It isn't the lappy, it isn't the power brick, so it must be the boat. You want to find the voltage at the boat power supply socket with a decent load on it. You will need: a spare plug to fit the power point. Some sort of decent load- a spot/tunnel light would be OK. A chocolate block cable connector for two cables. A multimeter which reads up to about 15-20 Volts. Connect the spare plug to the chocolate block (two wires) and the chocolate block to the tunnel light (two more wires). Measure the voltage at the domestic battery terminals Plug the spare plug etc into the socket- check the tunnel light comes on Measure the voltage at the chocolate block by putting the multimeter pins onto the screws in the chocolate block with one pin on each wire. Unplug. Tell us what the voltage readings are. N

'S Finch, not Fincher- Alan F doesn't usually stop in Stoke Bruerne because he is winding it on for the Blisworth Tunnel passage sprint, hotly pursued by KK. N

To check the belt tension either put a spanner or allen key as appropriate on the alternator pulley end and try to turn it. ( Engine stop pulled out.) If the alternator turns but the engine doesn't the belt needs to be tightened. If the engine turns until it hits compression then stops the tension is probably OK. Look at the belt. If it has a ridge in the part that runs in the groove it's been slipping and is scrap. If you can see 'rope' like bits in the belt its worn out too. The belt should sit about 1-2 mm proud of the groove in the pulleys. If it sits right down in the groove it's worn and needs to be replaced. N

At the top of the door you do need to remove the cast iron air piece that covers the spin wheel hole.( One screw either side IIRC) Then at all four places just tap the clips round with a hammer and screwdriver until they are clear of the glass. Take remains of the glass out. Clean up the rebate the glass fits in. Work the clips to and from with plenty of oil so they are fairly free. Refit the glass with the right sealing tape in the rebate ( its flat, sticky on one side and about 8 mm wide by 2mm thick) then very gently tap the clips back over the glass ensuring that you don't tap the glass. Or shear the screws off then drill and tap for new ones. Use A2 or A4 stainless hex socket capscrews (Allen screws) rather than machine screws and fit these with lots of coppaslip or similar grease so you can get them undone next time. N

Overflowing/leaking cruiser drains is a very common problem. If the paint is intact and nothing is going rusty there is no problem. It's a good idea to bale it out/dry it out fairly often -once a month or two- to give it a check over, but you can do that with a cut-down milk bottle a sponge and a bucket. A vacuum cleaner is luxury and the money much better spent on your tipple of choice unless you can get a freecycle or ex tip one. N

Do be careful that your contact panel area is all well underwater. The black bits of a narrowboat don't half get hot when they are in the sun and will hinder the condenser rather then help in that case. N